CGC Cards Hot List: Terastal Festival ex

In this monthly series, CGC Cards explores the diverse world of TCG, sports card and non-sports card collecting, closely examining the most popular sets that are currently making an impact in the market. Leveraging valuable insights derived from CGC Cards submission data and Gem Rate, the hobby's source for grading trends, we’ll delve into the latest chase cards, interesting promos and new fan favorites.

February’s hot list focuses on Terastal Festival ex, one of the most recent sets released for the Pokémon TCG. Terastal Festival ex contains reprints of notable Pokémon and Trainer cards released during the past two years — including Janine’s Secret Art and Teal Mask Ogerpon ex — as well as new ex cards focusing on the Eeveelutions. The set also contains both Poké Ball and Master Ball holo cards, which are extremely popular with collectors.

Both hardcore and casual collectors have swarmed local card shops and online marketplaces looking for boxes and packs, which has caused both sealed product and individual card prices to skyrocket! Here are some of the cards generating the most buzz in the set:

CGC Cards' Pokémon Scarlet & Violet: Terastal Festival ex Hot List

The Eeveelution ex Holos

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It’s no surprise that the most popular cards in Terastal Festival ex are the stars of the show themselves — the Eeveelutions! Eevee and its evolutions are some of the most sought-after cards in the entire Pokémon TCG, so it's no wonder that they’re so popular in this set. However, Terastal Festival ex is even more special because it is the first set to feature Eevee and all eight of its evolutions in their Terastalized forms, complete with type-specific tera crowns. Here are the most popular Eeveelution ex cards in order of submission numbers:

• Umbreon ex (093/187)
• Vaporeon ex (031/187)
• Sylveon ex (069/187)
• Espeon ex (063/187)
• Jolteon ex (052/187)
• Eevee ex (126/187)
• Flareon ex (022/187)
• Leafeon ex (003/187)
• Glaceon ex (041/187)

Umbreon ex Special Art Rare (217/187)

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Umbreon ex is by far the most sought-after card in Terastal Festival ex. Like its predecessor — the Umbreon VMAX from Evolving Skies — the Umbreon ex SAR showcases Umbreon in a beautiful full-art illustration, staring up at the moon while its tera crown reflects moonlight across the ground like stained glass. Casual and hardcore collectors alike have gone feral for this card, causing it to surge in price by hundreds of dollars.

Roaring Moon ex Special Art Rare (218/187)

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Overtaking the other Eeveelutions is the Roaring Moon ex SAR, and it’s easy to see why. Scarlet and Violet introduced Ancient and Future Pokémon — Pokémon brought forth from the past and future to the present. Roaring Moon is the Ancient form of Salamence, a fan-favorite Dragon-type Pokémon. The slightly abstract background on Roaring Moon ex’s SAR card helps make Roaring Moon stand out as a fearsome flying beast, making for a cool piece of art.

Vaporeon ex Special Art Rare (205/187)

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Vaporeon ex continues the stained-glass theme, and this card looks like it came straight out of a glasswork shop! Vaporeon’s body is colored in such a way that it looks like it’s formed of small glass pieces. It seems to be playing in a shallow puddle of water, with bubbles (also glassy) rising around the borders of the artwork. Behind Vaporeon stands a large glass-like structure, possibly referencing the crystal stalagmites in Area Zero in the Scarlet and Violet video games.

Eevee ex Special Art Rare (224/187)

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Rounding out this month’s Hot List is Eevee ex itself! What really makes Eevee ex special is its ability: Rainbow DNA. This ability can be used at any time during the player’s turn and allows Eevee to evolve into any Pokémon ex that evolves from Eevee as long as the evolution card is played from the player’s hand — this means that any of the other Eeveelution ex cards can be played in this way. Eevee ex’s special artwork shows the Evolution Pokémon with its tera crown, accented by a bowl of multicolored fruit in the background.

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Since revolutionizing comic book grading in 2000, CGC has grown to include certification services for a vast variety of pop culture collectibles. These divisions include CGC Cards, CGC Video Games and CGC Home Video. CGC Cards provides expert card grading for sports cards, TCGs and non-sports cards. CGC Video Games is dedicated to video game grading for the most popular consoles, including Nintendo, Sega, Atari, PlayStation and more. CGC Home Video provides expert VHS grading in addition to other types of videocassettes, DVD, Blu-ray and more.