The Trophy Card that no one is talking about - the 2019 Thailand National Championship Jirachi

Researching the 2019 Thailand National Championship Jirachi

Pictured is the 2019 Thailand National Championship tournament participation card - Jirachi. The card was given to players that participated in the 2019 Thailand Pokemon TCG National Championship, a two-day event held on December 7-8, 2019 at True Digital Park in Bangkok.

No one seems to be talking about this card, so I thought I would shine a spotlight on what might be the rarest card printed to date in the Thai version of the Pokemon TCG.

That's a big claim and big claims require big evidence, so let me take a step back and discuss how I became aware of this card, and the results of my efforts to research the card to-date. 

Background

For those surprised to learn of a Thai version of the Pokemon TCG, fear not, the official launch of the game in Thailand occurred fairly recently (January 2019) and I myself only just learned of this development from a friend on instagram. The game has an official Thai website, and official social media outlets, including a Thai facebook page, and an instagram account.

As I started digging into the Thai version of the game, I began searching for Thai Pokemon cards on eBay, which is where I first encountered this Jirachi promo listed by two separate sellers. The card's stamp piqued my interest, so I started scouring the Thai facebook page and instagram account for more information. The social media presence of the game is still growing (with only around 6,000 instagram followers and 16,000 facebook followers (those numbers were even fewer at that time I discovered the card) at the time of this writing) so discovering information about the card through social media channels was difficult, as no one was separately posting pictures of this card or describing the means by which it was acquired. That being said, my deep dive into the official instagram and facebook pages did yield some interesting results.

Information about Jirachi and the Thailand National Tournament

The images above come from the official Thai facebook page of the game. These were among the first advertisements I could find describing the national tournament event. 

From what I could gather based on the game's social media accounts, the national tournament was held over a period of 2 days at True Digital Park in Bangkok. The tournament was broken into two stages, with day 1 serving as an initial Swiss qualifying round to narrow the total number of contestants down to 64, and day 2 serving as a single elimination knock out round until a final champion was selected. 

We know from a November 12, 2019 facebook post that a maximum of 512 participants were originally anticipated to be eligible to participate in the Thai National Championship. In reality, the game is still new in Thailand and is still growing in popularity, and the 512 maximum participant cap was never reached. This was confirmed in a December 3, 2019 facebook post that broke down the players eligible to participate in the National Championship. These included: 212 players who placed 1-4th in Gym Battle tournaments, 78 players who received invitations through the 2nd Town League event held on November 30th, and 2 youtube players who received a special invitation to participate, for a total of 292 maximum eligible participants.

While 292 total players were eligible to participate, not all 292 players attended the event. Based on the official Day 1 results of the event (which were also posted to facebook), only 207 players actually participated in the tournament. 

With 207 total participants, does that mean that only 207 cards were distributed? 

Possibly, but there are a few areas where more information would be helpful. 

Outstanding Qs and Limitations

First, let's discuss limitations. 

1. I do not speak or read Thai and as a result, my understanding of these events relies heavily on google translate and facebook translate, so it is entirely possible things will be lost in translation.

2. I have reached out for more information from the official Thai social media accounts as well as one of the Thai social media influencers who participated in the event, and have received no response. Please do not flood their inboxes asking for more information because of this post. 

I call on anyone interested in this topic to add on and supplement the information I've been able to uncover to date. 

Now, let's discuss open questions.

Q1. The second image advertising the National Championship identifies a number of side events and a promo card for participating in a learn to play tutorial, was the promo card given at the side events also Jirachi?

A1. It is possible, but unlikely. First, by way of background, a number of side events were offered to spectators of the National Championship. These included: 1. a learn-to-play tutorial event, 2. a free battle event, 3. a trade zone event in which players could look at cards for the game and trade with each other, 4. a concert featuring pop start Ice Siam Dream, 5. a meet and greet with Pikachu and Eevee, and 6. a social media influencer special battle. Events were also held focusing on Pokemon Go and the Pokemon Video Games, but I have found no information to indicate that prize cards were awarded for participating in these separate events. 

We know that participation in the side events would result in the accumulation of points that could be exchanged for different prizes. A list of these prizes, along with the points required to purchase them, are below (image taken from instagram).

From the list of side event prizes, it is clear that special promo cards could not be obtained by redeeming points accumulated by participating in the side activities. In fact, other facebook posts indicate that the only side event for which a promotional card was awarded was the tutorial learn to play event, but no mention is made of what card was awarded for participating. 

Is it possible that this card was Jirachi? Yes, but since tutorial events were a major push of the current Thailand launch of the game and these events already had their own prize pool, it is more likely that the promo awarded for participation in the tutorial event during the National Championship came from that pre-existing prize pool. Again, I have no definitive proof of this, it is just my educated guess based on the information I have been able to find to date.

Q2. Are there staff versions of Jirachi?

A2. I do not know. Thus far, I have been unable to find staff versions of any Thai promotional cards (including Jirachi), so staff cards simply may not exist in Thailand or they may exist but I just have been unable to find them. I also do not have any information regarding what compensation tournament organizers and judges received for participating in the event. Employment laws vary widely from country to country, and it is possible that the organizers/judges received actual compensation for their participation in the event instead of cards, but I do not know (1) how many organizers helped with the event, (2) how many judges participated, or (3) what compensation they received. 

Q3. How many copies of Jirachi were printed?

A3. I do not know, but given that the original estimate of the maximum number of players was 512, and the possibility that cards were awarded to tournament organizers/staffers, plus some extras just in case, my best guess is that the total number of cards printed is well below 1,000 - assuming that Jirachi was not awarded as a promo for side event participation. If Jirachi was a side event participation prize (which, at the time of this writing, I find unlikely), then we should expect the number to be higher. 

Q4. How may copies of Jirachi were distributed?

A4. Based on the official day 1 results, at least 207 copies were distributed. More may have been distributed if Jirachi was distributed at side events (unlikely) or awarded to event organizers and judges (unknown). 

Q5. How rare is this card?

A5. Given the low number of participants in the tournament, the short duration of the event, the fact that it was essentially held in a mall over a two day period, the fact that the game is still only starting to grow in Thailand, the relatively small social media following of the official Thai social media accounts, and videos of the event showing a small number of attendees, this is likely an extremely rare card with a very small distribution - perhaps on par with or even rarer than the Japanese unikarp.

Conclusion

The foregoing is all of the information I have been able to gather to-date, along with a list of outstanding questions and gaps in my ability to research this card. If you are able to find additional information, I encourage you to reach out to me on my instagram account (www.instagram.com/thecardpletionist), on reddit with the same username, or by leaving a comment below (but note that I check this blog somewhat infrequently). I will be posting this information on the efour pro boards and the pkmntcgcollecting subreddit as well to help make sure the community is informed of this relatively new trophy card, and I will update this page as more information becomes available. 

Regional Differences: Diamond and Pearl Pt. 5 Legends Awakened

It's been a while since I last posted a Regional Differences article covering the Diamond and Pearl era of the TCG. In Part 4, I examined how corporate synergy between the TCG and the movie "The Rise of Darkrai" created a plethora of regional differences spanning the West's Secret Wonders, Great Encounters and Majestic Dawn expansions, and the Japanese DP3 and DP4 sets. You can read the previous article by clicking here if you need a refresher.

The next sets in the block, "Legends Awakened" in the West, and "Cry from the Mysterious" and "Temple of Anger" in Japan, brought things back into alignment between the East and West, with a few notable exceptions.

MFW "Cry from the Mysterious" is the accepted translation.

Background

DP5 was released in Japan on March 14, 2008. Like Moonlit Pursuit and Dawn Dash, DP5 was composed of two subsets: Cry from the Mysterious and Temple of Anger. Each subset contained a total of 65 cards, all of which were exclusive to each subset. In other words, unlike Moonlit Pursuit and Dawn Dash, in which a handful of cards were available in both booster subsets, all of the cards in Temple of Anger could only be obtained in Temple of Anger packs, and vice versa with respect to Cry from the Mysterious. Each subset contained 15 Rares, 8 Holos, and 3 LV. X ultra rare cards.

The Western version of DP5, Legends Awakened, was released on August 20, 2008. At the time of its release, Legends Awakened was the third largest set in the English TCG, weighing in at an impressive 146 cards. Legends Awakened included the 130 cards from DP5, along with 16 cards from Japan's Heatran vs. Regigigas Deck Kit, a complementary product released alongside the DP5 booster sets. The Deck Kit contained a number of unique cards, most notably Gliscor LV. X and Mewtwo LV. X, that could not otherwise be obtained in the DP5 booster sets.  

Heatran vs. Regigigas Deck Kit. See more at http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Heatran_vs_Regigigas_Deck_Kit_(TCG)

Notable Differences

Overall, there are not many differences between the English and Japanese releases of these sets. Nearly all of the English cards can be found in either the DP5 subsets or the Heatran vs. Regigigas Deck Kit. That being said, there are still a handful of regional differences worth highlighting.

1. Porygon Z LV. X

The most glaring difference between the sets is the inclusion of Porygon Z LV. X in Temple of Anger. In the English TCG, Porygon Z LV. X was originally released in Majestic Dawn. In Japan, the card was originally printed in Temple of Anger, and later received a DP-P promotional card variant with alternate artwork. The English version of the card in Majestic Dawn uses the Japanese promotional card's artwork instead of the original artwork used in Temple of Anger. The Temple of Anger artwork was not released in the English TCG and, as a result, remains a Japanese exclusive to this day.

Temple of Anger print (Japanese exclusive artwork)

Majestic Dawn print (using artwork from the Japanese promo version of the card)

 2. Rarity Disparity

Like previous sets in the Diamond and Pearl block, certain cards had their printed rarities altered between the Japanese and English releases. In Japan, Castform, Catform Rain Form, Castform Snow-cloud Form and Castform Sunny Form were all printed as rare cards in Cry from the Mysterious. These cards were changed to Uncommons for the English release of Legends Awakened.

Does Castform have testicles? Because it kind of looks like Castform has testicles...

In addition, the cards from the Heatran vs. Regigigas Deck Kit were given new printed rarities for their release in Legends Awakened.  The Deck Kit was a fixed product, meaning the contents of every Deck Kit were the same without a substantive rarity, and PCI had no choice but to create rarities for each card imported from that product. Their choices were... unusual. 

Heatran and Regigigas, the namesakes of each half deck, were each printed as Rares. Mewtwo, a card from the Regigigas half deck, was the only card from the Deck Kit printed as a Holo Rare in Legends Awakened. Mewtwo's counterpart in the Heatran half deck, Gliscor, was strangely printed as an Uncommon. It is unclear to me why PCI made these choices, perhaps it had more to do with the cards' competitive qualities than anything else, but it is somewhat unusual that the cards from the half decks received such disparate rarity treatment.  

That's all for this week's installment of regional differences. As always, please let me know if you have any comments, questions or suggestions for revision. 

I will update this post later with links to images of my completed sets of Legends Awakened, Cry from the Mysterious and Temple of Anger. 

Regional Differences: Everyone's Exciting Battle

Welcome back to another edition of regional differences, the series that examines regional differences in the Pokemon TCG. Today I'm taking a look at a Japanese exclusive product from the Black and White era: the Everyone's Exciting Battle collection (sometimes called the "Waku Waku" collection by English collectors).

Not to be confused with Pac-Man's Waka-Waka collection

How girls look at me when I show them my card collection

Background

Released on November 16, 2012, Everyone's Exciting Battle contains eight 15 card "quarter-decks," with each quarter-deck corresponding with a particular energy type.

Each quarter-deck contains a holo card (pictured above), and additional Pokemon, trainer and energy cards. The cards in this collection were printed with unique artwork and you can see images of the complete set at the end of this post. Each quarter deck also includes a number of energy cards that correspond with the quarter-deck's theme. Players take turns drafting quarter-decks until they have either a 30 card half-deck or a full 60 card deck (depending on whether they want to play a full game or a shortened game).

Each card in the collection bears a "WAK" set symbol, but each quarter-deck also has its own unique set symbol. These quarter-deck symbols correspond with the holo Pokemon card in each quarter-deck.

The Quarter-Deck Set Symbols

The collection contains a total of 55 unique cards (including 8 energy cards) with a number of duplicates in each quarter-deck.

In addition to the Pokemon cards, the collection contains a set of damage and special counters, a Black and White era rule book, 2 foil coins, a play mat, and a set of special rule cards that change the way the game is played.

Sealed Rule Cards

Back of the Rule Cards

The collection contains a total of 12 different special rule cards, each modeled after a character in the Black and White video games. The rule cards operate in manner similar to the old Vanguard rules of Magic the Gathering, offering stat bonuses and other special benefits to players. Some rule cards have effects that feel like they belong in Magic's Unhinged expansion, forcing you to strike poses or do other silly actions before completing your turn.

The Rule Cards

Where will you be when Diarrhea strikes?

Reddit user u/riChestMat posted translations for all 12 rule cards on Reddit, which are reproduced below:

edit: the article has been updated to include the most recent translations of the rule cards, which can be seen at http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Everyone%27s_Exciting_Battle_(TCG)

1. Iris: Choose 1 Pokémon from your prize cards to be your active Pokémon. This is the only Pokémon you can use, but if it defeats your opponent’s Pokémon you win the match.
2. Elesa: Your Pokémon do +20 damage (before calculating weakness & resistance)
3. Marlon: Your Pokemon have HP+30
4. Cheren: All your cards (prize cards, deck and hand) are placed face up.
5. Bianca: Once during your turn, after you flip any coins for an attack, you may ignore all effects of those coin flips and begin flipping those coins again.
6. Roxie: On your turn you may play 1 extra energy card from your hand. This must be attached to a different Pokémon (both energy cards cannot be played to the same Pokémon).
7. Burgh: Your active Pokémon recovers HP+20 during your turn.
8. Alder: If you laugh during your turn then your Pokémon cannot commence its attack. You may laugh once the attack has started.
9. Drayden: You can play Stage 1 and 2 Pokémon to the bench or battlefield without needing to evolve from an earlier stage.
10. Brycen: During your opponent’s turn you have to do the pose pictured on the rule card (standing on one foot with one knee raised, the arm on the same side bent and the other arm extended). No penalty for failing to hold the pose is specified.
11. Skyla: You draw 1 extra card from your deck on your first turn.
12. Clay: You have just 10 seconds to complete your turn. Your opponent performs the countdown.

Additional pictures of the collection are below.

The Box

Back cover

Inside the box and underneath the cards

Timmy demonstrates the dance of his people

Non-Card Contents

Audino Coin

Playmat - note the spot for the rule cards next to the Battlefield spot.

How to play insert

Special Rule Q&A

Rule book and Counters

Back of Counters

Cards

The energy cards are not separately pictured as they all follow the pattern noted for the Darkness energy above. Overall, Everyone's Exciting Battle is an interesting product that puts a unique twist on TCG game play for players, while simultaneously providing 55 unique Japanese exclusive cards for collectors to track down. The collection's original MSRP was 3,500 yen, and you can still find boxes selling for approximately $30 USD today. 

Thanks for reading and as always, let me know if you have any comments, questions or suggested revisions. 

Guardians Rising Dossier

I recently wrote an article for Flipside Gaming discussing the latest English TCG release, Sun and Moon: Guardians Rising. You can read the article here: https://www.flipsidegaming.com/blogs/pokemon-blog/sun-and-moon-guardians-rising-collector-s-dossier

One interesting thing about this set is the unprecedented number of Secret Rare cards. With 24 Secret Rares in the set, at a pull rate of approximately 1:56 packs, the prospect of completing this set through booster packs alone is impossible for most collectors. Hopefully PCI reduces the amount of Secret Rares in the next expansion or makes them easier to obtain. Otherwise, they run the risk of alienating more casual collectors.

Expect a new regional differences article on Friday.

Regional Differences: Korea's Shiny Red Gyarados

Welcome to another edition of Regional Differences, the series that examines regional differences between Pokemon TCG releases. Today's article addresses a really neat regional discrepancy I only recently uncovered. It's off to the Lake of Rage to take a new look at one of the first shining Pokemon: Gyarados.

Background

To celebrate the release of the Heartgold and Soulsilver video games on the Nintendo DS, the Pokemon TCG entered into a new era of its own with the launch of the Heartgold & Soulsilver ("HGSS") expansion. In Japan, the set was released as two separate booster subsets, "HeartGold Collection" and "Soulsilver Collection" on October 9, 2009. The English version of the expansion was released as a single booster set on February 10, 2010. With the new expansion, the TCG parted ways with LV. Xs from the Diamond & Pearl and Platinum eras, introduced new Pokemon Prime and Legend  cards, and gave the expansion a formatting overhaul in both the English and Japanese versions of the TCG. 

The English version of HGSS featured one of the most iconic Pokemon from the video games as the last official card in the set list: the shiny red Gyarados.

The card was available in both holo and reverse holo variants. As a brief aside, the card's set number, 123, is the same set number given to the Secret Rare shiny red Gyarados EX in the more recent Breakpoint expansion. Talk about a call back! 

In Japan, the shiny red Gyarados was released in neither Heartgold Collection nor Soulsilver Collection, but as a promotional card in the "Random Basic Pack", a Japanese exclusive product. The Japanese version of the card is not available as a reverse holo.

The Japanese Random Basic Pack.
Learn more at http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Random_Basic_Pack_(TCG)

In both the English and Japanese releases, the shiny red Gyarados features the card formatting introduced in HGSS. I thought that was the end of the story, but I recently learned (after a bit of fishing... get it?!) that there was another version of this card that was released using the old format from the Diamond & Pearl/Platinum era. Without further ado, I present the Korean version of the shiny red Gyarados:

Presented with the English version for ease of comparison

So why is the Korean version of the card so different? At the time HGSS was being released to the rest of the world, the Pokemon TCG was dead in South Korea. The game had been put on legal hiatus after the release of ex Power Keepers and while HGSS was releasing in English, the relaunch of the South Korean TCG was still several months away. When the game finally returned to South Korean shelves, it was decided that South Korean players, who had missed the entire Diamond and Pearl and Platinum eras, should be brought up to speed with cards from those previous sets. On May 13, 2010, "Start of an Adventure", the first expansion in the Korean relaunch was released. It was the first of 10 Korean exclusive special sets that contained a mix of cards from the Diamond and Pearl and Platinum eras of the TCG. Coverage of those sets is a topic for its own Regional Differences article; the point here is that while Japan and the United States were entering into the HGSS era, South Korea was entering its unique version of the Diamond & Pearl/Platinum era. 

According to Bulbapedia, the Korean version of shiny red Gyarados was released as a promo card in "Random Pack 1," a Korean product that I assume was similar to the "Random Basic Pack" in Japan, but I have found no information online to confirm my hunch or otherwise shed light on the product. Nevertheless, it appears that Pokemon Korea, Inc., the company that oversaw the Korean relaunch with help from PCI, decided it would be better to keep the formatting of the card consistent with the other cards being released in South Korea at that time. 

Because of this decision, South Korea's shiny red Gyarados is noticeably different from the versions of the card released in other languages. And that's pretty cool. 

Thanks for reading and as always, let me know if you have any comments, questions or suggested revisions. 

Regional Differences: Diamond and Pearl Pt. 4 the Rise of Darkrai

Regional Differences: Diamond and Pearl Pt. 4 The Rise of Darkrai


Welcome to another edition of Regional Differences, the series that examines regional differences between Pokemon TCG releases. Today's article resumes our discussion of the of the Diamond and Pearl era of the TCG. You can read the previous articles here:


Part 1
Part 2
Part 3


Today's discussion focuses on the most powerful force in the universe, corporate synergy. 

More specifically, how corporate synergy in the Pokemon multi-media empire led to substantial regional differences between the English and Japanese TCG over the course of the next three sets in the Diamond and Pearl era. 

Background

There are a number of important dates to consider when discussing the sets in this article, so below are the flow charts from the first Diamond and Pearl article to keep everyone properly oriented.

With that out of the way, let's talk about:

Pokemon is, of course, much more than a TCG. It is a multi-media empire that includes everything from TV shows and movies to mobile games. Every so often, the initiatives in one branch of the empire will reach out its tendrils and ensnare the other parts of the Pokemon machine. Take, for example, the tenth Pokemon movie, "The Rise of Darkrai." This film marked the debut of Darkrai, a legendary Pokemon from the Diamond and Pearl video games (pictured below). 

2spooky4me

The Pokemon Company higher-ups decided that the theatrical debut of Darkrai should coincide with its debut in other media, including the TCG.  In Japan, the Rise of Darkrai movie premiered in theaters on July 14, 2007, one week after the release of Shining Darkness, the third set in the Japanese Diamond and Pearl block. In connection with the release of the film, Shining Darkness heavily featured Darkrai, Dialga, and Palkia, Pokemon that played prominent roles in the film. In the United States however, the film did not premiere until February 24, 2008. The problem facing the Pokemon Company International ("PCI") was how to handle the third set of the English TCG’s Diamond and Pearl block which was scheduled for release in November of 2007, three months before the release of the film.

PCI essentially had two options: either alter the contents of the set to preserve corporate synergy, or release the set with the contents unchanged. Unsurprisingly, PCI went with the first option and removed Dialga, Palkia, and Darkrai from Secret Wonders and moved them to Great Encounters, the fourth English set in the Diamond and Pearl block (which released right around the English debut of the film). 

That of course left PCI with the issue of how to replace the cards they removed from Shining Darkness. Fortunately, the fourth set(s) in the Japanese Diamond and Pearl block, Moonlit Pursuit and Dawn Dash, had just released in Japan, so PCI took certain cards from those expansions and added them to Secret Wonders.

Gardevoir Lv. X: released in Secret Wonders in English and Dawn Dash in Japanese

So for those keeping score at home, the following cards were featured in Shining Darkness but were removed from Secret Wonders and added to Great Encounters: Darkrai, Dialga, Palkia, Darkrai Lv. X, Dialga Lv. X, and Palkia Lv. X. The following cards were added to Secret Wonders from Dawn Dash, Moonlit Pursuit, and the Japanese half-decks released alongside those expansions: Gardevoir, Roserade, Electivire, Magmortar, Weavile, Roselia, Electabuzz, Magmar, Gardevoir Lv. X, and Honchkrow Lv. X. 

Moonlit Pursuit and Dawn Dash

Moonlit Pursuit and Dawn Dash are interesting expansions worth briefly discussing. Each set contains 70 cards, nearly all of which are only available in their respective expansion. In other words, nearly all of the cards in Dawn Dash can only be obtained in Dawn Dash booster packs and nearly all of the cards in Moonlit Pursuit can only be obtained in Moonlit Pursuit booster packs. The emphasis on unique content for the subsets was a welcome departure from Space-Time Creation, where nearly all of the cards in the set were available in both Diamond Collection and Pearl Collection. While the contents of the subsets are almost entirely unique, they are both still considered part of the overall DP4 release as, like Diamond Collection and Pearl Collection, Dawn Dash and Moonlit Pursuit share a single “DP4” set symbol.  

In the English TCG, the contents of these sets were split into three different expansions. First, as previously noted, certain cards from Dawn Dash and Moonlit Pursuit were moved forward into Secret Wonders to replace the cards removed from Shining Darkness. Second, the bulk of the remaining cards from Moonlit Pursuit, plus the cards held back from Shining Darkness, made up Great Encounters. Finally, the remaining cards from Dawn Dash, along with certain unreleased Japanese promo cards and the Japanese ancillary product “Entry Pack ’08” made up the fifth English set in the block, Majestic Dawn.

Entry Pack 08. You can read more about this product at http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Entry_Pack_%2708_(TCG)

So to summarize, because of the importance of corporate synergy, the English and Japanese Diamond and Pearl eras, which had otherwise been fairly similar up until this point, embarked on widely divergent paths around July 2007 due to the release of The Rise of Darkrai. As a result, collectors have the benefit of collecting a number of unique sets that vary widely in composition from their regional counterparts.

You can see my completed sets of Secret Wonders, Great Encounters, Majestic Dawn, Dawn Dash and Moonlit Pursuit by following the links below.

Secret Wonders

Great Encounters

Majestic Dawn

Dawn Dash

Moonlit Pursuit

As always, please let me know if you have any comments, questions or suggestions for revision. 

Finally, if you are a new or returning collector and are looking for a place to start in the Pokemon TCG, be sure to check out my article on the newest English set, Sun and Moon, on Flipside Gaming's website at https://www.flipsidegaming.com/blogs/news/a-pokemon-tcg-collectors-guide