Hopefully this is where I am suppose to send
this. I found that this featured article, 12.18.01 A History of Single Cards in Pokemon , was controversial and missed some "key"
cards. This is reply to that article:
Base Set 1: A lot of Broken cards and decks first premiered in this set.
Many decks such as Haymaker and Raindance. Everyone was going gaga over
Charizard Blastoise and Venusaur buying booster packs by the dozens and trying
to get those 3 cards. People began using Hitmonchan and Electabuzz in
Haymaker. This is where the whole Pokemon CCG craze began.
I'm guessing that this article doesn't involve the
"power" trainers. So, let's begin. Another broken card in this set
is Chansey. Chansey is now MUCH more used that the fighting-type
Hitmonchan. For Charizard, Blastoise, and Venusaur...are we talking
about value. I remember that even base set Zapdos was worth about the
same as Venusaur. Zapdos was also used as a clean-up hitter. How
about dewgong? He was awesome paired with Blastoise. Are you
forgetting Arcanine?? Oh my gard.....He was awesome! How about
Gyrados? It was either him or Dewgong in a raindance deck. There
were no babies back then. You needed back-up hitters. And
Mewtwo? People still play him. There was a deck focused around
him......"Mulligan Mewtwo".... Almost all the holos were used.
Dugtrio took out electrabuzz. Machop was a cheap haymaker.
Electrode charged up Charizard. Farfetch
Jungle: A lot of new cards that people had been needing such as Clefairys
evolution Clefable came in the Jungle set. Another card for Haymaker also came
into action in this set. Scyther! The number one card in Jungle. Many stall
decks also got a new edition in this set also. Mr.Mime came into viewing in a
couple stall decks with Alakazam from Base Set 1. This set combined with Base
Set 1 were the top trading card game on the market.
Tell me he didn't forget
wigglytuff.....OMG!! He did. Wiggly was great! Clefable
didn't become really popular until R. Zapdos. Wiggly could do a straight
60 damage, and with a plus power, 70 on tourn 2. Kangaskan was used for
Card Advantage. Lickitung was used as a starter for
paralyzation. It had some key cards but wasn't a good set
because of the lack of trainers and the doubles of Holos and
rares.
Fossil: This next set also along with Base Set and Jungle
made decks even more powerful. Another version of Magmar came into the scene
and came into the Haymaker deck. When the fossil set was released very few
people were using Raindance anymore. Also in Fossil came Aerodactyl and Muk
witch were put into many decks as well due to their Pokemon Powers. Aerodactyl
stopped evolving(no more Raindance /Charizard) and Muk stopped Pokemon
Powers(Muk w/ aerodactyl not a good thing). In the Japanese fossil also gave
people the chance to get the Mew card. Many people were angry at WoTC when
they heard that Mew would not be in Fossil in English.
..........Why is there no
Ditto? Seriously, why is there no Ditto? Ditto was and is still
awesome. If you play DCE in your deck, you HAVE got to play ditto.
He is so situational. He (Looks like a male :\) can do
anything. People still play this "powerhouse". Articuno was in
this set too who did well with Blastoise. Lapras was used as a starter
with his high hp and confuse ray. Moltres was played at times for the
insane wildfire (I saw someone discard 25). Even Hitmonlee was used
for a bench hitter. Nowadays, Gastly can get back those special
energies. It wasn't a great set because of the lame trainers and the
lack of cards. Ditto......
Team Rocket: In this set many people were happy and many
people were mad. People were happy because it had Dark versions of your
favorite pokemon such as Dark Charizard and Dark Blastoise. Many people were
made because the low HP on many pokemon. In Base Set 1Charizard had 120HP and
in Team Rocket Drak Charizard only had 80 HP. When Team Rocket came out many
Pokemon CCG players stopped playing Pokemon and went into Magic: The Gathering
due to people saying The Game Is Rigged. To promote more buyers WoTC also
included a super secret card in this set! Dark Raichu.
That low hp is a bit higher
nowadays (+20) due to Team Rocket's Hideout. Yeah, this set was
whack. But.....there was the infamous Dark Vileplume. That was
made into a minor archtype. There was some modified decks that used Dark
Blastoise, Dark Aklazam, and the Eevee evolutions (Light Umbreon did)...But
nothing was really tourny worth except maybe the Dark Vlieplume....I won't
mention the great trainers (TRAP).
Base2: In this set WoTC combined Base Set 1 and
Jungle together. This set you cannot get in Japanese. This set is the HARDEST
set ever to get a holographic in. This is because all of the non-holo cards in
Jungle and Base 1. Whenever you get a holo it is usually a Clefairy. Begining
in Base2 WoTC began using another brand of Holographic Foil on their holo
cards. In Base2 Base Set 1 and Jungle were Retired or Out Of print.
LIke you didn't, I won't
mention the cards because they were reprints. I never saw a Base Set 2
Clefairy......
Gym Heroes: This was the most wanted set in Pokemon CCG.
Tons of people lined up for the Pokemon Trading Card Game League for the Gym
Heroes Pre-Release tournament. I got 11th place in this tournament
at my league. Even parents came to this tournament!!! This was the biggest set
release of all time.
You say absolutely nothing about
the cards...Gym Heroes wasn't one of my favorite sets.....THey got rid of the
pokemon description :). Well, this set were the first gym leader
cards. Rocket Hitmonchan was used a bit along with the Scyther, who is a
good staller. Erika's Victrebell is an awesome Anti-gatr in
modified. We had to wait for B. Arcanine but the Growlithe made a
showing, not a good one. And there was the misty poliwag,
poliwhirl. This sounds depressing, but I went 7-2 with a poliwhirl
deck at the ECSTS2001. Again, if this articled mentioned the trainers, I
would too. But to save time, I won't.
Gym Challenge: About 2 months after Gym Heroes was
released, Gym Challenge was released. This set was even better than Gym Heroes
because it contained Blaine and Giovanni cards. It also included the most
broken Gym Leaders card of all time Blaines Arcanine! With the release of
this set was a few misprints. And with the release of both Gym sets the
pictures of some cards were changed. Look at Mistys Tears for example.
You didn't even mention R.
Zapdos. What is wrong with you? Don't forget Brock's
Ninetales. There were alot of nice modified cards. B. Arcanine
could be used in either Constructed or Modified. And Rocket's Mewtwo,
he's a cool modified.
Neo Genesis: Finally GS pokemon come into the TCG
craze! This is what brought Pokemon back from the dump! This is the set
everyone was waiting for! Blastoise from Base set 1 move over because
Feraligatr is here!!!!! With Modified for the WCSTS/ECSTS formats this was the
most broken card in the whole tournament! Almost 60% of all people had
Feraligatr! This also premiered Pokemon Tools and Baby Pokemon!!!! And the
most broken card IN THE WHOLE SETS OF POKEMON! Sneasel. This card is so broken
that it was banned from the ECSTS/WCSTS. Now, thats what I call a powerful
card! This set iis sooo 1337.
Feraligatr is horrible
compared to Blastoise in standard. You seemed to have forgotten
Tyhplosion: Recharge. Paired with Arca, makes a great deck in
modified! You seemed to also have forgotten Elekid, Cleffa, Donphan,
Croconaw (50 and prepare for riptide), Quilava with
Char.....
CrossTrainer: This set was supposed to
release July 2001 however Wizards put this set on hold. This set would contain
1 card for each of the 251 pokemon (including Mew). This set would have also
included Vending Cards!!!! WoTC put this set on hold and decided to work on
releasing Neo Discovery and Southern Islands instead. This set is not
scheduled for any release in the future.
The Immakuni cards would have
been cool to play. I can't say much for a set that never came
out.
Southern Islands: The only way to get
this set was to buy a gift box and Wizards really screwed up with this gift
box! If you got the gift box you got the 18 Southern Islands cards. These
cards were really meant for collectors not for playing the game. With the
cards you got 6 postcards and 3 Neo boosters. In each of the Neo boosters you
got 11 cards(duh!) but heres the funny part! In each booster there is no
rare. I reported this to WoTC and they said they did this because you already
got Reverse Holos in the set. How stupid...
I swear that I got rares in my
packs. Or at least I am pretty sure. WOAH!! The Onix was
awesome with 90Hp and a colorless attack. And the Mew acted like a
hyper-neo-genesis pichu. The Vileplume wasn't that bad either.
Neo Discovery: In this set the 2 new
forms of Eevee showed up and Unowns showed up! This set was the most worst set
of Neo I have ever seen. They even skipped a card! Dark Raichu because it was
in Team Rocket did not get to be in Neo Discovery! Neo Discovery sux!
Uhh...Are you complaining
that you were able to get a card early? THis set wasn't that bad.
Houndoom was a nice evolution, TYranitar was used to make some decks when it
came out, Beedrill dished out triple posion....And Igglybuff! Stopped
Pokemon powers only on your turn. Killing D. Vileplume and hurting
Slowking.
Neo Revelations: In this set it is a
good Neo set. Not as good as Genesis but way better than Discovery. In this
set 2 cool cards appeared. Shining Gyarados and Shining Magikarp. These 2
cards only have 1 star (unlike the Japanese ones) and arent worth that much
really. Also in this set are 6 other great cards. If you thought the Neo
Genesis Lugia sucked (which it did) than try the Neo Revelations Lugia. In
this set the 3 legendary dawgs(or cats) came into the scene.. And 2 Ho-Oh Fire
and Colorless came into viewing. Neo 3 is the 2nd best neo set.This
is also the only set wihout Theme Decks.
Macargo along with Entei
(Holo) makes a great deck. It is POSSIBLE for Crobat to own
Feraligatr. Jumpluff has a 30 for one grass energy and can evolve
skiplooms and hopips on your bench.
I replied alot more, but I
used spell check and yahoo erased everything that I had done. Thanks
pojo if you post this, and thanks for reading......
darklian@yahoo.com If you live in
CT, please email me.
Tim Smith.
(MY NAME ISN'T SAMUS ARAN, DAMN YOU YAHOO! Don't post this
pojo...)