It is often said that booster packs with a higher weight are more likely to have the more valuable art cards inside. But does the Shining Fates pack weight really make a difference. We decided to put it to the test.
Our Sample Packs
There are no booster boxes for the Pokémon Shining Fates expansion set. Booster packs are only available in special collection products such as elite trainer boxes, collection boxes and tins.
Having decided we needed a minimum of 10 packs for our experiment with pack weight, we chose to use the packs from two Shining Fates Premium Collection Boxes.
There are 7 booster packs in each box so this gave a total of 14 packs. There was at least one pack for each of the four artworks.
Weighing the Packs
We used a sensitive digital scale to get an accurate weight for each pack.
The pack weight ranged from 22g to 24g:
9 x 22g
4 x 23g
1 x 24g
With the weights logged we expected to find the best card in the 24g pack, art or holo cards in the 23g and non-holo rare in the 22g packs.
The Results
All packs had the usual code card, energy card, 3 x uncommon and 5 x common cards and these were not logged. We also decided not to log the non-holo rare cards.
The 24g Pack
The first pack to be opened was the 24g Dragapult artwork pack. This was the only Dragapult artwork out of the 14 packs.
From this pack we pulled a Dartrix Holo Shiny Vault card (SV002/SV122).
The 23g Packs
Of the four 23g packs, two were Corviknight artwork, one was Toxtricity and one was Charizard.
We opened the Charizard artwork first and pulled a Reverse Holo Rotom (034/072) and a regular Holo Thievul (048/072)
Next was the Toxtricity artwork. From this pack we pulled a Reverse Holo Celebi (003/072) and a regular Holo Frosmoth (030/072)
From the first of the Corviknight packs we pulled a Reverse Holo Morpeko (035/072 ) and a regular Holo Thievul (048/072). From the second we pulled a Reverse Holo Tropius (005/072).
The 22g Packs
Nine of the packs weighed 22g. Two Corviknight artwork, three Charizard and four Toxtricity.
We started with the Corviknight artwork. From the first pack we pulled a Full Art Bird Keeper (066/072) and a Reverse Holo Buizel (022/072). The second gave us a Dhelmise VMAX Full Art (010/072) and another Reverse Holo Buizel (022/072)
The three Charizard packs were opened next. The first pack gave us a Kyogre Amazing Rare (021/072), the second a Reverse Holo Morpeko (035/072) and the third a Galarian Cursola Holo Shiny Vault (SV050/SV122)
Finally we opened the four Toxtricity artwork packs. From the first pack we pulled two Reverse Holo cards, Tropius (005/072) and Dartrix (007/072) and from the second a Reverse Holo Rotom (034/072). From the third pack we pulled an Alcremie V Art card (064/072) and a Shiny Vault Yamper (SV039/SV122).
The pull rate from the first 13 packs was quite good so we were not expecting anything from the last pack. However, it was the last pack that contained the jewel in the crown. Inside the last pack was Charizard VMAX (SV107/SV1222).
Conclusion
In conclusion our weight experiment suggests that the weight of the Shining Fates booster packs makes little difference to the pull rate. Our single 24g pack contained a shiny vault card, while the 23g packs contained reverse and regular holo cards.
In our selection of packs it was actually the lower weight 22g packs that had by far the best pull rate. In addition to the Charizard VMAX, these packs produced one amazing rare, three more art cards, two shiny vault and five reverse holo cards.
If the theory that heavier packs have better cards then Charizard VMAX should have been in the heaviest pack, not in one of the lightest packs.
