Lucas: 13 - Black Bolt Illustration Rares

     With Nathan's most recent post showcasing the special Pokemon card arts for the White Flare set, I figured it's a good time for me to walk through what I believe to be the superior set: Black Bolt. As Nate said, the folks over at Pokemon card HQ are coming out with two "different" sets at the same time, each with a special art-rare for half of the Generation 5 Pokemon.

D-Tier

    The D-tier will be full of Pokemon I would be straight up pissed off to pull. Bruxish-level anger.

Munna

We can start off with my least favorite evolution line, maybe of this whole generation. Embryo-lookin freaks

Musharna

If I pull this I'm going to rage post

Duosion

Goo ball? Pass.

Scolipede

A bit of a sleeper Gen-5 evolution line, but this card looks like nothing. Just bleh

Serperior EX - SIR

Now's a good time to say -- SIR's are being graded on a curve. In terms of SIRs, this would be disappointing

Meloetta EX - SIR

What is even a Meloetta

C-Tier

    C-tier cards are those that I wouldn't be mad to pull, but I'll be a little disappointed. There's better in the set that I'm missing out on to pull these mids.

Volcarona

Volcarona suffers from chronic "I can't tell what I'm looking at" disorder

Palpitoad

I don't like him

Alomomola

I don't like her

Cryogonal

I don't like it

Eelektross

Looking back at this to write this blurb, I like the face he is making. The eel could be higher

Solosis

Cute little goo ball

Beheeyem

This dude should be in D-tier, but I won't remake all the tier list pictures. The glowing is kinda nice

Venipede

Bug in a forest. Except it's the bug Pokemon you can't remember the name of

Escavalier

Man aura farms in front of exploding sun

Haxorus

Haxorus could be done better :( he's a cool pseudo-legendary

Tranquill

Bird fight!

Bisharp

Bootleg Rush suit Mega Man fight!

Landorus

Man aura farms as he does earth bending

B-Tier

    The B-tier contains of the bulk of full-illustration cards. Pulling one of these will make me happy that I got a hit!

Servine

Now we're getting into some stuff I like! Grass man in a grass world

Lilligant

All of the baby Petlils really carry this card

Maractus

If liking the cactus is wrong, I don't want to be right

Darmanitan

Darmanitan hittin the Donkey Kong down-B

Larvesta

I like the sunset golden hour and volcano quite a bit

Simipour

Pond and colors remind me of Monet, who I like. Simipour is alright too

Seismitoad

Laughing toad in front of nondescript shapes

Tirtouga

This is the Finding Nemo ride from Disney World's Epcot

Carracosta

I like this dude's mask

Beartic

A bear aura farming, except you can actually see him unlike the other aura farmers

Elgyem

I like how he floats 

Golett

Little man shows how good he is at not falling from ledges

Golurk

Ghost robot aura farms in well maintained lawn

Conkeldurr

My least favorite of this evolution line, but I like him still :)

Throh

Fighting types were really cool as a kid, so I liked these karate dudes

Crustle

The Crustle bridge is good

Whirlipede

I like the motion here

Krokorok

I'm a desert alligator enjoyer

Krookodile

A-u-r-a  f-a-r-m

Klink

Both of these gears have the same number of teeth resulting in a 1:1 gear ratio. Not sure what that'd accomplish

Klang

More gears. Different location

Pawniard

A child with knife-hands is inspired Pokemon design

Cobalion

The quality differences between all the aura farming cards is interesting

Fraxure

Little Axew footsteps on the side are good

Pidove

I mean, it's a cute little bird bombing the camera

Unfezant

<3

Braviary

Okay, this guy is really just aura farming though. He isn't even flying or nothin

Kyurem EX - SIR

A better SIR than the others, but doesn't really offer that much outside of the Kyurem. These cards are supposed to be ~$30!

Genesect EX - SIR

Looks like he's on the ship from Alien. +1 point if you text me the name of the ship without Google

A-Tier

    A-tier cards are those that I very much hope I pull. They're not the best pulls, but they're pretty darn close.

Pansage

I mean, cmon

Simisage

👍

Petilil

If we pull this, Katie will just take it right away

Foongus

She's taking this one too

Amoonguss

Amongus

Panpour

Cute little guys playing around. All these evolutions remind me of trying to find each of the three different monkey Pokemon and it taking forever

Tympole

The man is literally smiling. He's literally doing this: 😊

Eelektrik

This dude is pretty dope, but also Very playable. I would like him

Gurdurr

An themed evolution line of art rares is always fun

Dwebble

I love the little boat

Klinklang

Clay cards >

Axew

I wish the Haxorus/Fraxure cards were as good as this one

Rufflet

I like the style of this card

Cinccino

Cinccino is built to have Pokemon cards made in his honor. Unfortunately, it is lapped by the older Minccino / Cinccino room cleanup cards

Excadrill EX - SIR

It's not that special of an SIR, but I like Excadrill. Hopefully it's cheap 🙂

S-Tier

    S-tier cards are the cream of the crop. Pull one of these and I'm poppin up out of my chair. There's some guys in here I wouldn't even let Katie have. This group contains all the cards I am most likely to eventually buy from card shops (if the prices are reasonable).

Snivy

Good art, good Pokemon, good starter. I pull this shit and I'm Pogging live

Karrablast

AHH

Darumaka

⭕

Cubchoo

I don't even think I need to explain why he's in S-tier

Emolga

Pikachu clone is chalk chase card material

Tynamo

Like Eelektrik, this little sucker is playable. And super cute

Drilbur

I like little man digging holes

Timburr

This is how I imagine Quentin looks at CFA

Sandile

I'm a Sandile enjoyer and I enjoy the above/below sand-line shot

Audino

Yarn Pokemon cards are elite. The little world in the background reminds me of Animal Crossing

Minccino

Katie would shoot me before she lets me have this card

Zekrom EX - SIR

I am assuming this will be the actual chase card (most expensive card) from both of these sets. The Reshiram SIR is just alright, but this shit is wicked cool and also playable

I hope you liked this

Let me know if you like the Black Bolt cards or White Flare cards more. What cards did I rate too low? Too high? There's no way you agree with me on all of them (@Q, N8). What would YOUR chase be?