E4's favorite EX era reverse holo patterns (RESULTS!)

[bbobrob]

This is a poll I’ve wanted to do for some time, and I finally had some time to put it together.

The post will start by providing information about and highlighting salient features of each of the different sets’ reverse holo pattern (e.g. set stamp, gold name, etc.) followed by a few examples I pulled from the Internet of two commons and two rares from the set. These pictures are mostly to try and show off what the holo might look like in person and in ways that scans sometimes cannot capture.

The first four EX sets will be grouped together, as they have identical reverse holo foiling. And while late EX sets also have very similar reverse holo foiling, each of the later sets have set stamps incorporated in the pattern (and possibly slightly different foiling and which rarities receive different foiling), so I’m treating them as separate.

Lastly, I’d like the poll to be purely on the reverse holo style and not the cards in the set. We all know certain reverse holos in certain sets stand out as great (e.g. EX Deoxys Sableye), but I’m asking to evaluate just the reverse holo style itself. This also means I’m asking you to not take into account the obvious negatives associated with how the foils were implemented in some sets (e.g. massive curling, abundant print lines, etc.). Try to consider each pattern at it’s utmost best when voting.

The poll will be at the end, broken down into three separate polls for your first, second, and third favorite reverse holos, and the results will be evaluated via a weighted ranking system to determine the top three favorites of E4. Polling will close at the end of the day on September 20th.

Happy voting!

---

I suggest looking over @zomus very informative table and trivia about the nuances between the reverse foils of each set. I know I learned quite a few new things looking at that table (e.g. some sets have different foil patterns for rare-rarity delta species and others for all delta species, regardless of rarity).

@banks has also put together a gallery of scans of the EX era reverse holos, which show the intricacies of the patterned foils (not the flat foils) a lot better.

EX Ruby and Sapphire/EX Sandstorm/EX Dragon/EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua

Features:

• Rainbow foil on all cards

EX Hidden Legends

Features:

• Holo pattern consists of equally sized energy symbols
• Rares have the foil energy symbols of their type in the attack area (some have two types—e.g. Dark Celebi)

EX FireRed and LeafGreen

Features:

• Holo pattern consists of energy symbols of various sizes and an underlying cosmos holo
• Rares have foil poke balls in the attack area

EX Team Rocket Returns

Features:

• Holo pattern consists of energy symbols of various sizes and an underlying cosmos holo
• Set stamp is present
• All rares have gold-foil names and HP text

EX Deoxys

Features:

• Holo pattern consists of a pinwheel-like pattern
• Set stamp is present
• All rares have gold-foil names and HP text

EX Emerald

• Holo pattern consists of a front-facing-poke-ball pattern with fireworks interspersed
• Set stamp is present
• All rares have gold-foil names and HP text

EX Unseen Forces

• Holo pattern consists of poke balls from multiple perspectives with tiny pluses interspersed
• Set stamp is present
• All rares have gold-foil names and HP text

EX Delta Species

• Holo pattern consists of rainbow foil on the background art
  • Delta-species rares have the the rainbow foil on the pokemon themselves rather than the background
• Set stamp is present
• All rares have gold-foil names and HP text

EX Legend Maker

• Holo pattern consists of cosmos holo
• Set stamp is present
• All rares have gold-foil names and HP text

EX Holon Phantoms

• Holo pattern consists of rainbow foil on the background art
  • Delta-species rares have the the rainbow foil on the pokemon themselves rather than the background
• Set stamp is present
• Holo rares have gold-foil names and HP text

EX Crystal Guardians

• Holo pattern consists of rainbow foil on the background art
  • Delta species, regardless of rarity, have the the rainbow foil on the pokemon themselves rather than the background
• Set stamp is present
• All rares have gold-foil names and HP text

EX Dragon Frontiers

• Holo pattern consists of rainbow foil on the background art
  • Delta species, regardless of rarity, have the the rainbow foil on the pokemon themselves rather than the background
• Set stamp is present
• Holo rares have gold-foil names and HP text

EX Power Keepers

• Holo pattern consists of rainbow foil on the background art
• Set stamp is present
• Holo rares have gold-foil names and HP text

---

1st Favorite

• EX Ruby and Sapphire/EX Sandstorm/EX Dragon/EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua
• EX Hidden Legends
• EX FireRed and LeafGreen
• EX Team Rocket Returns
• EX Deoxys
• EX Emerald
• EX Unseen Forces
• EX Delta Species
• EX Legend Maker
• EX Holon Phantoms
• EX Crystal Guardians
• EX Dragon Frontiers
• EX Power Keepers

2nd Favorite

• EX Ruby and Sapphire/EX Sandstorm/EX Dragon/EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua
• EX Hidden Legends
• EX FireRed and LeafGreen
• EX Team Rocket Returns
• EX Deoxys
• EX Emerald
• EX Unseen Forces
• EX Delta Species
• EX Legend Maker
• EX Holon Phantoms
• EX Crystal Guardians
• EX Dragon Frontiers
• EX Power Keepers

3rd Favorite

• EX Ruby and Sapphire/EX Sandstorm/EX Dragon/EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua
• EX Hidden Legends
• EX FireRed and LeafGreen
• EX Team Rocket Returns
• EX Deoxys
• EX Emerald
• EX Unseen Forces
• EX Delta Species
• EX Legend Maker
• EX Holon Phantoms
• EX Crystal Guardians
• EX Dragon Frontiers
• EX Power Keepers

---

RESULTS

A big thanks to everyone that participated!

Using a weighting of 4:2:1 for 1st:2nd:3rd place, here are the results:

1st Place: EX Deoxys

2nd Place: EX Legend Maker

3rd Place: EX Team Rocket Returns

If you’re interested, the weighted score table can be found below:

Set	Weighted Score
EX Deoxys	74
EX Legend Maker	67
EX Team Rocket Returns	66
EX Unseen Forces	60
EX FireRed LeafGreen	33
EX Emerald	24
EX Ruby and Sapphire/EX Sandstorm/EX Dragon/EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua	21
EX Hidden Legends	16
EX Dragon Frontiers	16
EX Delta Species	12
EX Crystal Guardians	5
EX Holon Phantoms	4
EX Power Keepers	4

Note: If you used a weighted score of 3:2:1, the top 5 sets remain the same, except EX Legend Maker and EX Team Rocket Returns are switched.

[pikachutcg]

Great idea! Just voted for my top 3, Ill keep my choices secret as to not influence any other voters until the poll is finished

[rattrocker]

Hell yeah, the reverse holos of the EX series are unmatched.

One more thing to note, that I haven’t seen documented elsewhere, is that most sets with the set logo stamp have two different versions - one for the non-rares and another for the rares.

For some the difference is that the color of the logo is not the same for rares and non-rares whereas others are more subtle where the rares have a reflective/holographic stamp while the non-rares do not

[bbobrob]

These are some exact things that I learned while making the poll

The color difference between rare and non-rare is obvious for EX TRR (and I think I also knew it existed for EX Emerald at some point, but then forgot), but I wasn’t aware of some of the others. The difference between rare and non-rare set stamps for EX Unseen Forces (mentioned in zomus’ table) is still something I can’t quite make out—maybe I just need to have some cards in hand. The holographic difference was also something I wasn’t aware of.

The linked table in the original post (which I’ll post here for ease of reference) does have these differences highlighted (e.g. “Normal Set Stamp” vs “Special Set Stamp”), and that’s where I learned about them. There are a lot of very subtle differences with how each of these sets dealt with the reverse holos that were very interesting to find out.

@zomus

Here is a table of which rules apply to which sets:

Set	Stamp on bottom	Silver Star Rarity Symbol	Normal Set Stamp	Special Set Stamp	Gold Name/HP	Pokemon holo instead of background
EX Hidden Legends	Rare or above. Type Symbol(s)	No	No	No	No	No
EX Firered & Leafgreen	Rare or above. Pokeball	Rare or above	No	No	No	No
EX Team Rocket Returns	No	Rare or above	Holo	Colored. Rare or above	Rare or above	No
EX Deoxys	No	Rare or above	Holo	Colored. Rare or above	Rare or above	No
EX Emerald	No	Rare or above	Holo	Colored. Rare or above	Rare or above	No
EX Unseen Forces	No	Rare or above	Holo	Colored. Rare or above	Rare or above	No
EX Delta Species	No	Rare or above	Non-holo	Holo. Rare or above	Rare or above	Holo rare delta species only
EX Legend Maker	No	Rare or above	Non-holo	No	Rare or above	No
EX Holon Phantoms	No	Holo Rare or above	Non-holo	Holo rare or above	Holo rare or above	Holo rare delta species only
EX Crystal Guardians	No	Rare or above	Non-holo	Rare or above	Rare or above	Delta species only
EX Dragon Frontiers	No	Holo Rare or above	Non-holo	Holo rare or above	Holo rare or above	Delta species only
EX Power Keepers	No	Holo Rare or above	Non-holo	No	Holo rare or above	No

[rattrocker]

Ahh, to be honest my brain didnt even parse the “normal” vs “special" set stamp columns from the other thread as representing the rare vs non-rare stamps. Thanks for pointing this out, it was clearly addressed already :-]

[c0ll3ct0r]

I feel like I’ve been almost disproportionately vocal in my critique of TRR on E4 simply because I think it’s very overrated in relation to other EX sets, but when it comes to the reverse holos there is no denying that it is the undisputed king. Very firm number 1. Perfect pattern (distinguished from regular cosmos which is a must,) perfect logo (the presence of which I also consider a must,) gold lettering on rares, an unmistakable shimmer.

With a few exceptions, my interest in reverses really begins and ends with TRR. FRLG kind of automatically comes in at number 2 and number 3 is just a toss up which Deoxys won today but Unseen might win tomorrow.

[decoypalmette]

I agree. While I have to admit that TRR has probably the best execution in terms of reverses, I feel that it’s disproportionately hyped, to the point of annoying me lol.
FRLG unfortunately doesn’t have the same appeal, cohesion and I think the abundance of stock sugimori arts are also hurting the perception of the set. Still, the Pokeball ornament was great, so I placed it above TRR

Deoxys looks good but is way too distracting. HF/CG/DF are honestly a scam and the worsts of the group

[wisewailmer]

assumes mint ruby, sandstorm & dragon

[bbobrob]

@c0ll3ct0r Yeah, I’m not super tuned into which reverses everyone seems to love, but even I’m aware that people really like the EX TRR ones. I’m predicting TRR will show up as the favorite, and then FireRed LeafGreen, Unseen Forces, and Emerald will duke it out for 2nd and 3rd.

I think people underestimate just how good some of the flat rainbow-sheen foils are, like early EX era and Delta Species. Their iridescence is really great to look at (granted, for early EX, like @wisewailmer said, they really have to be pretty much mint to look really good). And Delta Species has the added bonus of the thematic foiling for delta species, which I really like.

@decoypalmette I really like the Deoxys pattern and the set stamp. TRR and Deoxys have the best set stamps for me. And I agree that
Dragon Frontiers/Holon Phantoms/Crystal Guardians are definitely not great. If I remember right, the flat foil in these sets always seemed a little… less nice than Delta Species, and it seems like zomus information supports this (still not entirely sure if it’s true that the foiling is different though). You can see in the original post, though, that even when I was gathering pictures, the Delta Species and Power Keepers holo looks so much better than anything I could find for DF/HP/CG.

[rtas]

Today I believe Legend Maker is the best

[Drew12]

One thing I’ve always wondered: are the set stamps textured or are they just flat?

[rattrocker]

I agree with EX Delta Species and Power Keepers reverse foils looking better - they reflect the light in a much more appealing way than the EX Holon Phantoms, Crystal Guardians, and Dragon Frontiers ones.

I wish that they had stuck to this foil for all of the Delta Species stuff tbh

My top three choices were EX Unseen Forces, Deoxys, and Delta Species (in that order)

[rattrocker]

Nope, they’re flat.

Edit: Removed table that I put together, there was no new information. I need to learn to read better, none of my observations were actually different than what is in the table that zomus put together and that bbobrob quoted above.

[Parallax]

Amazing poll idea. Voted. Thank you for showing really clear images and descriptions of the holo patterns differences. Eagerly anticipating the results!

[Taigataipan]

Voted as well, picking 3rd favourite option was the hardest part and order would’ve certainly been much different in any other poll.

[bbobrob]

Great to see confirmation of this. It was something I was never sure about, since they were similar types of foiling and around the same time. Would’ve been great if they kept the Delta Species one throughout.

[xileets]

I didn’t realize the legend maker was the only one with the typical holo pattern and only a stamp added. IDK if I like that better, because the pattern isn’t abnoxious or distracting, of it it’s worse because it’s just the stamp… I personally really like the 3D pokeballs of unseen forces. It’s the least distracting, but still feels like something extra flashy.

[banks]

That’s what I been saaaying, the stamp is just too clean

[xileets]

I’ve always liked the simple clean legend maker stamp. I’ve also really liked the holon phantoms purple pop! And of course the silver and Orange TRR (though I dislike the holo pattern (Ironically since I have that whole set. It’s just amazing on everything… IDK)

[wooltchi]

Its a real tough choice for my top pick between TRR and Unseen Forces but UF is so unique, probably the most unique reverse we have ever gotten, that I have to big UF as my top spot. It’s crazy how many unique but still amazing reverse types we got during the ex era and then basically no decent reverses ever again (at least in English. Japan has still been getting some pretty cool reverses over the years.)