About 2 years old and less.
The start of Sun & Moon, which is now 10 years old and the beginning of standardising today’s TCG through regulation marks (A-J). It’s also the modern TCG starting point for Thai, Indonesian, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese
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Clustering by aesthetics.
Vintage: Base - CoL [1ED; Shining; Crystal; Gold Star; Lv.X; Shiny]
Modern: B/W - SW/SH [Full Arts, Rainbow Rares, Alt Arts, Promo Era]
Ultramodern: S/V - Present [IR / SIR, Explosion of Art]
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anything after the ex sets
It changes as the years go on…Mid era is a classification of it’s own. For modern I would say either X/Y or Sun/Moon would be the start. B/W fit nicely into the mid nowadays as does HGSS & D/P/P
I think full arts are the first “modern” era. But then, the production quality of XY was NOT what the quality is today, so perhaps THAT parameter is worth considering…
From 2027 onwards, there will be more years in the TCG with full arts than years without. Even by collectible definition of vintage as 20 years or more, the earliest BW full arts are almost there. Overall, it’s not just newer generations that older collectors are unable to accept becoming vintage one day - it’s the inevitability of time. What once was confined to WOTC era or ex era and so forth that made them feel special will extend
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Everyone has a different perspective of this, and over time it also keeps shifting around. 
For someone who starts collecting today, BW/XY is far from modern at 15 years old. For me who’ve started during the XY era, it’s XY+ = modern, although I can see to include BW since that’s when we had the first full art cards.
The entire WotC era including early eSeries is definitely vintage. And I personally agree with @fourthstartcg: the current and previous eras are (ultra)modern. But those are the only two things we can always say with certainty at any given time. And taking just the last two eras as (ultra)modern will perspectivally also become smaller and smaller over time, as more eras get added (kinda as time seems to go faster the older you get, since a single year as percentage on your entire life becomes smaller and smaller - two eras over all eras combined will percentage-wise also seem smaller and smaller over time as more are being added).
In the current point in time however, with the current eras, I agree with @CardboardInsanity:
- Vintage: WotC era
- Mid era: ex, DP, Pt, HGSS (incl. CoL)
- Modern: BW, XY, SM
- Ultramodern: SwSh, SV, Mega
Greetz,
Quuador
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Good points. A “modern” dance master once said, that she prefers the term contemporary, because it will always be contemporary to those creating and performing it. Our contemporary sets change with us, for example.
Is this what you mean? That modern is continually changing as time marches forward?
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That question is subjective and varies depending of the year and the perspective of people.
I consider that the beginning of “modern” is the moment where major changes happened in TCG. I have 2 options:
- ex era (ADV/PCG): In West, the relationship between WoTC and Nintendo ended. As consequence, Nintendo obtained the license of Pokémon TCG. Meanwhile, in Japan, the yellow borders were discontinued and cards received silver borders.
- BW era: In both regions, the introduction of Full Arts was an important event for cardboard
However, according to Pokémon Card Trainers Magazine Vol.12, in the case of Japanese expansions (in 2001), the concept of “modern” (New Generation) primarily encompassed Pokémon VS, Pokémon Web and e-Card era. The important change during these times was the design change of the back part of the card.
As I said before, the answer for your question depends on the time period you are in.
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