What are Radiant Pokemon? Pokemon TCG explained

There are many kinds of Pokemon in the TCG, and the Radiant type is one of the most interesting by far. Here’s everything you need to know about them.

The Pokemon TCG is full of intriguing Pokemon types, ranging from Light to Crystal. Radiant Pokemon stand out as some of the most interesting and competitively viable, and they’re worth checking out if you’ve never played with them before.

Radiant Pokemon were introduced into the TCG with the Sword & Shield – Astral Radiance expansion set back in 2022. They’re powerful, Shiny Pokemon that come with a heavy-hitting set of abilities and a unique Radiant Pokemon rulebox. Radiant Pokemon are always Basic Pokemon.

As you can see on the example card above, only one Radiant Pokemon can be in your deck at a time. This makes them similar to ACE SPEC cards, in a way. They’re exceptionally powerful, so they’re limited to balance matches.

Aside from their competitive potential, Radiant Pokemon are worth having on hand for their artwork, too. They have a unique shine to them and feature Shiny ‘mons, which is always worth seeking out as a rare Pokemon card collector.

How to tell if you have a Radiant Pokemon card

If you think you’ve just pulled a Radiant Pokemon card, but you aren’t sure, you can follow these simple steps to double-check what you’re working with:

1. Does the Pokemon card have the Radiant rule box? You don’t have a Radiant Pokemon card if there is no rule box referencing Radiant Pokemon.
2. Does the card feature a Shiny Pokemon? Radiant Pokemon always feature rare Pokemon variants who have had their color palettes swapped round.
3. Is the featured Pokemon a Basic Pokemon? You can check this by looking in the top left-hand corner of the card.

If you’re still not sure, it’s worth checking out the official Pokemon TCG card database. This tool is a great way to find out all of the crucial information about a card, and it can be helpful for checking the authenticity of a card as well.

Radiant cards are great to have on hand as a player. Make sure to double check the Regulation Mark on any you end up with, as the bulk of them are from the Sword & Shield era of the game and not from the Scarlet & Violet era. It’ll be interesting to see whether we get any new Radiant cards with upcoming sets.