Pokémon Sleeves - Battle Start! (64 pcs, Japanese)

64 official Japanese Pokémon sleeves from the Battle Start! series by the Pokémon Center, featuring Charizard, Pikachu and Lucario.

Specifications

• Quantity: 64 sleeves
• Artwork: Charizard, Pikachu and Lucario
• Series: Battle Start! (バトルをはじめよう!), Pokémon Center Japan
• Illustration: REOspikee

Why 64 and not 65

Western sleeve packs contain 65, Japanese ones 64 — a difference that comes down purely to convention in the two markets. A deck holds 60 cards either way, so you'll have a few spares left over regardless. Just keep in mind that Japanese sleeves are sized for Japanese cards, which are a fraction smaller than Western ones.

Three Pokémon everyone knows

The choice of Charizard, Pikachu and Lucario is no coincidence: it's three generations of mascot in a single image. Pikachu has been around since 1996, Charizard has been the most popular of the original 151 for just as long, and Lucario debuted in 2006 and came second out of all 890 Pokémon in the 2020 global poll — only Greninja got more votes. Here they stand ready to begin — just as the series' name says.

What sleeves are for

Sleeves protect your cards from fingerprints, moisture and damaged edges, and they let a deck shuffle more smoothly. At tournaments they're effectively mandatory: every card back in your deck has to look identical, so no one can tell which card you're holding from the back.

Another design from the same corner is Write a Report!. There are also Western sleeves featuring Mega Charizard X.