Where to pull shiny Pokémon

As an old man, I remember first encountering Pokémon in Kanto on a brick-like Nintendo Gameboy rendering grayscale imagery back in 1999-2000. It was so enthralling only an empty stomach or a full bladder could draw me away from the screen. However, Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow, with the monochromatic colour palette being basically 8-bit in nature, gave us little insight into the true broad spectrum of colours that Pokémon yearned to exhibit in the following generation of Pokémon Silver, Gold and Crystal. For the diehard fans, waking up in the morning and catching the latest episode of the Indigo League anime revealed that some species of Pokémon can have different colours to the regular variant. Of particular note here is the pink Butterfree from episode 021 Bye Bye Butterfree.

Fast forward to generation 2 with the release of the Gameboy Color games Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal and we quickly learnt that random number generation, RNG for short, can call an alternate coloured version of a Pokémon which was dubbed a shiny variant. However, since the original odds of encountering a shiny Pokémon in these games was 1 in 8,192 encounters, many players first came across the same shiny Pokémon in the form the static sprite Gyarados on the Lake of Rage.

So then, what about these elusive variants in the Pokémon Trading Card Game? It is generally accepted that the first few sets of the TCG did not feature any shiny mons at all. The Pokémon Company, though, always throw curveballs. With some artistic expression, one could argue that the luminous green eyes of the Jigglypuff sitting on a tree branch in the Jungle expansion, card 54/62, could allude to the shiny form of Jigglypuff. If so, this is likely one the most undiscovered easter eggs in the franchise. The only way to truly find out would be to ask either the artist Kagemaru Himeno or the art director who commissioned the artist.

Outside of that controversial take, Neo Revelation gave us our first shiny Pokémon ever and they couldn’t be anymore close to the heart for many who played through the video games. Shining Gyarados and Shining Magikarp grace the TCG with depictions of a monster in a tempestuous rage towering over a cautious fisherman onlooker to the depths with a school of bland, common Magikarp following the elusive goldfish. The only other shiny mons we saw in as part of the generations 2 sets printed by Wizards of the Coast were the remaining Shining Pokémon as secret rares in Neo Destiny. These, however, took a spin on how they represented the alternate colour mons. Instead of clearly depicting a Mewtwo with a lime green tail, for instance, these cards depicted the shiny mons using an almost metallic coating and overall rough texture.

A whole host of shiny Pokémon known as gold stars bearing a small stylish gold star after the name of the Pokémon arrived in the ex Ruby & Sapphire era. In Pokémon lore, when a shiny Pokémon is happened upon in the wild, an array of gold sparkling stars usually accompany it in a dazzling motion encircling the rare specimen. That’s where the name “gold star” came from. Some of the most notable gold stars include the Hoennian starters Treeko, Torchic and Mudkip, Charizard (Dragon Frontiers) and the iconic Rayquaza (ex Deoxys) and the Kantonian evolution mons Vaporeon, Flareon and Jolteon.

Not many shinies appeared during the 2007-2008 run of Diamond & Pearl apart from the Drifloon, Duskull and Voltorb reverse holofoil secret rares from Stormfront. 2007 was a gamechanger, however, for the TCG as Pop Series 5 gave us Umbreon and Espeon gold stars. The Platinum series also gave us 3 reverse foils in the eponymous base set, Platinum Supreme Victors and Platinum Arceus respectively. HeartGold SoulSilver (2010) had to make a tribute with red Gyarados in the base set, albeit not as pretty as the scene with the fishermen being overshadowed by the Lake of Rage Gyarados in Neo Revelation’s Shining Gyarados. If legendary Pokémon are your thing, Call of Legends has 11 shinies to hunt down. Personally, I’m not sure legendary Pokémon should have a shiny variant since there should only be one of each legendary or mythical Pokémon. They are genderless after all and therefore cannot procreate. The exception here is Manaphy which can yield the offspring Phione but that offspring is incapable of evolution.

A plethora of shinies can be found in the Black & White sets Next Destinies, Dark Explorers, Dragons Exalted, Boundaries Crossed. The sets dedicated to exposing the misdemeanours of Team Plasma, the antagonists in Unova, Plasma Storm, Plasma Freeze and Plasma Blast each hide some secret rare shinies. Plasma Storm was a major hit boasting shinies of both Charizard and Blastoise in the same set.

Prior to the incipiency of the generation 6 XY era sets, there was no regional specific mechanics that needed to dominate the sets. When Pokémon X&Y released, players learnt of the Mega Evolution mechanic and this resulted in reduced focus on printing shiny Pokémon in the XY era. The first seen shiny was just a rare Gardevoir 54/98 from Ancient Origins. Breakpoint flooded the market with plenty of red Gyarados and Mega Gyarados. The Pokémon Company attempt at exemplifying the difference between an ordinary Pokémon and a shiny Pokémon came in the Generations Radiant Collection with the duo of Gardevoir. Where the shinies really, uh, shine and may have been missed is in Steam Siege. They are no more than uncommon and rares apart from the Mega Pokémon EX so it easy to see why there is no interest in them but they do have a duel typing indicative of their in-game types. For instance, the bug/electric Galvantula has a grass/electric typing in Steam Siege.

Going into the Sun &Moon block, the number of sets that contain shinies are just two. Specifically, they are restricted to special sets or what some people dub “holiday sets” in which the the boosters do not come in factory sealed booster boxes. Shining Legends closely resembles the characteristics of Call of Legends in that only legendary and mythical Pokémon take the stage in their shiny variants. Hidden Fates, the first of a series of special Fates sets, introduced a host of shiny Pokémon posing on a plain foil background with the iconic gold stars within the standard half-card illustration box. The Pokemon community later named them them “baby shinies”. The set also featured shiny Pokémon GX with unique borders which have not been seen since the release.

The Sword & Shield era opened up with gold-focused full art shinies beginning with Rebel Clash. The special set Champion’s Path brought us the menacing Charizard V. The second special “Fates” set came in Shining Fates hosting so many more baby shinies as well as Dynamaxed and Gigantamaxed Pokémon as full art V and VMAX cards. Gold cards featuring shiny Pokémon continued from Battle Styles through Fusion Strike while Pokemon’s 25th anniversary set Celebrations awarded fans with a blast from the past, Umbreon gold star. Astral Radiance gave us shinies known as Radiant Pokémon, synonymous with radiating effulgent light. Astral Radiance, the special set Pokémon GO, Lost Origin, Silver Tempest and Crown Zenith had 3 Radiant Pokémon each.

At the time of writing this blog (February 2025), the Scarlet & Violet era only had one major “Fates” set that featured a plethora of shinies and for the first time ever, the dark-type shiny terastalised Charizard SIR (secret illustration rare), a monster illustrated by Akira Egawa. The set also gave us yet another Gardevoir, as a Pokémon ex opposed to the Pokémon EX native to the XY block. Despite those two popular Pocket Monsters gracing the set, it became known for its shiny Mew using the move Barrier, mistaken by one or a few and adopted by many as “bubble Mew”. Whether or not this blog is updated as we see more shinies coming into the TCG, the complete list will be available over on Google Sheets (File>Make a copy) and currently comprises 476 shiny Pokémon (includes the shiny Lucario on the Trainer card Cynthia SV82 from Hidden Fates) and a few other speculative candidates based on visual similarities with the shiny counterparts. Shiny collectors will cherish this resource complete with checkboxes to help them complete their collection. You’re welcome.