Paldean Fates

What Paldean Fates is

Paldean Fates is the second special expansion of the Scarlet & Violet Series, released in English on January 26, 2024 under the set code PAF. It has 91 cards in the numbered set and 154 secret rares, for 245 cards in total, which makes it the rare set where the secret rares outnumber the main set. Its job was to bring Shiny Pokémon back to the card game, and it did so with 120 Shiny rares, 12 Shiny Ultra rare Pokémon ex and a Shiny Pikachu leading the way.

The set is the English version of the Japanese High Class Pack Shiny Treasure ex, released December 1, 2023, plus the remaining cards from Raging Surf, the Terastal Starter Sets, Ancient Roar and Future Flash that had not been localized in Paradox Rift. Alongside the Shiny cards it carries seven Pokémon ex and three Tera Pokémon ex, three Illustration rares featuring Shiny Pokémon, eight Special illustration rares (Shiny Pokémon ex and Supporters) and six Hyper rare Pokémon ex with a new gold raised foil effect.

Like Crown Zenith before it, Paldean Fates booster packs were never sold on their own. Packs came inside Elite Trainer Boxes, tins, premium collections, tech sticker collections and bundles, which is why the sealed table below lists those products and no ordinary booster box. Every card carries the G regulation mark, and Psychic is the most common type at 49 cards.

What makes Paldean Fates different

• More secret rares than regular cards 154 secret rares sit behind a 91 card main set. The Shiny rares run from 92 to 211, the Shiny Ultra rare Pokémon ex from 212 to 223, then three Illustration rares, five Ultra rare Supporters, eight Special illustration rares and six gold Hyper rares close the set at 245.
• The Shiny Vault idea, reborn The 120 Shiny rares are the Scarlet & Violet Series answer to the Shiny Vault of Hidden Fates and Shining Fates: full species lines such as Charmander and Charmeleon, Pawmi to Pawmot, Tinkatink to Tinkaton and Frigibax to Baxcalibur, all in Shiny colouration on the sparkle foil.
• Twelve Shiny Pokémon ex Forretress, Toedscruel, Espathra, Alakazam, Mew, Gardevoir, Glimmora, Paldean Clodsire, Noivern, Pidgeot, Wigglytuff and Squawkabilly ex appear as Shiny Ultra rares (212 to 223), reusing their earlier full art artwork in Shiny colours.
• Mew, Gardevoir and Charizard as Special illustration rares Mew ex 232 by USGMEN, Gardevoir ex 233 by Kuroimori and Charizard ex 234 by AKIRA EGAWA are the three Shiny Pokémon ex Special illustration rares, joined by Arven 235, Clive 236, Iono 237, Nemona 238 and Penny 239 for the Supporters.
• Gold raised foil Hyper rares Wo-Chien ex 240, Chi-Yu ex 241, Chien-Pao ex 242, Miraidon ex 243, Ting-Lu ex 244 and Koraidon ex 245 introduced a gold raised foil effect that later Scarlet & Violet sets kept.
• Promos cut from the Japanese set Several Shiny Treasure ex cards were cut during localization and released as SVP Black Star Promos instead: the Elite Trainer Box Mimikyu (SVP 075), the Tech Sticker Fidough, Greavard and Maschiff (SVP 069 to 071), the tin Great Tusk ex, Iron Treads ex and Charizard ex (SVP 072 to 074) and the Premium Collection first partner lines (SVP 076 to 084).

How Paldean Fates arrived

Shiny Treasure ex was revealed at the end of the streamed Pokéca All Star Battle 2023 event, a celebrity tournament marking the 27th anniversary of the Pokémon Trading Card Game, and released in Japan on December 1, 2023. Each Japanese pack held 10 cards with a Pokémon ex guaranteed, and at 360 cards the set was the largest Japanese release ever at the time, ahead of Shiny Star V's 330, a record it held until the Start Deck 100 Battle Collection in December 2025. Traditional Chinese, Indonesian, Thai and Korean versions followed between December 22, 2023 and January 26, 2024.

The English set arrived on January 26, 2024 as Paldean Fates, sitting between the Pokémon Trading Card Game Classic release and the Play! Pokémon Prize Pack Series Four. The first wave was the Mimikyu themed Elite Trainer Box, the Pokémon Center Elite Trainer Box and three Tech Sticker Collections featuring Shiny Fidough, Greavard and Maschiff. The second wave on February 9, 2024 brought five Mini Tins, the Great Tusk ex, Iron Treads ex and Charizard ex tins, and three Premium Collections built around the Paldea first partners. The six pack Booster Bundle closed the release on February 23, 2024.

Cards from the set kept turning up later: cosmos holofoil Pikachu 18, Mimikyu 37 and Gengar 57 with the jack o' lantern stamp in the Trick or Trade BOOster Bundle 2024, Ceruledge 40 with a Pokémon Day 2024 stamp, and reverse holofoil cosmos versions of Pikachu 18, Fidough 38, Greavard 42 and Maschiff 62 in a Costco box.

Paldean Fates products and what came in them

The Elite Trainer Box shows Mimikyu and holds nine booster packs, 65 card sleeves, 45 basic Energy cards, a player's guide, six damage counter dice, a competition legal coin flip die, two Special Condition markers, four dividers, a Pokémon TCG Live code card and an Illustration rare style Mimikyu promo (SVP Promo 075), a card cut from the English set during localization. The Pokémon Center Elite Trainer Box adds two more packs and a second Mimikyu promo with a Pokémon Center logo stamp.

The hexagonal Great Tusk ex, Iron Treads ex and Charizard ex tins hold five packs and a promo of the featured Pokémon ex; the smaller octagonal versions hold four. The three Premium Collections (Meowscarada ex, Skeledirge ex and Quaquaval ex) hold eight packs, the full evolution line as promos, an oversized Stage 2 Pokémon ex and a magnetic three card display. Each Mini Tin holds two packs, a sticker sheet and an art card, the Tech Sticker Collections hold three packs with a Shiny Fidough, Greavard or Maschiff promo and a large sticker, and the Booster Bundle holds six packs.

Collecting and grading Paldean Fates

Mew ex 232 is the card of the set, and the live prices above show how far its PSA 10 sits above a raw copy. Charizard ex 234 and Gardevoir ex 233 complete the Special illustration rare trio, and then the Shiny rares take over: Pikachu 131, Ditto 201, Mimikyu 160, Snorlax 202 and Charmander 109 are the Shiny cards graders reach for, and several cheap Shiny rares grade into surprising PSA 10 premiums because the sparkle foil is unforgiving in hand.

That foil is the grading story. Shiny rare stock shows print lines and surface scratches under angled light, and the Shiny Ultra rare Pokémon ex reuse full art textures that chip at the edges, so a card that looks clean out of the pack often is not a ten. Check centering front and back and tilt the foil under strong light before submitting.

Sealed Paldean Fates never had a booster box. Elite Trainer Boxes, the ex tins, the Premium Collections, Mini Tins and Tech Sticker Collections carried all of the packs, and the sealed table above tracks each of them with a trend where data exists. When buying singles, remember that several Shiny Treasure ex cards never made it into the English set and exist only as SVP promos, so a Japanese checklist will not match this one.