During my opening of Chaos Rising booster packs and the ETB, one thing immediately stuck out to me. There is a sheer number of duplicate common cards. More specifically, I kept encountering the name of Deoxys very regularly. That does make sense, as it has 4 different forms, and all 4 of them are present in Chaos Rising. More specifically, they can be pulled as normal cards, but also have a holographic version each.
The Curious Deoxys Situation
For people unfamiliar with Deoxys – including myself, up until recently, it is a pretty unique Pokemon. It is a DNA Pokemon, which gives it 4 different variations: Attack, Defense, Speed, and Normal. That allows for some very interesting artwork – big plus for me – but it also highlights some potential issues collectors and fans might experience along the way.
With 4 types of the same Pokemon in the Chaos Rising set – a set limited to 88 base cards, mind you – it is evident the Deoxys representation is fairly high. Some might even call it disproportionate, and one can see the validity of that point. After all, Deoxys represents 5% of the entire base set when we add all of its forms to the mix. It creates a sense of “fatigue” in terms of overall pull rates. That is not what the Pokemon Company or Pokemon collectors want.
The Ninja Spinner Argument
For those in the know, English Pokemon card sets will be released months after the initial set is released in Japan. As such, Chaos Rising is the English equivalent to Japan’s Ninja Spinner, a set released earlier in 2026. As one would come to expect, Deoxys – and its four forms – are also part of Ninja Spinner. So far, it all makes sense to see Chaos Rising follow the same approach.
However, Chaos Rising – 88 base cards and 36 secret rares – has 122 cards in total. When we take the 5 Deoxys variants into consideration, that is a representation of roughly 3.28%. These odds are BETTER for collectors compared to Ninja Spinner.
Statistics show us that Ninja Spinner is a 120-card set – 83 main cards and 37 secret cards. As such, Ninja Spinner has a higher Deoxys representation in the main cards AND in the overall set, because it is slightly smaller. Therefore, people like me who already think the pull rate is too high in Chaos Rising products would not have a better time opening up the Japanese Ninja Spinner set.
Is Deoxys Good in TCG Play?
One thing to consider is how new Pokemon sets cater to different audiences. There are the scalpers, looking to resell sealed products. Collectors just want to buy products at fair prices to complete sets or collect the Pokemon they like. However, there are also those who play the trading card game competitively. Access to new and exciting Pokemon is essential, and Deoxys would make many decks pretty strong.
Unfortunately, this is also where the card’s representation in Chaos Rising is counterproductive. The Pokemon TCG has a limit on how many times one particular Pokemon can appear in one’s deck. Players can have a maximum of 4 cards with the same name in their deck. For Chaos Rising – and Ninja Spinner – all cards are named Deoxys across the four forms, and not all of its forms are equal in TCG. But we will discuss that in a different article.
Final Thoughts
Whether you like Deoxys or not, one cannot ignore it seems omnipresent in the Chaos Rising and Ninja Spinner sets. In fact, it represents such a large share of the total card count, one has to wonder if it should have been saved for a much larger set. It is also a psychic Pokemon, and it being there four times means a lot of other Psychic-types have been left out.
That doesn’t mean Deoxys does not deserve the spotlight, though. A DNA Pokemon with 4 different forms remains very intriguing and opens up a lot of potential in TCG and lore. However, it has been around since 2006 and has – seemingly – never been considered a popular Pokemon similar to a Mimikyu, Squirtle, Pikachu, etc. That makes the choice for adding four versions of this creature in a fairly small set all the more questionable.
It makes me wonder if the Pokemon Company did this purposefully or expected it wouldn’t be an issue. Either way, Deoxys is here to stay for this set, but a slightly different approach might be warranted in future sets.
[…] There is an additional curious piece about this evolution. In the video game, when Nincada evolves, it leaves a discarded husk behind. That husk forms the basis for Shedinja to be created as one of its evolutions. It is also a lovely reference to the overall “earth theme” this Pokemon embodies, which is also present in most of its TCG artwork. […]