Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Japanese Trophy cards (pre 2003)

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dogma

New Member
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Trophy Cards. Perhaps the most sought after cards in the Pokémon world (well, with the exception of Prerelease Raichu :tongue: ). For a very long time, information on these cards were scarce. There weren't even any good scans around, so that people could at least see what they looked like! With the help of promo_sen (eBay name), I've got some good scans of some cards, and information about others. All of the other images were digitally enhanced, by me, from the Japanese CD Database that was released in 2005.

The first Trophy cards

When these cards first hit eBay, they reached $22,878. (At least, according to Pojo they did). They appear to have passed hands more than once, because I know at least three British dealers who have pictures of them. In fact, a British dealer is currently selling them now, if you have that type of money:

No. 1 Trainer: £5995 (approx. $12,000)
No. 2 Trainer: £5495 (approx. $11,000)
No. 3 Trainer: £5195 (approx. $10,400)


[gal=20628]TrainerNo2[/gal][gal=20629]TrainerNo3[/gal]

These cards were given, in Japan, for the first three years of their national competition. A translation of the No. 1 Trainer would be:

TRAINER
No. 1 Trainer
____________________________
Being the winner of the Pokémon
Card Game official tournament is
recognized here, and praise for
that is given.

This proves that the one who
possesses this card participated
in the Best in Japan Final Battles
of the First Pokémon Card Game
Tournament.
____________________________
Mitsuhiro Arita

Secret Super Battle

Never heard of these? Well I don't know too much about 'em either (except the tournament they're awarded for was in 1999) These were once in the possession of a very well known Japanese dealer around 2001, but I don't know if they still have them - I doubt it very much!

[gal=20642] Secret Super Battle (No. 1) [/gal] [gal=20644] Secret Super Battle (No. 2)[/gal][gal=20646] Secret Super Battle (No. 3)[/gal]

'University' Magikarp

This is one of the more controversial trophy cards. Some people say that it was ultra-rare, and that to win one, you had to go through a series of tests at Tamamushi High School. Once you pass the tests over several days, you get the card.

[gal=20633] University Magikarp(No. 1) [/gal] [gal=20641] University Magikarp (Web)[/gal]

To me it seems like a weird trophy card. Nothing on it appears extra-ordinary, even if the Magikarp splash art looks cool. And to top it off, the card was reprinted for the Pokémon Web series! For those of you who don't know, PCL released a set of 48 cards through their Pokémon Center website. You bought a set of 10 random cards, but after buying them, you get to see what they are.

If it was such a rare trophy card, why would they rerelease it? My guess is that the card is very rare, but not as rare as some think it is. It was rereleased because it was never meant to be so rare.

Having said that, promo_sen and some other dealers have informed me that it is indeed a very rare card - they're convinced it is one of the rarest Pokémon cards in existence, and have shown be some pictures of all the early trophy cards, including Univesity Magikarp, in Japanese articles together. I think that some of the rarity comes from the fact that the card was given to younger children as prizes. Obviously, younger children do not always realise how valuable a small card can be... though the same dealer selling the First trophy cards is selling the University Magikarp for £1295!

The translation is:

Magikarp LV.10 30 HP (W)
Basic Pokémon
_______________________________
(W) Flip 10x
Flip 2 coins. This attack does 10
damage times the number of heads.

(WW) Dragon’s Rage 50
Flip 2 coins. If either of them
is tails, this attack does
nothing.
________________________________
Weakness Resistance Retreat Cost
(L) -(C)

Parent/Child team tournament card - Kangaskhan

Apparently, teams of parents and children had to pre-register for a tournament, and if you had enough wins, you get this Kangaskhan card! Because you didn't have to win the entire tournament, there are a few of these around - not just one or two.

[gal=20638] Mega battle Kangaskhan [/gal]
 
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Part 2

Tropical Mega Battle

One of the few trophy cards that English players got their hands on - Ness won one, but decided to sell it. The tournament was held in Hawaii, and there is already information on the web about it - see http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Alley/2247/Tmb2001.txt and http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Alley/2247/Tmb2000.htm for th 2001 and 2000 tournaments respectively.

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Trophy cards - from Neo onwards

The illustration changed for the Japanese National tournaments, but the concept is the same - 1st, 2nd and 3rd places get an exclusive card. My guess is that these cards were for the tournaments held in 2000 and 2001, but I could be wrong.

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e-card style Trophy cards

These cards were given out at the 2002 tournaments. One cool thing here is that whilst the male illustration is the same as the Neo one, PCL also made a female version as well!

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...and now for the surprise!

Yes, all good things come to those who wait (or those who scrolled all the way down here). You see, as I said before, the good quality scans come from promo_sen. What I wasn't expecting was the next two pictures. One of the cool things about the 2002 season was that players actually got their names on the trophy cards!

But that's not all. Here is the first pic:

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The top 4 players got their picture put on a card! I wonder what it says?

The second pic is more of a mystery to me. promo_sen says it is the No. 2 Neo Spring Road Senior Player. Of course, there must be even more of these - at least a No. 1 trainer like it for all the age divisions as well!

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These last two cards are not on the Japanese CD database that was released in Japan in 2005. I have no other information about them sadly, but I thought it'd be good for everyone to see these pictures at least!

2003 onwards - Victory Orb etc.

The new generation broke with the tradition of having separate cards for No. 1, 2 and 3 trainers. The first of the cards is the victory orb - some of these cards were recently sold by promo_sen on eBay, so you may have already seen them. They also do not appear to be one of kind cards like the earliest cards (good for the collectors bank accounts!!) Maybe one of these days I'll do a sequel to this article to show you guys some of these cards.

Other trophy cards
There are also some other cards that can be considered to be trophy cards, in the sense that they were given out as prizes for winning a tournament. None of these tournaments were as important as the ones shown here, but the cards are almost as rare!

There were also cards given out for winning competitions. However, we've run out of space here, but maybe I'll do another feature on these types of cards too!

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thanks to Poképop, who scanned in the rather nice pictures of the first No. 1,2,3 cards, and to usagi_chan, who had translated the cards before. Several websites hold his translations, which include other rare cards too!
 
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Thanks dogma for letting people know that there are a lot more than just Tropical Wave Promos out there! My apologies for the delay in publishing this.
 
That's not true - the 2006 world championship card was the best trophy card yet IMO. Search for it in the Pokegym Gallery if you haven't seen it.
 
AWESOME AWESOME article. Those trophy cards from the first 3 JPN Nationals are so cool, the No. 3 Trainer looks much better than the one I have.
 
Typhlosion Princess said:
Nice cards :smile: . But what about Eeve trophy Fan Club card???
ps id love to have those cards :lol:
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It's not a trophy card. It's a card like Umbreon * of last seasons OP in Japan - you need a certain number of EXP points (gained through entering tournaments etc.) before you can get one. It's so valuable because it's so rare - can't remember the exact number, but you had to play an awful lot before you could get your hands on one.

This article is about trophy cards you could win in a tournament. Not rare cards full stop (although I may write such an article at some point)
 
lol, my friends who have been to worlds multiple times have 2 pages full of Tropical Wave cards, one in about every language
 
This is one of the more controversial trophy cards. Some people say that it was ultra-rare, and that to win one, you had to go through a series of tests at Tamamushi High School. Once you pass the tests over several days, you get the card.
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I finally know where that Magikarp came from. Do you know what year the Magikarp was released through the high school; and is it still being released through these 'tests'?
 
The card is most definitely out of print. As I pointed out in the article, there is a lot of confusion about this card, and noone really seems to know exactly how rare the card is. Thus, the card is no longer being released through tests.

As for the year the original was released, I have no idea... my guess would be between 1997-1999...
 
My question, I almost got ahold one of these one day but missed out, does anyone have any info on where the Illustrator Pikachu card is or how much its going for?

This was card to my knowledge and my guess has about 50 copies in circulation or less. It was given to the winners of people who drew cards and had them printed in the Japanese Vending Sheet series. Given the amount of cards in the vending set, I would estimate theirs no more then that many illustrators out there now give a few as they tend to make more then needed.
 
It's one of the few cards which is on the same scale of rarity as the trophy cards. You are right about its origins - kids who participated in a CoroCoro drawing competition to have their pictures on Vending cards (and won) got one of these cards.

I think 100 of them were given out (don't quote me on that, I seem to recall from somewhere that number). The problem - most kids didn't realise their value and hence they are very very hard to come by. And for good reason - someone is selling theirs for over £1000!

Is it a trophy card? No, at least not for a tournament. But it is one of the most prized cards out there...
 
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