(1) ALL 'Next Destinies' Scans [1/26]

Love the cards in the set but there are a ton of WTF moments looking through the scans. Why is the Rare Arcanine NOT holo like in HB/PD? Why are there more Rare cards than uncommons? Why are Lapras, Beheeyem, and all the monkeys considered Rares? Why are cards like Jigglypuff, Minccino, etc. Uncommon?
 
I like the secret rare Chandelure, did not see one pulled at the pre-release I went to though. The Pokemon Center is going to make things like Chandelure that can do damage to benched pokemon a bit harder to use, I think.

The new Arcanine seems pretty good, at least I did well with him at my pre-release. I made a bad deck though, but I had a lot of different energy types and so I had a mixed deck. Probably not a good choice. Plus, I didn't pull any good Trainers.

In the later draft, I did get one of the secret rare Zoroarks, and a Mewtwo EX (non-full art). The Mewtwo would work nicely with my current Chandelure deck, replacing the Vicitini.

Heavy Ball will be of use in my T-Tar deck. And Cilan is going to work in both my decks. I just need to get more of them.

I like this set more than I thought I would from the early posted scans.
 
If you ask me, Cilan is like Pokemon Collector, but for energy. In fact, the text is nearly the same, they just cut out "Pokemon" and replaced it with "energy".

Shiftry would be very useful, if it wasn't a stage 2. In fact, it could win a game if you play it right.

Gardevoir and Mewtwo EX are, by far, the most useful cards in this set, and they work together like bread & butter, PB & J, etc. You could do 80+ damage for 2 energy cards (note that Mewtwo's 1st attack says energy not energy cards.) I predict that this deck will be the top meta-deck by Spring
 
Broken Pokemon EX said:
Love the cards in the set but there are a ton of huh? moments looking through the scans. Why is the Rare Arcanine NOT holo like in HB/PD? Why are there more Rare cards than uncommons? Why are Lapras, Beheeyem, and all the monkeys considered Rares? Why are cards like Jigglypuff, Minccino, etc. Uncommon?

I think it has something to do with Japanese popularity. I think Arcanine is holo, but I herd the holos in this set are hard too see (Zekrom and Reshirsm for example0

Next Destinies was way overdone.
Also, NV Eelektrik
40-eelektrik.jpg

and ND Zekrom-EX
97-zekrom-ex.jpg
could have potential. Eelektrik could get the energy Zektom needs, and when Zekrom uses it for Strong Volt, Eelektrik could get it back. Plus, if Zekrom-EX needs to retreat, Eelektrik could be the one to help.
 
Ophie said:
The rarities of these cards are like carrots on a stick. From Nintendo's POV, the purpose of the Pokémon TCG is to make money, so they'll come up with ways to maximize profits before people get annoyed and turn to something else (or just avoid spending money on card games altogether, which is the worst outcome). The people assigning how rare these cards are know that people like you will still buy them. Until they discover a decline in sales and determine that Pokémon-EX are too rare or whatever, they're not going to become more common.

Otherwise, there'd be a Pokémon-EX in every pack. But that's just financial suicide for a TCG.

That's a hefty assumption. This set reminds me of Call of Legends with the sheer amount of Rares and Ultra Rares in it. (AND the low ratio of getting any Ultra Rares in a box, compared to any of the HS sets, for example.) I don't like CoL, to say the very least. And to this day, I've only gotten 5 packs of CoL; 4 of which were in tins or something where it couldn't be helped (the other was from my father because he randomly decided to get me one while he was at Target one day). I also quit collecting new EX sets when they introduced Delta Species Pokemon. Bought some EX Delta Species packs, didn't like what I saw, and didn't buy a single pack from the EX sets that came out afterwards. (That's 6 sets including EX Delta Species.) So I'm fully capable of controlling whether I buy any sets from TPCI or not.

The unfortunate part of taking that stand on this set is that there ARE cards, as a collector and as a player, that I like about this set, and I will actually be going to a prerelease this weekend. However, the way I see it is, I might be able to get a few things I want (I doubt it, but maybe), and after that, I can just buy individual cards online.

And not to turn this into an arguement or anything, but it seems you skipped over the fact that I already know that their intent is to make money (thus, why they're making everything so rare, so that more packs are bought), and it seems you misunderstood my issue with making regular EX's less rare. I said they should've been like Primes, replacing reverses in a pack and being more common than the other Ultra Rares in the set. Were Primes in every pack? Nooo... Was it finacial suicide making Primes slightly more common than Legend pieces, even though Primes were clearly more sought after? Nooo...

There are two points I want made perfectly clear (even though probably no one's reading this topic anymore, and my messages are way too long).
1. Could anyone at TPCI/Nintendo honestly give a legitimate reason for why regular EX's couldn't have been like Primes? (Other than the fact that they're being money hungry with this set, especially compared to the HS sets.)
2. More people should be upset or even offended by how they went about making this set. There are 16 Ultra Rares that really are difficult to pull. To give an example of how rare the EX's are to pull, in a video on YouTube, two people, Renae and Josh (JWittz), went with their friend to a prerelease, and out of 42 pack between the three of them, not ONE EX was pulled. (Renae, however, did pull a shiny Zoroark.) On top of that, there are so many pointless Rares! All of those monkeys are rares again?! And really? Wigglytuff? Especially Muk? It's just mind-numbing how terribly this set was thought out. And it's all because they want us to buy more packs because we aren't getting the cards we want, due to low probabilities.

One last thing I want to add is just a comparison to deciding to buy a booster box of this set compared to buying the HS set that had the most Ultra Rares: Triumphant.

"I think I'm going to buy a box of Triumphant." Someone else asks why. "Well, even though I'm only going to get 5 out of 8 Primes, there's a pretty high chance I'll get most of the ones I want. And most of the Trainers and Suppoters are useful." Depending on which is more important, the 3 Legend pieces are either good for the collection and you'll have gotten most of the set from one booster box, OR they're decent trading/selling material.

In short, you're getting your money's worth, either way. Now for Next Destinies.

"I think I'm going to buy a box of Next Destinies." Someone else asks why. "Well, I REALLY want a Mewtwo EX. I might get lucky, you know?" Is there any other reason for buying a box? "I mean, the Trainers and such are pretty useful. I guess some of the other Pokemon are too." What happens if you don't get Mewtwo? "Hm... Well, I guess Reshiram and Zekrom would be nice. Regigigas seems nice too. Shaymin's situational, so I'd rather not get one." What about Kyurem EX? What if that's one of your TWO or possibly 3 EX's for the box? "I'm selling it." (Or if it's for a collection, it's staying in there; big whoop.)

Translation: I'm buying this in the hopes of getting one card. If I don't get it, that was, for the most part, a waste of money due to how few EX's you can get, out of 12 possible. In short, I'm taking a gamble with nearly $100.

I just hope people realize all this about ND instead of blindly handing over their money.
 
The "they want to make money" thing really starts to feel like an excuse after a certain point. There's a difference between "making money" and making horrible decisions for your core fanbase for the sake of the "making money." They made plenty of money from the HS block and the first three BW sets were which all FAR more forgiving in terms of either number of super/ultra rares (BW-NV) or pull rate (HS Primes).
 
Not really sure what you're trying to say. They're a business. Businesses make money. What other reason is there? And if "they want to make money" sounds redundant rather than like an excuse, that's because I wanted to make a point. (...Also, assuming your post was directed at me.) An excuse is something you can prove wrong, in this case. Could anyone explain why there are so many EX's with such low pull rates and NOT lead it back to "More money, please"? (Keeping in mind my regular-EX's-should've-been-like-Primes idea.) Rather than a "horrible decision", this set just seems like they're testing the waters to see if people will keep buying packs dispite even lower chances of pulling what they want.


Man... first few days after making an account on PokeBeach, and I already sound like one of those people that lives to argue over the internet. =\ If that's what it seems like, I appolize. I'm just trying to make a point on something I feel strongly about.
 
Yeah, sometimes I wonder if they're really that greedy or if they are just dumb... I don't know if I'll be able to buy any booster packs at all (cause I'm broke) but If I manage to, I don't if it's worth buying a box with those rates. Last set (NV), I bought the whole full set from an online site, so I wouldn't have to worry about pull rates, but I got disappointed with the condition of the cards... So, there's not really much choice for me...
 
Skeleton Liar said:
Not really sure what you're trying to say.

I was agreeing with your post more or less. I was trying to add a point rather than contrast you, since you were replying to a post that says "they want profit!"

I find it tiresome that people keep relying on the "they want to make money" reasoning because A of all: no kidding, B of all: that doesn't mean we as consumers need to blindly accept their poor decisions, and C of all: they're really not going to make that much more money than they would have when several collectors think it's too hard to complete the set to bother, and players are paying third parties crazy Yanmega Prime-level prices to get Mewtwo-EX. And, like I said, it's not like the HS sets were a profit black hole despite making the Primes easier to get.
 
It turns out that FA MEWTWO EX WENT TO $80!!!
I'm not quite sure but it seems like there is between 4 and 6 EXs in each box. No one at my PR yesterday pulled a shiny, though there was a total of 1 Kyurem EX, 3 Mewtwo EX FA, 1 Reshiram EX, 1 Reshiram EX FA,2 Regigigas EX though that was only one flight, my parents were being noobs and only let me go to one.
 
Metalizard said:
Yeah, sometimes I wonder if they're really that greedy or if they are just dumb... I don't know if I'll be able to buy any booster packs at all (cause I'm broke) but If I manage to, I don't if it's worth buying a box with those rates. Last set (NV), I bought the whole full set from an online site, so I wouldn't have to worry about pull rates, but I got disappointed with the condition of the cards... So, there's not really much choice for me...

Sometimes, you just have to think it's both. Ha ha. It's like, really? No one there thought making Muk a rare was a bad idea?

And I know exactly what you mean. I mean, I'm going to a prerelease, but even that's pushing it, as far as my money's concerned. But even if I had more, I'm not sure about buying more packs. The only way a box would be worth it is if you got a Mewtwo. It's as simple as that; and there's only a slim chance you'll get one. (NV, I think was worth buying a box, which is why I got one for Christmas. After a prerelease and a few more packs, that box gave me all but 3 of the cards I needed to complete the set. I've managed to trade for the FA's and now I'm only missing Hydreigon. Well worth it!)

Frost said:
I was agreeing with your post more or less. I was trying to add a point rather than contrast you, since you were replying to a post that says "they want profit!"

I find it tiresome that people keep relying on the "they want to make money" reasoning because A of all: no kidding, B of all: that doesn't mean we as consumers need to blindly accept their poor decisions, and C of all: they're really not going to make that much more money than they would have when several collectors think it's too hard to complete the set to bother, and players are paying third parties crazy Yanmega Prime-level prices to get Mewtwo-EX. And, like I said, it's not like the HS sets were a profit black hole despite making the Primes easier to get.

Ah. So you were more like "No crap" rather than saying that's a bad reason (or whatever). I wasn't clear on that. And I totally agree that not everyone will buy into their terrible idea, but unfortunately there will be a large amount of people who will. I'm not saying Primes made HS sets more profitable, but I am saying that it was a GREAT idea. And as a player and collector, I was thankful for the idea of Primes replacing reverses and being a little less rare than Legend pieces and Lv.X's. But now I'm extremely disappointed that they didn't do SOMETHING about EX and FA ratios. Comparing this set to what they did with Primes just feels like they didn't concider their consumers when they made their rarity decision for this set. (Thus, it feels like they only concidered profit.)

Magnezone_Elf said:
It turns out that FA MEWTWO EX WENT TO $80!!!!!!
I'm not quite sure but it seems like there is between 4 and 6 EXs in each box.

Prepare to be surprised about those ratios. =\ And it seems we have out new Luxray GL Lv.X! Hopefully people will realize it's not worth nearly that much, and prices will go down. (Yeah, it's a great card, but $60-80? No... Just no.)

Also, if anyone's interested in actually seeing EX/FA pull rates of a booster box, TheCatsMeowth (aka capeter3ncsu) has a video on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0pO5y9QbBA
 
For sure, Primes were a GREAT idea. The fact that the non-FA EX cards aren't Prime-level rarity is why I'm so ANNOYED with Next Destinies!
 
Sure, I'm annoyed that they can't be less rare too. But why does there need to be any reason other than to maximize profits? Why should there be another one? If they received data that the Black/White sets have been selling so well, the logical thing to do is to put in a measure to wring more money out of people. The casual consumer--that is, the little kids--are happy their favorite Pokémon can be on a card, and rarity is irrelevant to them. After that are the competitive players and the collectors. By making the sought-after cards rarer, people try harder to get them. That is, they spend more to get them.

If data comes in to the marketing people that sales are going down, and they figure the reason is because said sought-after cards have become too difficult to get, they will increase the scarcity of these cards in subsequent sets. In other words, I believe they're testing the devotion of competitive players and collectors, namely how much crap they can throw before these audiences have enough and stop buying. This is a logical part of any business that wants to survive in the long term: Figure out that balance between supply and demand, the top of the bell curve. It's always shifting, and trading card games are particularly volatile.

When I mean "like you," I mean some people here, and in other Pokémon TCG circles, who freely buy hundreds of dollars' worth of cards like it's nothing. Since you, Skeleton Liar specifically, were complaining about the scarcities of these cards, I figured that you weren't in this group. I apologize for being unclear.
 
Yeah, I agree that it's very likely that they're just testing the waters. But ultimately, like I said before, it just feels like they didn't concider their consumers when they added 16 Ultra Rares and made them legitimately hard to pull; thus, it feels like they're holding out their hands saying, "More money, please."

This whole time, I thought this sounded familiar. It's similar if you think about it, but not exactly the same. Didn't Netflix make a decision recently to divide DVD rentals and instant play, making its consumers pay nearly twice as much as they used to if they wanted to keep both? Well, THAT certainly didn't turn out to be a great idea. They lost a LOT more customers than they foresaw. However, I know Pokemon cards are a totally different ball game. But I can't help but notice the similarities.

And okay. That was just a misunderstanding. I also apologize if I was a little too aggressive. This whole thing has probably made me on edge. Ha ha. But you're right! There certainly are going to be people who are just going to spend hundreds like it's nothing, which is unfortunate.
 
What also doesn't help is the fact that packs cost more now. It's obviously a money ordeal. Then they put them in like 20 tins, box sets, binder box sets, giant card box sets so you can spend more at once, but save like..$3

I feel bad for younger ones though, who always want the coolest cards. Good luck poor kids. :c

Was so hyped for prerelease, but now paranoid about getting awful pulls. >A>;; Need to find four leaf clover (..or eat luck charms marshmallows).
 
EX's didn't seem difficult to pull at all at my prerelease...I sat with 5 other friends and out of all of us, I got a FA Reshiram, one got Shaymin, one got Zekrom, one got Kyurem. If they are a lot harder to pull than primes, then I'm certainly not seeing it. Then again, the packs did all come from different boxes since we got our packs as we registered, rather than all at once. I'll still be getting a box, just because I like the cards and artwork in this set.
 
Mameshiba said:
What also doesn't help is the fact that packs cost more now. It's obviously a money ordeal. Then they put them in like 20 tins, box sets, binder box sets, giant card box sets so you can spend more at once, but save like..$3

I feel bad for younger ones though, who always want the coolest cards. Good luck poor kids. :c

Was so hyped for prerelease, but now paranoid about getting awful pulls. >A>;; Need to find four leaf clover (..or eat luck charms marshmallows).

I know, right? They'll come out with 3 $20 tins and 2 $20 box sets at a time. And as a collector, I want the Promo, but even concidering buying one, I'm like... *Sigh* I need gas more than I need this... =\ And the weirdest decision by them lately, as far as packaging things goes, is the 3 pack blisters. Used to be $11. (Oh! Well, it's a dollar cheaper than buying 3 individual packs AND there's a Promo.) Now they're $12. ...Wait, why? (Well, you see, there's also a sampling pack in them now!) Yeah, great. Charge an extra dollar for a pack that contains 3 commons. Good job. =|

And I know what you mean! At the Noble Victories prerelease that I went to, at the end there was this little kid (about 8 years old? 10 at most?) who was running around asking if anybody would trade him a Kyurem. Immediately, all the older people there shut him down whenever he asked. Once his grandmother said it was time to go, he had his head down with the most disappointed look on his face as he was walking away. I was just like... =< It actually was upsetting, and I can only imagine it'd be worse with the EX's.

Same here. I was so excited, but now I'm even more paranoid than usual that I won't pull anything at the prerelease. (Even the non-EX stuff that I want.)

@festizzio There seems to be a weird ratio going on with people either not getting or seeing too much OR there seemed to be quite a lot of EX's everywhere. Odd... Again, if anyone wants to see a booster box opened on YouTube, you can watch this video by TheCatsMeowth (aka capeter3ncsu). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0pO5y9QbBA
 
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