woahpoke, Author at woahpoke

77 Rainbow Pokémon Cards (in the Background, Secret Rares & Borders)

Rainbow means two different things in this hobby. Some cards have the rainbow in the art itself, something the illustrator put into the scene. Others have the rainbow as a finish, a full-card foil laid over the top that replaces the usual colors entirely.

We've gathered the best rainbow Pokémon cards of both kinds, sorted so you can find the one you're actually after.

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Full Art Cards with Rainbows

These are the ones where the rainbow is in the art itself, and the full art format gives it room to breathe. It's the most reliable place to find a rainbow that's part of a scene rather than a treatment laid over the whole card!

Our Picks:

Full Art Cards with Rainbows

Connecting Cards with Rainbows

Two pairs here that complete the rainbow, and both are worth owning together rather than one at a time. Connecting art is one of our favorite things in the hobby, and we went deep on it in our post on Pokémon cards that go together!

Our Picks:

Connecting Cards with Rainbows

Vintage Cards with Rainbows

The oldest section here, and the one that shows how far back illustrators have been reaching for a rainbow. Jungle and Fossil through the Neo sets, Southern Islands, the e-Card series, and up into Platinum. The Southern Islands cards are the standouts, since that set was built around its scenery in the first place.

Our Picks:

Vintage Pokemon Cards with Rainbows

Rainbow Secret Rare Cards

This is the other meaning of rainbow, and the one most people have in mind when they say rainbow rare. The finish strips out a card's usual colors and replaces them with a textured rainbow across the whole thing, and the collector number always runs past the set's official total, which is what technically makes them secret rares.

They arrived in the Sun & Moon era on GX cards and full art Supporters, carried through Sword & Shield on VMAX and VSTAR, then disappeared when Scarlet & Violet moved the chase toward special illustration rares instead. That gives them a clean window of a few years, which is part of why they're satisfying to collect as a group!

Our Picks:

Rainbow Secret Rare Cards

Prismatic Rainbow Border Cards

A prismatic rainbow border marks a Stellar Tera type, introduced in Scarlet & Violet, with a crystalline crown above the name to match. Prismatic Evolutions is where most collectors meet them, and since that set leans hard on the Eeveelutions, this section ends up being most of an Eeveelution page on its own.

Our Picks:

Prismatic Rainbow Border Cards

Commons & Affordable Rainbow Cards

Rainbows aren't limited to the big cards. These sit in the back half of a set list, and they're the easiest way to fill out a rainbow binder page without chasing down a single secret rare!

Our Picks:

Commons & Affordable Rainbow Cards

That's our round-up of rainbow Pokémon cards! Which kind do you prefer, the rainbow in the art or the rainbow finish? Let us know in the comments below!

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by woahpoke

58 Working Pokémon Cards with Jobs

The Pokémon world runs on labor, and the card art has been keeping a record of it this whole time. Once you start noticing it you can't stop: someone hauling steel, someone on a delivery route, someone clearly at the end of a long shift. Some of these are trainers with an actual listed profession, and some are Pokémon who appear to have picked up a trade entirely on their own.

We've rounded up the best working Pokémon cards in the hobby, sorted by what each one does for a living!

We’re a small team of two and our links keep woahpoke running. As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. Learn more.

Construction Site Pokémon Cards

There are a shocking number of these, which says something about how much building the Pokémon world gets through. Pokémon and trainers both do the heavy lifting here, and nobody looks like they're posing for the card. They tend to share a setting too, since a work site is usually part of a bigger city, so there's a lot of crossover with our roundup of city Pokémon cards.

Construction Site Pokémon Cards

Blue Collar & Manual Labor Pokémon Cards

Same hard work, different job site. These are the ones clocking in away from construction, and the range is wider than you'd expect, from freight and haulage to a few jobs that are harder to put a title on!

Blue Collar & Manual Labor Pokémon Cards

Service, Retail & Other Pokémon Jobs

This is where the job market really opens up. Retail, admin, pottery, nursing, and one Dragonite who has been running deliveries since 2000.

Service, Retail & Other Pokémon Jobs

Desk Jobs, Studying & Research Pokémon Cards

Not every job is physical. These are the ones buried in books, whether that's a professor mid-research, a student cramming for something, or a Pokémon who has somehow ended up with paperwork of its own.

More like these in our round-up of Pokémon cards with books!

Desk Jobs, Studying & Research Pokémon Cards

Commons & Affordable Working Cards

Timburr and Gurdurr have been on the clock across a lot of sets, and most of those cards are commons, which makes this the easiest section here to collect from. Good place to start if you want a full binder page of working Pokémon without chasing a single alt art!

Commons & Affordable Working Cards

That's our round-up of working Pokémon cards! Which job did we miss? Let us know in the comments below!

by woahpoke

The 89 Best Forest Pokémon Cards

Forests do more work in the TCG than any other setting. They can be bright and green, cold and still, magical, tropical, or genuinely a bit ominous, and the illustrators use all of it.

We've gathered the best forest Pokémon cards in the hobby, sorted by what kind of woods you're standing in!

We’re a small team of two and our links keep woahpoke running. As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. Learn more.

Green Forest Pokémon Cards

The classic version, and the easiest page to build out of anything here. Bright greens, sun getting through the canopy, everything looking like a good day to be outside. If you only want one forest section in your binder, it's probably this one.

Our Picks:

Green Forest Pokémon Cards

Moody Forest Pokémon Cards

The other half of the forest, and it's all in the palette. Deeper greens, cooler shadows, a lot less light coming through, and a completely different energy for it.

Our Picks:

Moody Forest Pokémon Cards

Cute Forest Pokémon Cards

What separates this from the green section isn't the palette, it's the scale and Pokémon. Put something small at the base of a tree and the forest suddenly reads as enormous, which is why cute lands harder in woods than it does almost anywhere else.

Mostly small things in the undergrowth minding their own business, and the easiest page in this post to fill up!

Our Picks:

Cute Forest Pokémon Cards

Vibrant Forest Cards

Where the color gets pushed past what a forest actually looks like. Saturated greens, light coming from nowhere in particular, and backgrounds that owe more to a palette choice than to anywhere real.

Our Picks:

Vibrant Forest Cards

Jungle & Tropical Forest Pokémon Cards

Hotter, wetter, and a lot more crowded. Jungle cards fill every inch of the frame where a forest card leaves you room to breathe. The Pokémon tend to match it too. This section skews heavily toward the ones that coil, climb, or carry their own canopy around with them.

Our Picks:

Jungle & Tropical Forest Pokémon Cards

Magical & Enchanted Forest Cards

Something is happening in these woods. Sunbeams coming down through the canopy, light where there shouldn't be any, the occasional Pokémon that clearly knows something you don't.

If this is your corner of the hobby, we went further into it in our roundup of cards that remind us of Studio Ghibli movies!

Our Picks:

Magical & Enchanted Forest Cards

Autumn & Fall Forest Cards

Same trees, different palette. Oranges, browns, and a lot of leaves on the ground. More where these came from in our full fall Pokémon cards roundup!

Our Picks:

Autumn & Fall Forest Cards

Winter & Snowy Forest Cards

Snow flattens the forest palette down to whites, greys and the odd bit of blue, and a forest with the leaves gone is a completely different place from the same forest in summer.

The full winter set is in our winter Pokémon cards round-up!

Our Picks:

Winter & Snowy Forest Cards

Misc. Forest Pokémon Cards

Forest cards that don't sit neatly in any of the moods above. Nothing wrong with them, they just don't lead with a palette or a season the way the rest of the post does.

Worth a scroll once you've been through the other sections, since this is where the ones that don't announce themselves ended up.

Our Picks:

Pokémon Cards with Forests

Trainer & Support Forest Cards

Forests turn up on Trainers and Stadiums too, and a few of them are named for the place rather than the people in it!

Our Picks:

Trainer & Support Forest Cards

Commons & Affordable Forest Cards

Forests show up constantly on ordinary set cards, which makes this one of the cheapest themes in the hobby to build. Journey Together in particular is full of them!

Our Picks:

Commons & Affordable Forest Cards

That's our roundup of the best forest Pokémon cards in the TCG! Bright green page or moody page? Let us know in the comments!

by woahpoke

A Full Guide to the Michi Method: Ideas, Templates & Dimensions

If you've spent any time looking at Pokémon binder pages online, you've probably come across the Michi Method without knowing what it was called. The method was popularized by @peeplop on Instagram and it's taken off in the collector community in a big way. Here's everything you need to know to try it yourself!

Table of Contents

What is the Michi Method?
Michi Method Binder Planning
Michi Method Layout Ideas
Binders for the Michi Method
Michi Method Supplies
Michi Method Dimensions & Sizing
Michi Method Templates
Michi Method Art
Michi Method Discord

We’re a small team of two and our links keep woahpoke running. As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. Learn more.

What is the Michi Method?

The Michi Method is a binder organization approach where instead of filling every pocket with a single card, you treat the whole page as a canvas. Cards, printed artwork panels, and empty space all get placed on purpose, so the page looks curated rather than just stored.

It takes more planning than a standard layout, but once you try it it's hard to go back! The most common techniques:

Custom inserts: Printed artwork or extended card art.
Spanning artwork: One piece spread across two, four, or more pockets to make a larger panel in the page.
Mixed cards and panels: Portrait cards, landscape cards, and artwork panels in the same spread.
Intentional empty space: Pockets left empty on purpose so cards have room to breathe.

How to Plan Your Michi Method Binder

The easiest way to plan your pages is with our free Michi Method template. It’s a binder planner with the Michi Method built in, so you can map out where every card, art panel and empty slot goes before you print or cut anything. It saves a lot of time and paper!

Michi Method Planner

Go to Michi Method Planner
Choose your binder layout. Pick 9-pocket or 12-pocket to match your binder, so your plan lines up with your real pages.
Search for your cards. Look up any Pokémon card by name or set and drag it into a pocket. It’s a great way to see how a page comes together before you buy or pull anything.
Add your cards and art. Place your cards first, then fill in around them with art panels until the spread feels right.
Export your PDF. Your art prints as card-size pieces with cut lines marking exactly where to trim, so all that’s left is to cut and slide each piece into its pocket. You can also save your project file to revisit later if it’s WIP.

Michi Method Layout Ideas

There's no right way to Michi, part of the appeal is that every binder is unique! That said, here are some popular approaches in the community to get started:

Single Pokémon Layout

Pick a Pokémon and dedicate the whole page to them, whether it's the named card or a cameo appearance. Eevee, Pikachu, Clefairy, or any of your favourite Pokémon make great starting points, and the variety of art styles across different sets keeps each one feeling fresh!

Cards Shown:

Single Pokémon Layout Layouts by @feyaquinntcg and @vanidough

Anchor Layout

This is a great way to highlight a card you really love. Try placing one or two hero cards at the center of the page, surrounded by complementary cards, empty space, or artwork inserts that frame them.

Cards Shown:

Anchor Michi Method Layout by @cgcollectrs

Themed or Story Layouts

We love themed binder pages, and this is where things get really fun. Cards arranged to tell a visual story or follow a theme, like a Studio Ghibli inspired spread, a progression from Eevee through its evolutions, or a trainer alongside their signature Pokémon. The possibilities are pretty much endless!

Cards Shown:

Themed or Story Michi Layouts Layouts by @peeplop and @shiningsaku

Card Artist Layout

Dedicating a page to a single illustrator is one of the most rewarding ways to collect. We love these Shinji Kanda and Tomokazu Komiya themed pages (two of our favourite artists) and both have such distinctive styles that look incredible displayed together. Once you start noticing illustrator credits on cards, it's hard to stop!

We have a full post on the best Pokémon card artists and illustrators if you want to find your new favorite to build a page around!

Cards Shown:

Card Artist Michi Layout Layouts by @epic_robs and @xzuyyu

Trainer Layout

Pick a trainer you love, Misty, Erika, N, Cynthia, or any of your faves, and build the whole page around them with their signature Pokémon, trainer cards, and any art that places them in the same scene together!

Cards Shown:

Michi Method Trainer Layout Layouts by @seraveon and @ceruleancitylocal

Full-Page Spread

This is a great statement layout. A single large piece of artwork spans the majority or all of the page, with a couple actual cards placed within it as accents. The cards become part of the scene rather than the focal point, which works really well when the insert art and the cards share a theme or color palette.

Cards Shown:

Full Page Michi Method Ideas Layouts by @peeplop

Color-Themed Layout

One of the most visually striking pages you can build, and a great starting point if you're new to the Michi Method. Choose cards that share a color palette and fill the remaining slots with tonal inserts to tie everything together. You’ll get a spread that feels like one cohesive piece when you open up your binder!

Cards Shown:

Michi Method Color-Themed Layout Layouts by @katarzynstudio

Art-Inspired Pokémon Cards Layout

Some cards are direct nods to famous artworks and art movements, and putting a few of them on one page gives you a spread that feels like a tiny gallery wall. Ukiyo-e prints, Van Gogh, felted textures, whatever the card is referencing does half the design work for you.

We’ve rounded up tons more cards like this in our full post on Pokémon cards inspired by art!

Cards Shown:

Michi Method Art-Inspired Pokémon Cards Layout Layout by @0xLevi

Studio Ghibli Themed Layout

One of our favorite themed pages to see. This one is all about spotting the cards that share the same feeling: soft light, overgrown landscapes, quiet moments with something enormous in the background, and weaving in Ghibli frames to complement.

If you want a shortlist to build from, check out our Studio Ghibli Pokémon cards picks!

Cards Shown:

Michi Method Studio Ghibli Themed Layout Layout by @bellamiibee

Summer & Beach Layout

Beach cards are made for this. The palette does most of the work, since almost every card in the theme shares the same blues and sandy neutrals, which means even a fairly random selection ends up looking coordinated.

Great one to build no matter what the season. We've got the full set of picks in our beach Pokémon cards roundup.

Cards Shown:

Summer & Beach Layout Michi Layout by @glittersimmer6

One Piece Layout

The Michi Method isn't a Pokémon only thing, and the One Piece TCG suits it beautifully because so much of its art is built around big dramatic scenes that beg to be spread across a page. If you collect both, a One Piece page is a nice way to break up a Pokémon binder!

We rounded up the best of it in our best One Piece TCG art post if you're looking for somewhere to start.

Cards Shown:

One Piece Michi Method Layout by u/Maleficent-Show-1953

Best Binders for the Michi Method

Not all binders work equally well for the Michi Method. The key feature to look for is side loading pockets, binders where cards slide in from the side rather than the top.

Side loading pockets that face each other on opposite pages allow artwork to span seamlessly across the two card gap between pages, which is one of the signature looks of the Michi Method. Top loading binders can work but don't allow the same cross-page spanning.

Pocket count is worth thinking about too. A lot of collectors go with 12-pocket binders for Michi pages over the standard 9-pocket, since the extra slots give you more real estate to play with for spanning artwork and empty space. Both options below come in either size.

Vault X Premium Exo-Tec

The community favorite, and the one that comes up most when someone asks which binder to buy. The Exo-Tec cover is padded, water-resistant, and rigid enough to hold its shape, so it works for display and travel. Side loading pockets, a zipper running along three sides, and 360 cards across 20 double sided pages.

It comes in 9 and 12 pocket versions, and a wide range of colors!

Best Binder for Michi Method

Card Guardian

A newer option that's been gaining traction as a solid alternative to the Vault X at a similar price point. Hard front and back cover, zipper closure, and PVC-free materials. The pocket size is very slightly different from the others so worth double-checking your insert sizing if you go this route.

Card Guardian Binders for Michi

Michi Method Supplies: Everything You Need

Once you've got your binder, your cards, and your art, you don't need much else to get started! Here's everything you need.

The Best Paper for the Michi Method

Matte coated stock is the way to go for printing Michi Method inserts. Standard printer paper is too flimsy to stay upright in binder slots, and uncoated cardstock lets the ink spread, so your images come out looking fuzzy. Matte coated gives you the stiffness you need and keeps everything sharp.

When you're exporting from Canva, choose PDF Print instead of the standard download option to hold onto the highest image quality.

Canon Matte Photo Paper Plus

The Best Paper for the Michi Method Second image via @glittersimmer6

Michi Method Cutting & Printing Tools

Once your inserts are printed, a straight cutter gives you the cleanest edges and gets you through a full page fast. Good embroidery scissors are good to have on hand too, and they're better for anything a cutter can't follow. A rounded corner cutter is worth adding if you want your inserts to match the corners of your cards.

Supplies:

Embroidery Scissors
Evteck Straight Paper Cutter
Sunstar Corner Rounder Cutter
Printer: Canon PIXMA TR8620a (Budget)
Printer: Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550 Wireless (High End)
Canon Printer Color Ink

Michi Method Cutting & Printing Tools

Michi Method Dimensions & Sizing

Getting the sizing right for printed inserts is one of the trickier parts of the Michi Method. Standard Pokémon cards are 63mm x 88mm (approximately 2.48" x 3.46"). Any custom inserts or printed artwork you use should match these dimensions to sit properly in the pockets.

Here are some of the most popular multi-slot sizes. The exact measurements can vary slightly depending on your binder since pocket sizes aren't universal, so it's worth measuring yours before printing a full batch:

1 slot: 7cm × 9.5cm (2.75" × 3.75")
2 slots horizontal: 14cm × 9.5cm (5.50" × 3.75")
2 slots vertical: 7cm × 19cm (2.75" × 7.50")
3 slots horizontal: 21cm × 9.5cm (8.25" × 3.75")
4 slots (2×2): 14cm × 19cm (5.50" × 7.50")
9 slots (full page): 21cm × 28.5cm (8.25" × 11.25")

We put together a full visual reference below so you can see how each size compares at a glance:

Michi Method Dimensions & Sizing

Michi Method Templates & Tutorials

Planning your layout digitally before you start printing and cutting saves a lot of time and wasted paper. The community has put together some great resources to get you started depending on which tool you're most comfortable with!

Canva

The easiest starting point if you're new to digital planning. Canva is free, browser-based, and requires no design experience. The template below is ready to use straight away.

Krita

Krita is a free downloadable app with more control over your layouts if you want to get more precise with sizing and placement. It has more of a learning curve but is worth it if you plan on making a lot of inserts!

Other options

If you'd rather keep it simple, Google Slides works great, too. Set up card sized boxes in a grid and drag images in. For the lowest tech version, screenshot cards you're considering and mock up the layout in your phone's photo editor before committing to anything.

How to print inserts for your Michi Method binder

For the non-card slots, most collectors print inserts on cardstock to match the weight and feel of real cards. A few tips:

Print at the correct card dimensions (63mm x 88mm for single slots) and add a small bleed if your printer allows it. Matte cardstock tends to look better than glossy for inserts, and heavier cardstock (around 300gsm) will feel closest to an actual card in the pocket.

If you have a Cricut or similar cutting machine, you can print and cut inserts to exact card size automatically, which is a big time saver if you're making a lot of them.

For artwork to use, many collectors find high resolution scans of card art, original illustrations, or fan art. Just be mindful that any inserts you make are for personal use only and not for sale.

Michi Method Art

One of the most common questions in the Michi community is where to find art for your inserts. Between official card art, fan illustrators, and concept archives, there's no shortage of material to work with. Here are the best places to start:

Illustrator Work

Concept Art: Pokémon Settei Archive
All Pokémon: The Art of Pokémon (All Pokémon)
Characters: The Art of Pokémon Characters

The Michi Discord

The Michi Method has its own community Discord where collectors share their layouts, get feedback on pages in progress, and find inspiration for new spreads. It's one of the best places to see the method in action across a huge range of themes and styles, and the community is genuinely welcoming to people who are just getting started.

You can join the Discord server here, or via @peeplop’s Instagram link in bio!

The Michi Method is one of those things that looks intimidating until you try it, and then it becomes hard to go back to a regular layout. Start with one page, pick a theme or a couple of cards you love, and see where it goes from there!

Are you new to the Michi Method, or were you looking for some tips? What Michi pages have you been making? Let us know in the comments below!

by woahpoke

72 Rainy & Stormy Pokémon Cards

Weather is one of the easiest ways for a card to change its whole mood, and rain does the most work of any of it. A Pokémon standing in the rain reads completely differently from the same Pokémon standing in the sun.

We've gathered the best rainy and stormy Pokémon cards in the hobby, split between the quiet ones and the stormy ones!

We’re a small team of two and our links keep woahpoke running. As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. Learn more.

Rainy Pokémon Cards

Rain with less drama. Wet pavement, grey light, Pokémon standing around waiting it out. We love the Parasol Lady full arts. She’s also the one Trainer whose entire concept is having the right gear for it.

Our Picks:

Rainy Pokémon Cards

Stormy & Lightning Pokémon Cards

Same weather, but now something is happening in it. Electric types dominate this section for obvious reasons, though the best ones here aren't always the Pokémon making the lightning. Sometimes it's whatever's flying through it.

Our Picks:

Stormy & Lightning Pokémon Cards

Vintage Rainy & Stormy Cards

There are so many great vintage picks, and they go all the way back to Fossil and Jungle. Weather was one of the few things the old tiny art windows could do well, because a sheet of rain fills a small box better than a landscape does. Castform turns up twice in its Rain Form, which is the only Pokémon in the game with weather built into its species.

Our Picks:

Vintage Rainy & Stormy Cards

Commons & Affordable Rainy Cards

Weather has never been tied to rarity, so this is a cheap theme to build. Rain shows up on commons constantly because it's a quick way to give an ordinary card a mood.

Our Picks:

Commons & Affordable Rainy Cards

That's our roundup of the best rainy and stormy Pokémon cards in the TCG! Quiet drizzle page or full lightning page? Let us know in the comments!

by woahpoke

72 Psychedelic & Trippy Pokémon Cards

Every so often the TCG hands an illustrator a card and something goes sideways in the best way. The colors stop behaving, the background starts moving, and you end up holding something that looks nothing like the rest of the binder.

We've gathered the trippiest Pokémon cards in the hobby, from modern illustration rares to the Japanese vending machine era, with sections for the three artists who do this better than anyone.

We’re a small team of two and our links keep woahpoke running. As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. Learn more.

Trippy Background Cards

In these, the Pokémon is relatively normal, the world behind it is not. Warped space, impossible geometry, backgrounds that don't sit still. These are the easiest ones to spot in a binder because the eye goes straight past the subject and into whatever is happening behind it.

Our Picks:

Trippy Background Pokémon Cards

Vibrant Trippy Cards

Here it's the color doing the work. Clashing palettes, neon where nothing should be neon, and a few cards that abandon naturalistic color entirely.

Our Picks:

Vibrant Trippy Pokémon Cards

Tomokazu Komiya Trippy Cards

Komiya's cards don't look like anyone else's, and they barely look like Pokémon cards. Proportions are wrong on purpose, the colors argue with each other, and the whole thing has an unhinged energy to it. Put one next to a regular card and the regular card starts to feel a bit too polished.

We'd put every card he's done in this post if we could because trippy is his default setting.

If you want more on him and the other illustrators worth collecting by name, we went through them in our best Pokémon card artists post!

Our Picks:

Browse all Tomokazu Komiya cards on eBay

Komiya Trippy Pokémon Cards

Shinji Kanda Trippy Cards

Kanda's are the loud ones. The background swirls, the colors clash on purpose, and there's nowhere for your eye to settle, so the card looks like it's moving when it isn't.

The Giratina V and the Magikarp are the two people know him for, and both live up to it. But the Seismitoad might be the trippiest card in this entire post.

Our Picks:

Browse all Shinji Kanda cards on eBay

Kanda Trippy Pokémon Cards

sowsow Trippy Cards

sowsow is the quiet kind of trippy. Nothing shouts, the colors are soft, and then you notice the room is the wrong shape and you can't work out where you're meant to be standing. More dream than hallucination, which is why these hold up on a page you look at every day. The Gengar VMAX alt art is the one everybody knows and it earns it.

Our Picks:

Browse all sowsow cards on eBay

sowsow Trippy Pokémon Cards

The Munch Promos

5 promos made for a Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum exhibition, released between October 2018 and January 2019, all of them built on Edvard Munch's The Scream. Same wavy brushwork, same bleeding red and orange sky.

The reason they're worth collecting as a set is the joke running through them. Gengar and Haunter frighten Psyduck, Psyduck frightens Eevee, Eevee frightens Pikachu, Pikachu frightens Mimikyu, and Mimikyu frightens Rowlet. It's a chain reaction of panic across all 5 cards.

We’ve got a full round-up with more cards inspired by real life art!

The Munch Promo Cards

Japanese Vending Series

The Japanese Vending Series came out of actual vending machines, printed on sheets you tore apart yourself, and the art is unlike anything the main sets were doing at the time. Crayon looking drawings, claymation, rough sketches, Pokémon sitting in ordinary human places for no reason.

A lot of these are Komiya, but the series is strange enough across the board that it warranted its own section. We think vending has some of the most underrated cards in the whole TCG.

Our Picks:

Japanese Vending Series Pokémon Cards

Vintage Trippy Cards

An extension of the section above, because vending wasn't the only place this was happening. There are a few more Komiya bangers in here too.

We also love the e-Card ones. Expedition and Skyridge let illustrators get odd in a way the sets on either side of them didn't.

Our Picks:

Vintage Trippy Cards

Imakuni? Cards

Imakuni? is Tomoaki Imakuni, a Japanese musician and Creatures Inc. staffer who somehow ended up as a recurring character in the TCG itself. His cards are jokes: Trainers that do almost nothing, a Doduo with his face on it, and one card that is simply him.

They feel like a fever dream in the best way, and they're a whole category of their own. We put them alongside the rest of the oddities in our unique Pokémon cards post.

Our Picks:

Imakuni? Trippy Cards

Trippy Abra Cards

Abra gets its own section because it keeps getting the trippy treatment. It's a Pokémon that sleeps 20 hours a day and teleports in its sleep, and illustrators have taken that as license across basically every era.

Our Picks:

Trippy Abra Cards

Affordable & Common Trippy Cards

Weird art has never been tied to rarity, which makes this one of the easier themes to collect on a budget.

Our Picks:

Affordable & Common Trippy Cards

That's our roundup of the trippiest Pokémon cards in the TCG! Komiya, Kanda or sowsow?

by woahpoke

The 87 Best Flying Pokémon Cards

Flying turns up all over the TCG, and it's one of those themes you don't notice until you go looking for it. Then it's everywhere: birds, dragons, legendaries, and a lot of small things just drifting.

We've gathered the best flying Pokémon cards in the hobby, sorted by whether you're after one specific Pokémon or just the theme!

We’re a small team of two and our links keep woahpoke running. As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. Learn more.

Cool Flying Pokémon Cards

The dramatic end of the theme. Dragons mid-dive, dark types silhouetted against something, legendaries taking up the entire frame. This is where Flying cards go big, and it's the section to raid if you want a page that hits hard.

Our Picks:

Cool Flying Pokémon Cards

Cute & Beautiful Flying Pokémon Cards

The other half of the theme, and where a lot of the best art lives. Some of these are soft and small, some are just plain gorgeous, and a few of them don't fly with wings at all.

Our Picks:

Cute & Beautiful Flying Pokémon Cards

Specific Pokémon Flying in Cards

Some Pokémon fly often enough to have built up a real run of cards. Latias and Latios have the deepest one here, and the Legendary Birds aren't far behind. If you collect by Pokémon rather than by theme, start here!

Mew

Flying Mew Pokémon Cards

Pikachu

Pikachu Flying Pokémon Cards

Dragonite

Flying Dragonite Cards

Rayquaza

Flying Rayquaza Pokemon Cards

Jirachi

Flying Jirachi Pokemon Cards

Reshiram & Zekrom

Reshiram & Zekrom Flying Cards

Charizard

Flying Charizard Cards

Latios & Latias

Latios & Latias Flying Pokemon Cards

Lugia

Flying Lugia Pokemon Cards

Arceus

Flying Arceus Pokemon Cards

The Legendary Birds

Legendary Birds Pokemon Flying Cards

Vintage Flying Pokémon Cards

Flying cards go back to the very beginning, they just had a much smaller art window back then. These span the Wizards era, the e-Card sets and beyond, plus a Japanese Vending Zapdos that originally came as part of a sheet you cut apart yourself.

Our Picks:

Vintage Flying Pokémon Cards

Commons & Affordable Flying Pokémon Cards

Flying is one of the cheaper themes to collect, mostly because so much of it ended up on ordinary set cards rather than chase cards. You can put a solid page together without spending much.

Commons & Affordable Flying Pokémon Cards

That's our roundup of the best flying Pokémon cards in the TCG! Which flying cards are you collecting?

by woahpoke

43 Official Romantic, Couples & Love-Themed Pokémon Cards

Search for couple themed Pokémon cards and you'll mostly find custom ones for proposal cards, wedding favors, cards people made for someone specific. Lovely, but not collectible.

We couldn't find anywhere that had actually gathered the official ones. So here they are!

A note though: the TCG almost never tells you what the relationship is. Two Pokémon share a card, they're clearly into each other's company and that's where the information stops. We're not going to insist any of these are couples, because plenty of them read just as well as friends, siblings, or a pair who happened to sit down together (or even a duo of the same Pokémon). They’re super cute nonetheless!

Where the game does commit, we'll say so. Tandemaus is officially classified as the Couple Pokémon and Luvdisc is the Rendezvous Pokémon, so those two aren't up for interpretation.

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Couple & Companion Illustration Rares and Full Arts

The modern illustration rares are where this theme really lives. Read them however you like. The Ralts line's connecting art follows a couple from moving in to making a house a home. Latias and Latios are siblings in the games and still land on every couple list anybody makes, purely on the strength of the art. Lopunny and Jigglypuff are best friends with matching outfits. Nobody's going to correct you!

Our Picks:

Couple & Companion Pokémon Cards

Vintage & Older Couple Cards

Long before illustration rares gave artists a full frame to work with, they were sneaking pairs into the tiny art windows of vintage and Expedition era cards.

Our Picks:

Vintage & Older Couple Pokemon Cards

Tandemaus

Here's the one the game commits to. Tandemaus's official Pokédex classification is the Couple Pokémon, and the Pokédex entry says the pair sticks together no matter what and splits any food they find exactly in half.

That makes it the only Pokémon on this list where you're not reading anything into it. It also means every single Tandemaus card is a couple card by default, which is why this section is the biggest one here!

Our Picks:

Couple Love Pokemon Cards

Luvdisc Cards

A heart with fins. Luvdisc is classified as the Rendezvous Pokémon, which is about as on the nose as the series gets, and it's the closest thing the roster has to a Valentine's mascot.

Our Picks:

Heart Pokemon Cards

Gastrodon Cards

Gastrodon comes in two forms, pink (West Sea) and blue (East Sea), and collectors pair them constantly because pink and blue next to each other reads as a couple whether or not anything in the games says so.

They're the same species split by geography, not a pair. But we're including them because the collecting behavior is real, and a pink and blue Gastrodon facing each other on a binder page looks exactly like what everybody wants it to look like.

Our Picks:

Gastrodon Cards Pokemon

Shellos Cards

The same pink and blue split, but smaller and rounder! Shellos gets the better end of the deal on cards, because the illustrators keep leaning into how much it looks like a little jelly. If you're building a Valentine's page and only have room for one of these two lines, take Shellos. The cards are cuter and the color contrast pops harder at that size!

Our Picks:

Shellos Couple Pokémon Cards

That's our roundup of the best romantic, couples and love-themed Pokémon cards in the TCG! Who's on your Valentine's page?

by woahpoke

65 Snow & Winter Pokémon Cards

Winter suits the TCG beautifully. Snow gives illustrators an excuse to strip a scene down to almost nothing, and when a card is mostly white space with one small creature in it, everything gets quieter and better.

This is our round-up of the snow and winter Pokémon cards worth putting in a binder, from full whiteouts to snowy city scenes, and the Ice types who live there year round!

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Snowfall Pokémon Cards

Falling snow does something no other weather does to a card: it flattens the background into a soft grey wall and pushes the Pokémon forward. It's the easiest depth trick in illustration and it works every single time.

Our Picks:

Snowfall Pokémon Cards

Cute Winter Pokémon Cards

The soft end of the season. Round Pokémon in the snow, mostly having a nice time, occasionally being mildly inconvenienced by the weather in a way that's clearly meant to be funny. Ice types skew adorable more than any other type. A whole category of creatures built around a hostile element and most of them are just little guys.

Our Picks:

Cute Winter Pokémon Cards

Scenic Snowy Background Cards

Here the weather has stopped and the landscape takes over. Mountains, frozen lakes, empty fields, and a Pokémon somewhere in it for scale. These are the ones that reward being looked at rather than flipped past. A few of them put the Pokémon so far back in the scene that the card reads as a landscape first.

Our Picks:

Scenic Snowy Background Pokémon Cards

Glaceon Cards

The Eeveelution that only exists because of a frozen rock, which makes her the most literally seasonal Pokémon on the list. Glaceon gets a section of her own because the illustrators keep handing her great cards.

Our Picks:

Glaceon Winter & Snow Cards

Ice Rider & Shadow Rider Calyrex Cards

Chilling Reign built its whole identity around these two, and the split between them is the fun part. Ice Rider gets the blizzard and the white horse, Shadow Rider gets the cold of a different kind. Collect them as a pair and the page tells you exactly what that set was about.

Our Picks:

Ice Rider & Shadow Rider Calyrex Cards

Christmas-Themed Pokémon Cards

The TCG has never officially done Christmas, which somehow makes this better. What you get instead are cards that landed on the holiday sideways: a Pokémon that happens to look like a tree, a promo built around a snow festival, a gift-carrying bird who was always going to end up here.

Our Picks:

Christmas Pokémon Cards

Commons & Affordable Winter Cards

Winter is one of the easiest themes to collect on a budget, because snow turns up constantly on regular set cards where nobody thinks to look for it.

Our Picks:

Commons & Affordable Winter Pokémon Cards

That's our roundup of the best snow and winter Pokémon cards in the TCG! Which ones are your favorites? Let us know in the comments below!

by woahpoke

112 Pokémon Cards with Connecting Art & Cards that Go Together

One card is a card. Two cards that line up into a single continuous scene is a completely different thing, and once you've noticed one you start seeing them everywhere.

The TCG has been doing this since the Neo era and it's only gotten more ambitious, from two card pairs to entire sets that assemble into one enormous full page illustration. We pulled together every connecting set we could find, sorted by how they actually fit together!

Table of Contents

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Horizontal Connecting Pokémon Cards

Set them side by side and the background runs straight through, or one Pokémon is clearly looking at the other one across the gap.

Not all of these sit on the same plane. Some need one card rotated, and others only click if you stagger them at slightly different heights. The Neo Revelation birds are the usual culprit. If a pair looks like it should connect but doesn't, try moving one up or down before you decide the art doesn't match!

Latios & Latias

Latios & Latias Matching Cards

Deerling & Sawsbuck

Deerling & Sawsbuck Connecting Art

Bulbasaur, Ivysaur & Mega Venusaur

Bulbasaur, Ivysaur & Mega Venusaur Connecting Art

Neo Revelation Birds

Neo Revelation Birds Connecting Cards

Neo Discovery Eeveelutions

Neo Discovery Eeveelutions Connecting Art

Volbeat & Illumise

Volbeat & Illumise Matching Cards

The Legendary Birds Trio

The Legendary Birds Trio Matching Cards

Mewtwo & Charizard

Mewtwo & Charizard Matching Cards

Reshiram & Black Kyurem

Reshiram & Black Kyurem Connecting Cards

Groudon & Kyogre

Groudon & Kyogre Connecting Cards

Bulbasaur & Ivysaur

Bulbasaur & Ivysaur Cards Together

Chinese Exclusive Eeveelutions

Chinese Exclusive Eeveelutions Connecting Cards

Plusle & Minun

Cute Plusle & Minun Connecting Cards

Slowpoke, Slowbro & Slowking

Slowpoke, Slowbro & Slowking Matching Cards

Hitmonlee & Hitmonchan

Hitmonlee & Hitmonchan Matching Cards

Magneton & Fearow

Magneton & Fearow Matching Cards

Vertical Connecting Pokémon Cards

Same idea, but stacked. One card sits above the other and the art runs top to bottom instead of left to right, which usually means something is falling, growing, flying up or looking down.

Perrin & Hisuian Growlithe

Perrin & Hisuian Growlithe Connecting Cards

Wally's Compassion & Fomantis

Wally's Compassion & Fomantis Connecting Cards

Spidops & Tarountula

Spidops & Tarountula Connecting Cards

Gholdengo & Gimmighoul

Gholdengo & Gimmighoul Matching Pokemon Cards

The 151 Starter Lines

151 Starter Matching Pokemon Cards

The LEGEND Cards

Ho Oh Lugia Matching Cards

Three Dogs Cards That Go Together

Vertical Connecting Pokemon Cards

Triumphant Pokemon Cards Vertical Legends

Matching Pokémon Cards That Go Together

These don't literally connect into one image, but they share a palette, a pose or a concept closely enough that they belong on the same page anyway!

Charmander Promo & Stellar Crown Starters

Matching Pokémon Cards That Go Together

Arctibax & Baxcalibur

Arctibax & Baxcalibur Matching Art

The 30th Celebration Meowths

The 30th Celebration Meowths Connecting Cards

The Duskull Trio

The Duskull Trio Matching Connecting Cards

The Three Legendary Beasts

The Three Legendary Dogs Matching Cards

Pidgey, Pidgeotto & Pidgeot

Pidgey, Pidgeotto & Pidgeot Cards That Go Together

Pokémon Cards That Tell a Story

The best version of the whole concept. These don't just connect visually, they move through time or show different POVs. A Pokémon starts small, something happens, and by the third card the whole arc has landed. The Ralts line is the one everybody points to and it deserves it.

Ralts, Kirlia & Gardevoir

Pokémon Cards That Tell a Story

Raticate & Gumshoos

Raticate & Gumshoos Cards That Go Together

Tinkatink, Tinkatuff & Tinkaton

Minccino & Cinccino

Minccino & Cinccino Matching Cards

Quaxly, Quaxwell & Quaquaval

Quaxly, Quaxwell & Quaquaval Story Cards

Swablu & Altaria

Swablu & Alteria Story Cards

Sprigatito, Floragato & Meowscarada

Sprigatito, Floragato & Meowscarada Storytelling Cards

Fuecoco, Crocalor & Skeledirge

Fuecoco, Crocalor & Skeledirge Storytelling Cards

Poltchageist & Sinistcha

woahPoltchageist & Sinistcha Matching Cardsoke_Blog_ConnectingCards_Story_Poltchageist

Cosmog, Cosmoem & Lunala

Cosmog, Cosmoem & Lunala Matching Cards

Legendary Treasures: the Tepig line

Generations Radiant Collection: the Charmander line

Legendary Treasures: Trubbish, Phione & Empoleon

Furious Fists: Slaking, Electivire & Magmortar

Suwama Chiaki: Golurk & Gligar

Full Page Connecting Pokémon Cards

The most ambitious version, where an entire subset assembles into one enormous illustration across a full binder page. 9 cards, 18 cards, the whole thing.

These are the hardest to finish and by far the most satisfying when you do. Southern Islands is the granddaddy of them all and still one of our favorite vintage sets, period.

The First Partner Illustration Collection

Full Page First Partners Connecting Pokémon Cards

The Crown Zenith Galarian Gallery Set

The Crown Zenith Galarian Full Page Sett

Southern Islands Set

Southern Islands Set Full Page Set

That's our roundup of the best connecting Pokémon cards in the TCG! Which set are you closest to completing?

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by woahpoke