Ho-Oh 004/028: 25th Anniversary Card Guide

The Set: 25th ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION (S8a)

25th ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION is the official card database’s S8a expansion, released in Japan on Friday, October 22, 2021, at a suggested retail price of ¥297 (tax included) per pack. The official product page describes the contents as five holo Karten pro Pack, one of which is a basic Energy card, drawn at random from the 28 kinds in the set: 「カードはすべてキラカード。全28種類のカードから、ランダムで5枚のカードを封入。」 The page does not state how many packs make up a booster box, and no official source gives that figure.

The database enumerates 001/028 through 025/028 as numbered cards, plus eight basic Energy cards that carry no printed number, plus a Secret Rare Professor’s Research at 029/028. Ho-Oh sits early in that run, at 004/028, two cards after Pikachu (001/028) and Mew (002/028) and one after the set’s only Trainer card, Professor’s Research (003/028).

See our Pikachu 001/028 guide for the card that opens the set’s numbering, and our S8A pull rates and best cards guide for how the set’s headline Pokémon, Ho-Oh included, are discussed alongside one another.

Card Details: Sacred Fire and Fire Blast

Its Pokédex panel, quoted verbatim: No.250　にじいろポケモン / 高さ：3.8 m　　重さ：199.0 kg / 心正しき トレーナーの 前に 七色の 翼を 光らせながら 姿を 現すと 伝えられる。 In our rendering, that reads roughly: Pokédex No.250, the Rainbow Pokémon, height 3.8 m, weight 199.0 kg, said to appear before a trainer of a righteous heart with its seven-coloured wings shining. Two attacks are printed on the card:

• [{R}{C}] Sacred Fire (せいなるほのお) — This attack does 50 damage to 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)
• [{R}{R}{C}] Fire Blast (だいもんじ) 120 — Choose 1 Energy attached to this Pokémon and discard it.

Sacred Fire lets Ho-Oh reach past the Active slot for 50 damage on any of the opponent’s Pokémon, while Fire Blast is the bigger hit at 120 damage, paid for by discarding one of Ho-Oh’s own attached Energy afterward. Both attacks are printed exactly as shown, with no coin-flip variance and no additional condition beyond the Energy cost and, for Fire Blast, the self-discard.

At 130 HP with a Lightning weakness and a Fighting resistance, Ho-Oh 004/028 is built to take a hit or two before going down, and it retreats for two Energy. Between the two attacks, Sacred Fire is the cheaper option at two Energy total, while Fire Blast needs three Energy and then removes one of them, so repeated use of the bigger attack requires re-attaching Energy between turns.

Where to Buy

Sealed is the route in here. Ho-Oh 004/028 is not listed with us as a single, so a copy would have to be sourced through Schnellbestellung, while the expansion that prints it is listed: our S8A 25th Anniversary Collection Booster Box is currently listed at ¥67,200 (~$436) (September 17, 2026).

Dieses Set kaufenS8A-25th Anniversary Collection Japanese Pokemon Booster Box

¥67,200Auf Lager

Versand aus Tokio mit Sendungsverfolgung

Produkt ansehen

If the Fire slot isn’t what you came for, the sealed booster box collection holds the other Japanese boxes we list, the PSA 10 collection holds whichever graded 25th Anniversary singles are listed, and the Japanese Pokémon card collection spans both. Our S8A booster box guide sets out what else sits in the 28 alongside Ho-Oh.

Häufig gestellte Fragen