Special “151” Voltorb Promos Awarded to Tournament Staff, Among the Rarest English Cards Ever Printed!
Master set collectors… prepare to cry!
Two incredibly rare prints of Voltorb from 151 were awarded to select staff members at NAIC as part of “Voltorb Drills.” The first is a reverse holo; the second is a cosmos reverse holo. Both feature a special “Professor Program” stamp.
In 2022, the Professor Program introduced Voltorb Drills as a new staff initiative. At large events like International Championships, a mentor approaches select floor staff to test their tournament knowledge.
For example, a TCG mentor might approach a floor judge and quiz them on what to do if a player makes an irreversible gameplay error. There are mentors for the TCG, video games, Pokemon GO, deck checks, side events, and the Play! Labs.
The drills are designed to be learning exercises. Staff can’t request them, as they’re meant to be surprises. They’re named after real-world “Red Ball Drills,” which is when a venue’s security will drill random staff members about safety protocols.
In 2023 and 2024, staff members who were approached for Voltorb Drills received various pins or a Voltorb from Paldea Evolved with a Professor Program stamp. This Voltorb usually goes for several hundred dollars on eBay:
At NAIC last weekend, the award was the aforementioned reverse holo Voltorb from 151 with the Professor Program stamp. We can confirm only 100 to 120 were given out:
If you’re a 151 master set collector, you’re probably crying. But here’s where you’ll be bawling.
For the first time ever, the head mentors also received a promo card: the cosmos version of the Voltorb! We can confirm only 12 of them were awarded to NAIC’s 12 mentors.
This makes the cosmos Voltorb one of the rarest English prints ever produced, and certainly the rarest ever Voltorb.
More Voltorb will undoubtedly be awarded to staff at future events, including Worlds and International Championships. This will multiply their population. But both prints will remain limited, especially the cosmos version.
How much the cosmos version will cost remains to be seen, as it’s unlikely the mentors will give them up anytime soon.
Thanks goes to Ives Rountree, Vince Krekeler, and Professor Pokedad for helping me with this story!
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