Empoleon V Tin is one of the two promo tins released in 2021 as part of the Sword and Shield “Battle Styles” set together with Tyranitar V Tin.

The main star of the Tin is of course Empoleon V that is featured in a new alternative pose in the black-star promo card that comes with the Tin. This time, the promo version of Empoleon is not super different from the standard art one although the pose is not the same and the colour tones darker. Overall, I prefer the promo version more than the standard one but I would have appreciated a bit more effort to make this card more unique. The rest of the art on the Tin is also not much different with the pose of the embossed Empoleon featured on the box being very similar to the one on the promo card.

What’s inside the Tin? Any good cards I can pull?

Once the lid lifted, the first thing you will find inside the Tin is the Beautiful Promo card (and the always present online code). The Tin will also comes with 4 booster packs of 10 cards each: 2 booster packs from the “Battle Styles” set (2021), One from the “Darkness Ablaze” set (2020) and, finally, one pack from the “Steam Siege” set (2016). With respect to other Tins, there is a huge time gap in the set picked for this product with the oldest one being more than 8 years old. Of course it was only 5 years old at the time the Tin came out in 2021 :).

The oldest set picked for this Tin, Steam Siege, is quite an old set from the XY era that still uses the old card format. Just in case you are not familiar with older sets, the cards from this era are very different from the more recent ones with minor and major cosmetic differentiations. Being these cards quite old, pre-date the current regulation for competitive play thus they can not been used in the standard format although they may be still allowed in other format or in casual games. On the other hand, the set holds a good collectible value as the intact booster pack can sell for around £10. There are also some cards of the set that can sell in the same range.

The collectible value of the Darkness Ablaze booster is less than the previous one being the set not so old. If you are not into collecting and you want to try your luck, the best card you can pull from the set is the amazing Charizard VMAX full art card that is among the best version of this Pokémon. Definitively a personal favourite of mine and a good value rare card.

The last two packs, finally, are from a quite recent set (Battle Styles) that can still be purchased in some shops. Considering this, it may take some time for a sealed booster to get some value but, on the other hand, there are still players that may be looking to get the last cards to complete their set collection. Among the best cards you can pull from the set there is a full art version of Tyranitar V and Empoleon V that can be quite valuable if you are so lucky to get it from the Tin.

Is Empoleon V Tin worth it?

I think Empoleon V Tin is a product more suited for collectors than it may be for actual players. Being a 2021 product and including some even older sets, all the cards you can get from opening the booster packs will be not suitable for competitive events in 2024 as the regulation for the standard format just changed at the beginning of 2024 allowing only the use of newer cards. Players should surely consider the sets you will find in the Tin may be allowed in other formats and when playing with friends but newer sets will be more suitable to make competitive decks.

On the other hand, the collectible value of the Empoleon V Tin would not be negligible because of the sets chosen for the booster packs it comes with. In particular, the Steam Siege set can not be found on the market and thus it is already reasonably valuable as it is closing to its 10 year anniversary. Considering this, if you are looking to start collecting sealed booster packs, the Empoleon V Tin can provide some interesting packs for a very reasonable price. There is also the possibility that you may be able to get some very valuable rare cards from these if you can not resist to the urge to crack the packs (and you are also very lucky).

Finally, I would also like to remind that the Tin itself is quite beautiful and that collecting them is quite common. Personally, I like to use them for storing my spare Pokémon cards as they can hold tons of them very safely. I also use the Tins to hold other Pokémon products including the codes for the online game. I must admit I keep also a few of them on my board game shelves as the art is so beautiful that is a shame to not show them off.