Crazy good luck indeed!
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Nice find! What do the codes on cards mean exactly?
Well, you see, the codes have a very clear and distinc-
BEHIND YOU, A THREE-HEADED CHARIZARD!!!
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Where??!!?!
In all seriousness, I’d like to know how it works and why they differ
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I learned of them through this forum;
@poketrade Pokémon ex series serial code variants! Let’s make a list!
@tonysandlin Request ex series codes - Full list of codes added!
I seem to recall @Quuador knowing a bit about them as well, but I don’t think anyone was ever able to confirm their purpose. Perhaps it’s got something to do with different sheet layouts, or different printing facilities, or different positions of different copies of the same cards within a sheet, or maybe it was all just a funny joke they played on fools like us - it’s unlikely we’ll ever know.
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Thanks!
Well, shadowless is the 2nd best wotc set right?
Theres more of this stuff coming my way in a few weeks, which i will post here when they arrive.
I dont know if you guys like it when i post the prices too or is that unnecessary?
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I personally don’t care what somebody paid. I just like looking at cards. So I like it either way.
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The joys of niche collecting. If you did it for some Japanese sets you’d have to find them in 1st edition and unlimited. Some English sets the reverse has a different code as well.
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it means species/set collectors get punched in the stomach and our lunch money taken more
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Shadowless is the second best set 
Yeah definitely post prices too. Always love when everyone finds good deals
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The code variants were fun to find. It’s awesome you got lucky getting all 3 codes. It’s way cheaper buying on TCGplayer or TrollandToad compared to eBay, but atleast eBay you can see the exact code you get.
Japanese has 8 variants for commons. The last Eevee one for me took awhile to find
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This is my recent purchase. I pulled a first edition insane error of a neo genesis pack. Kingdra 1of1 error never seen before. Having it graded by cgc.
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What is the error supposed to be?
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It’s wild how much better the texturing is on these compared to English. Then again, all English cards feel like someone ran their JP counterpart through a low res scanner before printing, so nothing new here. lol
@trainerjack Apparently, the codes were used to pull up scans of the artwork on a Japanese mobile app called Pokémon Hiroba (aka Pokémon Square or Pokémon Plaza). Some more info about that can be found here and here. This info was first shared by @witchery in this thread in 2022: Any other way to use the ex serial code?. Before that, I didn’t even know where the codes were used for at all.
As for why there are different codes. Why the Commons have four codes and Uncommons two codes in Japanese; and Commons have three codes and Uncommons and Energies two codes in other languages; why the English EX Emerald Uncommons have only a single code, whereas German/French/Italian/Portuguese Uncommons from that set have two codes; etc. I honestly don’t know. I’m not even sure if the codes on the international cards would work on that Japanese Pokémon Square/Plaza mobile app, and if not, I have no idea why the international cards even have codes to begin with…
Overall there’s still a lot of mystery surrounding the EX era codes. But to quote the first Japanese blog I posted, their main purpose is to:
当時はコレクター泣かせなコレクター要素の1つで多くの（コアな）コレクターがコンプリートするのに必死になっていました。
At that time, it was one of the collector’s items that made collectors cry, and many (core) collectors were desperate to complete it.
Greetz,
Quuador
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Poor Umbreon’s getting roasted near the fire 
I bought a promo, and this one is special since it completes the shiny legend campaign promos. This card was bought with a buyee mercari coupon so I got it for a great price as well. I will have to crack it out and although I have done it before I still am a bit hesitant.
But to have completed the shiny set with one of my favorite pokemon suicune is a great feeling!
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Huge congrats! This is an awesome achievement. I only have the Lugia out of the more limited ones, so I know how much of a pain it is to get all of these lol.
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Wow!! Congratulations! Super awesome goal achieved and the cards look so lovely together. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers!
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