How to Find Japanese SM-era Mini Decks Released in 2018

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Got asked about this on Discord so let me copy my answer over to forum posts in case someone else is looking for the same stuff.

In 2018 TPC printed several sample decks and gave them out in order to promote TCG play. The sample decks consists of mini cards which are approximately 60% in size comparing to regular TCG cards.

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Different mini decks are released through various channels:

  • The first deck was given to visitors of World Hobby Fair 2018.
  • Two more decks were given out for free in local shops.
  • All other decks are released with various issues of Corocoro Ichiban and its bonus issue Pokémon Fan magazines. For example Pokémon Fan issue #58 includes the following deck:

From what I know these Corocoro Ichiban issues also have decks:

I can’t really recall exactly if other issues also had decks with them, but in case anyone want to find them all here’s how:

  1. Go to the publisher’s book search page:
    a. Corocoro Ichiban
    b. Pokémon Fan only
  2. Click on every issue - IIRC the decks are released mostly with issues published between 2018 and 2019
  3. Translate the page and look for keywords “mini” (ミニ) and “deck” (デッキ) (don’t look for “mini deck” as a whole word as some of the deck names have the words separated )
  4. Mark the issue number if you got a hit

Oh and BTW, PSA grades them if they’re able to tell which deck the card was from and that the cards are hand-torn (not cut) off the sheet. No joke.

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Thank you very much for this piece of information. Appreciate it.

Cheers!

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Thanks for the info! Here some pictures of the ones you mentioned, as well as the Pokémon the mini decks included (for Species Collectors among us):

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Nezrozma (Dusk Mane); Magnemite; Magneton; Magnezone; Solgaleo; Heatran; Tapu Lele.

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Greninja; Froakie; Frogadier; Wooper; Quagsire; Vulpix [Alolan]; Dunsparce.
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Xurkitree; Raikou; Zekrom; Pachirisu; Dunsparce; Type: Null; Silvally.

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Necrozma [Dawn Wings]; Malamar; Inkay; Necrozma [Ultra]; Lunala; Tapu Lele.

I wonder if there is any mini deck with a Pikachu or Seviper. :thinking:

Greetz,
Quuador

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This is awesome! Never knew there were these mini decks, so very glad you did this write-up. I went through all the Pokémon Fan Magazines for 2018 and 2019 on the Shogakukan Book site and only saw issue #58 contained a mini deck.

If anyone knows of another issue that did that have the mini decks, please update :pray:

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Whoooops my bad. They are not just in Pokémon Fan - they are also in Corocoro Ichiban (yes, THAT Corocoro Ichiban which gives you regular promos when a new set came out. Pokémon Fan is something like a bonus issue for Corocoro Ichiban).

I’ll update the first post right away with that!

Yes there is, in the Zeraora deck.

There’s also Espeon (& Deoxys TT) in the Mewtwo & Mew deck, but let’s make sure we in this thread hoard enough of those before folks over at the Eeveelutions thread are even aware of it :shushing_face:

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One of the best decks I ever played was that ultra necrozma deck I took from a Japanese Twitter post.
It would be neat to own that mini deck :slight_smile:

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