It's ironic that the upcoming expansion is called Pokémon Perfect Order as, despite everything aligning, the Pokémon Center refused to let me place my 'perfect order' on the new set. As frustrated as I am, I've kept my focus on Ascended Heroes and accepted my fate - maybe I wasn't destined to get any Perfect Order Pokémon cards. I went through the five stages of Pokégrief and was just getting to 'acceptance'. But now that the first IRs have finally been revealed, I think I've gone back to square one.
If you've read any of my Pokémon TCG coverage, you've probably gathered I'm a collector, not a player. My competitive edge comes out on the videogame side with each generation of new 'mon added. Our list of the best Pokémon cards dwells mainly on gameplay power, but my personal hit list is all about the cards' aesthetic qualities - that's what keeps me hunting those all-too-elusive Special Illustration Rares. My family thinks I'm playing into the hands of corporate overlords, but in all honesty, I'm just constantly focused on catching 'em all.
For me, it was always going to be a 'wait and see' deal with Perfect Order. I love Zygarde, but he's not breaching my top 10 list of favorite Pokémon, and as such, I just wanted to continue my collecting journey. However, the full list of 'Nullifying Zero' (Japan's Perfect Order) cards has been revealed by Pokébeach, and with most of these coming to the English version, I'm starting to come around.
While all of the basic cards look pretty great, I'm happy to see the likes of Mega Zygarde ex and some bizarre Special Energy cards across the board. My main focus here is the first taste of the set's Illustration Rares. Many of them haven't been revealed yet, so we've only got three to admire while we wait, but my main chase is going to be the absolute stunner, Clefairy #86.
I'm a simple man: I see an adorable Pokémon card, and I hope to pull it (or eventually succumb to my desires and buy a single). I'm all in on Ascended Heroes in the hopes of pulling that absolutely gorgeous Mega Dragonite ex SIR, and now I'm hoping to get this cute Clefairy IR when Perfect Order releases. The comfort of the clouds, the pretty flair of stars around one of the cutest Pokémon. It's an adorable overload of colors, and I NEED IT RIGHT NOW.
The best part? Well, it's an Illustration Rare. While these typically run more expensive than your standard singles, they're usually a lot cheaper than Special Illustration Rares, because these cards are easier to pull from packs. It also helps that, if Perfect Order is anything like Phantasmal Flames, the smaller set will have better pull rates, meaning that card prices won't stick high for long. So, if I don't get my hands on Clefairy, I can probably buy it from sites like TCGPlayer for fairly cheap.
If you're sold on Perfect Order now, like I am, you can try and pre-order some of the set from the following retailers:
- Chaos Cards (global)
- Walmart (US)
- Target (US)
- Magic Madhouse (UK)
Love all things Pokémon TCG? Well, it's worth joining our Wargamer Discord, where like-minded trainers such as yourself can be kept up-to-date on everything about the trading card game, as well as be pinged for any potential deals (whenever they come up).