Scarlet & Violet: Temporal Forces - Top 10 Most Beautiful Cards

Now that Scarlet/Violet: Temporal Forces has been released, we can finally see what are the most beautiful cards in this set.

10 - Drampa (Illustration Rare - 184/162)

Starting our list, in our tenth spot we have a new artist, Mekayu, whose style is close to what is described as a "children's book art style". He used this delicate style well with simpler Pokémon, that are more friendly aesthetically. Furthermore, Mekayu started his work at The Pokémon Company with this Drampa TEF 184 and Pidove TEF 133.

The most interesting traits in this artwork created for Drampa are:

- Instead of using a type of Chinese dragon theme called Zhulong, which is described as the face of an old sage on the body of a dragon and is the inspiration for Drampa, the artist chose to adopt Loong, a type of western dragon that is a bit softer aesthetic-wise.

- It made me think of an old movie, The Neverending Story, which includes a similar legendary dragon that helps the main character, Bastian. But this is just my theory.

9 - Gastly (Illustration Rare - 177/162)

This incredible artwork was created by Mousho, who also began working for The Pokémon Company recently, in the "151" special set.

The most interesting thing about this card is that it was (probably) inspired by the Japanese folktale known as Hyakki Yakō (something like "A night parade of thousands of supernatural creatures"). In this tradition, ghosts and youkais go through town streets, like in a parade, on summer nights.

As this artwork shows Gastly's entire evolution line among the crowd, with Meowth watching it all go down in the background (in one of the alleys), it represents this concept really well.

8 - Morty's Conviction (Special Illustration Rare - 211/162)

This artwork was created by Megumi Mizutani, who has worked with The Pokémon Company quite extensively: N FCO 105a, Winona ROS 108, Steven AOR 95, Lusamine CIN 110, Jessie & James HIF 68, Cynthia's Ambition BRS 169, Serena SIT 193, and, recently, Professor Sada's Vitality sv4 239, are all her creations.

In this card, we see one of Johto's gym leaders, Morty, who specializes in Ghost-type Pokémon, with his signature Pokémon in a casual setting. This really showcases the more laid-back settings Pokémon can be found in the Pokémon world.

7 - Litten (Illustration Rare - 167/162)

Another artist who has recently begun to work for Pokémon was Makura Tami, who used her praise-worthy perspective technique to create more than 4 escape points, also called a "fish-eye" perspective.

In this card, we see a laid-back Litten napping away in a bookcase, and another Litten hidden among the books themselves in a cat lover's house. The house itself is full of Pokémon-themed objects.

6 - Meltan (Illustration Rare - 179/162)

Masa, who is also one of The Pokémon Company's new artists, has mastered the art of creating a realistic artwork through the use of colors and light and shadow. He even managed to recreate the electrical sparks depicted in this card at the bottom of the metal floor.

5 - Reuniclus (Illustration Rare - 171/162)

Atsushi Furusawa is a popular name among the Pokémon community. They created the artworks on cards like Suicune V CRZ GG38 and Arceus V PR-SW SWSH204's promo card for the Legends of Arceus game.

It earned our fifth spot because of how brilliantly Atsushi Furasawa drew this inclined perspective and depicted the seawater so well it is incredibly realistic, albeit a bit cartoonish. The details on the foam, the transparent water, the reflection of Reuniclus' body floating on the surface, the sunlight refraction... It was all drawn masterfully!

4 - Snom (Illustration Rare - 168/162)

In our fourth spot, we have this artwork, which is incredibly similar to REND's style, but was actually created by N-DESIGN Inc.. This company creates digital art, mostly ultra rare Pokémon like V and ex in general.

The beauty of this card is in Snom's icy body, whose crystallization we can see exactly, just like we can see all of its worm body. It is an incredibly realistic depiction of this ice-type Pokémon.

3 - Cutiefly (Illustration Rare - 172/162)

In our third place, we have this artwork, created by Rend, who was 2022 Grand Prix's art champion - they won with their Arcanine PR-SW SWSH304.

They always add texture to the Pokémon they're depicting, though they make sure to add texture that the Pokémon's body would have. For instance, in Litten TEF 32's case, we can see they added, with a lot of love, the fur on its body as the sun rays hit it, the shadow-work on the ceiling tiles, and the detail of Litten's shadow over the tile.

Anything that comes from this artist is just incredible. In this artwork, we can see a water fountain that is being visited by Pikipek and Cutiefly. These Pokémon are drinking the water, depicted with incredible detail, which is also one of this artwork's greatest features.

2 - Shiftry (Illustration Rare - 163/162)

Another popular artist in the Pokémon TCG community, SIE NANAHARA has returned! Their fashionable and unique style peeks through in every card they draw, with an art structure that is similar to "Ukiyo-e" (a classic Japanese painting style).

This Shiftry TEF 163 also brings the "Ukiyo-e" style; the trail of paint that depicts the movement of this Pokémon's fans created an incredibly dynamic pose. Additionally, the Pokémon itself is referencing Kabuki theater.

1 - Gouging Fire ex (Special Illustration Rare - 204/162)

And, in our first spot, we have an artwork by Teeziro, known for their work on Celebi V FST 245, Umbreon V EVS 189 and Caterpie sv3pt5 172.

Teeziro stands out because of how carefully they're able to recreate the setting/environment in their artworks: with vivid colors, and a lot of details, including plants, rocks, and lighting;

Furthermore, as one of the Paradox Johto Beasts in this set, the artwork of this "Paradox Entei" depicts an exotic flora in a Jurassic style, with rich flowers and ferns.

What did you think of this list? What are your top 10 most beautiful artworks from Temporal Forces? Tell us down below!

See you next time!