Pokemon TCG – Stellar Crown Hands-On Preview

The latest Pokemon TCG set, Stellar Crown, is almost here. The new set is the first since Shrouded Fable, and is focused on the series’ new type, Stellar, which was created by Terapagos.

Thanks to The Pokemon Company, we got to check out the set early, and yep, once again, there are some wonderful cards.

The Product Presentation

While not quite as exciting as previous sets, Stellar Crown’s packaging is sleek.

Naturally, it focuses on Terapagos, the Pokemon which the set is fundamentally based around, but its mixture of silver and blue works well.

It’s also nice to see a Pokemon that doesn’t normally get much of the limelight, Lapras, on the front of the packs.

The Pulls From 49 Packs

If you’ve read any of my previous hands-on previews of the Pokemon TCG, you’ll know my luck is extremely mixed, at best.

Shrouded Fable was a complete washout, as were Astral Radiance and Temporal Forces. Obsidian Flames was a little better, with me pulling three Charizards, and Brilliant Stars rainbow rare Charizard also saved the opening. I hit the jackpot in Fusion Strike and Paradox Rift, pulling the Espeon VMAX alternate art and Roaring Moon ex, respectively, and Scarlet and Violet 151 blessed me with two Zapdos ex. Like I say, it’s a mixed bag.

My Stellar Crown pulls were probably on a par with those from Twilight Masquerade, slap bang in the middle of them all.

I managed to pull a SIR card, Daschbun, which is great, but it is the one I least wanted of them all. Beggars can’t be choosers, though. I also managed to pull the Squirtle AR, which is great and easily my pick of the bunch.

The Booster Box, which is the second picture, was definitely better for pulls than the Elite Trainer Box and Build and Battle Kit from the first picture. Here, while the Lapras is a stunning card, I didn’t really do too good.

Thoughts On The Set

While my pulls from Stellar Crown were decidedly middle-of-the-road, I think it’s shaping up to be one of Scarlet and Violet’s best sets overall.

The new Stellar Tera-type cards with their rainbow borders are stunning and really make the cards pop, even the standard exs. Alongside that, The Pokemon Company has brought its A-game when designing the other cards in the set. All six of the SIR cards are fantastic, and there’s a range of wonderful ARs as well.

Most importantly for me as a collector, however, is the fact that the set isn’t bloated. Partly because it came so soon after the most recent set, Stellar Crown has only 175 cards, including all secret cards. This makes it significantly smaller than any other set in the Scarlet and Violet era outside of Shrouded Fable, which is a holiday set. Prior to this, Temporal Forces was the smallest, sitting at 216 cards, and the biggest was Paldea Evolved at 279 cards. This means that Stellar Crown has a whopping 103 less cards than Paldea Evolved, meaning there’s less bloat and more excitement.