Three years apart, both built around the same idea — open a pack, hope for a shiny — and yet the two sets barely resemble each other once you look past the cover art.
Shiny Star V (S4a, 2020) and Shiny Treasure ex (SV4a, 2023) are two of the sets collectors most often compare when the whole point is chasing color-swapped cards. Both are High Class Packs, both share the same ¥5,500 MSRP, and both built their reputation on shiny-rarity chase cards. But the two sets solve the “shiny” problem differently — one leans on sheer volume of shiny species, the other on a rarer, higher-ceiling pull mechanic — and that shows up directly in what each box is worth today.
This guide puts the two sets side by side: what’s in each box, how their shiny mechanics differ, which chase cards define each set, and which one fits what you’re buying for.
Shiny Star V leans on volume — over 100 shiny “S” species plus shiny VMAX/V secret rares. Shiny Treasure ex leans on concentration — 129 baby shinies, 18 SSRs, 8 SARs, and a god pack mechanic that turns one full pack into nine shiny cards (community-reported at roughly 4% of boxes). Shiny Star V is currently listed at ¥22,365 (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order); Shiny Treasure ex is currently listed from ¥17,340 (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order).
Prices below are Japanese secondary-market figures unless noted as our own listing prices. USD figures are carried over from each source snapshot and may reflect different exchange rates. Pull rates and probability figures are community-reported estimates, not official Pokemon Company data.
Shiny Star V vs Shiny Treasure ex: At a Glance
| Feature | Shiny Star V (S4a) | Shiny Treasure ex (SV4a) |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese name | シャイニースターV | シャイニートレジャーex |
| Release (Japan) | November 20, 2020 | December 1, 2023 |
| Series | Sword & Shield’s first High Class Pack | Scarlet & Violet’s first High Class Pack |
| MSRP | ¥5,500/box | ¥5,500/box |
| Pack structure | 10 packs/box, 10 cards/pack | 10 packs/box, 10 cards/pack |
| Total cards | 320+–326* | 360 |
| Secret/special tier size | 130+–136* | 170 |
| English release | Shining Fates (partial) | Paldean Fates (mixed, 56 days later) |
| Guaranteed shiny pull | “S” shiny slots (per our set data) | SSR guaranteed per box; 2–3 baby shinies per box |
| God pack mechanic | Not mentioned in our set data | Yes — ~4% of boxes, community-reported |
*Our sources disagree on Shiny Star V’s exact card count: set-summary text rounds it to “320+”, while our numbered card-list database lands on 326 (190 main + 136 secret, #191–326). We cite both rather than pick one. Shiny Treasure ex’s total of 360 (190 main + 170 secret, #191–360) is consistent across every source we checked.
Shiny Star V: The Original Shiny Showcase
Shiny Star V (S4A) launched on November 20, 2020 as Sword & Shield’s first High Class Pack — the first High Class Pack built around a full shiny lineup, a structure later shiny-themed sets would echo: a full lineup of color-swapped “baby” Pokemon — over 100 shiny species by our set data’s count — sitting alongside a smaller run of Shiny Secret Rares (SSR), which are shiny versions of VMAX and V cards.
Per our S4a set data, packs are built around “S” (shiny) slots, so the set’s core identity comes through on every box you open, not just on the rare hits. The chase, then, isn’t really about pulling a shiny — it’s about pulling the right one.
The set’s marquee card, shiny Charizard VMAX (#308), tops the chase list at roughly ¥19,000 (~$119) raw as of July 2026, with PSA 10 graded copies ranging from roughly ¥60,000 up to ¥200,000 depending on the specific sale. As of this writing, we currently list a graded S4a single from the set — PSA 10 Reshiram #021/190, currently listed at ¥6,695 (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order) — if you want a graded Shiny Star V card without chasing the top of the chase list.
By market price, Shiny Star V trades around ¥23,800 (~$149) per box as of July 2026 (SNKRDUNK secondary-market basis) — roughly 4.3x its ¥5,500 MSRP.
Shiny Treasure ex: The Modern Shiny Powerhouse
Shiny Treasure ex (SV4a) released in Japan on December 1, 2023 as Scarlet & Violet’s first High Class Pack — the SV-era successor to Shiny Star V’s role in the Sword & Shield lineup. Its English release, Paldean Fates, came 56 days later on January 26, 2024, and mixes in additional cards rather than reprinting the set 1:1.
The set’s own highlight line sums it up: “360 cards · 129 baby shinies · 18 SSRs · 8 SARs · God pack odds ~4% per box · SSR guaranteed in every box.” Every box guarantees at least one SSR, plus roughly 2–3 baby shiny “S” cards and one near-guaranteed AR.
One pricing quirk worth flagging: our detailed set-facts writeup (March 2026) prices the box around ¥13,800 (~$94) on a SNKRDUNK/Mercari secondary-market basis. Two more recent comparison pieces (August 2026) instead cite our own live selling price of ¥20,176 sealed / ¥17,340 no-shrink. Those are two different things — secondary-market resale price versus our current listing price — not a contradiction. For a current, buyable price, our Shiny Treasure ex box is currently listed from ¥17,340 (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order).
How Each Set Handles “Shiny”: The Core Difference
Both sets are built around shiny Pokemon, but the mechanics that deliver them are genuinely different, and that’s the single biggest thing to understand before choosing between them.
Shiny Star V spreads shiny pulls across the whole box. With a guaranteed “S” card in every pack and over 100 shiny species to fill that slot, the set’s shiny content is baked into the base opening experience. The chase sits on top, in a smaller pool of Shiny Secret Rare VMAX/V cards.
Shiny Treasure ex concentrates its biggest hits into a standalone mechanic. The god pack — one pack in a box can come out as a god pack (~4% of boxes, community-reported), with nine shiny cards at once — is a distinct, rarer event. Our Shiny Star V set data has no equivalent mechanic mentioned anywhere in it. We won’t claim Shiny Star V definitely lacks a god-pack-style mechanic — we simply don’t have a source confirming one exists.
If you want a shiny in every pack you open, Shiny Star V is built around that experience in our set data — shiny slots appear throughout a box. If you’re chasing the possibility of a single spectacular pack, the SV4a god pack is the mechanic built for that — at roughly 4% odds, community-reported, not guaranteed.
Chase Card Face-Off
Put the two sets’ top pulls side by side and the price gap is stark — Shiny Treasure ex’s SAR chase cards simply price higher in our current data.
| Set | Card | # | Rarity | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shiny Treasure ex | Mew ex | 347/190 | SAR | ~¥55,000 (~$374) |
| Shiny Treasure ex | Charizard ex | 349/190 | SAR | ~¥40,000 (~$272) |
| Shiny Star V | Charizard VMAX (Shiny) | 308 | SSR | ~¥19,000 (~$119) raw |
| Shiny Treasure ex | Gardevoir ex | 348/190 | SAR | ~¥18,000 (~$122) |
| Shiny Treasure ex | Iono / Nanjamo | 350/190 | SAR | ~¥13,000 (~$88) |
| Shiny Star V | Marnie | 198 | SR | ~¥14,000 (~$88) |
| Shiny Treasure ex | Penny / Button | 354/190 | SAR | ~¥3,000 (~$20) raw |
On that Mew ex figure: our data shows it launched around ¥16,000 and has climbed to roughly ¥55,000 over 27 months — a +244% move — while Charizard ex started higher (~¥25,000) and rose a more moderate +60%. Iono (also recorded as Nanjamo in some source material, same card, same number) is also the top vote-getter in an SNKRDUNK community popularity poll among Shiny Treasure ex cards.
Penny (recorded as Button in some source material) is a lower-priced SAR at roughly ¥3,000 raw — but graded copies move differently. We currently list PSA 10 Penny SAR #354/190, currently listed at ¥13,987, a graded single from Shiny Treasure ex.
Box Economics: What You’re Actually Paying For
Both sets’ expected-value figures below are community-reported estimates built from pull-rate data, not official Pokemon Company numbers, and each was calculated at a different point in time — so treat the comparison as directional, not a precise head-to-head.
| Metric | Shiny Star V (2026/7 snapshot) | Shiny Treasure ex (2026/3 snapshot) |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated box EV | ~¥12,000 | ~¥4,881 (ours) / ~¥6,329 (pokeka-atari.jp) |
| Market box price used | ~¥23,800 | ~¥13,800 (secondary market) |
| EV as % of market price | ~50% | ~35–46% |
On this data, Shiny Star V’s EV covers roughly half its market box price, while Shiny Treasure ex’s EV covers somewhat less of its (lower) market box price — though the two EV figures for Shiny Treasure ex, ours and pokeka-atari.jp’s, differ by about ¥1,400 depending on which pull-rate assumptions are used. Neither number should be read as a guarantee; both sets’ pull rates are community-reported estimates, not confirmed by The Pokemon Company.
Which Set Should You Buy?
Working from everything above, here’s how we’d frame the decision:
- Want a shiny in every pack you open? Shiny Star V is built around that experience in our set data — shiny slots appear throughout a box, spread across 100+ species.
- Chasing a specific high-value SAR? Shiny Treasure ex’s chase cards — Mew ex, Charizard ex, Gardevoir ex — sit well above Shiny Star V’s top pulls in current price, if that ceiling matters to you.
- Want the god pack shot? That’s a Shiny Treasure ex-only mechanic in our data, at roughly 4% of boxes, community-reported.
- Buying by budget right now? Shiny Treasure ex is currently listed from ¥17,340 (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order), below Shiny Star V’s current listing of ¥22,365 (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order).
- Want a specific single instead of a box? Both sets’ top singles are available graded — see our PSA10 collection for current stock across both sets.
View Product → (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order)
Where to Buy Shiny Star V and Shiny Treasure ex
We ship both sets sealed out of Tokyo with tracked delivery. Shiny Star V is currently listed at ¥22,365 (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order), and Shiny Treasure ex is currently listed from ¥17,340 (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order). For graded singles from either set, our PSA10 collection is where current stock lives — individual graded cards are one-of-one, so once a listing sells it’s gone.
For a full sealed-product overview across Japanese sets, browse our Pokemon box collection, or use our Quick Order page to build a mixed order across both sets and any singles you want in the same shipment.
Related reading: our standalone Shiny Star V pull rates and best cards guide goes deeper on S4a’s full rarity breakdown, and we’ve also compared Shiny Treasure ex against two other Scarlet & Violet-era High Class Packs: Pokemon 151 vs Shiny Treasure ex and Shiny Treasure ex vs Terastal Festival ex. If you’re weighing a Sword & Shield-era shiny-adjacent set instead, see our VMAX Climax vs VSTAR Universe box guide, and for the full graded card catalog across every set we carry, browse our PSA10 card list.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which set has more shiny cards, Shiny Star V or Shiny Treasure ex?
Shiny Star V is built around volume — over 100 shiny “S” species plus a smaller Shiny Secret Rare tier. Shiny Treasure ex’s shiny content is more structured: 129 baby shinies, 18 SSRs, and 8 SARs out of 360 total cards. Which one has “more” shiny cards depends on how you count — Shiny Star V has more shiny species, Shiny Treasure ex has a larger overall secret/special tier (170 cards vs Shiny Star V’s contested 130+–136).
What is a “god pack” and does Shiny Star V have one?
A god pack is a special pack where every card — instead of the normal mix — comes out as a rare or shiny card. Shiny Treasure ex has a confirmed god pack mechanic (one full pack of 9 shiny cards, community-reported at roughly 4% of boxes). Our Shiny Star V set data has no mention of an equivalent mechanic, but we can’t confirm it definitely doesn’t exist — we simply don’t have a source for one.
Which chase card is more valuable, Mew ex or Charizard VMAX (Shiny)?
Shiny Treasure ex’s Mew ex (#347/190, SAR) is priced around ¥55,000 (~$374), well above Shiny Star V’s top pull, Charizard VMAX Shiny (#308, SSR) at roughly ¥19,000 (~$119) raw. Both are each set’s most valuable card by our current data.
What’s the difference between the English versions, Shining Fates and Paldean Fates?
Shiny Star V’s English release, Shining Fates, is a partial reprint of the Japanese set. Shiny Treasure ex’s English release, Paldean Fates, came 56 days after the Japanese launch and mixes in additional cards rather than reprinting the set directly. Neither English release is a full 1:1 match to its Japanese source.
Which box has better expected value, Shiny Star V or Shiny Treasure ex?
On our community-reported estimates, Shiny Star V’s box EV covers roughly 50% of its market price (2026/7 snapshot), while Shiny Treasure ex’s EV covers roughly 35–46% of its market price (2026/3 snapshot). The two figures were calculated at different times using different pull-rate assumptions, so treat this as a general comparison rather than a precise one.
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