Comparison of year-to-year coverage based on the Japanese release year,
Reprints do not include cards still in rotation before the set release, which is why Tapu Lele GX (2017) was the most recent card of S8a-P 25th Anniversary Promo Pack and AR Magikarp (2023) was the most recent card of M6a 30th CELEBRATION
A lot of cards were chosen to reflect the TCG meta of those years
Exchange of mechanics in the first 20 years of tcg
25th has baby Pokémon, Gold star, BW FA Pokémon
30th has Crystal e-series, LEGEND, BREAK, BW FA Supporter
Card(s) in both anniversary sets with the same original set release
Charizard (Expansion Pack)
Cleffa / Sneasel (Gold, Silver, to a New World)
Rocket’s Admin / Dark Tyranitar (Rocket Gang Strikes Back)
Gengar ☆P / Darkrai & Cresselia LEGEND (LL Lost Link)
Let’s just say I’m even more content with my decision of stopping with all languages since the 25th Pokémon Day.
This release will still be a lot of new Pikachu cards in one go for me: 32 English Pikachu; 12 additional Base Set reprints in all other active languages; and one Japanese Pikachu to enjoy the texture, as bonus.
Still, as you said, with the 13 active languages multiplied by 32 Pikachu cards in a single set, some of my fellow Pikachu collectors whom are still going for all languages these days, like Justin, Miguel, and Tom, will have 416 Pikachu added to their checklists in a single set.. F-ing ridiculous, especially when you consider some Pokémon have less than 50 cards across all all years/sets/languages combined..
And 2019 was previously the year with the most Pikachu TCG card releases, with a total of 232 Pikachu TCG cards, on average one Pikachu release every ~1.75 days. That year was a huge factor when I made my decision - the other being the McDonald’s Pikachu being ~45-55 USD instead of the usual <5 USD in late 2020, which was becoming the new standard at the time. (PS: it’s plausible I could be incorrect about 2019 still being the busiest year of Pikachu releases, since I stopped after February 2021, and I do know between 2021-2026 roughly a thousand new Pikachu TCG cards were released - excluding these additional 400+.)
This set alone makes this year more than one Pikachu release per day on average.
The futuristic rares get a lot of slander but i’m eager to see if they are affordable enough to get one as they look like they might be really cool in hand and the online photos won’t do justice at all for them
I haven’t had one in hand but i’d love to as they too apparently are massively more good looking ones when seen live, i think that applies to basically everything but nevertheless
