Heya everyone,
Don’t really see much talked about the XY era on here or anywhere really. What are people’s thoughts on the era as a whole? The print quality seems to be pretty poor (whitening, centering issues) on any full art ex cards I’ve pulled.
Personally I like the era overall as I was the first sets and packs I started opening again after being out of the hobby for over a decade.
Interested to see your opinions 
Phantom forces all day
Favourites: Ancient Origins/Roaring Skies, love the full arts in it, they’re by far the largest checklist in my binder.
Least: Steam Siege? Fates Collide? Furious Fists? I actually don’t know, those 3 aren’t the strongest sets to me but there’s still stuff to like in each set. Least favourite by virtue of having less stuff that I like but not really a disliked set.
Honourable mention to Evolutions, lots of historical significance to the set and has some of my favourite cards as well. Only wish that we’d gotten all the base starters reprinted but the full art megas were what got me back into the hobby so the set’s always special to me.
I think we’re in the same boat! I stopped collecting right around the release of Diamond & Pearl but came back right around the release of XY. I think it was when Flashfire was being released that I started buying packs again. Glad to see someone else with a similar trajectory.
I love the era, I think BW/XY Full Arts are some of the nicest cards printed. Outstanding artwork and a really beautiful era overall. I’d say my favorite set is Primal Clash as it reminds me a lot of the EX Series when I collected as a kid, and introduced the full art Megas which were really sweet. But there’s so many awesome sets, I think the best was really Phantom Forces through Breakpoint. It sucks the card quality isn’t as good as it is now, but in the reprint era (PRC-on) quality has been a little bit better than in previous sets. The first run of Primal Clash was honestly atrocious. 10s will be very hard to come by for those earlier sets, and much like BW, if you do get a 10 it’s likely going to have a couple very minor issues.
Favorites: Flashfire, Ancient Origins
Least favorites: Generations, Evolutions, Fates Collide and Steam Siege
Least favorite is Steam Siege, free
Pretty similar for me, although slightly later when I came back. Iirc I stopped with my last single pack opened from the Mysterious Treasures set (second Diamond & Pearl set). I know my little brother stopped earlier, but came back after a bit, since he opened some packs from Secret Wonders after I had already quite Pokémon.
And I came back collecting in August 2015 - I’ve just looked up my TrollAndToad order date 
(just around the time that Ancient Origins was releasing).
I personally don’t really have a bias against a single era tbh. All of them are great and have both good and very good points to them imo. As a Pikachu collector I do like some of the solid artwork during the XY era though, like the BREAKthrough and Furious Fists Pikachu artworks.
I also really like the Generations set (especially the Radiant Collection part) and probably one of my favorites, if not the favorite set of all: Double Crisis. If I would ever become a set collector (I won’t), that would be one set I’d love to collect. If I survive the upcoming Vivid Voltage set I might actually do so tbh, since there are only 34 cards in it and I already have most of them I think. But probably not, considering the upcoming 25th anniversary and I already can’t keep up with my current collection goals, which I’ve put on a hold for now (National Index & Yu-Gi-Oh rarities).
There were also a lot of very solid Japanese promos during the XY era, including the first cosplay Pikachu promos.
Overall XY is indeed a great era. As I returned in that era I also remember it as a much easier and nicely paced era in comparison to the Sun & Moon and Sword & Shield eras. Sets now are a bit too full, and especially Pikachu, Charizard, and some other popular Pokémon are releasing a bit too fast after one another imo. In XY there were still quite a few promos, but still in reasonable margin which made collecting a lot more fun. (I’m still having fun, don’t worry. But in the XY era I had more fun than now in the SWSH era tbh.)
Greetz,
Quuador
Ancient Origins/Roaring Skies with the 3/4 art cards are pretty awesome, so different from anything else.
Double Crisis is special to me because its the first master set I completed after I got back into the hobby (I know, 34 cards is not much of a master set but it was an accomplishment for me).
Steam Siege is the kinda boring all around…
Just got my booster box last week, can’t beat those gengars!
Favorite has to be Ancient Origins (as I completed the Master Set) and I LOVE the Mega Shiny Full Art Secrets.
Another favorite that is not English, is ‘the Best of XY’. Absolute monster of a set to complete, which I still haven’t. I enjoyed the new trainer full arts that didn’t get full arts. I also love that artwork with the SR Shaymin EX and Rayquaza EX.
Least favorite has to be base set. Although its a introduction to a new Gen 6, they had chances in introducing some more ‘interesting’ pokemon. Plus I was kind of let down when they didn’t release Mega Full Art starting from Base set.
I really like the XY era, and as others have posted, I remember this as a time I came back to the hobby and really got into opening sealed product again, which is always so fun!
Generally speaking, BW and XY have the best full arts in my opinion. It is also has amazing Secret Rares at the end of some of the sets, such as the Mewtwo EXs and Gyarados EX for example. But this era didn’t overdo the chase cards either, which I actually really like. Also the Double Crisis cards are amazing, even though it’s such a small set.
Favorites would be Primal Clash and Ancient Origins probably. Gyarados 21/98 anyone?
Least favorite would be Furious Fists I think. I don’t know why, but I never really cared for that set much.
Cool thread! Least favourite is flashfire for sure, I think it offers the worst value out of any set ever released. I was looking through the set and legitimately didn’t like any of the cards besides charizard.
Favourite would be ancient origins, evolutions, and generations. All have amazing cards and feel amazing to open. 
My favorite XY set would have to be BreakPoint. I got very close to completing a standard set (minus reverse holos and full arts) just from loose packs alone, the closest I’ve ever gotten. It’s not much of an accomplishment, but for someone who only bought loose packs at the time and didn’t buy much, it sure felt like one. Not to mention the holos, EXs and full arts are all gorgeous.
Honorable mentions to Roaring Skies, Ancient Origins, and especially Phantom Forces. I love the spookiness of the latter set, and its kinda upsetting that its the only set with a ghostly theme. And Roaring Skies/Ancient Origins because Mega Rayquaza and Hoopa Unbound are awesome.
My least favorite set would be Generations. I didn’t like the way it was released since I didn’t buy much at the time, meaning I was forced to pick between buying a set like BreakPoint (which I loved) and Generations (which heavily catered to Gen I fans…I’m more of a Gen IV/V guy).
Primal Clash is my all time favorite XY set
XY Base Set has some of the most dogshit art ever created, even outside the context of Pokemon
I absolutely love the trio of Primal Clash, Roaring Skies and Ancient Origins. All of those sets have great cards in them and my favorite Pokemon in them. I also like the Ancient Trait cards a lot that were on those sets and I wish that style was continued longer.
I personally don’t care much for the early or late XY though. Furious Fists is probably the worst. I keep forgetting that the set exists.
I would have to say Phantom Forces and Flashfire are my favorite XY sets. They both bring amazing cards to the table and I have fond memories with both. Least favorite is tough as I generally find most XY sets to be pretty solid, but I think I would have to say Roaring Skies as not too many cards from the set really jumped out at me.
Favourite has to be evolutions purely because of it got me (and I don’t know how many other people) back into Pokémon and that alone is huge.
I really liked generations even though it had a lot of reprints, especially the radiant collection part is lovely
Favorite: Flashfire
Felt like Base Set to me because I rejoined during XY.
Least Favorite: Steam Siege
I mean come on.
Favorite has got to be Phantom Forces or Primal Clash. Primal Clash is the only case I’ve ever opened, with one of my close friends, and I have very fond memories of it. I love Phantom Forces because it defined the 2014/15 Cities meta (back when I was still playing competitively seriously), which is one of my all-time favorite formats.
Tough to pick a least favorite; lots of “talent” to choose from. I hate XY base, Ancient Origins, and Steam Siege, but I think the trophy probably goes to Fates Collide. Fuck that set.