What's that beautiful set that's on the horizon? The radiant new set, Astral Radiance, is much nearer than once thought before! Only earlier last week did The Pokemon Company open preorders and share some information about this set, which has finally brought it front and center as to what's to look forward to. The journey to this point has been a long one, with leaks on twitter seen at the very beginning of this year, and then somewhat more recently did we see Japan's next few sets which gave us some insight. Now that we have an official pre-release of this set, we can really begin to take a deep dive into what treasures this set has in store. Here's what has been shown alongside a very fast summary of what we have already known.
The item that everyone is talking about, and with good reason too, is the newly seen Elite Trainer Box for the set. Featuring Darkrai as the poster Pokemon in front of a beautiful color combination of maroon, red, and black, this ETB is certainly one of the best looking to date. The fact that Darkrai is the poster Pokemon of the box and not one of the Hisuian legendaries or starters shows that this is going to be a very diverse set. Having Darkrai as The Pokemon of focus let's us know that Sinnoh itself, and not just Hisui, is going to be the focus of the next set. Pictured above is the special ETB that is open to preorders on the official Pokemon Center website. If you want a more cost effective purchase, or want to get several to display as well as to open (which is exactly I'm going to be doing) then look no further then TCGStadium! Once we get closer to the release of this set, keep an eye out on our newsletter in order to be notified when you can purchase of these products at an affordable price.
Next up, a build and battle stadium has been shown to us, and I for one could not be happier. Why pay for extra items like sleeves and packets when opening card packs is what you want? A suitable substitute for an elite trainer box, if ripping packs is at the forefront of your mind, seeing this style of product make a return is massive. Alongside this we also have the pre-release black star promotional cards to look at, featured below are the four black star Pokemon, Hisuian Basculegion, Wyrdeer, Hisuian Samurott, and Magnazone. Of these four Pokemon, two of them are new evolutions to older Pokemon, one is a new Hisuian starter form, and one of them is Magnazone. Why Magnazone? Who knows, but the card looks cool enough to get a pass from me. These four cards are always a joy to collect, and considering we're getting a battle stadium, they'll be much easier to hunt for as well. 
What might be one of the nicest things to see in this set however, is the presence of an all new type of Pokemon Card: Radiant Pokemon. First featured in the Japanese set Battle Region, Radiant Pokemon cards feature shiny Pokemon and have a special Holofoil pattern which is unique from all other types of cards. These cards should be scattered throughout packs, and will most likely be chase cards which are sought after. We already know this set will feature these cards because of the description on the back of the booster box display on The Pokemon Center website, which states these cards will make an appearance. Pictured below are the radiant cards from Battle Region, which should be making an appearance in the card list, potentially to be joined by others like them.
To conclude, we can look at what is more then likely to be included in this set. It is more than safe to say that this set will be a combination of three different Japanese sets, those being Battle Region, Space Juggler, and Time Gazer. These three sets all put together into one 'radiant' collection of cards. While we are still waiting to see what the full card lists of both Space Juggler and Time Gazer hold, we already know a few of the cards they'll include. What are those cards you may be asking? Why, it's all the new Pokemon from the latest game, Legends: Arceus! Making their first ever appearance into the TCG scene, we will be seeing Hisuian forms for the three starter Pokemon, alongside the origin forms for Palkia and Dialga. What does this mean for those of you hoping to collect this set? Astral Radiance is right down the timeline, being the next main Pokemon TCG set, and we already know that it is going to be a stellar hit, completely out of this world!
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