as some of you may know I’ve just returned from Worlds. Like every year, Worlds was incredible and I got some cool cards. Even though the market was very dry and I was not able to get some trophy promos this year, I found something else that is very interesting.
I have a contact at Worlds from who I buy my Worlds cards and a lot of other cards, too. He is very well known and is very reliable. This year, he brought a couple of cards of a collection of which he recently came across. When looking trough the cards I noticed a card I had never seen before: a foreign language Championship Arena.
When asking him about this card he told me it’s korean and that he has never heard about the card before, too. It was the first one he ever saw but it is definitely authentic.
I took at good look at the card and am 100% that it really is. It has multiple layers and even the black one, which shows that it is printed the american way, not the japanese way.
This card was originally given out in 2005 at World Championships 2005, being the blackstar promo #28. This card has the same number, but is in korean language.
Here is a picture of the card:
I’ll put this up for sale so if you want to shoot me an offer, feel free to do so via PM.
Bumping because I bought this card off of Dennis and want to be certain it’s Chinese before I sound super ignorant talking about something I really like in my collection. Haha.
That’s a great way of putting it.
Michael gave the same advice but worded it as: “Korean looks like stick people with heads, so it can’t be Korean.” lol
Joined this late - but it is 100 percent Chinese. As all the Chinese cards are, this is written in traditional Chinese. I assume it was a Taiwanese card as they tried to get organised play set up.
It says: 冠军竞技场 guan jun jing ji Chang looks authentic too.
No problem. I did some research and found out that this card was distributed at an event in Taipei, Taiwan. The Japanese league held their finals in Taiwan (I assume as an attempt to gain popularity in Taiwan and HK). There were special teaching areas set up for Chinese fans. If you took part in these classes, you got a Championship Arena card.
No idea of numbers - but I imagine this to be very small.
The event took place in September 2006, and was on for 17 days. Training sessions were on at various shops around Taipei to prepare the Chinese fans for the event.
You’re welcome! I’m hugely into Chinese cards (obviously) so I was interested to find this info. I’ll keep you updated as I find out more. I’ll be in Taiwan and Japan this winter, so I’ll let you know how I crack on. Might dig up more of these cards.
Not all that information is ont he flyer. that link just explains that the Japanese tournament is coming to Taiwan…etc etc. I’ll translate the parts I can later. Traditional characters are difficult…I’ve learned simplified, and my gf can help with the traditional!
Found out some more details. Some Taiwanese collectors I’ve talked to say that there were under 100 of these. They were handed out to those who watched the card competition. Because it was part of the PokePark, and the cards are all in Japanese (only base and ex legend maker released at that time) not many attended. More than one collector has told me that there were under 100 people there. So that’s a tentative number, but a good indication of this card’s rarity.
looks authentic too.