Vivid Voltage in 2026: Amazing Rares, Pikachu VMAX, and What's Still Worth Hunting
By Dexhaul Team · September 4, 2026
Vivid Voltage is the Sword and Shield set most collectors overlook, and that is exactly what makes it interesting.
Released November 13, 2020 as SWSH4, Vivid Voltage brought two things the TCG had never seen before: the Pikachu VMAX in English, and a brand-new card rarity called Amazing Rare. Both left a mark. Only one of them survived to see another set.
This guide covers what the set actually contains, which cards still carry collector weight in 2026, and how to approach it if you want to fill a gap in your SWSH collection.
What Are Amazing Rares, and Why Did They Disappear?
Amazing Rares are the set's defining invention.
They are a card classification applied to Legendary and Mythical Pokémon with one strict design rule: every Amazing Rare attack requires multiple different Energy types to use. Raikou's attack costs Fire, Lightning, and Water. Rayquaza demands Lightning and Colorless.
No single Energy deck can realistically power them. That was not an oversight.
A card requiring three Energy types cannot slot into a focused deck. The design team knew it. These were collector artifacts, not competitive tools.
Vivid Voltage contains six Amazing Rares: Celebi (009/185), Raikou (050/185), Zacian (082/185), Zamazenta (102/185), Jirachi (119/185), and Rayquaza (138/185). Three more Amazing Rares appeared in Shining Fates (Reshiram, Kyogre, Yveltal). After that, the mechanic was retired entirely.
That is the core collector fact: Amazing Rares exist in exactly nine cards across exactly two sets. The mechanic never returned. Every Amazing Rare you own is part of a closed chapter.
Rayquaza (138/185) is the most sought-after of the six. It features a full-art rainbow treatment and a 200-damage attack called Amazing Burst. The artwork holds up well alongside the later alt-art treatments from Evolving Skies.
Jirachi and Raikou are the next tier down. Strong designs, lower secondary market activity, but legitimately scarce given SWSH4's shorter 2020 print window compared to later high-run SWSH sets.
Pikachu VMAX: The Headline Card
The Pikachu VMAX (44/185) is the reason most collectors remember Vivid Voltage at all.
English players had never seen Pikachu in VMAX form before this set. The standard version (44/185) features the Gigantamax Pikachu artwork with G-Max Volt Crash. It is not a Secret Rare, which means it pulls more frequently than collectors expecting a holo slot might assume.
The version that holds real collector weight is the Rainbow Rare Pikachu VMAX (188/185). Secret Rares in SWSH4 run from 186 to 203.
The Rainbow Rare treatment gives Pikachu a chromatic gradient wash across the yellow base color. Print quality on the 188/185 was considered strong at release, and PSA and CGC graded copies circulate steadily.
There is also a Gold Pikachu V (193/185), a Secret Rare with the full-art gold border treatment. Both Secret Rare Pikachu cards require consistent pulls from a low-probability slot across many packs. Neither is a first-pack pull.
The Rest of the Hit List
Vivid Voltage has 203 cards total, including 18 Secret Rares above the base 185-card count.
The non-Pikachu VMAX cards worth knowing:
Zarude V (Full Art)
Vivid Voltage gave Zarude its first English V card. The Full Art version features textured brush-style artwork that holds up well. Zarude never developed competitive relevance, which keeps secondary market prices accessible.
Orbeetle VMAX (Secret Rare)
Orbeetle VMAX (193/185) is the non-Pikachu Secret Rare VMAX in the set. The purple-dominant color palette stands out in an era where blues and reds dominated most VMAX full-art treatments. Collectors who focus on off-palette cards regularly target it.
Leon (Full Art)
Leon's Supporter card (154/185, Full Art) features the Galar Champion against the Wyndon stadium backdrop. The illustration quality made it one of the more referenced Supporter cards from the era, and it lands at a singles price that does not require sealed product.
How to Approach Vivid Voltage in 2026
Sealed Vivid Voltage product is available but not deep in UCP catalogues.
Booster boxes appear periodically from independent sellers, but Vivid Voltage was not among the high-print SWSH sets. Fusion Strike (SWSH8) and Lost Origin (SWSH11) saw much larger print runs. Vivid Voltage's 2020 print window was shorter, which means sealed box pricing reflects that relative scarcity more than demand alone.
Most collectors approach Vivid Voltage through singles rather than sealed product. The Amazing Rares pull from a specific slot, and buying the six individually from the secondary market is a straightforward path to completing the subset.
Rayquaza (138/185) is the most expensive of the six. Celebi and Raikou are the most accessible. The full subset is achievable as a singles-only purchase without requiring sealed product at all.
For sealed product, Elite Trainer Boxes remain the standard entry point. If your goal is the Pikachu Rainbow Rare, set your expectations at multiple ETBs or accept that singles are the faster path. The Rainbow Rare pulls at Secret Rare frequency, which runs roughly one per case on average across the SWSH era.
What Vivid Voltage Actually Got Right
Looking back from 2026, the set's legacy is cleaner than its contemporary reception suggested.
Amazing Rares were initially treated as a novelty. Collectors who focused on them at release often heard skepticism: players dismissed the cards as format-unplayable filler. That framing missed the point entirely.
The TCG had never produced a rarity category built around energy-color aesthetics and Legendary pairings. Every Amazing Rare artwork leaned into its Pokémon's signature element: Rayquaza's sky motif, Raikou's storm, Jirachi's wish-star symbolism.
Nine cards across two sets, then gone. There is no path to reprinting the Amazing Rare mechanic in the Scarlet and Violet framework. The mechanic required the SWSH card border structure, and that structure is gone.
Vivid Voltage gave collectors a mechanic that was born complete. That is rarer than it sounds.
The SWSH Era in Context
Vivid Voltage sits at a hinge point in the SWSH sequence.
By SWSH4, the V card mechanic was familiar enough that the set could experiment with rarity. Three more structurally innovative sets followed: Battle Styles introduced Single Strike and Rapid Strike, Chilling Reign gave one Legendary two simultaneous VMAX alt arts.
Every SWSH set from 5 onward added a new mechanic layer. Vivid Voltage was the last one where the primary invention was a rarity type rather than a card mechanic.
That is the cleanest way to place it in your SWSH arc: complete the Amazing Rares here, then follow the mechanical complexity forward.
Search DexHaul for Vivid Voltage to see what independent sellers currently have listed, from sealed booster packs to individual tins. DexHaul is independent and unofficial, not affiliated with The Pokémon Company or Nintendo.