The Hisui region finally comes to the Pokemon Trading Card Game this week with Astral Radiance, a 246-card set that introduces Pokemon, places, and items from Pokemon Legends: Arceus to the TCG. Astral Radiance has many of the features introduced in February’s 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Brilliant Stars set while introducing one o﷽f its own; Radiant Pokemon, a new type of Basic Pokemon that has such powerful effects you’re limited to only one per deck. As the Sword & Shield generation winds down, this expansion stands as a testament to how far the game has come over the last two years.
If you’re a Legends: Arceus fan, Astral Radiance has almost everything. Dialga and Palkia (you have to say their names in that order) appear in their Origin Formes as V and VSTAR cards, as are the Hisuian starters, Decidueye, Samurott, and Typhlosion. Kleavor, Sneasler, Wydeer, and Hisuian Lilligant are well represented with regular, V, and Full 𝐆Art versions, while the rest of Hisuian Pokemon - including Growlithe, Voltorb, Avalugg, and Basculegion - make some appearance. You won’t find Braviary, Zorua, or Zoroark for some reason, which was a bit of a letdown - especially considering Zorua and Zoroark are featured in the ongoing Hisuian Snow animated series.
There’s also a great selection of item cards that represent Hisui well. Items like Sweet Honey, Feather Balls, and Heavy Ballsℱ are represented, as well as characters like Commander Kamado, the Diamond Clan’s Adaman, and Captain Cyllene. The set could have gone a lot further with Trainer Cards. It doesn’t leverage the crafting theme from Legends by giving us cards that combo together, and it includes a lot of non-Legends characters and items, Like Roxanne and Fossils. Pokemon expansions are never 100 percent on theme so I’m inclined to give Astral Radiance some leeway for giving us so much Legends: Arceus at once, but leaving out Bagin the Bag Man is a huge oversight.
Astral Radiance feels like a sequel to Brill🔜iant Stars in a lot of ways. VSTAR cards make a return - though they’re attached to new Pokemon that didn’t already have VMAX cards, so they aren’t quite as interesting as a mechanic this time around. We also see the return of the Trainer Gallery, which features 23 Full Art Pokemon with their partners. I still like the extra shot at pulling a rare in every pack, since these cards take the reverse holo slot, but I would have preferred these stuck to the Hisuian theme. I love Milo, Misty, and Cynthia, but we’ve seen them plenty of times already. The only Hisuian card in the whole collection is Kleavor and Lian.
There are three Radiant Pokemon in Astral Radiance; Heatran, Greninja, and Hawlucha. Each one is plenty powerful and justifies the one-per-deck rule. I’m especially intrigued by Radiant Hawlucha, which gives all your other Pokemon +30 damage on attacks as long as Hawlucha is on the bench. It seems like a card you can slot into every deck regardless of theme or strategy - it’s just that good. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of Radiant Pokemon we see in the future, and I hope this is a card type that continues into the Scarlet & Viole🌳t generation.
In most of my Sword & Shield reviews, I’ve moa♍ned about the size of expansions. Every expansion in the set has had well over 200 cards, and at 246, Astral Radiance is the fourth-biggest ever. I appreciate a large pool of commons to help cut back on repetition, but 118 cards in this set are V rarity or better, and the pull rates for V or better can still be as low as tenpercent. If the ultra rares were in more packs and trading was more feasible, I wouldn’t mind the big sets at all. Unfortunately, I think the number of rare cards is only contributing to the overall inflation of the aftermarket. It feels like expansions are getting bigger solely for the benefit of stores that sell singles. I’m all for supporting local card shops, but these big expansions make opening packs pretty unrewarding. You may pull something mega rare, but the chances of it being one of the cards you wanted are pretty slim, even if there’s a dozen different cards you’re after.
Credit where credits due, Astral Radiance delivers tons of Legends: Arceus goodness. Between the V, VMAX, VSTAR, Full Art, Alternate Art, Rainbow, Gold, Black and Gold, Trainer Gallery, and now, Radiant Pokemon, there’s more chase card variety than ever. It’s a shame that master set🌺s are basically impossible to collect anymore, but when the trade-off is more cards with constantly evolving mechanics, it’s hard to complain. There’s likely only a few expansions left before the start of Scarlet & Violet, and Astral Radiance is a perfect example of what made Sword & Shield great.
