Ancient Origins [8/15, aka Bandit Ring]

arulz said:
TL;DR: Good/complex cards are rare so they're special so you'll buy more packs. BUT I agree I'd like to see the overall quality/usefulness of cards go up.
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Except its been known for a while now that most sales of Pokémon TCG product don't go to people that actually play the game.

No, not collectors either.

Basically people (guessing kids) that get the cards because they are Pokémon cards, but never learn how to play or collect proper. Such "customers" outnumber players by a huge margin. Before anyone says anything, no it does not make sense to tailor the game to these people: they just need cards that say "Pokémon" on them to be happy. There is very little risk of alienating them by focusing more on collectors and/or players.

Keep in mind I'm not suggesting that we get rid of higher rarities either... just don't make them cards only available in that rarity. Full Arts are a great example... at least the Trainer ones, where an Uncommon card also has a wonderful Full Art version for collectors to chase after and for random little kids (...and me) to enjoy for being shiny! OoO
 
fleshrum said:
Not sure if young person posing as old person or genuine member of the adult Pokémon fan club...
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A) not sure if the young fans of the ptcg enjoy a hot cup of coffee w/ hazelnut creamer and 3 giant scoops of sugar at 5 in the morning before work lol B) there would be literally no point for me to address my age if it wasn't for the point that i was going for in my post And lastly C) i am fully aware of the huge and ever expanding adult fanbase in the ptcg and if wasn't for me doing electrical work on my local card shop ( top deck cards and games) i would have probably never known.
Its amazing to see how people reacted to just a little fun comment that i made and completely blow it out of context lol
 
Otaku said:
Except its been known for a while now that most sales of Pokémon TCG product don't go to people that actually play the game.

No, not collectors either.

Basically people (guessing kids) that get the cards because they are Pokémon cards, but never learn how to play or collect proper. Such "customers" outnumber players by a huge margin. Before anyone says anything, no it does not make sense to tailor the game to these people: they just need cards that say "Pokémon" on them to be happy. There is very little risk of alienating them by focusing more on collectors and/or players.

Keep in mind I'm not suggesting that we get rid of higher rarities either... just don't make them cards only available in that rarity. Full Arts are a great example... at least the Trainer ones, where an Uncommon card also has a wonderful Full Art version for collectors to chase after and for random little kids (...and me) to enjoy for being shiny! OoO
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If that's true I totally agree with you. Didn't know we knew where the sales of packs came from. Do you have a source or are you just pulling it out of thin air?
 
Otaku said:
Keep in mind I'm not suggesting that we get rid of higher rarities either... just don't make them cards only available in that rarity. Full Arts are a great example... at least the Trainer ones, where an Uncommon card also has a wonderful Full Art version for collectors to chase after and for random little kids (...and me) to enjoy for being shiny! OoO
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Your forgetting the fact that these cards are "collectors items" i.e ( they hold value over time) they make the rarer cards such as full arts harder to obtain for a reason because these cards will be worth more and more and hold thier value over time. A good example of this is the old gold star cards from the ex era. The same rules apply with any other collectors item.
take for example limited edition merchandise , manufacturers produce those because they will hold thier value over time and eventually increse in value due to the rarity of the item.

the full art texture and artwork is unique only to ultra rares. That kind of card was specifically made to be ultra rare and not uncommon. The more rare the card , the higher quality of the art. If they were to stary making uncommon full arts than that would defeat the purpose of the full art lol uncommons and commons are the way they are for a reason. Thats how trading cards work
 
arulz said:
If that's true I totally agree with you. Didn't know we knew where the sales of packs came from. Do you have a source or are you just pulling it out of thin air?
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Thin air.

Half-kidding; this originally came up when WotC owned the game and the short version is that it came up on the old (not current) Pokégym message boards (including threads where I, still under the "Otaku" screen name, was a participant). So since I can't prove it (possibly because I really don't care enough to do more than a quick Google search), I'll present a reason why it is plausible. Pokémon is one of the leading TCGs in mass retail sales (that you can find with quick Googling). Do you think all that product at Wal-Mart is being bought exclusively by players and collectors? Mostly by players and collectors? While it would seem like the major collector that buys an entire booster box would easily be spending more on the game than a random little kid that gets a pack in place of a toy while at the store, it isn't one random little kid, but many and they easily out number the amount of people actually playing and/or collecting.

I do apologize for it being not good enough. Maybe I'll be ambitious and see if I can track down the actual information somewhere, but since I'm behind on CotDs... probably not.

whirlpoolm51 said:
Your forgetting the fact that these cards are "collectors items" i.e ( they hold value over time) they make the rarer cards such as full arts harder to obtain for a reason because these cards will be worth more and more and hold thier value over time. A good example of this is the old gold star cards from the ex era. The same rules apply with any other collectors item.
take for example limited edition merchandise , manufacturers produce those because they will hold thier value over time and eventually increse in value due to the rarity of the item.

the full art texture and artwork is unique only to ultra rares. That kind of card was specifically made to be ultra rare and not uncommon. The more rare the card , the higher quality of the art. If they were to stary making uncommon full arts than that would defeat the purpose of the full art lol uncommons and commons are the way they are for a reason. Thats how trading cards work
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And here... I have no idea what whirlpoolm51 is trying to say.

I made the point that I think cards like Full Arts are a much better way of enticing collectors than simply arbitrary rarity schemes like "We will make Card X a rare, Card Y an Uncommon and Card C a Common. Oh, and Card A will be a Super Rare, Card B an Ultra Rare and Card C a Secret Rare!" The Reverse Holos are also a good example of how catering to collectors can actually help out players; it provides a card that might be meaningless to a player but always has a little more trade value to collectors.
 
Otaku said:
Thin air.

Half-kidding; this originally came up when WotC owned the game and the short version is that it came up on the old (not current) Pokégym message boards (including threads where I, still under the "Otaku" screen name, was a participant). So since I can't prove it (possibly because I really don't care enough to do more than a quick Google search), I'll present a reason why it is plausible. Pokémon is one of the leading TCGs in mass retail sales (that you can find with quick Googling). Do you think all that product at Wal-Mart is being bought exclusively by players and collectors? Mostly by players and collectors? While it would seem like the major collector that buys an entire booster box would easily be spending more on the game than a random little kid that gets a pack in place of a toy while at the store, it isn't one random little kid, but many and they easily out number the amount of people actually playing and/or collecting.

I do apologize for it being not good enough. Maybe I'll be ambitious and see if I can track down the actual information somewhere, but since I'm behind on CotDs... probably not.



And here... I have no idea what whirlpoolm51 is trying to say.

I made the point that I think cards like Full Arts are a much better way of enticing collectors than simply arbitrary rarity schemes like "We will make Card X a rare, Card Y an Uncommon and Card C a Common. Oh, and Card A will be a Super Rare, Card B an Ultra Rare and Card C a Secret Rare!" The Reverse Holos are also a good example of how catering to collectors can actually help out players; it provides a card that might be meaningless to a player but always has a little more trade value to collectors.
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I did kind of ramble hahaha to put it simply i was just countering your opinion on the matter by basically saying that if they were to make all uncommons full arts than the whole point of the collectibility , value and rarity would go out the window. The full art style was created for , and only for those harder to find cards , its the " special" and unique artwork coupled with thier rarity which makes them so sought after. If they were to make every card a full art with the texture and everything than what fun would that be for collectors. Eventually it would become the norm and there would be nothing special or noteworthy about the ptcg at all , it would just be a bunch of the same type of pictures of pokemon that you can battle with and the appeal to collectors would diminish. Its what makes those cards different that makes them so enticing and sought after. Yes , rarity might not appeal to players but in my experience as a collector and with other collectors it matters. Thats one of the biggest points for any collector, wheather it be sports memorabilia, comics , toys , trading cards etc etc the harder to find stuff if always more fun to chase after and collect.
 
sonicking2004 said:
I could be wrong, but it's likely that Ancient Origins is the name of Bandit Ring's Western equivalent (at least that's how it appears, due to Hoopla Unbound being used for the artwork of Aincent Origin's Elite Trainer Box.) As for why it's (apparently) not featured in Bandit Ring, that's likely due to it being having been released in a previous Japanese expansion.

As those of us who follow both ends of the TCG action (mostly hoping to get a sneak peek at these new cards), the Japanese market generally sees far more expansion releases than those of us in the States do, with those expansions often being smaller than ours. As a result, most of those US expansions often combine two of those Japanese expansions, sometimes throwing in cards from a Japanese promo set for good measure. Hope that explains thins a little better for you.
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Ancient Origins is confirmed to be the equivalent, otherwise I wouldn't have said that...

I don't think there's ever been a card in XY era that was in the english set, and not the Japanese set. Obviously not including the Japanese promos which are stuck in.
 
Wow this card is bad.... and they were doing so well at making the pre Mega Exs more than just bulk trash cards.

EDIT: That art though, looks like hes about to score a goal.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAALLLLLLLLLLL!
 
Ugh, why is this card so bad?? I thought the creators of Pokemon actually liked Tyranitar, but then they saddle it with this terrible EX... I guess its possible that the rest of the set will offer enough support to Darkness types to make this card playable, but even if that were the case, this card will still be outclassed by Yveltal-EX unless its Mega is amazing. Such a disappointment
 
Primal Clash had amazing art for regular cards and EX. Roaring Skies had beautiful art for some EX and reg cards. So far Bandit Ring has UGLY EXs (Lucia, Hoopa) now this. I had high hopes for this card, I love this Pokemon, they ruined it. I hope Ampharos isn't as ugly, OR useless.
 
Come now, friends!

Tyranitar-EX isn't that bad!

Sure, it's not got any attacks that really stand out, but a bad energy and hard charm attached to him will make him a decent wall against anyone who dares to dent his hide!

keep an open mind! :)
 
DreamingMunna said:
Primal Clash had amazing art for regular cards and EX. Roaring Skies had beautiful art for some EX and reg cards. So far Bandit Ring has UGLY EXs (Lucia, Hoopa) now this. I had high hopes for this card, I love this Pokemon, they ruined it. I hope Ampharos isn't as ugly, OR useless.
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You forgot to mention Machamp. His fingers poking out like that make me want to gag.

The art on this card isn't decent, but I still have hope for its Mega. I honestly would rather they just use the cover art on the packs for the cards instead, those are way more appealing.
 
Yeah, this card is never going to attack at any point ever.

I mean, 60 for three with no effect? What the hell are they thinking?

This card is pretty much a worse Groudon EX
 
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This artwork design is some of the worst I have seen on a set EX. It looks like promo art.

In terms of Mega Pokemon and their base EX, this has got to be in contention for the worst as well. No other pre-mega feels so... stock. I'd rather take the attacks of Blastoise EX or stoke Charizard EX. Regardless of how good the Mega is, an under-powered basic EX like this already isn't doing any possible deck involving him any favors. This card is an all around stinker.
 
theneverhoodlum said:
LOOKIT THIS THOUGH.
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Can you tell us what that card does, and what it's ancient trait is? I can see 60 in the attack affect, so it could be 110 plus 60, which would bring the damage to 170 without a muscle band which is pretty sweet, but without any translations we would just have to guess.
Destroyer King sounds like an awesome bad ass attack though!!
 
I'm sure WPM will have a translation up sometime shortly. In the meantime, the trait is the same one as Entei's: "Θ Double: This Pokemon can have 2 Pokemon Tools attached to it."

The art for both Tyranitars is very disappointing, sadly.
 
Ehmm... (I speak for me) The art is so baddd.... not to mention the playability... The card looks like it has its right leg dislocated... from right at 90 degrees... Yikes... WE WANT SHIZUROW BACK!!!! WE WANT GOOD ARTS!!!!
 
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