Pokémon Cards Are Designed With an Unexpected Philosophy

Estimated reading time: 16 minutes

You’re reading the third chapter of my eight-day travelog recounting my unbelievable trip to Japan to cover the 2023 Pokémon World Championships.

If you already haven’t, be sure to check out the other chapters:

Day 1: The Birthplace of PokémonDay 2: Pokémon Sweets and Unbearable Heat

Day 3 – Creature Feature

7:15 am – A complimentary breakfast buffet comes with our stay at the hotel, and I help myself to a Spanish omelet with ratatouille, a croissant, and a cup of coffee. At the end of the buffet line, I notice there’s a big pan of lasagna. I’m a bit mystified and decide to take a closer look to see if it’s some sort of breakfast lasagna, perhaps with eggs or bacon, but nope, it’s just normal lasagna. Do they eat lasagna for breakfast in Japan? The Kahala is a Hawaiian-themed hotel, so could this be a Hawaiian thing? I debate this with the rest of the media group and we’re unable to come up with an answer. I decide to try some and it’s a bit heavy for seven in the morning but it’s also super tasty.

8:00 am – We walk over to the convention center and we’re given early access to shop in the Worlds Pokémon Center. Normally, there’s a huge line that takes an eternity to get through, and by the time you get in, half of the exclusive merch is gone, so this is an incredible privilege.

8:05 am – We walk inside and I’m once again floored by what I see. It’s a huge shop with shelves upon shelves of Pokémon products, many of them exclusive to Yokohama Worlds that will only be on sale this weekend and then instantly become collectors’ items.

When we walk inside, each person is given six vouchers that will let them buy the six one-per-customer items upon checkout. We’re each given a giant purple shopping bag and told we have to be out at 9:00 am sharp, so the clock is ticking!

8:30 am – I do a quick lap to see everything available and I’m so overwhelmed by all of the tantalizing choices that I develop another case of analysis paralysis. Do I want detailed maps of the various Pokémon regions? Yokohama-themed Paldean starter plushies? A tin of Captain Pikachu cookies? Yes to all of the above. But can I afford them all? Absolutely not.

8:40 am – I ask around to see what everyone else is buying, and many people say the Yokohama Worlds-branded Bear Walker Skateboard featuring Pikachu is the hottest item. Only 500 were made, and the designer is doing pop-up autograph signings this weekend. I have never skateboarded a day in my life but I suddenly feel intense peer pressure to buy one.

8:42 am – Given my cramped living conditions back home, I have to be super selective about anything I buy because there’s not a lot of room to put it on display or even just store it. The cost of rent in LA is insane, so I don’t have much money to spend here in the first place. I already have more Pokémon merch at home than I should due to a lack of impulse-control. It just wouldn’t make sense, practically or financially, to buy anything here.

8:57 am – I walk out of the Pokémon Center with a playmat, a set of dice counters, a promo tin, a jersey, a t-shirt, a Captain Pikachu wind chime, and, for some reason, a brand new skateboard.

9:05 am – Walking back to the hotel, I look at the long and cumbersome skateboard box I’m holding in my arms and have a small panic attack, wondering how I’m going to pack it for the plane ride home. I take a deep breath and decide… that’s a problem for future me to deal with.

12:00 pm – We walk over to 7/11 for a quick lunch before our trip to Creatures. My credit card doesn’t work because the big Pokémon Center purchase flagged it for fraud by my bank. (And don’t say I should have told them I was traveling internationally before I left. I tried! And they said I didn’t need to. Lies! All lies!) It takes a long and annoying phone call with my bank to get my card back online. I feel like I’m being punished for my impulsiveness and honestly I kind of deserve it.

12:15 pm – The bus leaves in 15 minutes so I run back to my room and scarf down the food I got— a rice and fish tray, a coke, and a bun topped with tuna and mayonnaise. It all tastes far more delicious than it has any right to. Japanese 7/11s don’t miss.

12:25 pm – I want to wear something nicer than the shorts and t-shirts I had been rocking thus far and decide against my better judgment to wear pants and a button up, knowing full well the heat will soon make me regret it. I pack up my recording equipment, then I head downstairs to meet up with the group.

12:30 pm – We hop on the bus and head over to the Creatures office in Tokyo. To say I’m excited is an understatement. I’ve collected Pokémon cards since I was a kid. Playing the game competitively as an adult has been one of the greatest joys of my life because it’s introduced me to some of my best friends. It’s brought me to amazing places all over the world. Like Japan, for instance. Now, I’m about to visit the place where all that magic came from.

2:05 pm – We arrive at Creatures and take the elevator up. Whatever I imagined the reception area would be like, I wasn’t even close. It’s a large and winding white room with walls made of white, hollow, metal Pokémon cards. There are three massive stone tablets hanging on the walls.

There’s a Pokémon card back in the center, and the original Charizard and Blastoise cards on either side, carved from stone and with cracks spouting crystals and precious metal. (I try not to take it personally there’s no Venusaur.) The room is completely devoid of color and contains the blank building blocks of the card game, so it feels like we’re standing in the void where the creative process begins.

Want to see a video of all this and more? Check out my video tour of Creatures below!

2:28 pm – We file into a large meeting room and are greeted by Creatures spokesperson Shusei Natsumoto. He gives us our schedule for the day, which will include a tour, several presentations, and some group interviews. We’re each given a small bottle of water and a radio earpiece so we can hear the translator’s Japanese-to-English translation in real time.

2:30 pm – We have some time to burn so they tell us to go back into the reception area to see if we can spot all of the hidden Energy cards among the thousands of cards on the walls. It feels like we’re kids on an Easter egg hunt. I manage to find four — Fire, Darkness, Water, and Fairy. Fairy-Type Pokémon were removed from the TCG a few years ago so it makes me happy knowing it’s gone but not forgotten at the home of the TCG.

2:50 pm – We’re taken one floor down and told not to take any pictures or videos because this is the floor where they’re actively developing new Pokémon stuff. They take us to the Relaxation Zone. It’s a large, open space with tables, plenty of plants, and lots of cool Pokémon stuff, including a large, bright neon sign of the movie logo for Pokémon Detective Pikachu with a few glowing Morelull sitting on top. Across the room, there’s a replica of the Hi-Hat Cafe from the film, complete with a furry maquette of Detective Pikachu himself. There’s a large TV where they play games on Switch and PS5. There’s a huge, life-size Snorlax with a PokeFlute on its tummy that we are encouraged to pet. So soft. Our guide explains that this area is used by employees to eat lunch, play games, and hang out. We walk around the area and spot little Pokémon statues hidden among the plants, like Snivy and Alolan Sandshrew. On the wall, there’s a framed sketch of Quaxly signed by Pokémon art icon, Ken Sugimori. Looking past this area, there’s lots of desks with people quietly working away at mystery projects. I’m sure they’re eager for us to leave so they can get some coffee.

3:00 pm – We head back upstairs and sit down for a presentation on the process used to make Pokémon cards. A workflow chart details each step, from inception and illustration to proofing and printing. For more on this process, check out our full article on how Pokémon cards are created.

3:15 pm – We’re joined by the Illustration Director of the Illustration Team at Creatures, Haru Saito; clay artist, character designer, and writer Yuka Morii; and the illustrators known as GIDORA and Teeziro, who answer our questions about the card game’s artwork. This type of interview format proves to be a bit challenging because, after our question is asked, the translator conveys it in Japanese, hears the answer, and then repeats it back to us in English. It’s particularly tough to ask more abstract questions about the art because a lot can get lost in translation. Still, we get some interesting answers when they’re asked about the most challenging cards they’ve had to work on.

Teeziro said her Orbeetle VMAX design was especially complex because she had to convey the scale of the massive Orbeetle UFO abducting a little boy and show numerous objects being beamed up into the air. The lead shares that she knows Teeziro loves drawing giant monsters so they intentionally give her assignments involving those kinds of Pokémon. The gargantuan Orbeetle VMAX definitely checks that box.

Morii is the artist who creates the clay statues photographed for Pokémon card art, and I have a small freak out that I hope no one notices. Her clay art cards are my absolute favorite. She says it’s her job to make the Pokémon look cute and, yup, it’s impossible to look at one of her clay figures and not make this face . She explains that she molds the Pokémon in malleable clay that lets her adjust their pose. If the Pokémon has a transparent element, like Snom’s icy back nubs, then it’s difficult to adjust because the translucent material rapidly dries and stiffens, so those Pokémon can be particularly challenging.

The group is asked about how they bring new Pokémon from the latest generation into the TCG for the first time. They say that when it’s the first card for a new Pokémon then they want to ensure it captures the uniqueness of the character and be more sincere about showcasing the core attributes of the Pokémon correctly, whereas with Pokémon that have been around for a long time they have more license to use more inventive and unexpected art styles. Which may explain this new Eiscue card:

4:00 pm – The interview ends and we thank the art team for their time. We’re given a choice of snacks in the lobby while we wait for the next activity. I pick a yummy “rich milk donut,” which tastes like a donut.

4:20 pm – We return to the meeting room for a hands-on activity prepared by Morii. I experience a mix of joy at the amazing opportunity and fear because my idol is about to see how bad of an artist I am. She gives everyone a small kit to make their own clay Magnemite, like the one she made for the Pokémon TCG: Scarlet and Violet—151 expansion.

The kit contains a chunk of white clay, three small colored clays, and some magnets and screws. I have a flashback to elementary school art class and I feel like a kid again.

The first step has us remove a peanut-sized blob of white clay and set it aside to be used as the eyeball later. Next, we put the two tiny blobs of green and blue clay into the big blob of white clay and mush it together until it creates that nice gray-blue Magnemite color. Kneading the clay reminds me of the times I’d make pizza dough with my dad when I was young. She tells us to roll it into a ball and keep going until all of the creases disappear. The clay is very malleable and I’m able to create a perfectly smooth sphere, but I get a little too into it and roll it around too much, to the point where I dry out the clay and cracks start to appear. Uh oh.

We’re instructed to take the small white blob and press it into a circle to make the eyeball and apply it to the center. Then, the little black blob is used for the pupil. She encourages us to make our Magnemites unique and give them personalities. I decide to play into the fact that my Magnemite is cracked and misshapen and mold the black clay to give it a seriously depressed look. Like father, like son.

Finally, we add the various screws and magnets to complete the model, making sure the blue and red ends match the picture.

I ask Morii to grade my Magnemite. She says I did a wonderful job but my Magnemite could stand to be more evenly round, and I tell her the cracks and dents give him character and help tell the story of his depression. I ask if she thinks I have a future as a professional clay modeler and she says I can only go up from here. Internally, I’m screaming. My favorite Pokémon card artist made a completely honest assessment of my work and totally wasn’t just being polite, and it turns out I do have a gift for the arts, after all. I make a note to apply to art school when I get back to the states. Julliard, here I come.

We wrap our clay creations in crinkled up wax paper to help it settle and harden, then we package them up in little boxes. I make extra sure it’s safe, because I am confident one day people will call this my Mona Lisa.

5:00 pm – Next up, lead game designer Atsushi Nagashima sits down for a group interview with us. He’s asked what card surprised him the most when a player used it in a creative, unexpected way. He chuckles and says the success of Mega Audino-EX was completely unexpected. I know exactly what he’s referring to. I remember being there in the crowd at the 2016 Pokémon TCG World Championships when Japanese player Shintaro Ito took first place with the card. Many people considered it to be binder trash, but he realized the card’s snipe attack just happened to be the perfect counter for the meta flooded with Greninja BREAK decks, allowing him to pick apart evolution lines and take easy Prizes.

Listening to his thoughtful answers, I start to have a new appreciation for the game. He talked a lot about how his job isn’t necessarily to design cards that make the player win but to make cards that are fun to play. He always has the fantasy of Pokémon battling in a stadium in mind when creating cards. As a TCG tryhard, I’m always laser-focused on the best meta cards, whereas he always keeps the larger picture in mind to make sure the entire catalog of cards expresses his vision for the game. It’s a philosophy I didn’t expect to hear, but I certainly have an appreciation for it because it’s what has made the game so fun even after all these years.

5:30 pm – Next, we head into a new room and sit down with the Pokémon TCG playtesters, which is a job I’ve long dreamed about having. We’re guided through a playtesting demo by Creatures Game Director Kohei Kobayashi and Creatures Manager Satoru Inoue, who explain that it’s their job to ensure cards are balanced and don’t break the game. As an example, they lay out three Venusaur EX and explain that, because it has a healing ability, they had to test how much it should heal. They wanted to ensure it would heal an adequate amount to be useful yet not heal too much, otherwise a player could make a board full of indestructible Venusaurs.

They’re asked if many competitive players make the transition to the playtesting team, and they explain that the skills that make a good competitive player don’t always line up with what makes a good playtester, because a playtester isn’t always trying to win, they’re trying to combine all sorts of cards in weird ways to really test the limits of what they can do. That’s when I realize I would never be good at this job.

6:00 pm – And just like that, our visit to Creatures is over. I take one last look around the mesmerizing lobby and have a wistful moment, like a kid being told it’s time to leave Disney World, and then we head down to the bus.

8:00 pm – I’m so exhausted that dinner and the rest of the night is a blur. On the bright side, I finally get to bed early for the first time on this trip.

That’s all for now, but be sure to come back tomorrow for my full acount of Day 4, which is the last day before the World Championships where I make an even possibly bigger nightmare artistic decision.

In the meantime, check out our other coverage on Pokémon Worlds:

How a Rookie Almost Won the 2023 Pokemon Video Game World ChampionshipsHow Pokemon Took Over a City for the World ChampionshipsUnderdog Defeats Pokemon TCG’s Greatest Player to Become World ChampionThe Pokémon Company Having ‘Conversations’ About Its ‘Constant’ Release ScheduleFirst Ever Poké-Mom and Son Duo Compete Together in Pokémon TCG World ChampionshipWhy the Pokémon World Championships Going to Hawaii Is Proving to be a Controversial ChoiceWhat It’s Like to Play in the World’s Hardest Pokémon Tournament