What do we know about this set?
I was told there are no theme decks, any reason why?
Was it a very short print run? I know a lot of the foils are very desirable now.
I’ve drawn an interest in the set, and I’m wondering who out there has some information about the printings and cards. Ive seen alot of foil shift errors getting big attention lately too.
Does anybody collect these?
@cataclysm80 anything you may have would be greatly appreciated
Exerpt from bulbapedia “It was the first expansion to not have preconstructed Theme Decks associated with the expansion. Mike Gills of Wizards of the Coast claimed that this was because previous Theme Decks had sold poorly and retailers had refused to carry them.”
Beyond that, decks were usually worked on about a year before release with very rudimentary proxies and translations. It also was a set that featured shining pokemon and that may have contributed to making decks difficult to work out but im not certain what the meta decks were like then.
We had the light and dark decks, interesting enough they had cards from all 3 sets iirc But they were under a dif neo set technically.
they changed things up for this set. Unsure of what was going on behinds the scenes
The first thing that is known is that it’s Neo Revelation, not Neo Revelations. 
I need deeper than that lol
this has the ampharos and blissey that are basically impossible to grade a 10
I love the irony of asking for revelations about Neo Revelation. It does feel as though the Neo sets have been a bit forgotten in recent years though.
The set is also known for its Double holo variants, which is an interesting phenomenon, if you wanna dig. Foreign languages tend to have a holo opacity often in the middle, between plain holos and double ones (maybe different printing facilities?)
Yea thats the kind of characteristics and fun facts that im looking for. Honestly ive never wanted to look at the set before but the time has come.
-so double holo was a thing with these
-At least one sheet of extreme shifts
-No theme decks
-had “shining” pokemon
Anyone have a picture of what the uncut sheet looks like?
I don’t have much specific info on this topic, but perhaps you’ll enjoy it anyway.
Pokemon sales collapsed HARD during 2001, and fell at a slower pace afterward.
Wizards of the Coast had high employee turnover, because most of the original WotC employees had left, since they didn’t like working under Hasbro.
Even the CEO of WotC left. He was moving towards a large digital presence with a Dungeions & Dragons Massively Multiplayer Online game, which would have beat World of Warcraft to market, but Hasbro executives licensed all the digital rights to another company, which killed all of his new projects.
Nintendo, Game Freak, & Creatures had created The Pokemon Center Company to run the local Pokemon Center stores in Japan, but this is the year they organized into The Pokemon Company, to handle international licensing agreements, like with WotC, Topps, etc.
The Japanese version of Neo Revelation was called Awakening Legends, and was the first PTCG set released by The Pokemon Company (in Japan of course).
They also started taking things WotC developed, and using them on the Japanese product, like switching to the Pokemon card back design instead of Pocket Monsters, and introducing 1st Edition sets in Japan.
Here’s a timeline…
Nov 23 2000 Japanese Awakening Legends (Neo Revelation) 57 cards Media Factory
Dec 16 2000 English Neo Genesis 111 Cards WotC
Again there are both 1st Edition and Unlimited versions of the cards.
The press sheet is dated November 6th 2000, and was printed by PBM
Graphics.
Dec 31 2000 Wizards of the Coast CEO Peter Adkison “At the time, Magic was doing around 100 million dollars a year in sales. Pokemon did a billion dollars
in 1999 and 2000 combined.”
Though Pokemon sales were still multiple times the size of Magic sales,
Pokemon had passed its peak and was in steep decline.
Jan 1 2001 Peter Adkison resigns as CEO of Wizards of the Coast
Mar 9 2001 Japanese Darkness, and to Light… (Neo Destiny) 113 cards Media Factory
Jun 1 2001 English Neo Discovery 75 cards WotC
Again there are both 1st Edition and Unlimited versions of the cards.
Jul 31 2001 English Southern Islands 18 cards WotC
Aug 19 2001 Japanese Pokemon Card VS 151 cards Media Factory
This set was not released in English. It’s the first Japanese set to have
Pokemon card backs instead of the older Pocket Monster design. It was
also the first Japanese set to have 1st Edition cards.
Sep 21 2001 English Neo Revelation 66 cards WotC
Again there are both 1st Edition and Unlimited versions of the cards.
Oct 20 2001 Japanese Pokemon Card Web 48 cards Media Factory
This set was not released in English. It did have both 1st Edition and
Unlimited versions of the cards.
Dec 1 2001 Japanese Base Expansion Pack (Expedition Base Set) 128 cards Media Factory
These were the first cards to have dot codes for use with the Game Boy
Advance e-Reader. It did have both 1st Edition and Unlimited versions of
the cards.
Dec 2001 By the end of 2001, Pokémon sales had fallen to the same level as Magic
sales, and continued downward until mid 2003. It looked like a fad.
Here’s an old chart, which shows the WotC sales figures for MTG & Pokemon.
Pretty sure this is from the companies annual reports.
Keep in mind that these are wholesale numbers, not MSRP.
Magic held steady. Pokemon got HUGE, and then dropped like a rock.
Things were just starting to get better for Pokemon, when The Pokemon Company took it away from WotC.
Here’s the quote from Mike Gills about the theme decks…
question #93 from team_europe_golduck:why did you decide to have no Neo 3 Theme Decks?
Pat says, “To tell you the truth, I didn’t even know that.”
Pat says, “I guess that tells you about how busy it’s been around here lately.”
question #101 from chrisbo:Can you please confirm whether there will be any theme decks for Neo: Revelation or not?
Pat says, “I just found out for certain, there are no Theme Decks for Neo Revelation.”
Pat says, “I don’t know exactly why, but that’s the answer.”
question #117 from wizo_sensei: Any more info on why there won`t be any Theme Decks? I take it no new,updated Rulebook. A good idea would be to have a new Starter deck with the Play It CD including all the latest Neo sets.
Mike says, “Theme decks don’t really sell well. Many of our retail partners won’t even purchase them anymore.”
Mike says, “As for the Play It CD’s, they actually cost quite a lot to develop. When they were included in the latest Pokemon Starter it still didn’t sell very well.”
Mike says, “So there are no plans for anything like that right now. I would keep an eye on our web site and the rulings document for the latest rulings.”
Mike says, “Guys, once again I will mention that we don’t talk about new products or programs until they are fully ready to go. It does no one any good to leak things before they are ready. So asking about Neo Revelation or the Year 3 League won’t get you anytwhere.”
Mike says, “If we have anything to tell you, we will.”
Thanks for sharing, always great to learn about the Japanese side as it’s naturally harder to find information on.
I really appreciate the write up. for the releases, I’d like to add that Belgium was part of that unlimited discovery run.
Would you happen to know much about how these sets towards the end may have coincided with the Nintendo turnover? Legendary collection, skyridge, aquapolis and neo revelation all use a different rosette pattern than anything wizards had produced before and it’s similar to some of the early Japanese stuff.
Would also love to know if you knew anything about the dark and light theme decks from Neo block. Where they may have been printed.
This is beautiful, is this a different section from the one that Rusty has? And is there any chance that it has any of the information on the border?
It’s the same one
You’re welcome 
The write up only has sheet info from sheets that I’ve seen, but it’s not unusual for multiple print facilities to create a set.
Typically Belgium handles European languages, while USA facilities handle Asia & South America, and every facility makes English cards.
Since Pokemon was also using an Australia facility, I’d expect them to do English & Asian cards.
GPS Colour Graphics did English, and also shipped stuff to eastern Europe.
But this is just a rough guideline.
I’ve never looked, but usually there’s a clue on the fine print of the packaging.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the main print run of boosters was handled by a large print facility, and a smaller print run of theme decks which don’t sell well was handled by another smaller print facility.
WotC did that a lot in the USA about a decade ago, which isn’t their Pokemon era, but there’s probably an underlying reason such as production efficiency or cost, which makes it reasonable regardless of who is handling the brand.
How is it different? At some point, WotC changed to 200 LPI (higher resolution than before, which creates smaller diameter rosette circles).
Whatever change you’re seeing could be caused be a software upgrade, or just using different settings inside the software.
The next chapter of the timeline…
Feb 28 2002 English Neo Destiny 113 cards WotC
Again there are both 1st Edition and Unlimited versions of the cards.
This is the last WotC set to have 1st Edition cards.
Mar 8 2002 Japanese The Town on No Map (Aquapolis) 92 cards Media Factory
It did have both 1st Edition and Unlimited versions of the cards.
May 24 2002 Japanese Wind from the Sea (Aquapolis) 90 cards Media Factory
It did have both 1st Edition and Unlimited versions of the cards.
May 24 2002 English Legendary Collection 110 cards WotC
This set was not released in Japanese. It doesn’t have a 1st Edition
version, it only has Unlimited cards.
2002 English The “For Position Only” cards were created while developing the
Expedition Base Set, during the printing of the Legendary Collection.
They were packaged inside Legendary Collection booster wrappers, and
were not intended for the public. They came from a WotC employee
who had saved them from destruction.
Aug 24 2002 Japanese Split Earth (Skyridge) 91 cards Media Factory
It did have both 1st Edition and Unlimited versions of the cards.
Sep 15 2002 English Expedition Base Set 165 cards WotC
Expedition press sheets are dated July 11th 2002 and August 1st 2002.
This set was delayed until September to make sure that the Game
Boy Advance e-Reader was available to use the cards with.
Due to additional licensing fees that WotC had to pay for the dot codes
on the cards, pack size was reduced to 9 cards. Additionally, the
e-Reader wasn’t tournament legal, and never became overly popular
outside of Japan. The European release was further delayed for the
e-Reader to become available, which never happened, and the card set
was eventually released in Europe in April 2003.
Oct 4 2002 Japanese Mysterious Mountains (Skyridge) 91 cards Media Factory
It did have both 1st Edition and Unlimited versions of the cards.
2002 Pokemon USA hired away WotC senior vice president Richard Arons, WotC vice president Rene Flores, and several other WotC executives.
Pokemon USA hired at least seven former Wizards employees to work
on the Ruby/Sapphire trading-card game edition, including Wizards’
former art director, senior graphic designer, business manager, events
marketing director and project management director. All had signed
nondisclosure agreements prohibiting them from using or disclosing
confidential information about Wizards to third parties.
Jan 15 2003 English Aquapolis 182 cards WotC
Jan 31 2003 Japanese Expansion Pack (EX Ruby & Sapphire) 55 cards Media Factory
It did have both 1st Edition and Unlimited versions of the cards.
Mar 2003 Pokemon USA refused to allow WotC to release the Legendary II
expansion set which was scheduled for late spring, or the Jamboree
expansion set which was scheduled for later in the year, despite WotC
having spent considerable time and money developing them.
Pokemon USA also informed WotC that they had not been chosen to
manufacture and distribute the upcoming Ruby/Sapphire Edition, and
that the WotC contract with Pokemon scheduled to expire later in the
year, would not be renewed.
WotC encouraged Pokemon players to contact the Pokemon Company
and ask them how tournaments and organized play would be handled in
the future. As a result of these questions from the public, Pokemon
offered to approve release of the Legendary II set if WotC would share
confidential information about tournament players and provide free
marketing support. WotC declined this offer.
Apr 18 2003 Japanese Miracle of the Desert (EX Sandstorm) 53 cards Media Factory
It did have both 1st Edition and Unlimited versions of the cards.
May 12 2003 English Skyridge 182 cards WotC
This is the last Pokemon release for WotC.
Jun 18 2003 English EX Ruby & Sapphire 109 cards Pokemon USA & Nintendo
This was released by Nintendo while WotC still had the manufacturing
and distribution contract.
Jun 25 2003 Japanese Rulers of the Heavens (EX Dragon) 54 cards Media Factory
It did have both 1st Edition and Unlimited versions of the cards.
Sep 17 2003 English EX Sandstorm 100 cards Pokemon USA & Nintendo
This was released by Nintendo while WotC still had the manufacturing
and distribution contract.
Oct 1 2003 The day after its licensing agreement ended, Wizards of the Coast
filed a lawsuit against The Pokemon Company, two Pokemon USA
employees, and Nintendo of America Inc, accusing Nintendo of breach
of contract, stealing trade secrets and technologies, and violating its
intellectual property, including a patent on the “trading card game
method of play” that Magic: The Gathering made famous. The suit
also accuses Pokemon USA of using Wizards’ proprietary information to
solicit Wizards’ distributors, vendors and customers.
Oct 24 2003 Japanese Magma VS Aqua: Two Ambitions (EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua)
80 cards Media Factory
It did have both 1st Edition and Unlimited versions of the cards.
Nov 24 2003 English EX Dragon 100 cards Pokemon USA & Nintendo
Dec 29 2003 Nintendo folded, settling the WotC lawsuit out of court for an
undisclosed sum and the two companies went their separate ways.
In 2003, the contract between Pokemon and WotC came to an end.
It was a messy end.
Pokemon had originally made the deal with WotC and their original CEO Peter, and it was a good relationship. But over time, Hasbro took control, the CEO changed along with most of the employees, and Pokemon wasn’t happy with the relationship anymore. It didn’t help that Pokemon sales collapsed during 2001.
Preparing for the end of the contract, Pokemon resorted to industrial espionage, head-hunting key WotC employees, and stealing trade secrets, trying to learn how WotC did everything, so that Pokemon could do it themselves without WotC.
During 2002, Pokemon USA hired away WotC senior vice president of non-MTG card games Richard Arons, WotC vice president of marketing Rene Flores, and several other WotC executives. Pokemon hired at least seven former Wizards employees to work on the Ruby/Sapphire trading-card game edition, including Wizards’ former art director, senior graphic designer, business manager, events marketing director and project management director. All had signed nondisclosure agreements prohibiting them from using or disclosing confidential information about Wizards to third parties.
March 2003 is when things really fell apart. Pokemon USA refused to allow WotC to release the Legendary II expansion set which was scheduled for late spring, or the Jamboree expansion set which was scheduled for later in the year, despite WotC having spent considerable time and money developing and translating both of them.
Pokemon USA also informed WotC that they had not been chosen to manufacture and distribute the upcoming Ruby/Sapphire Edition, and that the WotC contract with Pokemon scheduled to expire later in the year, would not be renewed.
WotC realized that Pokemon USA had forgotten to steal the player rankings and organized play data for Pokemon tournaments, and used this to create public pressure against Pokemon USA. WotC encouraged Pokemon players to contact the Pokemon Company and ask them how tournaments and organized play would be handled in the future. As a result of these questions from the public, Pokemon offered to approve release of the Legendary II set if WotC would share confidential information about tournament players and provide free marketing support. WotC declined this offer.
The last Pokemon release for WotC, was Skyridge in May 2003. The order to print Skyridge, was probably placed in February, before WotC knew the Pokemon contract wasn’t going to be renewed.
Then Pokemon USA & Nintendo did something really dumb. They released EX Ruby & Sapphire in June 2003, while WotC still held the manufacturing and distribution contract.
They didn’t wait until the WotC contract expired, so it was very clearly breach of contract.
Pokemon USA & Nintendo repeated this mistake in September when they released EX Sandstorm.
October 1st 2003, The day after its licensing agreement ended, Wizards of the Coast filed a lawsuit against The Pokemon Company, two Pokemon USA (ex-WotC) employees, and Nintendo of America Inc, accusing Nintendo of breach of contract, stealing trade secrets and technologies, and violating its intellectual property, including a patent on the “trading card game method of play” that Magic: The Gathering made famous. The suit
also accused Pokemon USA of using Wizards’ proprietary information to solicit Wizards’ distributors, vendors and customers.
Pokemon USA & Nintendo didn’t have a chance of winning this lawsuit with the overwhelming evidence. Nintendo folded, settling the WotC lawsuit out of court for an undisclosed sum and the two companies went their separate ways.
It was expensive, but Pokemon USA & Nintendo continued using the same manufacturing facilities and distributors that WotC used.
All the Pokemon people at WotC, are out of a job.
Time to clean out their desks and empty their offices.
Hasbro doesn’t allow WotC employees to sell anything that’s made by WotC, not even cards from their personal collection.
But employees are allowed to trade with each other.
There’s also a “free table” near the kitchen area, for anything that you don’t want anymore. Maybe you tried a new game and didn’t like it, you can leave it on the free table for someone else to try. Maybe you brought cupcakes to share at work, they go on the free table. Maybe you got a new desk lamp, so the old one goes on the free table.
When Pokemon stopped being made by WotC, and everyone was cleaning out their desks to get rid of stuff that wasn’t needed anymore, a lot of Pokemon stuff ended up on the free table.
They introduced a 45° magenta. They switched it with the black and they’ve never done that before. Almost 4 years of printing and they have always had a positive or -15° angle with black as 45..legendary collection, sky Ridge, aquapolis and neo rev are the only sets that I had found so far that this applies to. I did not go beyond to check newer sets.
Even expedition i believe its called was +/+ which is the first foil printing to have a + degree plate. Is this around the time the CGC discos were printed? They are +/+
