Until recently, the Arceus VSTAR card from the VSTAR Universe [S12a] Pokémon TCG had largely been an afterthought. While decks centered around the Mythical Pokémon had seen some use within the current metagame, those decks had almost never made significant impacts on tournaments until the recent Champions League Fukuoka tournament.

In that tournament, decks built around the pairing of Arceus VSTAR and another VSTAR Universe card, Giratina VSTAR, exceeded all expectations with two such decks placing in the top eight. It was clear that these decks were here to stay. With the Pokémon Europe International Championships (EUIC) just around the corner—to be held from 5 to 7 April 2024—expect this card to make many appearances there.

Fitting for a Pokémon whose signature attack in the video games is Judgment, Arceus VSTAR is often paired with Supporter card Judge, first released in Shiny Treasure ex [SV4a]. By playing Judge, both players shuffle their respective hands into their decks before drawing four cards. Doing so slows down the pace of decks centered around cards like Lugia VSTAR from Paradigm Trigger [S12] and Chien-Pao ex from Shiny Treasure ex [SV4a]—both of which would normally hard-counter Arceus VSTAR through their respective playstyles.

From a visual perspective, the illustration is befitting of Arceus’ place in Pokémon lore as the creator of the Pokémon universe. Arceus VSTAR is pictured moving through dimensions, leaving a massive impact in its wake. On top of that, the text of its VSTAR Power Starbirth has an image of a supernova in its background, alluding to the name of the VSTAR Power itself.

This card’s English version is card GG70/GG70 from the Crown Zenith expansion set.

In its PSA 10 form, an Arceus VSTAR (VSTAR Universe [S12a] 262/172) card of Ultra Rare (UR) rarity sells for 17,600 JPY (~US$117).

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