One of my favorite sets of all time! I might be a little nostalgia blind because this set was right around when I first started collecting. I believe this set is what opened a whole new world of collecting to young me. I didn’t know what “ex” meant at the time. I thought it was just a distinction of a new phase in the Pokemon TCG sets, like how Yu Gi Oh Duelist Kingdom and Battle City were different. Similar mechanics + rarity levels, just new Pokemon from the best generation.
One day, while opening a pack of Magma Aqua I saw a silvery boarder. A very confused child me pulled a Sceptile EX!
This was the first indication that there was a rarity beyond holo rare, and it got me hooked in a whole new way. This card made me way more motivated to collect. I loved the old school EX cards, and I wanted them all! (Spoiler alert, still don’t have then all) So, I contribute this set for helping me turn into the serious collector I am today.
(I really can’t make a post without some sort of nostalgic story, can I?)
Also, you guys are mentioning the beast EX cards, but you can’t forget the starters! To finish off the trio, here’s Swampert and Blaziken!
I really love the thick E-reader boarder on these cards. More sparkle = a good thing. Prefer these more than the EX Crystal guardians starter EX cards.
For their first appearance, duel types were handled very well, and a lot more successfully in this set than in later sets. (Cough cough Steam Siege) Side note, if anyone says that Steam Siege was the first set with Duel Types, I will fight you.
Here’s a duel type Grass and Dark Shiftry from Steam Siege
Here’s a duel type Grass and Dark Cacturne from Magma Aqua
Instead of the harsh division between grass and dark featured on Shiftry, the colors on the Cacturne are nicely blended together. This makes the card, in my eyes, much more appealing, a nice use of gradients and possibly light airbrushing a lot more successful than the harsh division. Also, the energy symbols blend together much nicer on Cacturne, where on Shiftry, the symbols are awkwardly stacked together and go out of the frame. 3rd gen duel types all the way.
My favorite cards from the set besides the starter EX cards are:
(Up there as one of my favorite Aggron cards. Aggron is one of my favorite Pokemon of all time, and I ADORE the use of orange and black in this card, works so well with the art! Also nice to see Aggron not printed as a steel type.)
(This card always comes to mind whenever I hear this set mentioned. This is the holo I pulled the most often as a kid. Once had three copies of it!)
(It’s an amazing Groudon card! What more can I say? I’m a Magma girl through and through, and a card featuring a giant magma lizard is too cool not mention. Not my favorite Groudon card, but still a good one!)
(Lots of energy in this render! Love Larion’s pose and how the light reflects off his metal armor. One of the most successful renders in the set in my opinion. Really feels like he’s part of the environment)
(Great use of Sugimori art with another element, unlike some cards where the Sugimori art is laid against a flat background with no depth. This card is saved from a lack of depth with the overlapping blossoms.)
(Beautiful art, Arita does it again!)
If I had to pick a least favorite, it would be this Sharpedo.
Card doesn’t feel like it really fits in its environment. So much more could have been done with the under water effect, but it feels pasted together without consideration. Sharpedo seems to be floating on top of the background, not a part of it. I wish the artist would have put a color overlay over shadpedo, or even a light effect bouncing off its skin.
There’s my two cents! LOVE this set!
-Pokesoap aka Madison S.
). Feel free to post the next one in a couple of weeks again, or give me permission to continue if you prefer to (your call).
If you still had any sets in mind, feel free to PM them. Then I will do those first before randomly picking sets myself.
