Brilliant Stars

What Brilliant Stars is

Brilliant Stars is the ninth main expansion of the Sword & Shield Series, released in English on February 25, 2022 under the set code BRS. It has 172 cards in the numbered set, 14 secret rares and a 30 card Trainer Gallery subset, for 216 cards in total. The set introduced the Pokémon VSTAR mechanic, with the Alpha Pokémon Arceus as its face and Charizard, Shaymin and Whimsicott as the other three VSTAR Pokémon, alongside Mimikyu, Aggron and Kingler as the set's three Pokémon VMAX.

Pokémon VSTAR evolve from a Pokémon V and each carries a VSTAR Power, an attack or Ability usable once per game in the manner of the GX attacks of the Sun & Moon Series. Booster packs hold ten cards, a Pokémon TCG Live code card and either a basic Energy card in a new design or a VSTAR marker card, a white card with the VSTAR symbol used to show the power has been spent.

The checklist holds 20 Pokémon V in the main numbering, 21 Ultra rares (152 to 172), eight rainbow rares (173 to 180) and six gold cards (181 to 186). Psychic is the most represented type at 23 cards. The cards come from the Japanese Star Birth expansion, the Start Deck 100 and the VMAX Climax subset, and most carry the F regulation mark, with 20 cards on the older E mark and two on D.

What makes Brilliant Stars different

• The first Trainer Gallery A 30 card subset of full art reprints showing Pokémon alongside a Trainer, a concept last seen in Cosmic Eclipse. The Eeveelution cards lead it in the graded market: Flareon TG01, Vaporeon TG02, Jolteon TG04 and Eevee TG11, with Mimikyu V TG16 and Zekrom TG05 close behind.
• The alternate art Charizard V Ryota Murayama's Charizard V 154 is the most valuable pack pulled card in the set and one of the defining alternate arts of the Sword & Shield Series. Charizard also appears as N-DESIGN's regular V 17, a full art V 153, the VSTAR 18 and its rainbow print 174.
• Arceus in every form Arceus V appears as a regular print (122), a full art (165) and kawayoo's alternate art (166), and Arceus VSTAR as the regular 123, rainbow 176 and gold 184. The 122 print also exists as a metal card from the Arceus VSTAR Ultra Premium Collection.
• Galarian birds in gold The gold secret rares are unusual: Galarian Articuno V 181, Galarian Zapdos V 182 and Galarian Moltres V 183 join Arceus VSTAR 184, Magma Basin 185 and Ultra Ball 186.
• Promo prints that outrun the set Mewtwo 56 exists as a Cosmos Holofoil from the Mew V Box, a reverse holofoil with a Brilliant Stars stamp and a Line Holofoil Trick or Trade print, and Empoleon 37 as a Cosmos Holofoil from the Infernape V Box. Both promo prints top the PSA 10 list on thin markets, far above the ordinary cards.
• Tournament staples with event stamps Ultra Ball 150 was printed as a reverse holofoil promo for the 2023 International Championships in Oceania, Latin America, Europe and North America and for regional championships across Asia, each with staff, Top 8 and champion versions. Friends in Galar 140 has Professor Cup promo prints and Boss's Orders 132 a Regionals 2022 promo.

How Brilliant Stars arrived

Japan released Star Birth on January 14, 2022, a 127 card set that followed Fusion Arts and preceded Time Gazer and Space Juggler. The English set combined it with the Start Deck 100 and VMAX Climax cards and released on February 25, 2022, following Fusion Strike in November 2021 and ahead of Astral Radiance in May.

Non sanctioned prerelease events began on the weekend of February 12 to 13, 2022, when retailers in the Prerelease Program could start selling Brilliant Stars Build & Battle Boxes. These boxes changed format: instead of the 23 card Evolution packs of earlier Build & Battle Boxes, each held a 40 card deck ready to play in Limited events, built around one of four SWSH Black Star Promos, plus four booster packs, a deck building tip sheet and a code card. The promos were Moltres (SWSH 185), Lucario (SWSH 186), Liepard (SWSH 187) and Bibarel (SWSH 188), with non holofoil Torterra 8, Moltres 21, Infernape 26, Lucario 79, Bibarel 121 and Professor's Research 147. The Build & Battle Stadium followed on March 11, 2022 with two Build & Battle Boxes, four more packs and 121 basic Energy cards.

The set's cards kept appearing later: Moltres 21 as a Cosmos Holofoil in the Silver Tempest Two Pack Blister, Mewtwo 56, Duskull 60, Dusclops 61 and Dusknoir 62 in the Trick or Trade BOOster Bundle, and Professor's Research 147 in the Astral Radiance, Lost Origin and Silver Tempest Build & Battle Boxes.

Brilliant Stars products and what came in them

Two Elite Trainer Boxes launched with the set, both featuring Arceus. The regular box holds eight booster packs, 65 card sleeves, four dividers, six damage counter dice, a coin flip die, two acrylic Special Condition markers, an acrylic VSTAR marker, 45 basic Energy cards, a rulebook, a player's guide and a code card. The Pokémon Center version holds ten packs, different sleeves, a coin and a deck box.

Single pack blisters carry Eevee (SWSH 190) or Flapple (SWSH 189), three pack blisters carry Leafeon (SWSH 191) or Glaceon (SWSH 192), premium checklane blisters reuse the Salamence and Hydreigon lines from Evolving Skies, and Stage 1 blisters the Raichu and Zoroark lines from the same set. The blisters introduced jumbo coins featuring Venusaur, Blastoise, Pikachu or Eevee. The Collector's Album shows Arceus on the front and Sky Forme Shaymin on the back, holds 60 cards and includes one pack, and Ultra Pro released Arceus and Shaymin four pocket binders and Charizard and Whimsicott nine pocket binders.

Collecting and grading Brilliant Stars

Charizard V 154 is the pack pulled card that matters, and the live prices above show the gap between a raw copy and a PSA 10. The Trainer Gallery works underneath it: Flareon TG01, Vaporeon TG02, Jolteon TG04, Eevee TG11, Zekrom TG05 and Mimikyu V TG16 all grade into strong PSA 10 premiums from modest raw prices. Arceus V 122 is the sleeper of the main set, a cheap card with a large graded premium, and the full art Charizard V 153 trades well behind its alternate art sibling.

The variant rows dominate the top of the PSA 10 list. The Cosmos Holofoil Mewtwo 56 and Empoleon 37 from the Mew V and Infernape V Boxes carry very high PSA 10 prices built on sparse sales, the Professor Cup Top 8 Friends in Galar 140 trades raw with no established graded market, and the Prize Pack Charizard VSTAR 18 and jumbo Shaymin VSTAR 14 sit on their own thin markets. The checklist below tracks each variant separately, so match the label before comparing prices.

Only a handful of tracked singles clear a meaningful raw price and the median raw card rounds to nothing, so Brilliant Stars is an inexpensive master set outside the Charizard cards. Sword & Shield holofoils show silvering along the edges and the Trainer Gallery foils scratch easily, so tilt each card under a light before submitting. The sealed table above tracks what booster boxes, Elite Trainer Boxes and blisters trade for today.