Some Pokémon sets struggle to stand out, or find an audience who's interested in their particular theme. Not Terastal Festival ex.

Released on December 6th in Japan, Terastal Festival ex had the unenviable job of following Super Electric Breaker, which was headlined by the most chase-worthy Pikachu card we've seen in the entire Scarlet & Violet era so far (when it debuted in English in Surging Sparks, it immediately became the most expensive English Pokémon card of the year). But Terastal Festival ex has managed to hold its own—maybe even outshining its predecessor in terms of popularity with Japanese Pokémon card collectors.

There are three big things going on in this "high class expansion pack" set that make it so special, either one of which would have been enough to hold collectors' attention. First, the majority of the set is stocked with reprints of the biggest cards from the past year and a half, many of them with gorgeous new art.

Second, the set borrows a trick from the Japanese version 151 that helped make some of that set's Rares, Uncommons, and Commons some of the most sought-after cards in the set. All the cards of those rarities in Terastal Festival ex can come in a Mirror Holofoil variant featuring a Poké Ball in the center of the text box—or more rarely, a Master Ball. Like Reverse Holo (aka Parallel Foil) variants in English sets, these Mirror Holofoil variants add a little extra sparkle to the pack-opening experience, but the Master Ball variants in particular are so rare that Master Ball versions of the set's biggest Rares can be even more valuable than Special Art Rares.

Third, Terastal Festival ex gives fans nine new Pokémon ex with Special Art Rare variants that everybody wants: Eevee and its eight evolutions. (Technically Sylveon is a reprint, but the rest are all new.) Pokémon fans have been praying for a successor to Evolving Skies and its Japanese counterpart Eevee Heroes for years, and now they finally have a chance to collect their favorite Eeveelution in the Scarlet & Violet era—or even the entire Eevee family!

That might sound impossible, but Terastal Festival ex has one last gift for hard-core collectors. A tiny fraction of Terastal Festival ex packs contain a copy of every single Special Art Rare Eeveelution and Eevee (plus one normal card). These "god packs" are the holy grail for fans cracking this set, and even those who don't get that lucky might open a "demi-god pack" containing three SAR Eeveelutions and seven Poké Ball Mirror Holofoil cards.

It should be obvious by now why collectors are raving for Terastal Festival ex. International fans will get to open English versions of these cards in the upcoming set Prismatic Evolutions, which releases on January 17, 2025. Until then, they're only available in Terastal Festival ex, which means they're currently pulling crazy prices on the secondary market. These are the most expensive cards in Terastal Festival ex.

#10 Pikachu ex 236/187

Our first (and only) Pokémon that doesn't have an "e" in its name, this reprint of the Pikachu ex from Super Electric Breaker gives fans a second chance at cracking the Ultra Rare version of the biggest Pikachu card of the Scarlet & Violet era. Its Topaz Bolt attack deals tremendous damage if you can set it up, and its Resolute Heart Ability prevents one-hit KOs on your precious li'l Pika.

#9 Vaporeon ex 205/187

Vaporeon usually ranks as the most popular of the Gen I Eeveelutions, so it gets to rank higher than SAR Jolteon and Flareon ex. Its Severe Squall attack does 60 damage to all of your opponent's Pokémon ex—the perfect amount to set up the similarly-typed Glaceon ex, which can KO anything that has exactly 60 damage on it.

#8 Leafeon ex 200/187

Leaves, greenery, and living things don't always match aesthetically with the hard lines of a Stellar-type crown, but Jiro Sasumo makes these disparate elements work together in SAR Leafeon ex by filling the frame with flowers and fruit that evoke a sense of patterns and fractal geometry. Leafeon ex's attack can heal your whole Bench, which will feel especially nice if you've stocked it with other Eeveelutions.

#7 Jolteon 051/187 (Master Ball Foil)

Next we have our first Master Ball Mirror Holofoil card. Much like the Master Ball foil cards from the Japanese 151 set, these foil variants of Common, Uncommon, and Rare cards are much harder to pull than their base versions, or their Poké Ball foil versions, or even most of the set's higher-rarity cards like Special Art Rares.

This art by Nisota Niso positively crackles with power, which is fitting for a card that gets a damage boost when it takes on multi-Prize Pokémon that should be stronger than it. Pidgeot ex better betware that spikey fur.

#6 Espeon ex 211/187

Illustrator "sui" took an approach with SAR Espeon ex that's similar to what Jiro Sasumo did with SAR Leafeon ex. By blending the more natural imagery with crystals and gems, sui forms a background for Stellar-type Espeon that unifies the odd aesthetic mixture in its design. The unified background color also helps Espeon and its dazzling crown stand out by contrast. It's gorgeous.

#5 Sylveon 068/187 (Master Ball Foil)

As we've already seen in this list, a good background reinforces the themes of the Pokémon it's trying to center. Susumu Maeya has done that perfectly here with the petals and water matching both the colors and gentle nature of Sylveon, giving us a soft and peaceful vision of the Intertwining Pokémon. This scene is so gentle that Sylveon isn't even breaking the surface of the water it's standing on. Does it make sense? Who cares, it's beautiful !

#4 Espeon 062/187 (Master Ball Foil)

This Espeon knows it's royalty. Look at it lounging on a loveseat like someone's waiting just out of frame to feed it grapes. Espeon isn't exactly hurting for gorgeous-looking cards, but this might be the most relaxed and regal the psychic kitty has ever looked.

#3 Sylveon ex 212/187

Cona Nitanda didn't need to try too hard to marry the crystalline Stellar-type Sylveon with its ribbon-and-flowers theme. Pretty things go together naturally.

Fairy Pokémon may no longer have their own type in the Pokémon TCG (they were folded into the Psychic type starting in the Sword & Shield Series), but their special mechanics live on in Sylveon ex. Its Angelite attack hearkens back to things like Sylveon-GX, whose Plea GX attack similarly shuffled back two opposing Benched Pokémon, and its Magical Charm attack works like a suped-up version of Moonblast from the Sylveon in Cosmic Eclipse.

#2 Umbreon ex 217/187

"Darkness" as a theme leaves a lot more space to play around visually than something like "Grass," and YASHIRO Nanaco used that space to present Umbreon with an abstract, kaleidoscopic background with high-contrast purples and yellows—matching Umbreon's own color palette. Its Onyx attack lets you take a Prize card without going through the rigamarole of Knocking Out opposing Pokémon, and while it doesn't exactly synergize with any of the other Eeveelutions' attacks, that makes perfect sense for the lone-fox Dark-type Pokémon.

#1 Umbreon 092/187 (Master Ball Foil)

Umbreon tends to top lists of the most popular Eeveelutions, so just like in Evolving Skies, the Dark-type Pokémon gets the place of pride among all its siblings. This time it doesn't even have to share the spotlight with Rayquaza, so it gets both of the top two slots all to itself.

As the most popular Eeveelution and one of the rarest cards in the set, the Master Ball Mirror Holofoil version of Umbreon takes the title of the most expensive card in Terastal Festival ex.