Rare Pokemon Card Making a Comeback Next Month

12.01.2024 - 14:18 / gamerant.com / Vincent Van-Gogh / Pikachu Van-Gogh / Romeo Moran / Rare / Nintendo

The rare and controversial Pikachu With Grey Felt Hat promo card is returning for a wider release among Pokemon players in the Netherlands in February 2024. Before this, this special card had been so scarce that scalpers were able to gouge its prices right outside the venue in which it was released, which is why completionist Pokemon players and collectors are all breathing a sigh of relief at this announcement.

The Pokemon TCG, one of the world's most popular trading card games, has been around for over two decades thanks to the enduring popularity and constant updating of the franchise, as well as a dedicated fanbase. It's as storied as many other long-running TCGs, such as Magic: the Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh, and all that history naturally results in a lot of special collectible cards.

Pokemon fan site Poke Beach reports that official distributors in the Netherlands have informed stores that the special Van Gogh-inspired Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat promo card will return sometime in mid-February 2024, with LGSes each getting 100 copies of the card to give players. Set to be announced publicly very soon, players can easily pick up the rare card by simply spending at least €30 ($33 USD) on Pokemon TCG products and merchandise at an affiliated LGS.

The special promo card features full card-sized art of a Pikachu painted in the signature style of legendary 19th-century Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh, with 60 HP and a single ability called Pika-Portrait, which searches for any single Pikachu in a player's deck and puts it on their bench, all for the cost of one Lightning energy. It was originally released in October 2023 as an exclusive giveaway at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, but the promotion turned sour after scalpers somehow immediately scored the limited edition Pokemon cards and sold them at unfairly high prices. The Pokemon Company immediately apologized for the fiasco and promised to fix it, which resulted in this promo's comeback.

The announcement also resulted in the card's price dipping on European online TCG store Cardmarket, where it's now at €112.91 ($124) as of January 11 after a high of €157.96 ($173) in mid-December 2023. That price is expected to drop further as soon as the exclusive card comes back out in February, and resellers are already scrambling to make as much money as they can before its value bottoms out. After the Van Gogh Pikachu was ranked as one of the most expensive Pokemon cards dropped in 2023, The Pokemon Company is taking welcome steps to rectify the scalping issue and make the promo accessible to all, as originally intended.

Meanwhile, the Pokemon TCG is set to release five new sets in 2024, with Paldean Fates dropping first on January 26. This is on top of many other