Discussion Neglected Pokémon in the TCG
- Thread starter Purrloin
- Start date
Excluding the first spoiler tag, as they're still in expanded play, the true anomalies are:
Sunkern
Sunflora
Chimecho
Mega Evolutions
Funnily enough, Sunflora and Chimecho were main Pokémon in Explorers of Time, Darkness and Sky. Maybe one day Pokémon from Super Mystery Dungeon won't be seen in a long time too!
Forms are likely to not come back, outside of re-make themed decks and even then, as of XY and ORAS, Pokémon in those respected dex's haven't had cards in recent years.
Though, lack of popular Mega Evolutions, such as Mega Sableye and Mega Latias is really weird... maybe BW and XY were just really bad at doing game-based sets and instead did popular older Pokémon over them.
As for Babies and Fossils, there's really not a viable way of using them in the TCG as of yet.
Sunkern
Sunflora
Chimecho
Mega Evolutions
Funnily enough, Sunflora and Chimecho were main Pokémon in Explorers of Time, Darkness and Sky. Maybe one day Pokémon from Super Mystery Dungeon won't be seen in a long time too!
Forms are likely to not come back, outside of re-make themed decks and even then, as of XY and ORAS, Pokémon in those respected dex's haven't had cards in recent years.
Though, lack of popular Mega Evolutions, such as Mega Sableye and Mega Latias is really weird... maybe BW and XY were just really bad at doing game-based sets and instead did popular older Pokémon over them.
As for Babies and Fossils, there's really not a viable way of using them in the TCG as of yet.
I love the new layout for showcasing the neglected Pokèmon @Purrloin
Have you considered putting them in National Pokedex order rather than alphabetical?
With the fossil Pokemon, it makes me think that the XY era had at least one other set planned that they cancelled when I think of them.
Fates Collide brought back the 5 Gen I fossil Pokemon and then Steam Siege brought back another 4, half of Gen III and IV respectively
There were 8 left including 2 halves of two gens and suddenly just stopped.
Similarly, Cobalion and Virizion each got a card but Terrakion didn't and the BREAK era brought back only 2 of the 3 Gen IV starters.
I can't help but think "Evolutions" was a waste of a set since tcg needs all the sets it can get to avoid neglecting the growing roster with every generation and we already got a Gen I tribute set in "Generations". XY12 could have been so much more.
Have you considered putting them in National Pokedex order rather than alphabetical?
With the fossil Pokemon, it makes me think that the XY era had at least one other set planned that they cancelled when I think of them.
Fates Collide brought back the 5 Gen I fossil Pokemon and then Steam Siege brought back another 4, half of Gen III and IV respectively
There were 8 left including 2 halves of two gens and suddenly just stopped.
Similarly, Cobalion and Virizion each got a card but Terrakion didn't and the BREAK era brought back only 2 of the 3 Gen IV starters.
I can't help but think "Evolutions" was a waste of a set since tcg needs all the sets it can get to avoid neglecting the growing roster with every generation and we already got a Gen I tribute set in "Generations". XY12 could have been so much more.
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I deliberated back and forth. I originally had it in Natdex order but it looked kinda messy to me. Plus I figured this way people could quickly scroll to see a Pokémon they're curious about, or use my Google spreadsheet to view the Natdex instead.
I'll change it up here if there's more requests for it though.
Also I concur with your analysis of a missing XY set. I've always felt there was one too. Honestly I think Generations is the problem; if Generations had been Evolutions instead, we'd have an additional Gen 6 set to fill in the obvious missing pieces they were originally aiming for. It seems that TPC wanted a way to bring the second Radiant collection over but wasn't fully committed to a Base Set reprint yet, so they just slapped in a bunch of XY era cards with it. Might explain the odd pseudo-reprints of Base Set Slowpoke and Taurus too.
Thing with Generations and Evolutions though, is that Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, Squirtle and Wartortle didn't get cards in either set, nor did they get any that entire Generation.
I also think that XY was one set too short or whoever was in change of making the cards, forgot to include obvious ones that are soon going to be out of rotation, didn't get a single card to begin with, have been for a long time now or didn't get any cards to begin with (certain Mega Evolutions). It's like they got caught up on printing Charizard, Mewtwo and random mini-sets to really pay attention to what needs cards. I mean, have you ever seen 2/3 of evolution lines completely skipped in games they're available in before XY sets?
Anyway, there's still the 4th SM Set on to include the (soon to be) rotated BW and DP cards.
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I agree @Purrloin. Evolutions should have been the "Mythical Box set" and Generations didn't need to exist.
-Evolutions was a set of "updated" reprints of Base set to celebrate the 20th Anniversary
-Generations was reprints of... mostly the last couple of sets (sometimes with alternate artwork including Base-Fossil) that just happened to feature Gen I Pokemon supposedly to celebrate the same thing.
-Evolutions has 108 cards in the set making 140 total when added to RC2. Appropriate for a year's worth of collecting in the Mythical boxes.
-Generations was only 83 making 115 total. A lot of hardcore collectors were done by the time Jirachi came out.
I think I'm ranting now but I feel as though the 20th Anniversary sabotaged the end of XY in various ways.
From how SM has been going so far, I'm pretty optimistic though. Not least of all because GXs require all forms (No more 26 Charizards per charmander)
-Evolutions was a set of "updated" reprints of Base set to celebrate the 20th Anniversary
-Generations was reprints of... mostly the last couple of sets (sometimes with alternate artwork including Base-Fossil) that just happened to feature Gen I Pokemon supposedly to celebrate the same thing.
-Evolutions has 108 cards in the set making 140 total when added to RC2. Appropriate for a year's worth of collecting in the Mythical boxes.
-Generations was only 83 making 115 total. A lot of hardcore collectors were done by the time Jirachi came out.
I think I'm ranting now but I feel as though the 20th Anniversary sabotaged the end of XY in various ways.
From how SM has been going so far, I'm pretty optimistic though. Not least of all because GXs require all forms (No more 26 Charizards per charmander)
Plus SM 2 came out with a Pokémon that hasn't been in a set since Gen 4.
I wish I could fast forward a year, to see which neglected Pokémon get cards in future SM sets.
What about Cranidos and Rampardos? They also haven't been in a set since Gen 4.
The odd things for me is Zapdos never got a proper EX and Full Art EX card, same with Moltres and in Generations, Moltres was excluded from getting a Full Art, but it got a set promo. Suicune and Entei never got a EX but I feel the biggest offenders here are Regice and Regirock EX. They seem to have a habit of not completing trios. I still want a Mega latias card but I don't want it if they are going to half do it. Looking forward to what they do with Mega Evolution in Sun and Moon.
I know these Pokemon aren't neglected but I would have loved for Zapdos and Moltres to have proper EX cards but I'm waiting for the GX.
I know these Pokemon aren't neglected but I would have loved for Zapdos and Moltres to have proper EX cards but I'm waiting for the GX.
Maybe they went for the more popular options instead of looking at Trios/Duos. Or perhaps it's just easier to make EX's for the most popular Pokémon in a Trio/Duo.
BTW, are there any Pokémon with no ME cards in the Alola Dex? I think Sableye is one.
I think I'm the only one that wants a triumphant return from Sawsbuck. It's been 6 years since it's last print and all of it's season forms have not been represented in the TCG(as far as I know). Not to mention the 2 times it WAS printed, the card was completely lackluster and Sawsbuck demands more respect, they could give it an epic card and the variations of it's forms could provide some incredible artwork.
But hey, that's just me...
But hey, that's just me...
Yeah, they definitely have a habit of not completing a trio. It's really annoying.
You aren't the only one. I've longed for Sawsbuck in my sig for a while now.
To make matter worse, we saw the return of Deerling only to leave it in an incomplete line.
If they introduced 5 new Mega Evolutions per set, instead of 2-4, they'd all have cards by now.
Mega Pinsir and Mega Sableye could gets cards the next set, since their regular forms are in the Alola dex, but that still leaves the other 5.
Then again, if DPPt re-makes are made this gen, we could also get: Mega Abomasnow, Mega Lopunny and Mega Medicham, but it would mean poor Mega Banette and Mega Latias never get cards.
Mega Pinsir and Mega Sableye could gets cards the next set, since their regular forms are in the Alola dex, but that still leaves the other 5.
Then again, if DPPt re-makes are made this gen, we could also get: Mega Abomasnow, Mega Lopunny and Mega Medicham, but it would mean poor Mega Banette and Mega Latias never get cards.
Wasn't Kingler in Phantom Forces and Generations? I know Krabby was in Generations but I can't seem to find Kingler.