The Pokémon Sword & Shield era is at its finale! With the new set Silver Tempest just on the horizon, Pokémon fans will soon be embarking on a journey into the brand-new 9th generation, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
Within the Silver Tempest set, you’ll find classic legendries like Lugia and Ho-oh and even a Radiant Jirachi hidden in the mix. Lugia specifically will be receiving an alternate art treatment in this set, which captures the Legenrary Trio Master in it’s natural element giving rise to a storm. We feel it’s going to one of those cards that you need to hold in person to truly take in the beauty of all the different holographic colors in the fore and background, with a depiction of how massive Lugia really is front & centre on the card. The set features a total of 4 Alt Art cards with the lineup also including Regidrago (also featuring Lugia in it’s art), Skuntank, and Unown.
So far, the hype for Silver Tempest has been similar if not equal to the set of Lost Origin, with many collectors intending on chasing the Lugia V Alt Art. It is interesting & disappointing to note that Ho-oh will not be given the same love as Lugia, having only one Full Art V variant as opposed to Lugia who has a V STAR, a Full Art V, an Alt Art V, a V STAR Rainbow Rare, and a V STAR Golden rare. That’s 5 Lugia Variants to a lonely one Ho-Oh variant!
You would think it would have made sense to include alt arts for the pair just as they had with pretty much every other previous set…
Palkia & Dialga in Astral Radiance,
Galarian Articuno, Moltres & Zapdos in Chilling Reign,
ALL of the Eeveelutions in Evolving Skies (though an outlier set),
and even Celebi & Mew in Fusion Strike.
But yet, no Ho-Oh & Lugia alt art pairing. Perhaps Pokémon is planning on saving Ho-oh for something bigger in a different set and this is just a taste for Ho-oh enthusiasts of what is to come. But it really would have been the perfect cherry on top to bring the series to a close; a missed opportunity by Pokémon.
Last but certainly not least we leave you with the highlight from the Silver Tempest Trainer Gallery subset, where of course there is no Ho-oh, but there is a another flying Legendary master in Rayquaza VMAX. This will no doubt be one of the top chase cards in the set, making it especially exciting as a fairly good hit rate for Trainer Galleries compared to your typical Ultra Rare chase hits.
Pokémon’s Silver Tempest set will be released November 11, 2022, right before the video games Pokémon Scarlet and Violet come out globally for Nintendo Switch on November 18.
Keep an eye out for some Silver Tempest breaks coming soon!
