Close look at Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet—Obsidian Flames illustration rare cards featuring Pidgey, Pidgeotto, Pidgeot ex, Eiscue ex, Lechonk and more

Art from the Pokémon Trading Card Game always burns brightly, but there’s something special about illustration rare cards. Featuring full-card artwork, these stunning cards tell a compelling story, offer a fresh perspective on well-known and beloved Pokémon, and are so richly detailed that it’s difficult to look away. And the artwork in the Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet—Obsidian Flames expansion is scorching in its intensity and beauty. Here are some of the incredible cards you can expect to find in this expansion.

Illustrator Jerky’s graphically bold style applied to Pidgey and its entire Evolution chain is almost inexplicably hilarious. The first of these images boasts not one but many Pidgey against a bright yellow background, alternately staring at and playfully hiding from the viewer. Try not to laugh at the rogue Pidgey claw emerging from the top right corner of the card. Its Evolution Pidgeotto mimics the bold, sassy personality of the Pidgey but against another primary color: green. And Pidgeot ex completes the trio, flying directly at the viewer, a cartoonish landscape at its back. Make a game of counting Pidgey and looking for the route signs in each card.

One of the most fascinating things about the Terastal phenomenon is that it offers the opportunity to change a Pokémon’s type. For example, it can take a Water-type Pokémon like Eiscue and turn it into a Fire-type Pokémon. In artist Toshinao Aoki’s hands, this transformation is undeniably humorous. The Penguin Pokémon is exactly where you would expect to find it, in an icy white snowscape with a cool blue sky. But this Eiscue has an unlikely addition of a flaming chandelier on its head, which suddenly shifts the tone of the entire card. With its extremely large head tilted in preparation to charge, Eiscue is a comic, albeit fierce, figure.

You wouldn’t expect elegance from a card featuring Lechonk, but in artist Narumi Sato’s deft hands, even the Hog Pokémon takes on an air of refinement. Sure, it’s passed out on the floor after what appears to have been a very large meal. And yes, it appears to be drooling with the remnants of that meal still scattered about its face. But consider the elaborate and highly realistic tile pattern on the floor, the beauty of the nearby potted plants, the masterful play of light and shadow across the floor. The colors are bright but thoughtfully chosen, almost as though Sato set out to illustrate a beautiful room and a Pokémon somehow appeared after the fact. And yet, the incongruence just serves to highlight the beauty of the setting and the hilarity of Lechonk’s personality.

If drooling Pokémon are your jam, Masako Tomii’s Gloom will likely be your favorite card from the entire expansion, based on the drool-to-Pokémon ratio alone. And yes, according to Gloom’s Pokédex entry, “the fluid that oozes from its mouth isn’t drool.” From the fluid oozing from its mouth to the stench of the pollen on its leaves (which is so foul its opponents faint), it’s not the most refined of Pokémon. And yet Tomii’s Gloom could not be more unbothered as it strolls through the jungle. Vivid fluorescent colors and an abundance of unique flora offer an attention-grabbing background for the Pokémon’s jaunt—the two Weedle observing from beneath the safety of a leaf enhance the entire scene. It’s not quite picturesque, but rather something more energetic and distinctive, an original card befitting a Pokémon that owns its unique aesthetic.

Behold Scizor, harbinger of the apocalypse, dispenser of doom! That sounds like an exaggeration until you look at illustrator Oku’s Scizor. The relentless crimson sky that bleeds into the Scizor in the foreground. The seemingly charred tentacles of grass beneath it. I don’t know what happened to set these Scizor off on this apparent rampage, and that’s probably for the best. Because when you come across a scene this foreboding, you turn around and walk away without asking questions. It’s not at all what you expect from a Pokémon TCG card, which after several decades and tens of thousands of cards is quite an accomplishment.

Akira Komayama’s Palafin is the perfect counterpoint to Scizor’s chaotic, destructive mood. In a card bursting with playful energy, Komayama captures a pod of Palafin in both Hero Form and Zero Form. There’s whimsy in every line and bubble, and details so numerous that your eye almost doesn’t know where to look. At first impression the Palafin seem to form a single entity, an aquatic entity at once powerful and eager to play. It’s impossible not to smile at the friendly, open expression on the faces of the Pokémon. And while every illustration rare card is unique and interesting, Komayama perhaps takes the crown for maximizing every colorful inch of available space.

This is just a small taste of the incredible artwork from the Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet—Obsidian Flames expansion. Keep an eye out for more artwork and news from the Pokémon Trading Card Game.