Indeed, that viewpoint is probably here to stay.
It’s still modern until at least the next generation in 2026:
- By then, its games and first set will be 9 years old and 3 generations ago
- TCG had its biggest print escalations starting at SM 2017 and again at SWSH 2021
- Each of every year since 2021 has more cards printed than the entire Sun & Moon era - the sooner we enter gen 10 2026, the more likely this metric will be a defining moment separating Sun & Moon from modern
- Sun & Moon’s latter half still inspires sets released in SV
Birth and continuation of high class sets
Ultra Shiny GX → Shiny Treasure ex
Continuation of special art cards - By traditional card design, the current era is an incremental evolution of SM/SWSH
2 Likes
Most talking points and angles have been covered already in the thread.
You could make a case for each era or even years within an era being distinct for all kinds of reasons. SM has probably the worst pull rates of them all though with ultra rare bloat without the print runs of SWSH to match it.
Given that most chase cards are CGI full arts with similar type backgrounds, rainbows and gold items, it obviously hasn’t mattered as much as it would have if the sets had a different makeup like in the SV era.
2 Likes
This is how I see it.
4 Likes
Anything up to XY is vintage, Sun & Moon almost vintage, SwSh/SV is modern
1 Like
Fun fact
There are 45 JP sets between the last Sun & Moon set High Class Pack: GX Tag All Stars and the upcoming set Night Wanderer
30 of those sets are in SWSH
3 Likes
Gen 1-3: vintage for sure
Gen 4: still trying to figure out where this belongs
Gen 5-6: modern
Gen 7 and later: ultra modern, as said above it’s already whopping 8 years since first Sun & Moon sets came out but massively increased print numbers and rainbow rare spam make the difference compared to BW/XY
This is my personal breakdown of what I think of the different cut off points:
Base-Skyridge = Vintage, This just includes all of the WotC era
EX-Call of Legends = Mid era, Beginning of the Nintendo era
BW-SM = Modern, This marks the introduction of the standard full arts we still see today
SWSH-SV = Ultra modern, The most recent sets, also the introduction of trainer gallery cards, more diverse artwork on full arts, and greater appreciation to that artwork by the community as a whole
2 Likes
That’s not completely true, alternate arts as we know them were introduced during the Sun & Moon era (Tag Team GX alternate arts).
But overall I agree that it’d be much clearer to classify eras as waves!
4 Likes
I think this topic has divided many for as long as Pokémon has existed, and it likely always will. I’ve shared my viewpoint:
Vintage, to me, is up to Call of Legends (1996 to Feb. 2011)
Followed by Modern, which is then everything from Black & White to Sword & Shield (Apr. 2011 to Jan. 2023)
Contemporary is everything Scarlet & Violet (Jan. 2023 to Present)
1 Like
Basically, you are right if we are taking the average opinion
Personally I think it’s weird to put BW as “modern” but I get how the “modern” set structure was established there and why the line is drawn because of that
6 Likes
Yeah, I think generally, the number of changes that took place at the beginning of B&W means it cannot be vintage, but it isn’t exactly modern by date standards.
1 Like
Yup. For me, BW marked a much stronger diversion and change in the cards from before. Still, my general view of the eras post wotc is by the games they represent. Other than ex era, i refer to everything by the generation of games. I feel that type of label is much clearer to people and doesnt carry any baggage or debates about word choice or “in or out” type of discussions.
I often use terms like “older stuff”, usually when referring to wotc, but thats where using clarification helps if people arent sure
1 Like
agreed. i also like just being specific about the era when talking about the era and not trying to cast it under an umbrella for the most part, but i think the whole vintage/modern/whatever is simpler for people when describing eras that they feel certain ways about. it is especially prevalent with market discussion re: “modern” and “vintage”, and with collecting re: “vintage”.
our brain likes compartmentalizing, but imo it does a disregards the nuances.
the pokemon TCG is a gradient from the beginning to the present and i think it is more fulfilling to look at it as such… to see how one generation led to another and to tie it all together instead of sectioning parts off to justify opinions (for example)
That’s also not true, they were introduced in the second subset expansion of BW Shiny Collection
“Alt art” was popularised only in 2021 because every set since has them
6 Likes
Are we going to talk about 2002 mcdonald’s promos 
Yes, naturally full art alt arts are a different case than these
2 Likes
Fair enough! 
I wasn’t quite sure to include alternate art EXs (like Gardevoir EX, Mewtwo EX), because they look different from Sw/Sh and S/V alt arts, whereas those Tag Team alt arts are much more similar to Sw/Sh and S/V alt arts.
The term ‘alternate art’ is maybe a little too vague!
2 Likes