Prerelease cards (TCG)
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Prerelease cards are reprints of one selected card from a Pokémon Trading Card Game Expansion with a foil "PRERELEASE" stamp in the bottom right corner of the card art.
Information
- Wizards only (officially) produced Prerelease cards from 4 Expansions, which were available through select sites of the Pokémon League just before the release of the set. Nintendo however, set up special Prerelease tournaments held on weekends before the release of the Expansion to distribute these cards, starting with their second Expansion. Prerelease tournaments have now become standard convention under the supervision of Pokémon Organized Play, and have continued to be a part of the TCG calendar since.
Trivia
- Officially, there are only 4 Prerelease cards released by Wizards. However, whilst printing a test run of Jungle Clefable cards (a trial of the Prerelease cards for the Pokémon League), several Base Set Raichu cards were erroneously added to the sheet, and therefore also included a Prerelease stamp. The error was corrected and the Raichu cards were apparrently given to Wizards employees. Despite this common knowledge within the TCG community, Wizards continued to deny their existence.
- All of the Wizards cards are holographic; the only holographic Nintendo card is Armaldo, likely as it was the first Prerelease card to be produced by them.
- Luxio was the first Prerelease card to have a "STAFF" stamped version, for the Prerelease event organizers. Sets released thereafter have continued to feature STAFF versions as well as a normal version.
- Buck's Training was the first non-Pokémon Prerelease card.
- Holographic cards returned with HeartGold & SoulSilver's Pichu. It was also the first card not to include the Prerelease logo, instead the set's logo.
- Pichu is also the first holographic Prerelease card not to have a real holographic form in the set.
Wizards Prerelease cards
| Card Name | Type | Rarity | Promotion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raichu |  |
(H) | Erroneously produced in trial run |
| Clefable |  |
(H) | Pokémon League (August 1999) |
| Aerodactyl |  |
(H) | Pokémon League (October 1999) |
| Dark Gyarados |  |
(H) | Pokémon League (April 2000) |
| Misty's Seadra | |
(H) | Pokémon League (July 2000) |
