Set of the Fortnight #51 - SM Black Star Promos

The random picker has chosen again:

SM Black Star Promos
bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/SM_Black_Star_Promos_(TCG)
Discuss:
Favorite cards in the 'set’Worst cards in the 'set’How you feel about this ‘set’ in general
The Sun & Moon era ran for the seventh generation of Pokémon, with Sun & Moon era promos being released from November 2016 to November 2021.
The very first SM promos were the SM1-SM3 gen 7 starter Pokémon inside the Alola Collection box, with an early release on November 13th, 2016 in the US. This was even two days before the first Japanese Sun & Moon era products, which were the Pikachu’s New Friends blister on November 18th, 2016, which might be a first for an entire era.
The last SM promos were the golden SM247 Reshiram & Charizard GX and golden SM248 Pikachu & Zekrom GX, released in Premium Collection boxes during the Sword & Shield era on November 1st, 2021.

Greetz,
Quuador

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One thing I liked about the SM era is that a lot of cards had great tropical island backgrounds. Some of my favorites for the SM promos:

Two others I’m personally very happy they’ve releassed, although in terms of artworks aren’t near my favorites: the first Seviper promo, and the Ash’s Pikachu with different caps. Very happy that Seviper got some love in SM and SwSh, including this promo (+ STAFF variant), and the seven Ash’s Pikachu promos were very unique as well.

I also really like the artworks with multiple Pokémon. There weren’t too many of them transitioned to English, but here are two of them:

And here some others of my favorites in no particular order:

(I’m personally not too much of a fan of kawayoo’s style. It’s defintely unique and greatly executed, but not something for me - I know I’m in the minority here. :sweat_smile: This Salamence however is one of my favorites of him.)

Greetz,
Quuador

2 Likes

Just looked them up on pkmncards.com for better visibility and quite frankly, many of them look extremely bland to me. It gets better towards the second half of the SM era, especially when Tag Teams were introduced.

This Pika is one of the earlier ones that I really like.

These two are also really nice, and definitely a reference to the fantastic VS Alto Mare Latios & Latias.

This right here is one of the nicest cards ever created:

And these ones I believe were normal set releases on the Japanese side and only Promos in English, but yeah still cards that are symbolic for the greatness of the Tag Team era. What a huge upgrade from the boring earlier phase of SM!

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Here are some of my favorites

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For me, the promos from S&M are some of the strongest from the entire TCG. Stained glass, Espeon/Deoxys, Umbreon/Darkrai. Such quality artwork out there that I think really paved the way for alt arts this era.

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I also agree that Sun & Moon era had some really great Promos. A lot of them have tropical look to them which is the kind of vibe that I really adore :blush: Here are some of my favorites:





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The Latios/Latias Alto Mare nod do it for me

It’s just so…weird.

Uhh I can’t see the photos on my post anymore but I can see photos in other people’s posts. The same thing happened when I posted photos on the Team Rocket Returns topic. It’s not like I’ve suddenly forgotten how to post photos. Most of them were from Bulbapedia in both cases, idk if that has something to do with it D:

I was (and bilingual Exeggutor surely too) really happy for that Exeggcute for finally getting illustrated by Ooyama. After 18 years.

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one of my favorite blister promos

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This was hands down the best/funniest card of the sun and moon era. Absolutely love this artwork.

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Although Latias SM87 and Latios SM88 will (deservedly) get most of the love, we can’t forget about these two!

Kouki Saitou is incredible. I love the close snapshot and the dense cityscape in the background.

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That Pika comes as a Build-a-Bear promo and I think the stamp goes really well with the rest of the card. I love when a stamp adds to the aesthetic.

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after thinking about it for a while I think this is my favorite

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