The Most Exciting Cards In Pokémon's Big Paldea Evolved Set

With Scarlet and Violet firmly in the rear view mirror, all attention has turned to the next set, Paldea Evolved. Paldea Evolved introduces us to more new Pokémon, Trainers and Special Energy cards that we have never seen before. And of course there is the return of some old favourites, such as Super Rod. New sets are exciting for everyone including players and collectors.

Collectors want to get their hands on the most sought after and valuable cards as soon as possible and players are excited to see how the game will evolve over the next few months. Today we are going to take a look at some of the highlights from Paldea Evolved.

Overview of the Set

Paldea Evolved is the second set in the Scarlet and Violet series and was released on 9th June 2023. It was our first look at new Pokémon such as Ting-Lu, Chien Pao, Wo-Chien and Chi-Yu, all of which got an ex card in the set. The first partner Pokémon from the video games took centre stage though, with Meowscarada ex, Quaquaval ex and Skeledirge ex all featuring prominently in the set.

We were also treated to 3 new Tera Pokémon and the usual Illustration rares that have made their way into the Scarlet and Violet sets so far.

Overall, the set features a whopping 279 cards. Of course that includes all of the secret rares and Illustration rares, but it is still a massive set and one which is going to be difficult to Catch ‘em All!

This set introduces lots of very powerful Pokémon, with strong attacks and even stronger abilities. As The Pokémon Company said, there is a lot of focus on ‘comebacks’, as we see from cards such as Reversal Energy and Luxray (don’t worry, we’ll look at these in more detail later on). Paldea Evolved is shaping up to be a stellar set for both collectors and players.

Exciting Cards

Collectors and players may have differing views on what constitutes an exciting card but there is a lot of overlap in this set. The Illustration Rares and Alternate Arts are always popular with collectors and there truly is a buffet of these to be had. Add in multiple gold cards and the set is bound to be a hit with collectors.

Full art Supporters are always a hit and there are a total of 13 in this set, including regular full arts and alternate arts. Some of these are popular characters from the video game which have not seen themselves in card form yet, including Iono and Clavell. Iono was the card to have straight from release day. Iono is in the enviable position of being wanted by both types of fan, and the price for that card went crazy immediately! It is a very playable card which will see play in the format over the next couple of years. It is almost a Marnie replacement, making both players shuffle their hand and place it on the bottom of their deck, then draw cards equal to the number of prize cards you have remaining. Great for comebacks, which Pokémon have long told us that this series will be about!

We carry on the tradition of gold energy cards and trainer cards and this time it is the turn of Grass and Water energy, alongside Superior Energy Retrieval and Super Rod. Again, these cards are popular with both players and collectors and this helps to keep their prices more buoyant over the long term. Again, these are all very playable. The energy cards need no explanation, however Super Rod allows you to shuffle 3 in any combination of Pokémon and Basic Energy from your discard pile into your deck and Superior Energy Retrieval lets you discard 2 cards from hand in order to put 4 energy cards from your discard pile into your hand. Both are great ways of recycling resources and getting back those pieces that you need.

There are high value Pokémon cards in every set and Paldea Evolved is no exception to this rule. On release weekend, Alternate Art Iono was selling for up to £150 and the Full Art would set you back £60. As with all sets, I expect the prices to drop over the coming weeks as the cards become more available.

Strategies For Collecting The Paldea Evolved Set

Like with any set, collecting all the cards is a challenge and sometimes you will need quite a large budget. But if you do manage it, it is extremely satisfying and can look stunning in a binder. As we’ve seen though, some individual cards can reach into the hundreds of pounds early on and so it’s always best to wait a few weeks after release before buying any single cards.

There are a few ways that you can get your hands on the cards, including two weeks early through pre release events. These are events run by stores which allow you to open some packs of the new set and battle with the cards, usually in the two weeks leading up to the official release date. This is a great way to boost your collection early and get ahead of the crowds.

You can then purchase booster boxes and elite trainer boxes, any sealed product you like really, in the hope of pulling all the cards you need. This is usually the most expensive way of doing things as it doesn’t guarantee you exact cards. You might end up with 4 copies of a card and zero copies of another.

If this does happen though, your next best option is trading. You may be able to find someone who really needs the card you have multiple copies of and they have spares of the one you need. Trading is a great way of picking up any cards you need and there are no set rules when it comes to trading. Just make sure that both parties are happy with the trade and don’t put pressure on your trading partner to make a deal if they don’t want to.

Once you have opened some sealed products and traded for some of the cards you need, the final option for picking up any remaining cards is to buy singles. This is always seen as the most cost effective method of collecting, you can get the exact cards you need to fill in the gaps and you can often make purchase deals on multiple cards, getting a little bit of money off if you buy enough.

Unboxing Paldea Evolved Cards

As we said before, buying the single cards is the most effective way of collecting the full set. Buying the individual cards online or in a store surely doesn’t give the same joy and excitement as opening the packs and pulling the cards for yourself? It is such a good feeling to hit that card that you really want in your booster box. I know that I’ve got cards in my set which I can remember pulling from packs and always remember those ones the most fondly, often pointing out those ones as ‘one I pulled myself’ to my friends when they look through my collection!

There is such a range of products now available that it is quite accessible to everyone, from single packs right through to booster boxes and special collection boxes. You only need one pack to hit that card that you badly want! That’s what collecting is to a lot of people, opening packs and being excited at the result. For some it is the nostalgia of being taken back to when they were young, opening up the early sets, and now doing it with the newest set. Maybe though you can’t afford to open up lots of packs and that’s where things like Youtube come in. There are tons of people opening up Pokemon packs on Youtube to try and give people that same feeling without having to go out and spend a fortune on packs.

Our Top Picks From Pokémon Paldea Evolved

Of course, when it comes to the top picks from Pokémon Paldea Evolved, you will find lots of the SAR cards on this list. These cards feature beautiful artwork, are usually reasonably playable cards and are always at the top of the price charts. I have no doubt that Iono SAR will be at the very top, not only is it a very competitive card that is going to see lots of play in decks, it is also a great artwork and a very popular character.

Full art supporters are always popular, not only for their stunning artwork but they usually have playability. Some of these, such as Dendra SAR and Grusha SAR are not particularly playable, although they have struck a chord amongst collectors, both of them pushing up for the top spot of most valuable card in the set. Outside of the supporters, Meowscarada SAR is one of the most valuable and is looking as though it will be one of the most playable Pokémon in the set. The same applies to Chien-Pao SAR. Have you noticed the theme here yet?

There are also some staple cards for competitive players, including the ever popular Boss’s Orders, brilliant item cards such as Super Rod and Superior Energy Retrieval and new energy cards, including Reversal Energy and Jet Energy. Reversal Energy is one of those comeback cards, which you can attach to a Pokemon and it gives them a colourless energy. However, if you are behind on prizes, and you have attached it to a non rule box Pokémon, it provides 3 energy of any type. Now that is a powerful card! It is going to be a staple in almost every single prize deck and it’s not difficult to see why.  

There are also some super competitive Pokémon in this set and while they are not crazy expensive, they might carve out a solid place in the meta going forward. First we have Baxcalibur, which will be a fantastic support Pokemon in lots of decks. It has the ability ‘Super Cold’ which allows you to attach a water energy from your hand to any of your Pokémon as often as you like.

There are no restrictions apart from the fact it has to be a basic water energy. You can attach to rule box Pokemon and you can do it as often as you like during your turn. As long as you have energy in hand, you can attach them all over the board!

Another very powerful Stage 2 Pokémon that will likely see play is Tyranitar thanks to its Dread Mountain attack. For 2 Dark energy, it deals a massive 230 damage. That’s going to be fantastic for setting up damage on high HP Pokémon. Tyranitar then has a second attack, Rout, which for one Dark energy is going to do 30 + 30 more for each of your opponents benched Pokemon. If they have a full bench, you are going to be dishing out 180 damage, for only one energy. It’s a powerful card, but might take some setting up as it is a Stage 2.

As we teased earlier, there is also a Luxray in this set which is a Stage 2 Pokémon. However, if you are behind on prizes and Luxray is in your hand, you can play it straight onto your bench. That is a very strong ability, especially when you consider that for the single energy attachment of the Reversal Energy, Luxray is then ready to dish out 180 damage. So you could potentially go from no attacking threats on the board to suddenly whacking something for 180, that’s really good!

Next up is the awesome Chien-Pao ex who has the ‘Shivery Chill’ ability. As long as Chien Pao is in the active spot, you can search your deck for 2 basic water energies and put them into your hand. This is really good, especially when we consider the Baxcalibur that we mentioned earlier. Now you’ve got those energy in hand, attach them to any of your Pokemon that you want!

There we go, those are some of the highlights from Paldea Evolved although I’m sure that there are many others which you will love. There is a really good selection of playable cards and a perfect assortment of collectable ones too. The thrill of trying to catch ‘em all is still very much alive for Pokemon.