What to Expect in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet 8.5 Release

The very beginning of new year looks already amazing for every fan of Pokémon the Trading Card Game as we are fast approaching the release of the 2025 special English Pokémon collector set “Scarlet & Violet 8.5 - Prismatic Evolutions”. The new set was announced in October 2024 and immediately caused waves of excitement due the incredible collectible value of the set and the amazing range of dedicated product. Players are also looking forward to get their hands on this set considering the wide range of good cards featured in it. Most important, the main Pokémon of the set is the super-adorable Eevee with all its amazing evolutions and this should just be enough to get all Pokémon fans in awe for this set. Let's have a look on what we can expect from the release of Scarlet & Violet 8.5 – Prismatic Evolutions.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet 8.5 – Set Structure and special products

In total the English set will feature over 175 cards including: 6 ACE SPEC Trainer cards, 10 Pokémon ex cards, 15 Tera Pokémon ex cards, 12 Ultra Rare Supporter cards, 32 Illustration Rares and 5 Hyper Rare Gold Etched Pokémon ex cards. Most of the cards of this set are taken from the last Japanese set, Terastal Festival ex, which released in December 2024 although there will be some featured in the most recent “Generations Start Deck” set.

Completing a Master set of Prismatic Evolution would already be quite the feat just considering the size of the set and the huge amount of Illustration Rare cards. However, all the Common, Uncommon, and Rare cards from Pokémon Scarlet & Violet 8.5 will also feature not one but three different Reverse Holo patterns as a Poké Ball and Master Ball Holographic pattern have been used together with the usual one. These two patterns are not new to Pokémon collectors as they are already in use in all Japanese sets.

Pokémon TCG Scarlet & Violet 8.5 set “Prismatic Evolutions” will arrive on the shelves of all shops on the 17th January 2025. However, as we have previously seen for other sets including Pokémon 151 last year, different products will be made available progressively through the year giving an opportunity to all players to collect not only the set but a large selection of promo cards and accessories.

Among them, it is worth mentioning the Prismatic Evolutions Surprise Box and the Pouch Special Collection as they are two type of products designed specifically for this set. The surprise Box comes with 4 Prismatic Evolutions booster packs, one Foil Promo card featuring the Ex version of Eevee or any of its evolution and four card dividers to turn the Surprise Box into a useful storage solution for your pulls. The Pouch Special Collection also comes with some Prismatic Evolutions booster packs (five this time) AND with a soft accessory pouch in the shape of our beloved Eevee. The pouch looks incredibly nice with its super-long fluffy ears and I am pretty sure it is already on the buying list of a lot of fans.

While we are all waiting for all these products to become available in February and April, players will focus on the first wave in January that will include: Prismatic Evolutions Elite Trainer Box, Prismatic Evolutions Elite Trainer Box (Pokémon Centre Exclusive), Prismatic Evolutions Binder Collection, Prismatic Evolutions Poster Collection and Prismatic Evolutions Tech Sticker Collection. While these products are very similar to the one already seen for the 151 set, it is worth flagging that the promo cards of the poster collection (Vaporeon, Jolteon and Flareon) and not the same of those available in the Tech Sticker Collection (Leafeon, Glaceon or Sylveon) therefore players will need to purchase multiple copies of all of them if they want to complete the set.

Rare Cards and Chase Cards to Look For

Together with having many beautifully illustrated cards, Pokémon Scarlet & Violet 8.5 is also expected to include many very playable cards with some of them expected to have a massive impact on the metagame. Although the full list of this set has not been revealed at the time of writing, we already saw a few interesting ones by looking to the card list of the Japanese Terastal Festival ex set. The Eeveelutions, for example, are all pretty good cards not only for their artwork and we can definitely expect to see them played at least in the casual environment.

Among the more competitive ones, the n Normal Pokémon “Regigigas” surely caught our eyes due to its 160 HP and a “Jewel Break” attack that deals 230 more damage to a Tera Pokémon. Considering the basic damage value of this attack is already 100, Regigigas is expected to be able to knock out in one single mighty blow very popular cards like Charizard Ex and Dragapult Ex particularly if combined with Lugia VSTAR to charge its attack quickly.

The main star of this set, however, is expected to be the new Plant Pokémon Budew that is already having a massive impact on the metagame in Japan due to its attack “Itchy Pollen”. Although the damage dealt with this attack is negligible (10), Itchy Pollen will prevent your opponent from playing any Item cards from their hand. Considering how Items have become a critical component of the most successful strategies in today metagame, this simple card can put your opponent in check easily. And it also does not need any energy to be used! It is quite easy to see why Budew have been added to pretty much every deck since its release in Japan and we can expect to see a lot more of this card in the upcoming release of Prismatic Evolutions.

Collecting Scarlet & Violet 8.5 Prismatic Evolutions

As it is easy to imagine, the new Scarlet & Violet 8.5 Prismatic Evolutions set is expected to be even more in demand that Pokémon 151. The size of the set, the high amount of Illustration Rare cards and the new Holofoil patterns are just a few among the reasons this set will be very sought-after. Another obvious reason is that everyone loves Eevee and Prismatic Evolutions not only features this lovable Pokémon but also all 6 Eeveelutions together with their terastalised form. And don't forget the foil promos.

Considering all these aspect, we can also expect the value of the rarest cards of this set to go through the roof on the secondary market. As usual, securing a few packs of this set will likely be the most cost effective way to start your collection and hopefully pull some of the cards you want for your decks. The pre-order page at Magic Madhouse will be of great help in this task considering all the products are priced very competitively and benefit from the free shipment policy for all order above £30. However, the very high demand has already taken almost all the stock for the products of the first wave. With more products to be added as we progress through the year and re-print being made available, keeping an eye on the pre-order page will likely be the only way to ensure you can get your hands on this set. Personally, I strongly recommend to exploit the “Notify me when available” option to be able to get them as they become available.