Amazing Rare Pokemon Cards: All 9 (S3a & S4a), Prices & Where to Buy

What Is an Amazing Rare Pokemon Card?

Amazing Rare is a Japanese TCG rarity from the Sword & Shield era, marked with the rarity code “A.” Every Amazing Rare is a Basic Pokemon, and none of them carry a rule box — they cost their opponent a single Prize card when knocked out, the same as an ordinary Basic. Visually, the rarity is built around a rainbow-holo treatment that wraps around the Pokemon in the artwork, distinct from the gold-etched Secret Rares and the alternate-art Special Art Rares that also populated this era. For a broader map of how Amazing Rare sits next to those other tiers, our Japanese Pokemon card rarities explained guide covers the full rarity ladder.

The rarity’s signature is its named attack. Every Amazing Rare’s special “Amazing” attack demands three or more different Energy types to use — a real cost, since it forces a deck to run a spread of Energy just to fire the card’s headline move. The three cards that also carry a second, ordinary attack (Celebi, Zacian, and Zamazenta) are the only ones where that three-type rule doesn’t apply, and it’s specifically the regular attack side that’s exempt, not the Amazing attack itself.

Amazing Rare’s run was short. It debuted in S3a Legendary Heartbeat on July 10, 2020, and closed out two sets later in S4a Shiny Star V on November 20, 2020. The official card database lists no Amazing Rare in any other Japanese set, apart from a Classic Collection reprint of Raikou in the 2026 M6a 30th CELEBRATION set (162/103).

The Original Six: S3a Legendary Heartbeat

Legendary Heartbeat introduced the rarity with six cards, and the spread covers two mythicals (Celebi, Jirachi), the legendary beast Raikou, Rayquaza, and both Galar box legendaries. See the S3a card list for the full set.

Celebi — S3a 009/076

Raikou — S3a 015/076

Zacian — S3a 033/076

Zamazenta — S3a 044/076

Jirachi — S3a 050/076

Rayquaza — S3a 056/076

Celebi’s Amazing Bloom evolves every Pokemon on the bench straight from the deck in one shot, which is a genuinely unusual thing for a card text to do — most evolution effects touch one Pokemon at a time. Its artwork is credited to 5ban Graphics, the same illustrator behind Rayquaza’s card later in the set. Jirachi’s ability Dreamy Revelation filters the top of the deck, while the Amazing Star attack itself attaches up to seven basic Energy from the deck to your Pokemon; the card was illustrated by Sanosuke Sakuma. Rayquaza’s Amazing Burst discards all its basic Energy and hits 80 for each Energy type discarded — no self-damage, just the cost of clearing its own board.

Zacian and Zamazenta round out Galar’s box legendaries in Amazing Rare form, each carrying a scaling Amazing attack (Amazing Sword and Amazing Shield) alongside a second, ordinary attack that doesn’t require the three-type Energy spread. Zacian’s card was illustrated by Shin Nagasawa, Zamazenta’s by aky CG Works. Raikou is the most straightforward of the six: a flat 120-damage Amazing Shot for three Energy types, no secondary effect attached, illustrated by Hideki Ishikawa. The card was reprinted as 162/103 in the 2026 M6a 30th CELEBRATION Classic Collection.

For the rest of what Legendary Heartbeat’s box has to offer beyond these six, our Legendary Heartbeat best cards guide covers the set in full.

Our S3A Legendary Heartbeat Booster Box (Japanese) is currently listed at ¥34,856 (~$226).

How the Nine Amazing Rares Compare

With no published pull data for this rarity, the nine cards are best compared on what their rules text actually does rather than on price. A few patterns stand out:

• Outright knockouts. Yveltal’s Amazing Death is the only one of the nine that removes a Pokemon from play without a damage calculation — every other Amazing attack works through normal damage numbers.
• Board-wide effects. Celebi’s Amazing Bloom (bench-wide evolution) and Kyogre’s Amazing Surge (damage to every opposing Pokemon, Active included) are the only two that touch more than one opposing or friendly Pokemon in a single use.
• Energy acceleration built in. Jirachi is the only Amazing Rare that pairs its attack with an ability, using Dreamy Revelation to filter the deck while the Amazing Star attack itself handles the Energy attachment.
• Self-damage tradeoffs. Reshiram hits hardest among the nine at 270 damage, but it’s the only Amazing Rare that returns damage to itself — a 60-point recoil, the only self-damage in the set.
• Dual-attack flexibility. Celebi, Zacian, and Zamazenta are the only three with a second, ordinary attack that skips the three-type Energy requirement, giving those three a playable option even without a full Energy spread in hand.

Because both sets that contain the rarity are Sword & Shield-era Japanese product, they also sit inside the broader arc covered in our Sword & Shield era Japanese Pokemon guide, which maps out where Legendary Heartbeat and Shiny Star V fall relative to the rest of the era’s sets.

Frequently Asked Questions