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Pokemon Home
Magic
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Pokemon TCG Collecting
by Daniel Norton
Hello, and welcome to my first collecting article!
I have a few different styles of articles in mind for
possible future articles.
Some article styles include:
This week/fortnight/month in collecting- An update of all
new cards or TCG related products which have been released
since the last article of this style.
Do you have this one yet?- An article focusing on one
particular obscure or rare card, giving information about
the history behind it.
Q & A- Where I answer any questions you may have about
collecting, if I plan to do this I will announce it the week
before so you have time to leave questions.
One off articles- An article focusing on a specific set or
part of the TCG.
My first article is one from the last category, a look at
the HGSS Black Star Promos which have been released so far.
The Black Star promos have the promo symbol (of, surprise
surprise, a Black Star) and are numbered HGSSXX.
So far we are up to 21 HGSS Promos, released in these ways:
12 in Blister Packs
6 in Tins
2 in Poster Packs
1 at World Championships
As soon as the HGSS set was released we entered a whole new
era of the TCG, leaving behind the DP/DPt era. This era will
last up until the release of Black and White sets, and it’s
safe to assume that the promos will undergo a numbering
change then too.
When the first HGSS set came out we got 6 promos right off
the bat. The first two were Ho-Oh and Lugia and came in
Poster Packs, which came with a poster showing all the cards
in the set plus a few booster packs. You only got one of the
two promo cards with the set so you would have to buy two to
get both promo cards, the extra packs are no big deal but
paying for a second poster is kind of redundant. Personally
I would have placed both promo cards in the same package,
but I guess it makes them more money.
Also released were two blister packs with 3 boosters and 1
promo card, either Wobbuffet or Pikachu. Now the Wobbuffet
was a pretty standard release, but the Pikachu caused a
little upset amongst collectors as the original Japanese
version was very rare and expensive due to limited release
via the Action Point system, and the English versions
extended release hurt the Japanese price slightly.
At least same time we were also treated to two blister packs
with 2 boosters and a promo card, either HootHoot or Noctowl,
which were originally released in Japan to participants of
the 2009 Battle Tour.
Next up came 3 tins, each including a reprint of a Prime
from the HGSS set. You could choose from Meganium,
Typhlosion and Feraligatr, which was pretty predicable as
these were also the subject of the theme decks from the HGSS
set, being the final evo’s of Generation 2. The only change
from the set was altered artwork, and of course, the Black
Star symbol in place of the set logo.
Now, when the next set, HGSS: Unleashed, was released, we
were treated to 4 new blisters to go with it. 2 containing 3
packs, and 2 containing 2 packs. The 3 packs contained new
Latias and Latios cards which had previously been released
in a dual blister pack in Japan. The 2 card blisters
contained holographic reprints of Cleffa and Smoochum from
the HGSS set, which does seem rather odd for an Unleashed
blister release.
When the 3rd HGSS set, Undaunted, came along, it
stuck with what we had been given with the last 2 sets. 4
blisters, 2 with 3 boosters and 2 with 2 boosters. The 3
boosters contained Lapras and Shuckle promos which had been
given out in Japan to the winners of the Pokémon
Challenge Battle in May and June 2010 respectively. Once
again, the 2 card blisters contained holo versions of set
cards, in this case, Plusle and Minun from Unleashed.
Could we see some Undaunted cards made holo for the
Triumphant blisters? At this point it seems likely.
HGSS18 is the hardest to obtain out of all the HGSS promos
so far, as it was only given out to competitors and Staff at
the 2010 World Championship. It is a new art version of
Tropical Tidal Wave, a nice change from the Tropical Wind we
had for the last 3 years running.
As with previous Worlds cards, it had many different
versions. The regular Worlds 2010 stamped version was given
out to all competitors, in 7 different languages, along with
2 filler cards, contained information about Worlds 2011 and
the 2010 Worlds decks to make up a 9 card page.
Staff at the event were given a version of the card in
English, with the word “Staff” stamped across the bottom in
addition to the Worlds stamp.
More versions were given out to the competitors who top cut
the event, with stamps going from Top Thirty-Two right up to
Finalist.
If you are just looking to get the card to fill in the gap
in your numbered promo set, the Staff version is probably
the easiest and cheapest to get ahold of, as many people are
unwilling to split the 9 card sets (and in my opinion
rightly so, these sets are the only cards I actively collect
that aren’t English or Japanese).
The last 3 promos to date came in tins again, and this time,
they weren’t reprints. Each tin contained 2 promos, 1 HGSS
promo of a Shiny Legendary dog, and a Secret Wonders reprint
(with new exclusive foil style) of the same dog. The dogs of
course are Raikou, Entei and Suicune. The exclusive Shiny
cards were originally released in Japan in a “Perfect Pack”
containing the three dogs and a few blisters. These were
informally known as the “cheaper versions” of the Japanese
Shiny dogs, as two different sets were released, with this
set having a mass release, and the other set being limited
to 1,000 sets. Reaction to these tins were mixed, a lot of
people disliked the reprints of now rotated Secret Wonders
cards, however the exclusive new promos were generally
viewed as favourable. Some people however did wish for the
limited versions of the cards to have been released here as
the attacks were better for the game.
And that’s how far into the HGSS promos we are!
If this article is well received and I continue writing, I
will be sure to include new Black Star promos in my “This
week/fortnight/month in collecting” articles.
I hope you enjoyed reading, and please e-mail any criticism
to help me make future articles better.
Daniel Norton
dr_who_fan_108@hotmail.co.uk
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