Card Eras - What do you want changed?

General
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1

The release of set cards can be broken down into eras, the names differ from English to Japanese, but I’ll use English here.

WOTC Era
ex Era
DPPT Era
HGSS Era
EX(?) Era (I think Full Art Era is more appropriate a name for what we are in now, since that has been the main feature since Black & White)

Each era can be defined by a few big changes to the TCG, whether it be fundamental re-design of chase cards, or simply a defined change set out by Nintendo.

We are now in the 5th year of the EX/Full Art Era, and with next years Pokemon game release more or less confirmed to be a Pokemon Z I think we are at least going to see 2016 be filled with this EX/Full Art era as well, probably into 2017 as well.

My question(s) is:

What do you want to see changed when we eventually go into the next era of Pokemon TCG? Do you want to see a certain something return?
Card design changes?
Set layout(numbering) changes?
Introduction of a new TCG type?

2

Thanks to the recently revealed break cards, im going to go with the Era of Bling.

I kind of want to see a short return to gold stars. But im not sure if that would really work all that well.

3

Resurrect the teams from WOTC to do one last retro-style set to rule them all. Include the new themes i.e. full arts and secret rares.

4

But realistically I hope they do more of the 3/4 ‘full art’ rares like Gyarados and Entei. Kinda like the poor mans EX

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5

Ancient Trait cards being so limited in their run is a travesty, yeah they were linked with the OR/AS games but the cards are beautiful.

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6

I would say that B/W was it’s own era, and then the XY sets started a new one with the Mega cards and now Break cards :blush:

7

X/Y still follows the basic formula of B/W though. EX cards, Full Arts, Set layout etc.

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8

I would like for them to add holo to the english holo rare card borders. Also, drop the mirror effect!

9

I like the wide illustration cards, the EX cards and the full arts, but I think it is time for pokemon to restructure the sets again for a new change. Perhaps bring back lv X cards, or shining cards (true Shining “X” cards) or something.

I dunno seeing gold bordered trainers for the past 5 years is like… x__x

10

I’d love for it to go back to the old English set numbering/layout. All Holos first, then Rare, Uncommon, Common, SR, UR.

I think that is actually my #1 want, but I don’t think they ever would.

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11

I think Pokemon’s realized how easy it is to keep the ordering the same as the Japanese cards, so I don’t think they’ll break the GRASS, FIRE, WATER, ELECTRIC, etc. trend

12

I don’t like it when people are right about things.

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13

This is interesting. I’ve always considered the more defined eras so be a bit different.

WOTC era
E-Series
EX Series
DPt era
LEGEND/HGSS era

When it comes to BW/XY, things get mucked up. Full Art era would somewhat make sense, but then if Pokemon continues the FA era into the imminent Z-based sets, do we have a whole era that spans 2 generations with little differentiation? I suppose we had that with WOTC, but the e-series were gen 2 and not done by WOTC. And if Pokemon continues with full arts into gen 7, but has a different card design/ultra rares, full art era would be too broad.

Throughout all years, most of the eras have been defined by a type of ultra rare card. When that type changes, so does the era. Shinings in the WOTC era (kinda), Crystals in the e-series, ex cards in the EX Series, Lv. X in the DPt era, and LEGEND/Primes in the HGSS era. What ultra rares do we have now? The most basic is of course EX cards. We have full art versions of those EX cards, but EX cards are the most basic form of ultra rares. So, if I had to designate a name for this era, I’d call it the EX era. However…

IMO, you can’t designate an era until it is over. You never know what the next ultra rares will be, what effect they will have, and wether they will be different enough to constitute a new era. Maybe they stop making M EX cards after X/Y, and we designate BW the EX era and XY the Mega era. And then where do BREAK cards fit in? It’s all too crazy to look at while we’re in the middle of it.

14

Very true about not being able to define an era until it is over.

And WOTC did the first 3 E-series sets, and there were only 2 more after Nintendo took over.

15

As someone who doesn’t really follow new sets, I would like a new WOTC style, fully unashamed retro set, with retro packs, boxes, cards and artwork. I also like the old card layout, especially if the Japanese layout remains the same. I like to have both layouts in my binders!

It would have:

  • 24 holo’s
  • 8 Shinings*
  • 3 Gold Stars*
  • Flamboyant reverse holo’s (more LC than every other reverse holo)

*maybe WOTC-does-fullart or similar?

I also really like the idea of Pokemon having different card types than usual, like in Dragon Frontiers e.g. Green Dragonite, Black Charizard. That could be worked into it somehow too, maybe Shinings or Gold Stars I’m not sure, but I think it’s a great way to make something new of the Pokemon, some of which we have seen so many times, like Charizard.

It would be a three-part era, with the first set being Kanto Pokemon, then Johto and then Hoenn. As for all Pokemon after that… ahem.

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16

@milhouse There were only 3 in English, if you include Ruby and Sapphire and Magma v. Aqua in the EX Series. I don’t count the E-series as part of the WOTC era because both the card design and ultra rares changed. I think it’s distinct enough to have its own era.

@xuzu Fantastic idea. I really like the idea of a retro set, even if its somewhat of a collector’s dream and will likely never happen. I would freak if there was a return to Delta Species. What do you mean about not including Pokemon after Hoenn? Are they less worthy in your eyes?

17

Expedition, Aquapolis, and Skyridge were E-series.

I forgot about Magma/Aqua so there are 6.

18

More like the Crappy Quality Era.

Or we can just go with Full Art Era.

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19

I suppose if you really do want to break it down you could do more Eras like you suggest @fourthstartcg But I wouldn’t separate Expendition/Aquapolis/Skyridge into their own era. Like you said earlier it’s difficult to name an era until it’s over. WOTC era was specifically named because it’s the sets that WOTC produced.

20

I wouldn’t include any EX Series sets in the E-series. Too many differences. I consider just Expedition, Skyridge, and Aquapolis to be the E-series. The card type changed drastically enough from the traditional WOTC era that I’d consider it different, even if it was still manufactured by WOTC. I suppose it’s just a question of how much you want to break it down.

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