My name is Kob and I’m part of the TCGCollector community. We are currently trying to identify and document some english promo cards from official events that happened all across the Asia region (Singapore, Phillipines, HK, etc).
We are looking for the Chien-Pao ex promo cards given to the top players in the regionals events of each of the above regions. The only close up image I have is from the Phillipines event.
From what I’ve seen in the official website about the event, in the prizes section, there are two different wordings for the promos - one with an “Event logo” and another with a “Season logo”. Are they really different? Are they the same?
The same happens in the sections of other regional events (for example in here).
I’m basically looking for someone from those regions with information and clear images of the promo cards in question.
Would also be nice to know if there is a marketplace for them (for personal reasons).
And of course, if you happen to know other promotional cards in English with exclusive stamps or variants from other events, let me know.
Any help is welcome, feel free to message me too!
EDIT:
I’ve heard some rumors that the promo cards to be given out to the participants were Iono from PAL, not yet distributed by Pokémon delays in getting the promo out and about. I’m unsure if the stamp would be the same as the ones that were already given out at other events across the world, or one similar to the Chien-Pao’s in the above image. Any information on this would also be extremely welcome.
If this turns out to be true, the Chien-Pao ex cards may be extremely rare since they would probably be reserved only for the top players of these events.
EDIT 2
The timing is unreal. Pokebeach just published an article about these promo cards, answering all the questions above. Please read it! Also thank you so much to @rabby250 for the very thorough explanation about the distribution format of the above mentioned cards!
Unfortunately I’m not familiar with TPCi releases so I can only tell you about the distribution format in other Asian regions. Asian regions playing with TPCi products have their own promo cards as they must follow TPCi set indices (including promos), but the distribution rules should be similar since the tournaments are run by TPC.
TLDR: if they follow the same rules as in non-TPCi regions, the one with event logo will be a different card, and the Chien-Pao may still be given out in upcoming tournaments of the season. However, watch out for Championships.
Promo Cards in Asia Championship Series
Similar to how TPCi holds Championship Series outside Asia, TPC organizes competitive tournaments in the Asian region through a program called Asia Championship Series.
(Sorry for the photo, I’ll replace it with a clean image of the logo when TPC releases one officially.)
There are 3 different scales of tournaments in Asia Championship Series:
Town League
Regional League
Championships
Promo Cards in Non-English Regions
The distribution rules below applies to:
The following Asian regions whose organized play are held by TPC and played in their localized language: Taiwan, Hong Kong (TC; also covers Macau), Thailand and Indonesia
This excludes Singapore, Phillipines, Malaysia and Hong Kong (EN; also covers Macau) as they are played with TPCi releases
Asia Championship Series season 2023-24 and later
Asia Championship Series tournaments held before 2023-24 may partially follow these rules
Regional Leagues or Championships
Town Leagues don’t have their own promo cards
In Regional Leagues or Championships, there are 3 promo cards given out in each tournament:
Participation Prize - given to all participants
The card is unique to one tournament per region. For example, in the current season Cyclizar was given in the first RL, and the next RL switched to Xatu. This is different from Japan as participation prize in Japan will be the same across the season.
The card is aligned across regions. For example, if Taiwan gave out Cyclizar in the 1st RL of the season, then you can expect Thailand and Indonesia also give our the same Cyclizar in their own language in the 1st RLs in the same season.
The card is usually not the same as participation prize in Japan. In fact, this card is usually chosen from either CoroCoro Ichiban! promos or TPCi prerelease promos which may not even have a Japanese copy.
The card doesn’t have any printed indicators of the receiving player’s final rank in that tournament.
Winner’s Prize - given to the top X (number of) players in each tournament.
X (number of players receiving this card) changes based on tournament size and venue.
The same card is given across all RL tournaments in one season. The same card is given out in Championships with a different stamp and promo index.
The same card is given across all regions. In fact, it’s basically the same card given out in Japanese CL tournaments in the same season.
The card doesn’t have any printed indicators of the receiving player’s final rank in that tournament.
Trophies - given to the top 4 players in each tournament.
The main design of the cards are the same across all regions in the same era. They are basically the same trophiy cards given out in Japanese CL tournaments, although in Asian regions, they are also given out in Championships.
All cards are marked with the exact tournament the card was received in.
