Was Phantom Forces a Let Down for Anyone Else?

Valex

Valex

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Hey,

I saw the new Metagross EX promo box that is coming out soon and I felt like I really didn't want to buy it because it comes with Phantom Forces packs (as far as I know), which made me realise that as a whole, Phantom Forces was a let down which sucks because I liked the look of the box at first, with the promo and the mat.

The cards included in the set don't really seem very good, usable (Well I'm not really bothered about making anything other than maybe a Manetric deck) or all that appealing to me, how do other people feel about the booster set as a whole?
 
I have to say I like it!
The new trainers are awesome, there are quite a few strategies that can be used and I don't think there is any overly OP cards!
 
I think several of the cards released in Phantom Forces will contribute to a big shift in how the metagame will function in the future. I don't see the set as a letdown at all. In fact, I'd say this is probably one of the most influencial sets we've seen in quite some time from a competitive perspective. Cards like VS. Seeker (technically a reprint but it has not been in the format for several years), Lysandre's Trump Card, and Battle Compressor will have a major impact on the way decks are constructed and played. Gengar, Dialga, Manectric and it's Mega Evolution, and Aegislash are all very playable Pokemon-EX that will contribute to new deck types appearing. The only "letdowns" that I see are the usual slew of unplayable Pokemon that work their way into every set, but as far as the metagame is concerned, Phantom Forces opens the door to a lot of new concepts.
 
Phantom Forces is the exact opposite a letdown. It has tons of great cards that will appeal to collectors and players. Itn my opinion, it's tied with Flashfire for the best set in XY and is probably a top five set since BW.
 
It's easily my favorite XY set and it's not even close. But maybe I'm just a cheap date because the Kalos Pokemon having non-5ban artwork was all I really wanted.
 
I guess I'm wrong when it comes to playability, since there are some really nice trainer cards but I don't like the set as whole, was never really hyped for any of the pokemon in the set or the designs, compared to the few cards that have been shown of the new set (Sceptile, Swampert ect) I feel that I don't care much for PhF at all and probably won't be buying any more of it in any form. (Managed to get the trainers that are worth minus a couple of the holos)
 
Phantom Forces had a gradual taste for me. Almost all of the best cards in the set were revealed before Phantom Gate was released, so there really wasn't in the full set list that surprised me at first.
The only extremely playable cards that didn't get leaked prior were the Trainers, Pyroar, Night March, EX's, Wobbuffet, and Slurpuff. After looking back at the set again, a lot of the cards ended up slowly looking better and better, like Yanmega, Heatran, and Regigigas.
Phantom Forces, which is the english release, knocked my socks off. Not only did it include the Promos from the Hyper Metal Chain Deck, but there were a few other new additions.
Goodra was one of them, along with Enhanced Hammer reprint.
I was also surprised by a lot of XY trainers being reprinted, which I like and hate. On one hand, it means that I have an easier way to get my hands on cards like DCE and Red Card, both of which I need more of. On the other hand, the rarity of each card in a set is calculated by adding together the amount of cards in the set, excluding Ultra and Secret Rares. Then, that number is divided by 3 as easily as possible. So, if a set has 120 cards, 40 will be common, 40 will be uncommon, and 40 will be rares. Since Phantom Forces added so many junk Trainers, it meant that there would be a LOT of unplayable Rares in this set.
Still, I think Phantom Forces is overall one of the better sets to invest in. Great Trainers, none of the Ultra Rares are bad, and really good artwork.
 
It definitely doesn't have great pull ratios, in over 50 packs I've only pulled 2 ex's, a Full Art Malamar and a Full Art Gengar. Especially compared to the other XY sets.

After buying a Japanese booster box of Phantom Gate I must say the holos were a letdown, I don't like the current holo pattern, but I never realized I only hated it on English cards. You can't even tell most of them are holos, you have a couple gems like Diancie. But then you have Heatran and Gigalith. The holo is either too small or invisible.

I think the full art trainers are my least favorite full art trainers from any set.
To be honest right now I just want to get Full Art Manectric, if I get it I probably won't buy anymore packs or finish the set.
 
Looking at reddit you would think this set is Legendary Treasures. the pull rates are WAY above XY and other sets. You are probably buying weighted packs, and because you claim to have bought over 50 it's more likely that you bought a weighed box.
 
Phantom forces is all but a letdown, its the set we needed for a long time. (I'd love muscle band reprint, but you can't get everything), here are all the playable cards in the set. Including cards that have potential in the future.

Yanmega
Pyroar
Manetric EX
Mega Manetric EX
Joltik
Golbat
Crobat
Gengar EX
Mega Gengar EX
Wobbuffet
Lampent
Chandelure
Pumpkaboo
Gourgeist
Spiritomb (Its more eh)
Malamar EX
Bronzong
Dialga EX
Heatran
Aegislash EX
Florges EX
Slurpuff
Hydreigon
Goodra
Regigigas
AZ
Battle Compressor
Dimensional Valley
Enhanced Hammer
Gengar spirit link
Head Ringer
Jamming Net
Lysandres Last Resort (Way better than trump card)
Manetric spirit link
Professor Sycamore
Robo substitute
Roller skates
Shauna
Steel shelter
Target Whistle
Trick coin
Xerosic
VS seeker
Double colorless energy
Mystery energy
This is the best set in a long time. At my PR, everyone pulled a EX, someone even pulled 2 FA manetric EXs from 6 packs!
 
Actually I've only bought single boosters and those 3 packs with the promos and coins and 1 elite trainer box.

I've pulled 3 Charizard Full Arts from the Flashfire 3 packs, but in over 10 of the Phantom Forces 3 packs, not a single ex. Not even one of the cheap ex's like Aegislash or Malamar. I don't think they can weigh the 3 packs.

My first ex, a Malamar Full Art came from the Elite Trainer Box and my second a Gengar Full Art came from 4 boosters I bought at Meijers yesterday. I do want to get a booster box from Phantom Forces, but my luck isn't great with booster boxes. (I've bought 2 BC boxes and they both contained Celebi Full Art, 1 of 2 full arts I already own, my Dragons Exalted box had 1 full art and it was damaged, Plasma Storm had a damaged ex as well. My Furious Fists box had 2 full arts, one was the only full art I had pulled prior to opening the box.) I've pulled 186 ultra rares since Aug 2013, only about 22 are from booster boxes.

In comparison I just bought 9 boosters from Meijers of Furious Fists and pulled a Secret Rare Lucario, a Lucario Full Art and a Dragonite Ex.
 
I'm not sure if the Elite trainer boxes were weighed at Meijer and to be honest I don't care, the one I bought had a Full Art Malamar in it and getting an ex in an elite trainer box is lucky. I've been fortunate to get a secret rare, 2 full arts and a mega in the 4 elite trainer boxes I've ever bought.


Anyways I bought 11 single booster packs of Phantom Forces today from Meijer and got 3 ultra rares. I actually had to pinch myself because I thought I was dreaming. I definitely won't be buying a booster box from this set now. From PF I've only pulled 5 ex's but I've pulled 4/5 full arts. That secret rare is my 6th secret rare pulled from a booster pack.

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Looking back, the only letdown i can think of about Phantom Forces was that the Profesesor Sycamore print, and perhaps Shauna too was not a Full Art. I can only imagine what an FA Sycamore would look like, but it would certainly get people to crack even more Kill la Kill jokes about him. :)
 
There's been a ton of missed full art supporter opportunities. Sycamore, Caitlin, Blacksmith just to name a few.

I don't like any of the full art supporters in PF.
 
AZ's abd Xerosic's are... meh, but not horrible looking. Xerosic would look better if it didn't look like he was shooting an invisible bow and arrow. He definitely looks pissed enough though. However, i have to say that I love the Full Art Lysandre's Trump Card. That thing is just beautiful, and really shows off Lysandre's emotiosn when he pulls out that crazy device in the video game. As for missed FAs.... agreed. I'd have loved an FA Elesa, though the card sleeves featuring her come pretty close.
 
I actually did some sketches of some full arts for Caitlin and Blacksmith. I agree Elesa would make a good full art. This was probably Professor Sycamore's last chance to get a full art. I like when they do full arts of people with single names like Juniper, Bianca, Ghetsis, Iris, Lysandre. Unfortunately Lysandre's Last Resort has spoiled the game now.

I only had the card to go by so you wouldn't see the purple by her neck. But because her hat and hair are so big it took up most of the card, of course since they do the grain on hair it would look really cool on this card.
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I think if they want to do a Sycamore FA, they still will. They tossed full arts of Bianca, Cheren and Professor Juniper into sets long after the original cards were printed; neither of the sets that had the FAs had the regular versions of the cards. And I mean, you can argue that Bianca and Cheren KIND OF made sense because Boundaries Crossed was the "BW2 set" but Juniper's full art was in Plasma Freeze for little tangible reason.
 
I think we'll probably see an FA Sycamore when Z/XY2/(insert XY sequel name here) comes out. It's clear the TCG is moving on to Hoenn for time being with the release of ORAS, but they'll swing back to Kalos once the sequel is out, and the desire/need to make him an FA will be the perfect excuse for a reprint.
 
Athena said:
I think we'll probably see an FA Sycamore when Z/XY2/(insert XY sequel name here) comes out. It's clear the TCG is moving on to Hoenn for time being with the release of ORAS, but they'll swing back to Kalos once the sequel is out, and the desire/need to make him an FA will be the perfect excuse for a reprint.
Click to expand...

I do hope Juniper will be legal if Sycamore is reprinted, being basically the same card. I don't want Sycamores *-*
 
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