Included in the deck,
SA Pikachu ex
illus. kantaro
Base version of the card is from the ex Starter Set Pikachu ex & Pawmot
kantaro’s other Miraidon
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Everyone who booked flights to Yokohama in August desperately emailing their airline company right now to see if they can rearrange their flights for July 27th and smash up the Pokemon store.
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They were smart to make this a deck card instead of a tournament prize 
I’m very curious how this plays out in other languages, considering SWSH and SV eras addressed that little to nothing released in JP nowadays is JP exclusive
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Is this the correct timeline for similar cards? @koala
Blurbs are taken from Bulbapedia/Pokumon and PokeGuardian.
Just wondering if the 2014-2017 Festas are all the same event? Since they have different names and then why did it stop? 2016 doesn’t even have a Bulbapedia entry which is weird.
2018 I included because it started off with the 2013 15th anniversary and this is the 20th.
2019 similar setup - Pikachu + playable Pokemon but it has nothing to do with Festa.
2020-1 covid so nothing
2022 similar setup - Pikachu + playable Pokemon but it has nothing to do with Festa.
2023 similar setup - Pikachu but it’s a deck? No 25th Pokemon Centre anniversary?
What event even is Festa? The Japan Championships? Worlds?
Pokémon Center 15th Anniversary Premium Card Set, released on June 8, 2013.
The first print, numbered 090/XY-P and with artwork by Hitoshi Ariga, was given to participants of Battle Festa 2014, held at five locations across Japan: ACT CITY Hamamatsu Exhibition Event Hall, Shizuoka on October 26, 2014
The second print was given to participants of Battle Festa 2015. It is numbered 175/XY-P and features artwork by 5ban Graphics. Battle Festa 2015 was held at four locations across Japan: Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Exhibition Hall, Hiroshima on November 3, 2015;
20th Anniversary Festa participation prize
The fourth print was available to participants of Pokémon Card Festa 2017. Released during the Sun & Moon era, this print is numbered 061/SM-P and features artwork by Naoki Saito. Pokémon Card Festa 2017 was held at the Nagoya Trade & Industry Center, Nagoya on May 5, 2017;
In Japan, this card was released as one of the SM-P Promotional cards and was available as part of the continued 20th Anniversary celebrations of the first Pokémon Center. Starting August 25, 2018
A Full Art SM-P Promotional print was subsequently available in the Japanese Limited Collection Master Battle Set, which could be reserved from Pokémon Centers and the Pokémon Center Online starting August 16, 2019. Orders began shipping to customers in early December 2019.
An etched Full Art S-P Promotional print with artwork by You Iribi was later available in the Japanese Precious Collector Box: Sword & Shield, which could be reserved from the Pokémon Center Online as part of a make to order run between May 10 and 25, 2022. A second reservation period was open between June 2 and 6, 2022.[1] Orders from the first reservation period began shipping to customers in late November 2022; orders from the second began shipping in late December 2022.
A special world championships 2023 deck called Pokemon World Championships 2023 YOKOHAMA Deck -Pikachu- is releasing on July 28, 2023
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They’re all similar in that they’re full art Pikachu cards, but this WCS Pikachu ex is a deck card with characteristics of Special Art Rare ex we’ve seen in this year’s sets. It is the fourth textured full art Pikachu of the ones you listed that is actually alternative artwork to another Pikachu card (the others are 229/BW-P Pikachu, 400/SM-P Pikachu and 323/S-P Pikachu). It’s probably better to just acknowledge their different methods of release as TPC is trying something new with this one
Thanks @koala
So is there still a Battle Festa/Card Festa or does that no longer exist?
Hence the different variations of releases after. Though not sure why 2018 didn’t get any similar card then.
Did the Battle Festa cards have anything to do with the Celebration Fanfare promos? Previously Player’s Ceremony and all of them by Kagemaru Himeno. It has been going on from 2018-present.
Did that replace the Battle Festa?
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I don’t believe they’re at all related as there were also Player’s Ceremony promos 2018-2020, but only TPC knows why the Battle Festa Pikachu promos were discontinued.
I would say, however, that 2014, 2015 and 2017 Battle Festa Pikachu’s are all artworks of the same card (20th 2016 is different) and 2017 had an A regulation mark. Perhaps that meant they would no longer use it once the TCG moved to B in 2018, and so on
Noted.
@HumanForScale would you know the difference between Card Festa/Battle Festa/Championship Series?
I realllllly want this. The box looks amazing. Can’t see anything about how to buy it, just that it will be in Pokémon centers. I don’t see anything on the official Pokémon center website either just yet but really hoping it’s not a lottery system again.
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im sure ( and hope) this will get a chinese version so all of us cen get a copy
Championship series is the whole competitive season. The Player’s ceremony cards were given out to everyone who played enough events to reach a specific threshold
Battle / Card Festas were specific events within the overall season. I think they were discontinued at some point and replaced with other recurring regional / national events
Battle Festa is like one of the “regional-level organized event series” in XY era.
During XY era, there are two event series organized by TPC at regional level (3 to 4 occurrences per year with a scale of 1000+ participants per event) which are the Battle Festas and Mega Battles. Battle Festas focused more on the enjoyable parts of games so they have more varieties and give out nice promos like the FA Pikachus, and Mega Battles are purely for competitive purposes which provides top players invitations to Championships and trophy cards known as Victory Rings.
20th Anniversary Festa is basically just Battle Festa renamed for the event to be part of 20th Anniversary celebration events in 2016.
Card Festa is like Battle Festa in SM era, during which the competitive series had been formalized into the Championship Series we’re now familiar with, and Mega Battles reformed into CLs. Card Festa series was only held in 2017 which is the year CS started, and stopped afterwards. Might be that TPC wanted to merge the two regional events into one (the CL), but only TPC would know.
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As a heads up (thanks @rabby250) if you’re looking to purchase the sealed deck on the secondary market, they can be opened from the back and have the promo taken out
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It’s crazy that this card is going for 15x the MSRP right out the gate.
Its current supply and distribution (lottery again) are major bottlenecks as always
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True. It has been like this for a while, unfortunately.
I expected a mark-up. But more around the 3x-8x range and not 15x.
Are there comparable cards to check if it will go down? I searched a bit, but only found the celebration fanfares, which are not exactly the same.
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It has other factors going that make it especially targeted
- Japanese
- World Yokohama 2023 stamp
- No other language version announced yet
- FA Pikachu with Special Art Rare characteristics
It’s hard to compare because of its unique release, perhaps the Precious Collector Box Pikachu, 25th Anniversary Golden Box FA Pikachu or Master Battle Set Pikachu but they’re much more expensive at retail. If TPC really believes 3500y a deck will do anything, they need to release way more of them (like the Scarlet & Violet game preorder promo)
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Good points. That’s why I took the celebration fanfare or the Champions Festival cards in Japanese to compare. They have similar attributes.
Checking all the 4 cards we see as compatible I guess this card also will stagnate for a while around 300-400 ish. Would you agree?
Yeah if the next lottery isn’t enough and people are already comfortable paying this much for it, there’s not much incentive for anyone with a deck(s) to drop
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Do you know if there will be more distributions of the Deck? I was not aware of that.
Thanks for that info.