Several new card types have been introduced to the Pokémon Trading Card Game (or TCG) in recent sets, such as Tera Pokémon and Ace Spec cards (which had previously been part of the game a decade ago, albeit briefly!). The newest card type to emerge is Stellar Pokémon, but what distinguishes these from other types of Pokémon? Let’s find out!
How Do I Identify a Stellar Pokémon?
Stellar Pokémon were introduced in the Stellar Miracle Japanese set, and later came to the West for the first time in the Stellar Crown set. Stellar Pokémon are based on a type of Pokémon from the Nintendo Switch games, Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, which wear a Stellar Crown that affects their abilities. In the Pokémon TCG, they aren’t referred to as “Stellar” in the card text, but you’ll see each of these Pokémon illustrated wearing the Crown.
You can see this in the above image featuring the Lapras ex card; the crown itself is a series of diamond-shaped gems, and this opens out to a less obvious crown, followed by a large ring of hexagonal gems.
Another aspect of a Stellar Pokémon card which allows you to easily identify it is the multi-colored rainbow border, though do note that some variants of Stellar Pokémon will not have this; for example, take a look at the Terapagos ex cards in the above image. Though they are all the same Pokémon, and they’re all Stellar Pokémon, because of differences in the card rarity, they don’t all have the rainbow border; the card on the right is a gold Hyper Rare, and as such does not have the rainbow border. Note that, even though you’ll see the various gems in the images, the Stellar Crown itself is not always as clear to see as it is on the previous example of the Lapras ex.
What Is Unique About the Attacks of Stellar Pokémon?
In terms of attacks, the unique aspect of Stellar Pokémon is that they use multiple energy types. This makes them broadly similar to Dragon type Pokémon, which have attacks that use a combination of energy types, as well as Crystal Pokémon, which were last a feature in the early ’00s e-Series card sets.
Though this can mean their attacks are difficult to use in practice, given that you’ll need to ensure you have the exact combination of Energy cards attached to them, they’re often rewarding to use, in that they’re very powerful attacks with potentially devastating extra effects too.
For example, the above Galvantula ex card has two attacks; Charged Web, which is a more standard attack that uses one Lightning and one Colorless Energy, and Fulgurite, which is its “Stellar” attack. This uses one Grass, one Lightning, and one Fighting Energy, so it’s tricky to use. However, it deals 180 HP of damage, and during your opponent’s next turn, they can’t play any Item cards from their hand. This makes it a particularly powerful attack, even though you also have to discard all Energy cards from the Galvantula ex when you use this specific attack.
Stellar Pokémon are also classed as Tera Pokémon, which are another card type that have been dominating the meta in the last few years. Being a Tera Pokémon can mean that Pokémon have a slightly different type than they normally have. In the example above, the Charizard ex is a Darkness type Pokémon, as opposed to the standard Fire type that Charizard is typically known to be.
Tera Pokémon all have a special ability which stops them from being damaged by attacks from their opponents if they’re on the bench. This applies to Stellar Pokémon too, given that they’re also classified as Tera Pokémon!
For more details on Tera Pokémon, check out our list of all Tera Pokémon cards!
