Vivid Voltage

What Vivid Voltage is

Vivid Voltage is the fourth main expansion of the Sword & Shield Series, released in English on November 13, 2020 under the set code VIV. It has 185 cards in the numbered set plus 18 secret rares, 203 in total, and every card carries the D regulation mark. The set is built around Pikachu and its Gigantamax form, with Pikachu V and Pikachu VMAX at its center, and it introduced Amazing Rares, a new rarity of Legendary and Mythical Pokémon with multicolor Energy costs and a distinctive swirl of foil: Celebi, Raikou, Zacian, Zamazenta, Jirachi and Rayquaza.

The checklist holds 11 Pokémon V, six Pokémon VMAX, 19 holofoil rares, 33 rares, 20 Ultra rare full arts and 18 secret rares, 12 rainbow rares and six gold cards. Grass is the most represented type at 25 cards, with Lightning and Fighting at 23 each. The Trainers of Pokémon Sword and Shield feature heavily: Allister, Bea, Beauty, Leon, Nessa, Opal and the Pokémon Center Lady all have full art Supporters, and the Gym Leaders appear in the art of their signature Pokémon.

The cards come from the Japanese Amazing Volt Tackle expansion, combined with the Legendary Heartbeat subset.

What makes Vivid Voltage different

• Amazing Rares Vivid Voltage introduced the Amazing Rare rarity with six cards, Celebi 9, Raikou 50, Zacian 82, Zamazenta 102, Jirachi 119 and Rayquaza 138, Legendary and Mythical Pokémon whose attacks cost several Energy types.
• Gigantamax Pikachu aky CG Works' Pikachu VMAX 44 shows the sitting Gigantamax Pikachu of Pokémon Sword and Shield, and the rainbow rare print at 188 is the set's top pack pulled secret rare.
• The Prize Pack reprints Pikachu V 43 and Pikachu VMAX 44 were reprinted in Play! Pokémon Prize Packs, and those Prize Pack variants top the set's PSA 10 list. They are tournament prize reprints, not pack pulled cards.
• Gift with purchase stamps A Cosmos Holofoil Snorlax 131 with a Vivid Voltage stamp and a jumbo Pikachu V 43 with the same stamp were given away with purchases in several countries, and the stamped Snorlax ranks second on the graded list.
• Galar's Gym Leaders Six of the seven Trainer full arts belong to Galar characters, Allister, Bea, Beauty, Leon, Nessa and Opal, each with a rainbow rare print, and Bea, Nessa and Opal were later issued with a Professor Program stamp as Exceptional Contribution Awards.

How Vivid Voltage arrived

Japan released Legendary Heartbeat on July 10, 2020 and Amazing Volt Tackle, a 121 card set, on September 18, 2020. The Chinese Amazing Volt Tackle followed on October 9, 2020 in Taiwan and Hong Kong, the point at which the Chinese game began matching Japanese set composition. The English Vivid Voltage arrived on November 13, 2020, between Champion's Path in September and the McDonald's Collection of February 2021.

There were no prerelease tournaments. With the 2021 Play! Pokémon Championship Series cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic, eligible stores instead sold Vivid Voltage Build & Battle Boxes from October 31, 2020, each with a 23 card Evolution pack built around one of four alternate art SWSH Black Star Promos, Charizard 066, Donphan 067, Snorlax 068 or Lugia 069, plus four booster packs and a non holofoil Leon 154.

Many cards found second lives in later products, most notably the Cosmos Holofoil Flareon 26, Vaporeon 30 and Jolteon 47 of the Eevee Collector Chest, the Cosmos reverse Eevee 130 of the Kanto Friends Mini Tin 5-Pack, Zekrom 60 in the Kyurem V Box, Tornadus 142 in the Fusion Strike blisters and five jack-o'-lantern stamped cards in Trick or Trade 2023.

Vivid Voltage products and what came in them

The Elite Trainer Box features Gigantamax Pikachu and holds eight booster packs, 65 Pikachu sleeves, four dividers, six damage counter dice, a coin flip die, two acrylic Special Condition markers, basic Energy cards, a player's guide and a code card. Two 60 card Theme Decks, Charizard with Leon and Drednaw with Nessa, each carry a Cracked Ice Holofoil print of their featured Pokémon. Blisters carried Grookey, Scorbunny, Vaporeon or Sobble promos or Rebel Clash evolution lines, a Collector's Album holding 60 cards came with one pack, and Ultra Pro released two portfolios.

Collecting and grading Vivid Voltage

The live prices above are led by variants. The Prize Pack Pikachu V 43 and Pikachu VMAX 44 and the stamped gift with purchase Snorlax 131 hold the top PSA 10 values, so match the variant label in the checklist before comparing a pack pulled card with them. Among pack pulled cards the rainbow Pikachu VMAX 188 leads, followed by the full art Pikachu V 170, the regular Pikachu VMAX 44 and the six Amazing Rares.

The Cosmos Holofoil Eeveelutions from the Eevee Collector Chest, Flareon 26, Jolteon 47 and Vaporeon 30, and the Cosmos reverse Eevee 130 from the Kanto Friends tins carry strong PSA 10 prices on cheap raw copies, which makes them grading plays rather than pulls. The reverse holofoil Manectric 52 shows a high PSA 10 number on almost no sales and should be treated as noise.

Pikachu VMAX is a heavily graded card, so a PSA 10 needs clean centering on the textured surface. Sealed Vivid Voltage is still common, and the sealed table above tracks booster boxes, the Elite Trainer Box, the two Theme Decks and the blisters.