Hidden Fates: How to Identify Cards From This Set

• Hidden Fates has a companion Shiny Vault subset made up mostly of Sun & Moon-era reprints in Shiny form, with its own SV-prefixed card numbers separate from the main set.
• Unlike a normal expansion, Hidden Fates was never sold as standalone booster boxes/packs — only inside bundled retail products.

• Shiny Vault (SV1-SV94): Shiny Vault cards are numbered SV1/SV94 through SV94/SV94 instead of the main set's 1/68-68/68 numbering; regular Shiny Pokémon get an 'S' rarity marking and Shiny Pokémon-GX get an 'SSR' marking with embossed holofoil.

Japanese equivalent released November 2, 2018 as "GX Ultra Shiny" (250 cards). Because Hidden Fates was distribution-limited (tins, collection boxes, Elite Trainer Boxes) rather than sold as standalone boosters, it is frequently targeted by counterfeiters in the secondary market, but no citable official/grading-company statement documenting that specifically was found in this research pass, so it is omitted rather than asserted.

• Bottom-left or bottom-right corner: the set symbol and the collector number (e.g. 4/102) tell you the set; older cards have no symbol at all, which itself narrows them to Base Set.
• Left of the number: a 1st Edition stamp, if present, sits below the art on WOTC-era cards.
• Regulation mark (a letter in a box near the bottom, D through H so far) dates modern cards to a two-year window.
• Back of the card: the blue Poké Ball back has changed little since 1999; a washed-out, blurry or wrongly colored back is the first sign of a fake.

Lay the card flat on a dark surface in daylight, straight on, with the whole card in frame, then a close-up of the bottom edge where the set symbol, number and any edition stamp sit. Tilt holo cards under the light for a second shot to show the foil pattern. Photograph the back too. The app reads the card and set; the edition and rarity checks above tell you which version you have.