Rebel Clash

What Rebel Clash is

Rebel Clash is the second main expansion of the Sword & Shield Series, released in English on May 1, 2020 under the set code RCL. It has 192 cards in the numbered set plus 17 secret rares, 209 in total, every card carrying the D regulation mark, and it combines the Japanese Rebellion Crash expansion, released on March 6, 2020 with 115 cards, with the VMAX Rising subset. The set is based on Pokémon Sword and Shield and features the Stage 2 evolutions of the Galar first partners, Rillaboom, Cinderace and Inteleon, each as a Pokémon V and VMAX.

The set holds 16 Pokémon V and 7 VMAX in the numbered set, 18 ultra rares from 175 to 192 covering fourteen full art Pokémon V and the Supporters Boss's Orders, Milo, Oleana and Sonia, and 17 secret rares from 193 to 209: rainbow rare prints of all seven VMAX and the four Supporters, gold Frosmoth and Galarian Perrserker, the gold Items Big Charm, Scoop Up Net and Tool Scrapper and a gold Twin Energy.

Boss's Orders, the Giovanni Supporter at 154, was the set's lasting contribution to the game and has been reprinted in the Trainer's Toolkit, League Battle Decks, Battle Academy and as a Regionals promo, while Dragapult VMAX and Toxtricity VMAX were its competitive headliners.

What makes Rebel Clash different

• The Galar starters fully evolved Rillaboom, Cinderace and Inteleon reach their Stage 2 forms here as Pokémon V and VMAX, with rainbow rare VMAX prints at 193, 194 and 195 completing the trio at the top of the secret rares.
• Boss's Orders The Giovanni Supporter at 154, with full art and rainbow rare prints at 189 and 200, became one of the most played cards of the Sword & Shield era and has been reprinted repeatedly since.
• A prerelease that never happened Rebel Clash prereleases were scheduled for April 18 and 19 and April 25 and 26, 2020, but every Play! Pokémon event for the rest of the season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so stores were allowed to sell the Build & Battle Boxes from April 18 instead.
• Zacian and Zamazenta Theme Decks Both Theme Decks are Metal type and each carries a Cracked Ice Holofoil print of its Legendary, Zacian 139 and Zamazenta 140, with a non holofoil Duraludon 138 in the Zamazenta deck.
• The last Mini Packs Three card Mini Packs reached Dollar Tree stores in late May 2020, and Rebel Clash was the final expansion to receive them after a run that began in the XY Series.

How Rebel Clash arrived

Rebel Clash released in English on May 1, 2020, three months after Sword & Shield on February 7, 2020 and fifteen weeks before Darkness Ablaze on August 14, 2020. In Japan, VMAX Rising released on February 7, 2020 and Rebellion Crash on March 6, 2020, following the Sword and Shield pair and preceding Infinity Zone.

The launch came during the first weeks of the pandemic. With prereleases canceled, Build & Battle Boxes went on sale from April 18, 2020 and reached general retail on May 1 with four packs, a 23 card Evolution pack and one of four stamped promos: Flapple, Luxray, Coalossal or Garbodor. The Zacian and Zamazenta Theme Decks, the Gigantamax Copperajah Elite Trainer Box, single pack blisters with Mantine or Noctowl and three pack blisters with Rayquaza or Duraludon released on May 1, 2020, and Target added evolution line blisters through May.

The set arrived as the Sword & Shield boom was building, and its opening months coincided with the surge in demand that carried through Darkness Ablaze and Vivid Voltage later in 2020.

Rebel Clash products

Rebel Clash was sold in booster packs, booster boxes, blisters, two Theme Decks, the Copperajah Elite Trainer Box and the Build & Battle Box. The sealed table above tracks the products still trading today.

Collecting and grading Rebel Clash

Rebel Clash is a set where variants outrun the secret rares. The Cosmos Holofoil Magikarp 39 from the Kanto Friends Mini Tins leads the live chase list, with the Cracked Ice Zacian 139 from the Theme Deck, the Cosmos Holofoil Snorlax 141 and the stamped Flapple 22 promos among the top cards, and the live chase list above ranks every tracked card by PSA 10 value.

Among pack pulled cards the rainbow rares lead: Boss's Orders 200, Dragapult VMAX 197, Cinderace VMAX 194, Inteleon VMAX 195, Rillaboom VMAX 193 and Toxtricity VMAX 196, followed by the full art Supporters. Rebel Clash was opened in very large numbers through 2020, so raw prices are low across the set and the market rewards PSA 10 copies of the rainbow rares and the low print variants.

Sealed Rebel Clash is one of the most affordable Sword & Shield era boxes, and the sealed table above tracks what boxes, packs, blisters, Elite Trainer Boxes and Build & Battle Boxes trade for today.