Pokémon TCG: How do the new Updated Card Styles and Rarity System work?

The new Pokémon set, Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet, will introduce new styling changes to cards, including changes to border colors, rarity symbols and Basic Energy cards updates. These changes came with the release of the new set, on March 31st, and understanding them is vital for any competitive player or collector, as prices can change depending on how good cards look.

Check out all changes announced:

The new Rarity System aims to make card rarity identification even easier for anyone who acquires the new cards.

The solid black symbols for common, uncommon and rare - represented by a circle, diamond and star - will remain as they were before. Foil cards in those rarities will also be sporting those symbols.

Now, as for double rare cards, two solid black stars are going to represent these cards. Pokémon EX, including Tera Pokémon EX, are examples of such cards.

Ultra rare cards will have the same double stars, but in a silver color; These will be for the rarer Full-Art Pokémon EX foils and some Supporter cards.

An entirely new symbol will be used for Alternate-art common, uncommon and rare Pokémon cards in full-art foil: the "Illustration Rare" symbol of a bright yellow star. Alternate-art Pokémon EX cards or Supporter cards, which often have full-art foil versions, will be represented by the "Special Illustration Rare" symbol, two smaller yellow stars.

Finally, "Hyper Rare" cards which were formerly known as secret rare cards will be represented by three yellow stars, encompassing full-art foil cards with gilded borders and accents.

Though the foil around the card artwork will remain as it were, in the Scarlet&Violet set, which has Paldea tile inspired foil patterns, the expansion code area will change, usually a black box with white text. Now, the expansion code area will be a white box with black text to help clarify that the card in question is part of the Parallel Foil set.

Announced previously, the card borders will now sport the original gray border used in Japan. Borders before were in the iconic yellow hue. This gray border allows rare card foils to "peek through".

Double rare cards will still have their foil borders but now have a "star-like" sheen. Tera Pokémon EX double rares will have a unique foil and a "textured" appearance.

The changes to Basic Energy cards include capitalizing the "Basic Energy" text to align it to Special Energy texts. Furthermore, a subcategory tag will be on the top of the card for Basic Energy or Special Energy.

This way, The Pokémon Company hopes there's more clarity to interactions between Basic Energy and certain attacks, Abilities or Trainer Cards.

"Card effects that interact with Basic Energy will now specifically call out “Basic Energy” for additional clarity."

The Energy Symbol was also included in this new version of these cards, on the cards' bottom-right corner, and the expansion code was added to the bottom-left corner. This is intended to ease the identification of the amount and type of Energy attached to each Pokémon.