The Pokemon Center website saw huge demand for the new Team Rocket themed set.
Pokemon TCG hype shows no signs of slowing down. Fans and scalpers alike rushed to the official Pokemon Center website today in the hope of grabbing some of the newly launched Destined Rivals expansion.
This latest set from the TCG's Scarlet & Violet era prominently features everyone's favourite bad guys Team Rocket, and as such has become a highly anticipated collection — with some sweet merch to match. The cards went up for pre-order today, and will launch in late May.
Anyone who attempted to snag the new cards, be that an ETB or Booster Bundle, will have found themselves waiting in a lengthy virtual queue in order to just access the official site — and boy was it lengthy.
I'm not exaggerating here — as I was stuck in the virtual line I spotted my place buried at an insane position of 1,404,161. Yes, there was over 1.4 million users trying to get on and browser the Pokemon store. Even if we account for folks using multiple devices trying to get on (along with the inevitable bots), that’s still a staggering level of Pokemon hype.
That crazy number came directly from the queue’s behind-the-scenes JSON data (this is the kind of thing most folks won’t see unless they’re digging into the site’s loading process). For the curious: that sky-high number is part of a data response from the Imperva protection system that The Pokémon Center uses to manage high traffic events and bot filtering. But basically, this hobby has become absolute madness for those with a genuine interest.
Noteworthy cards in this new expansion include:
- 83 new cards tagged as Team Rocket's
- 17 Pokémon ex, including 10 Trainer's Pokémon ex
- 23 illustration rare Pokémon
- 11 special illustration rare Pokémon
- ..and 6 hyper rare gold-etched cards
If you’re still in line — or refreshing furiously (don't do that) — then good luck. If you somehow made it through already? We tip our grey felt hat.
As for me? I'm still sat here staring at postal Pikachu.
