Top 5 Pokemon Elite Trainer Boxes from Pokemon TCG: Sword & Shield

In February 2013, Pokémon released a brand new, never-seen-before product that would unknowingly become a staple of every new set release and still is to this day: The Pokémon Elite Trainer Box. It's first iteration, for the release of the set Plasma Storm featured 7 booster packs paired with extra items.

Fans fell in love with both the idea of a mid-range box that contained a number of packs, dice, sleeves and more but most importantly, it quickly became the perfect display item for collectors of sealed products or those that wanted a nice way to store their cards. You can check out our guide on how to properly protect and store your Pokémon cards here

Ranking the Best Elite Trainer Box from Pokemon in Sword & Shield

In order for us to rank these we took a couple factors into consideration:

• ETB Design — art, colors, etc.
• Contents
• Value and future value
• Note that for this list we have excluded Pokemon Center Exclusive ETBs as they all contain more packs and trinkets than regular Elite Trainer boxes.

#5 — Pokemon SWSH Vivid Voltage Elite Trainer Box

Bright orange with a "chunkchu" - what more can you ask for? This Elite Trainer box simply pops and is a great display piece featuring the golden mouse itself. The background pattern is also a really nice addition. The box contains your regular 8 packs and sleeves that match this box design among other things. 

#4 — Pokemon SWSH Evolving Skies Elite Trainer Box

Evolving skies was interested as it gave us 2 ETBs featuring all 8 eeveelutions. While most tend to gravitate towards Umbreon as their primary choice for an Eeveelution, it's this Elite Trainer Box that got everyone scouring shelves to complete their collections. The color scheme with Sylveon, Espeon, Glaceon and Vaporeon is simply beautiful and much more display worthy than its counterpart. This box has gained some amount of value since launch because of both its design and the fact that it contains Evolving Skies packs, where are highly sought-after for their high number of possible Alternate Art Cards. 

#3 — Pokemon SWSH Champion's Path Elite Trainer Box

Taking a quick glance at this Elite trainer box it's easy to see why it would be highly rate - first we have the infamous Charizard VMAX in an orange-gold-ish color in an imposing stance. The contrast with the grey and black background design makes it all the better. This box fetches the highest value of any Sword and Shield Elite trainer box at the moment. 

#2 — Pokemon SWSH Astral Radiance Elite Trainer Box

Darkrai may not be everyone's favorite Pokemon but there's something special about the dark red silhouette being superimposed on a mesmerizing background. This ETB stands out amongst the others of the series while also being a generally good set with lots to offer. The value - pull ratio is very balanced. 

# 1 — Pokemon SWSH Fusion Strike Elite Trainer Box

This one is interesting for a couple reasons — first, Fusion Strike is far from being the best set in terms of value, with only 2 major cards leading the price chart (Espeon VMAX Alt Art and Gengar VMAX Alt Art) and 2) It is amongst the cheapest ETBs to pick up.

That being said, it makes for a great reason to get your hands on one as it does feature what most people would consider the best design from Sword & Shield. The Purple pink fusion colors mixed with a fan favorite Mew simply makes for an incredibly beautiful Elite Trainer Box. 

Upcoming mention — Pokémon SWSH Silver Tempest Elite Trainer Box

While we don't have all the details about this box yet, we can simply admire where they went with the design and colors. Not to mention, they chose to feature an Alolan Vulpix which is a nice difference from always featuring a legendary or evolved form of Pokemon. The set is also rumored to feature high-value chase cards which will likely make this Elite Trainer Box a great pickup.