Which Pokémon Booster should you buy?
Depending on the cards you're looking for, the type of Pokémon Booster will differ, especially by release year. Fans of Pokémon GX cards should go for Sword & Shield Boosters or Sun & Moon. Collectors of older editions will often have to look for Pokémon Boosters on resale sites, as they are often no longer available in stores.
If you really want to collect the latest exclusives and find holographic Pokémon cards and rare ones, you'll need to go for the latest available Boosters. Cards are placed randomly in the packs and no Booster has a better chance of containing a specific card than another — otherwise it would be too easy!
Of course, find out in advance if you're looking for a specific rare card, as some are only available in certain editions. The Pokémon fan sites will help you choose which series to buy and what your chances are of getting your exclusive holo card.
How many cards are in a Pokémon Booster?
Depending on the Pokémon Booster you buy, the number of cards can vary. Most will contain 10 cards, with a few exceptions of 9 or 11 cards. Some specific packs contain only 5 Pokémon cards, but this is relatively rare — usually reprints or limited editions.
Very often, people prefer to buy Pokémon Boosters in fives or sixes to have a slightly better chance of pulling the Holographic Card of their choice, especially in the latest Sword & Shield generations. This gives you around 60 cards to build a Pokémon Deck ready to use for TCG matches!
If you want more cards at once, you can go for a Pokémon Display which contains between 10 and 30 Boosters at a time, sometimes even with an exclusive, super rare card — what more could you ask for?
Composition of a Booster
In a classic pack of Pokémon GX cards , there are 3 main categories of cards, ranked by rarity. They are added to the pack at random, each with a different chance of being pulled
- 6 common cards
- 3 uncommon cards
- 1 rare card
- 1 premium card (sometimes, as a bonus)
What will interest you most, of course, is the rare card. There's always one guaranteed in your pack, but you can never know in advance whether it will have a specific artwork that gives it value among collectors.
Pokémon Card Rarity
If you're a big enough Pokémon fan to collect cards and spend hours and hours looking for the rare card that will make you a TCG collector seasoned. You'll need to know the order of card rarities before you know where to put them in your Pokémon Binder.
Even if you don't collect at all (or not yet), it's always good to know how much our cards are sought after or not: the more valuable a card is, the better your chances of finding someone to trade with!
Common, uncommon and rare
These are the Pokémon cards you'll usually get in bulk, and they're really easy to identify, at least for the first 2 categories (we'll come back to rares right after!). They are marked at the bottom right of the card, with:
- A black circle for commons
- A black diamond for uncommons
- A black star for rares
Holo Rare
Holo Rare Pokémon cards have a shiny image, which sets them apart from a classic rare card. Fun fact: they were among the first cards that made collectors want to own them all!
Reverse Holo
Like the cards we just saw, Reverse Holo cards have a shiny part, but this time it's not the artwork! It's the borders of the card that contain the text.
EX, GX, V Half Art / Half Body
These are the ones everyone fights over and absolutely wants in their latest Pokémon Booster. You can recognize them by the artwork covering most of the card and by a specific name.
They are considered Ultra Rares with unique mechanics. If you pull one, make sure to keep it in excellent condition with a Card Protector !
Full Art / Full Body
A variant of the cards mentioned above, but this time with the artwork covering theentire card. It's sometimes hard to read the attacks on the Pokémon card, but it's also a treat for the eyes.
Secret Rare
These cards are the holy grail of collectors: they are the rarest of all. You can spot them by the number at the bottom left of the card. If, for example, you see something like "115/113", it's one of them, and it's among the most expensive on the market.
Rainbow Rare
They are also considered Ultra Rare Pokémon cards and have been distributed only very rarely since the release of Sun & Moon. They are also considered among the most expensive.
VMAX and Tag Team
Special mention for these cards, which have had their own rarity category since the appearance of Sword & Shield with very specific battle mechanics such as Mega Evolutions.
Promo
Next to the black star at the bottom right, you may sometimes notice the word "Promo". This card was distributed at a Event specific event such as the opening of a Pokémon store or a Pokémon TCG championship.
There you go, now you know everything about Pokémon Boosters, and if you need more info, we're always here for you: we'll always give as much of our time as we can to fellow Pokémon fans like us!
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