“Pokemon Card 151” Secret Rare Cards Revealed — God Packs Confirmed!
Japanese fans are now posting the secret rares from Pokemon Card 151 to social media!
We translated all cards from the main set last week. It features 165 cards before secret rares. There will be 45 secret rares, for a total of 210 cards.
Pokemon Card 151 releases in Japan on Friday. Products from the English set will start to release on September 22nd as our special holiday set. We will continue to post details about the English set as we learn them, so keep checking back!
This post will be updated as we discover more secret rares. You can also follow me on Twitter @pokebeach for updates.
“Pokemon Card 151” Secret Rares
(This gallery is a mix of Pokemon’s digital images and photos of the cards. They show the artwork or texture differently than the images above.)
God Packs
A God Pack has been spotted for Pokemon Card 151! A 6-card booster pack came with 4x Illustration Rares and 2x Super Illustration Rares: a Squirtle, Wartortle, Blastoise ex, Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard ex. In other words, two full Evolution lines.
Currently we do not know how rare they are or if they’ll have different configurations.
Update: A second God Pack came with a full Venusaur ex line and Blastoise ex line.
A “God Pack” is a booster pack full of secret rare cards.
Reverse Holo Cards
As usual, the Japanese set will feature reverse holo cards with glittery Poke Balls over the card.
For the first time ever, reverse holo cards can also feature a Master Ball pattern. In Pokemon’s booster box opening video, only one Master Ball reverse holo was pulled from the entire box. Seemingly this means there’s one per box.
All common, uncommon, and holo rares can have a reverse foil print (153 cards for this set). This means serious collectors will have to collect two sets of reverse holos, with one set being much rarer than the other. Yikes!
Secret Rare Cards
Illustration Rares feature full art illustrations without a texture. They are only for regular Pokemon (as in, non-ex Pokemon). A typical Japanese box comes with three of them.
Illustration Rares noticeably feature less popular Pokemon or Pokemon that don’t normally get special cards, such as middle Evolutions. They depict the Pokemon interacting with their environment as living creatures — a sort of “in the daily life of a Pokemon.” For example, Tangela makes its own swing on a tree, Poliwhirl ponders its reflection in a rainy city, and Mr. Mime practices its craft in a park. Because the Pokemon’s environment is being highlighted, the Pokemon are often less prominent in the illustration (compared to normal illustrations). The artwork occasionally features other Pokemon species too.
They can also tell a story across an entire Evolution line. For example, Charmander dreams of leaving its canyon one day. Eventually it climbs out and flies away as Charizard. Squirtle moves deeper and deeper into the ocean as it evolves, becoming a stronger diver.
Special Illustration Rares are also Illustration Rares, but only for Pokemon ex and Supporters. They again depict the subject in their everyday life. They feature a texture, unlike Illustration Rares. They are much rarer than Illustration Rares.
Ultra Rare cards are what fans refer to as “full art” cards. They’re also exclusive to Pokemon ex and Supporters. The art is a little more simplistic (especially for the Pokemon). The highlight of these cards are their texture, which can only be appreciated in real life. These were the original textured cards before the TCG began to produce Special Illustration Rares.
Hyper Rare cards are simply gold versions of Ultra Rare cards. Unlike Ultra Rares, they can also include Trainer cards and Energy cards. These are the rarest cards.
