Silver Tempest

What Silver Tempest is

Silver Tempest is the twelfth and final main expansion of the Sword & Shield Series, released in English on November 11, 2022 under the set code SIT. It has 195 cards in the numbered set, 20 secret rares and a 30 card Trainer Gallery subset, for 245 cards in total. Lugia is the face of the set, joined by Alolan Vulpix, Regieleki and Regidrago, and the Japanese source material follows an expedition to an unexplored island full of Fossil Pokémon and Pokémon of mysterious origin.

Lugia, Alolan Vulpix, Regidrago, Unown, Mawile and Serperior all appear as Pokémon VSTAR, Regieleki is the only Pokémon VMAX in the set, and Alakazam, Jirachi and Tsareena are the three Radiant Pokémon. The secret rares run from 14 rainbow cards (196 to 209) to six gold cards (210 to 215), and the 26 Ultra rares include 18 full art and alternate art Pokémon V and eight full art Supporters. Psychic is the most represented type at 36 cards.

Each booster pack holds ten cards, a Pokémon TCG Live code card and either a basic Energy card or a VSTAR marker card. Nearly every card carries the F regulation mark; two keep the older D mark.

What makes Silver Tempest different

• The alternate art Lugia V kawayoo's Lugia V 186, the storm scene alternate art, is the most valuable card in the set by a wide margin and the card late Sword & Shield collecting is remembered for. Lugia also appears as Mitsuhiro Arita's regular V 138, 5ban Graphics' full art V 185, PLANETA Mochizuki's VSTAR 139 and its rainbow (202) and gold (211) prints.
• The last Trainer Gallery A 30 card Trainer Gallery of full art reprints closes the run that began in Brilliant Stars. Rayquaza VMAX TG20 is its chase card, with Gardevoir TG05 and Milotic TG02 the strongest of the rest.
• VSTAR Powers on Trainer cards For the first time since the mechanic arrived, VSTAR Powers appear on Trainer cards. They depict ancient artifacts in the spirit of the Skyridge expansion and tie into the island narrative of Paradigm Trigger.
• A set assembled from four Japanese sources Silver Tempest combines the Japanese Paradigm Trigger expansion and the Incandescent Arcana subset with cards from Lost Abyss and Dark Phantasma that were not localized in Lost Origin, plus some remaining VMAX Climax cards.
• Dragonite with three retailer stamps Dragonite 131 exists on Line Holofoil with a GameStop stamp (USA), a Silver Tempest stamp (European countries) and an EB Games stamp (Australia and New Zealand), and the stamped copies grade into some of the highest PSA 10 values in the set.
• Promo prints of ordinary cards Professor Laventon 162 exists as a Professor Program promo, Serena 164 as a reverse holofoil Regionals 2023 promo with a staff version, Alolan Vulpix V 33 and Pikachu 49 with a silver snowflake stamp from the Holiday Calendar 2023, and Lugia V 138 and Lugia VSTAR 139 as Play! Pokémon Prize Pack prints.

How Silver Tempest arrived

Japan released Paradigm Trigger on October 21, 2022, a 125 card set that followed Lost Abyss and closed the Sword & Shield era there before Scarlet ex and Violet ex. The Incandescent Arcana subset had arrived on September 2, 2022. The English set combined them with the leftover Lost Abyss, Dark Phantasma and VMAX Climax cards and released on November 11, 2022, two days after Play! Pokémon Prize Pack Series One and ahead of the SVP Black Star Promos that opened the Scarlet & Violet era in January 2023.

Prerelease events ran on the weekends of October 29 to 30 and November 5 to 6, 2022. Each Silver Tempest Build & Battle Box held a 40 card deck built around one of four SWSH Black Star Promos, four booster packs, a deck building tip sheet and a code card for the Pokémon TCG Online or Pokémon TCG Live. The promos were Sunflora (SWSH 269), Rapidash (SWSH 270), Kirlia (SWSH 271) and Archeops (SWSH 272), with non holofoil Rapidash 22 and Archeops 147 deck prints and rereleased Professor's Research and Arezu cards. The Build & Battle Stadium followed on November 25, 2022 with two Build & Battle Boxes, four more packs and a sealed brick of 121 basic Energy cards.

The set's cards kept appearing afterwards: Articuno 36 as a Cosmos Holofoil in the Two Pack Blister, Zubat 103 with the Pikachu jack-o'-lantern stamp in the Trick or Trade BOOster Bundle 2023, Rapidash 22 in the Ninetales ex Deluxe Battle Deck and Forest Seal Stone 156 in the Miraidon ex League Battle Deck.

Silver Tempest products and what came in them

Two Elite Trainer Boxes launched with the set, both featuring Vulpix. Each holds 65 card sleeves and 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 standard box has eight booster packs; the Pokémon Center box has ten, a second set of 65 sleeves depicting Lugia and a jumbo Alolan Vulpix coin.

Three pack blisters carry Manaphy (SWSH 275) or Togetic (SWSH 276), single pack blisters carry Hisuian Basculin (SWSH 273) or Cranidos (SWSH 274), premium checklane blisters reuse the Gallade and Magnezone lines from Astral Radiance, and Stage 1 blisters the Hisuian Lilligant and Hisuian Sneasler lines from the same set. Every blister includes a code card and a jumbo coin. The Booster Bundle holds six loose packs, the Collector's Album is a 60 card mini portfolio of Lugia and Vulpix with one pack, and Ultra Pro released nine pocket Lugia and Vulpix binders and four pocket Regidrago and Regieleki binders.

Collecting and grading Silver Tempest

Lugia V 186 carries the set. The live prices above show the gap between a raw copy and a PSA 10, and the whole Lugia line rewards clean copies: the regular Lugia V 138, Lugia VSTAR 139 and their Prize Pack and jumbo prints all trade as separate rows. Rayquaza VMAX TG20 is the Trainer Gallery chase, and the stamped Dragonite 131 prints sit among the top graded cards even though the pack pulled card is cheap.

Professor Laventon 162 is a special case: the Professor Program promo trades raw with no established PSA 10 market, so treat it as a raw purchase. Serena 164 is the opposite, a reverse holofoil that is nearly worthless raw but reaches a strong PSA 10 price, and Dreepy 87 reverse holofoil behaves the same way. 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, which makes Silver Tempest an inexpensive master set outside the Lugia cards. Sword & Shield era alternate arts show edge whitening and print lines, so check Lugia V 186 under angled light before submitting. Sealed product was printed in volume at the end of the era and the sealed table above tracks what boxes and bundles trade for today.