Darkness Ablaze Chase Cards: The Japanese Infinity Zone (S3) Prints Behind Them

Darkness Ablaze Chase Cards and Their Japanese Prints

The table below maps each Darkness Ablaze secret rare to its Japanese set, number and rarity. Detail on each print follows underneath.

1. Rose — S3 Infinity Zone 110, Secret Rare

Rose sits at 110 in Infinity Zone’s own catalogue — the very last entry in the set, closing out S3’s ten-card secret-rare run. In the English Darkness Ablaze set, Rose carries the same Secret Rare status among the set’s 12 secret rares.

2. Piers — S3 Infinity Zone 109, Secret Rare

Piers sits one place ahead of Rose in the same S3 secret-rare run, at 109. Both trainer cards carry Secret Rare status in Japanese and English alike.

3. Salamence V — S3 Infinity Zone 108, Secret Rare

Salamence V is the Pokémon-V entry in the same S3 secret-rare block, at 108. It’s a pull from sealed Infinity Zone product — a booster box of the set is currently listed at ¥46,200 (~$291) on our site.

4. Houndoom V — S3 Infinity Zone 101, Secret Rare

Houndoom V opens the S3 secret-rare run at 101, the first of Infinity Zone’s ten catalogued Secret Rares. We don’t have a verified image for this specific print, but its set position — and its Secret Rare status in both languages — is confirmed against the Infinity Zone catalogue.

5. Pokémon Breeder’s Nurturing — S2a Explosive Walker 78, Secret Rare

This is where the second source set enters the picture. Pokémon Breeder’s Nurturing closes out Explosive Walker’s own eight-card secret-rare run at 78, the final entry in the smaller S2a catalogue.

6. Kabu — S2a Explosive Walker 77, Secret Rare

Kabu, the Galar Gym Leader trainer card, sits directly ahead of Breeder’s Nurturing in the S2a run at 77. Explosive Walker’s booster box — the set both this and the next card come from — is currently listed at ¥42,000 (~$264).

7. Galarian Stunfisk V — S2a Explosive Walker 76, Secret Rare

Galarian Stunfisk V sits at 76, close to the start of Explosive Walker’s secret-rare block. Together with Kabu and Breeder’s Nurturing, these three cards account for the S2a half of Darkness Ablaze’s secret-rare lineup mapped in this guide.

8. Charizard VMAX — starter-deck exclusive, print unverified

Darkness Ablaze’s other headline chase card doesn’t come from Infinity Zone or Explosive Walker at all. Per Bulbapedia-summary-via-search and Pokellector reporting, the English set’s Charizard VMAX secret rare was folded in from the separate Charizard VMAX starter deck released in Japan. An exact Japanese catalogue number for that starter-deck print has not been independently verified, so none is stated here, and general reputation places this card as a top-tier chase pull — but we can’t confirm the specific rarity tier for this print either. Treat any Japanese catalogue number you see quoted elsewhere for this card as unverified until you can check it against the physical card.

Japanese vs English Version: What Changes

Three things separate the Japanese source prints from their Darkness Ablaze counterparts. First, numbering: each Japanese card keeps its own set code and printed number for life — a card is “S3 110” or “S2a 78” — while Darkness Ablaze renumbers everything into one continuous 189-card English sequence, with the 12 secret rares running past that base count.

Second, composition. Darkness Ablaze splits its secret-rare run across two separate Japanese releases — Explosive Walker and Infinity Zone — and layers in starter-deck exclusives like Charizard VMAX on top of that, rather than pulling everything from one source.

Third, timing. Explosive Walker released 24 April 2020 and Infinity Zone followed on 5 June 2020, giving Japanese collectors roughly a two-to-four-month head start on this artwork before Darkness Ablaze reached English shelves on 14 August 2020.

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