Seems like the pull rates are higher. Even TCGPlayer’s statistics sheet (which isn’t ever accurate) claims pretty much everything is easier to pull than previous sets. I’ve seen plenty of booster boxes with several ex, a full art ex, a couple Illustrator Rares, a full art trainer, a textured ex alt, and an alt trainer. Obviously all anecdotal, but it would truly appear pull rates are indeed much better!
Why are people saying its such a great base set? Its all new pokemon that nobody cares about. It wont have much staying power for collecting
Hot take you got there!!! Base sets typically feature the newer mons & legendaries but my point is more about the art quality – the jump in quality between SM-to-SWSH vs. SWSH-to-SV specifically:
Sun/Moon
Sword/Shield
Scarlet/Violet
The jump in art quality is undeniable IMO, Pokemon selection notwithstanding – that’s why I’m excited for the future of the SV era. But fair point about using Pokemon that older collectors won’t care about. Future sets will definitely have more original 151 treatment though.
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Ill go hotter
Base sets have been weak since ruby sapphire
Ill definitely still buy some SV but not until it becomes clear that older collectors would be intrested in the sets. Probably about halfway through the rotation
Obviously it’s mostly new Pokémon, first set of a new generation it’s pretty self explanatory
Koraidon and Miraidon are probably some of the most well-liked legendary Pokémon. In my opinion, their utility as a ride Pokémon in SV had made them much more prominent and relevant in their respective generation than any other legendary has in the past. You may have to be in the broader Pokémon fanbase to see this though. Most other cover legendaries, people put in a box and they never see the light of day again. I am very excited to pick these up for cheap.
Yeah, new Pokémon generally don’t have too hot of a start, but I do think the duo is much better than the duo in SWSH, SM, XY, and BW… maybe some of the others too, but that may a bit spicy.
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I know base sets are all new pokemon. And base sets are historically also the most overproduced and least valueable of their block save for the first 3 which is why i skipped it. And seeing these day 1 prices its pretty obvious that was the correct move.
Edit: i did play all the games at launch except DP and these new ones were decent enough. Obviously far far from groundbreaking on every aspect but thats what you get with gamefreak. I didnt get the vibe that theyre much more liked than past games
I suppose in the context of The Giant English Market Thread, yeah, it’s a trash set. However, as a whole, I think the attitude towards the set has been positive. People seem much happier opening boxes; there’s a lot more consistency in what one can expect. I’ll be disheartened if the set ends up being perceived more negatively as values continue to plummet, though.
Great art for cheap; that’s what people should want, right?
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Yeah that is more or less the goal. But chase is key in collecting and i think swsh did it right. If everything is special nothing is special and thats the road we turned onto with sv
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Just looking at SWSH base set (Marnie and some 5ban/CG works V’s and VMAXes) you could not imagine the alts that were to come. I think you’re jumping the gun and writing off S/V waaaaay too early. TPCi gets the benefit of the doubt when it comes to elevating things as eras progress, and S/V is an excellent base set to start things off with.
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These are fair points. Yeah, perhaps for singles collectors things may become a bit too accessible for newer sets; but if you’re chasing a specific SAR ex, that’s still 1:300. That’s a challenging enough chase for the vast majority of collectors. For the first time in a while, it seems somewhat reasonable to complete a master set from ripping packs and trading duplicates.
The way I see it, I can buy the cards I want and still have budget to buy from previous sets, my classic ex still needs a long way to go.
In regards to elevating things, I don’t know if it’s possible to beat the aesthetic appeal of ‘alternate art’ cards. What could they possibly do? Seed shiny variants?
WHAT?! SV base looks incredible and probably is one of the strongest base sets we’ve ever had, period. Seeing the same handful of Pokemon in every set is boring, and new Pokemon need exposure to be cared about. Besides, I’m sure plenty of people love the new Pokemon; assuming nobody cares just because you, or a small group of your friends don’t, is a serious reach! Also, I don’t think older collectors need to be interested in a set for it to have staying power. I think you’re overestimating the pull of older collectors and underestimating the sheer size and interest of modern/ newer collectors.
Are you trying to say that underproduced sets with high prices out the gates have stronger sustain? Because that directly contradicts most of the observable trends we’ve seen so far. Though, it is admittedly difficult to say how this has impacted WotC sets, as we can’t really say how Unlimited/ 1st Edition interact (i.e. it’s easy to say 1st is better, but we don’t know if that’s only true because unlimited provided that necessary exposure, while keeping 1st limited. If there was only 1st, or only unlimited, would that be different?). I think base sets are historically less valuable than other sets of their eras because they’re often boring and underwhelming in comparison. SwSh & SM base don’t suck because they’re overproduced, they suck because they’re weak sets.
I think accessible product with reasonable prices at launch is ultimately a net positive for a set. Strong pull-rates are good, and there can still be solid chase with that (i.e. WotC). I think English SwSh did a pretty bad job with managing this and what we’re seeing right now in English is what we’ve been seeing in Japanese since SM; and JP has been doing pretty damn well, if you ask me!
At the end of the day, this boils down to a “what makes something collectable?” argument. You might say “older, rarer, minter, better,” but I think that misses a lot of context for modern, as all those variables can vastly shift in foundation as the market grows and changes over time.
@wisewailmer I need some serious Burn Heal after reading those hot takes! 
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I think the market already agrees with what i said. Everything in the set is pretty cheap for a day 1 launch. And if we ignore that 1 female trainer price because waifu trainer hype is the definition of unsustainable pricing. Without that one card everything is less than 50$ on day 1, i think thats about as bad as we can expect. No alt art swsh sets had that bad of prices at launch.
Ill still buy sv regardless of print runs so long as the sets get better but skipping this one i have 0 regrets with
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Yeah but your whole thing was:
Why are people saying its such a great base set?
I believe the answer is the overall quality of the arts across the board, not how the market is responding to it. I think it’s weird to find SV as anything other than a net positive to the hobby and the future of the SV era.
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Why are you so against cards being cheap ? It’s a modern set to bring people into the game, it shouldn’t be about chase cards going for thousands of dollars
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I don’t think lower prices than what we’ve previously seen with SwSh indicates the market dislikes the set. Do you think VSTAR Universe having affordable singles makes it a bad set/ gives it poor staying power? I’m just struggling to understand how cards being <$50 on day 1 is a bad thing. Why were alt arts in SwSh expensive at launch? Hype, speculation, not enough supply? Prices of singles on launch, especially in relation to the most rollercoaster era in Pokemon history, is an odd way to judge if a set is “good” or not imo.
Also, there were and still are plenty of SwSh alt arts that are <$50
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Im not against them being cheap, its just that everyone i know collects and does not play and when everything is accessible then its not fun to collect.
People love to preach that its a game to play but we all know most people dont play pokemon tcg.
And judging by how much everyone feels the need to gallop in to defend the set that is pretty lame, clearly there is some uneasyness with the new direction. Looking objectively at it the changes do decrease collectability which im not a fan of
My brother in Arceus, you gave a self-admitted hot take and people are responding accordingly!
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I know but still the market has dictated that the best card in the set be a random trainer girl that nobody will care about as soon as the fad leaves.
Then after that are we banking on a 50$ (at launch) gardevoir to bring the set into the new market msrp? Seems like a very lame set to lead the charge
Give the set longer than 1 day and your opinion may change.