I'm always interested to know what people's favourite sets are, I'll get the ball rolling, my fave is EX Deoxys; Cool artwork, really unique reverse holos and the allure of EX-era scarcity 
Collecting What's your all-time favourite TCG set?
- Thread starter HolofoilStarmie
- Start date
My favorite set of all time is EX Legend Maker. It was the set of the first Prerelease I attended when I was ~12 years old and what got me back into the game competitively (before a hiatus...and then back into the game again). I pulled my first Gold Star (Regirock) and simply had a blast. I would like to complete a master set of EX Legend Maker someday.
That's brilliant, I don't think I ever bought any EX Legend Maker actually, I certainly never pulled a Gold Star XD
I'm jealous lol I opened a lot of EX Deoxys and I think gold star Rayquaza is my fave gold star. I'm always really interested to see if someone picks something other than Base Set or Skyridge as their favourite set haha, I've been here since the beginning and don't get me wrong I love Base Set but sometimes I get a little tired of seeing it.It was all available at that time - I even pulled a ton of EX Deoxys...even pulled a Rayquaza Gold Star.
Probably Call of Legends. I like the HGSS artstyle in general, liked getting more Lost Zone stuff, kinda have a softspot for well-made reprint sets (which Pokemon is mostly pretty terrible at). It had a lot going for it, including the best-looking energy cards ever printed.
I really liked Double Crisis as well, though. Amazing artwork, fun cards, I like mini-sets. Team Aqua's Kyogre EX is probably still my favourite card art. (Certainly my favourite full-art Pokemon at the very least.)
I really liked Double Crisis as well, though. Amazing artwork, fun cards, I like mini-sets. Team Aqua's Kyogre EX is probably still my favourite card art. (Certainly my favourite full-art Pokemon at the very least.)
My favorite has to be Rising Rivals; it was the set with the first Ultra Rare Gallade card (my favorite Pokemon, of course), my favorite artist Kawayoo debuted with his first three cards (Walrein, Nidorino, and Hippopotas), the Rotom forms got their first ever cards as a subset (Rotom is my 3rd favorite Pokemon), AND the Pikachu reprint cards are gorgeous ;_; I opened both English and Japanese boxes of the set on my Youtube channel ThePokemonRhombus back in the day, so that's really nostalgic for me
Ironically, even tho I collect Shiny Pokemon, Rising Rivals was the only set in that block to not have Shinys in it LOL
Runner-ups include Roaring Skies, Plasma Storm, Aquapolis, and pretty much every Neo/HGSS set haha
Ironically, even tho I collect Shiny Pokemon, Rising Rivals was the only set in that block to not have Shinys in it LOL
Runner-ups include Roaring Skies, Plasma Storm, Aquapolis, and pretty much every Neo/HGSS set haha
I did not notice this! I remember kawayoo art being plastered on the fronts of the HS-Unleashed booster packs (which is how he/she caught my eye) but was unaware of the Rising Rival artwork! I liked this set as well - the blister art is bold and vibrant, the LV.Xs are really cool, (and powerful!), and...you already mentioned the Rotom subset. I'm trying to collect them in mint condition!
Some of my favorite sets:
EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua
Since generation 3 is my favorite, this set introduces Groudon and Kyogre to the TCG as dual types! It is also the last set to feature e-Reader dot codes.
B&W Next Destinies
After three sets, it's the first generation 5 set to include non-gen 5 Pokemon (not secret rares). I really like the packs and EX artworks!! Spectacular!! It is also the only set (so far) to have Darmanitan in Zen Mode!
EX Team Rocket Returns
Again, because of dual types! And as #Otaku @Otaku mentioned, Team Rocket returns!
VS (Japanese)
It's an exclusive and expensive set that was never released in English. I spent nearly $1,000 opening packs and completing the set!!
Base Set
The set that started it all!! I think any true collector should collect some cards from this set
EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua
Since generation 3 is my favorite, this set introduces Groudon and Kyogre to the TCG as dual types! It is also the last set to feature e-Reader dot codes.
B&W Next Destinies
After three sets, it's the first generation 5 set to include non-gen 5 Pokemon (not secret rares). I really like the packs and EX artworks!! Spectacular!! It is also the only set (so far) to have Darmanitan in Zen Mode!
EX Team Rocket Returns
Again, because of dual types! And as #Otaku @Otaku mentioned, Team Rocket returns!
VS (Japanese)
It's an exclusive and expensive set that was never released in English. I spent nearly $1,000 opening packs and completing the set!!
Base Set
The set that started it all!! I think any true collector should collect some cards from this set
Recently, I've had quite a few sets I've been into, but if I had to pick an absolute favorite set of mine, it'd probably be Boundaries Crossed. I've got a LOT of good memories with the set, both in terms of collecting and it being central to the first deck I ever played (Lando/Lucario). But there's a plethora of other reasons I like the set:
-Ultra Rares are all fantastic looking, especially the Full Arts. They're very nice all next to eachother and have a lot of variation when put next to one another. Probably my favorite ones out of any set in that era.
-Great lineup of holos, which all feel really nice to pull. The Unova starters, Charizard and Blastoise (more on that one later), some legends, some fan favorites, all of them with really solid art.
-Three of my favorite pokemon are in the set, (Darmanitan, Lilligant, both with some of the best art they've gotten, and Snorlax). Funny enough, Empoleon, my all time favorite, got a promo alongside the set. What are the odds they'd go 4 for 4, lol.
-The size of the set is just right for me. It's big, but not too big. You're not getting the same thing every time when you open it, there's always something new, but it's not a nightmare of 20000000 SR's.
-It was the first set that added the gold bordering to the BW SR's, a pretty nice up in the quality of those already fantastic shinies.
-LOTS of cards I ended up playing at some point. Even to this day, because of Blastoise, I still have a deck I occasionally play. Landorus-EX, etc. I've had fun with a lot of those at certain points.
There was just such an excitement I had that came with opening up any of that set I could find. There was just something about it that encompassed why the BW era is my favorite part of the TCG.
Other honorable mentions though, and a lot of sets I've been pretty into lately:
Roaring Skies/Ancient Origins, the two peak sets of the XY era (RS especially).
The E-series sets, mainly Expedition, which honestly, out of all sets collectible-wise, I consider to be the perfect TCG set. It's got everything you could ask for in terms of a roster, and AMAZING art to add onto it.
-Ultra Rares are all fantastic looking, especially the Full Arts. They're very nice all next to eachother and have a lot of variation when put next to one another. Probably my favorite ones out of any set in that era.
-Great lineup of holos, which all feel really nice to pull. The Unova starters, Charizard and Blastoise (more on that one later), some legends, some fan favorites, all of them with really solid art.
-Three of my favorite pokemon are in the set, (Darmanitan, Lilligant, both with some of the best art they've gotten, and Snorlax). Funny enough, Empoleon, my all time favorite, got a promo alongside the set. What are the odds they'd go 4 for 4, lol.
-The size of the set is just right for me. It's big, but not too big. You're not getting the same thing every time when you open it, there's always something new, but it's not a nightmare of 20000000 SR's.
-It was the first set that added the gold bordering to the BW SR's, a pretty nice up in the quality of those already fantastic shinies.
-LOTS of cards I ended up playing at some point. Even to this day, because of Blastoise, I still have a deck I occasionally play. Landorus-EX, etc. I've had fun with a lot of those at certain points.
There was just such an excitement I had that came with opening up any of that set I could find. There was just something about it that encompassed why the BW era is my favorite part of the TCG.
Other honorable mentions though, and a lot of sets I've been pretty into lately:
Roaring Skies/Ancient Origins, the two peak sets of the XY era (RS especially).
The E-series sets, mainly Expedition, which honestly, out of all sets collectible-wise, I consider to be the perfect TCG set. It's got everything you could ask for in terms of a roster, and AMAZING art to add onto it.
A few years ago (ca. Ancient Origins's release) I rated every set on artwork and based strictly on numerical averages, my results were:
5. Next Destinies, 8.184/10
4. Undaunted, 8.209/10
3. Legendary Treasures, 8.25/10
2. Call of Legends, 8.264/10
1. Emerging Powers, 8.276/10
Of course claiming Emerging Powers as the best set of all time is insanity so strict numerical averaging is not a great system for something like this. Of the classic sets I like Jungle the most for blessing the world with one queen Kagemaru Himeno, having good Pokemon selection and a more coherent brand than the average set that's a hodgepodge of everything. Legends Awakened has a place in my heart for being my first booster box, Emerging Powers for being my first booster box that I opened on camera for the two seconds I tried doing the Youtube thing, and Boundaries Crossed for being the current set when I started dated my ex. As a block I also stanned the HGSS series since it spread the focus around across every existing Pokemon pretty well, had good pull rates, and dug pretty deeply into the lore of the games while mining for things to feature (so much of the artwork includes locations from the games and random evolution items in the backgrounds, etc)
5. Next Destinies, 8.184/10
4. Undaunted, 8.209/10
3. Legendary Treasures, 8.25/10
2. Call of Legends, 8.264/10
1. Emerging Powers, 8.276/10
Of course claiming Emerging Powers as the best set of all time is insanity so strict numerical averaging is not a great system for something like this. Of the classic sets I like Jungle the most for blessing the world with one queen Kagemaru Himeno, having good Pokemon selection and a more coherent brand than the average set that's a hodgepodge of everything. Legends Awakened has a place in my heart for being my first booster box, Emerging Powers for being my first booster box that I opened on camera for the two seconds I tried doing the Youtube thing, and Boundaries Crossed for being the current set when I started dated my ex. As a block I also stanned the HGSS series since it spread the focus around across every existing Pokemon pretty well, had good pull rates, and dug pretty deeply into the lore of the games while mining for things to feature (so much of the artwork includes locations from the games and random evolution items in the backgrounds, etc)
Can you explain everything other than the Kagemaru Himeno bit?
It's called "Jungle" and features a lot of Pokemon that I could believe being found in a Pokemon world's version of a "jungle" e.g. the Safari Zone in the Kanto games, which houses a lot of the Pokemon found in the Jungle set despite a few outliers like the Eeveelutions or Electrode.
That kind of branding is little more consistent than say a "Celestial Storm" which is 200 cards of whatever with Rayquaza focused on in the marketing despite the set's cards having clashing types and backgrounds because it's three or more different Japanese sources rolled together. (I did like how many of the Japanese subsets in the SM era had a clear vision like "the Johto set" and "the Hoenn set" or "the Darkness set" and "the Fairy set" but most of that nuance got bulldozed by the English release strategy. lol)
"Good Pokemon selection" just means they picked a group of Pokemon that I really like.
That kind of branding is little more consistent than say a "Celestial Storm" which is 200 cards of whatever with Rayquaza focused on in the marketing despite the set's cards having clashing types and backgrounds because it's three or more different Japanese sources rolled together. (I did like how many of the Japanese subsets in the SM era had a clear vision like "the Johto set" and "the Hoenn set" or "the Darkness set" and "the Fairy set" but most of that nuance got bulldozed by the English release strategy. lol)
"Good Pokemon selection" just means they picked a group of Pokemon that I really like.
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YES he did the pack/deck artwork for every HGSS set; I actually have a sealed blister of every pack art from that era because he did them <3 Absolutely love those those Rotom cards, I have every one in both English and Japanese haha I wish you luck with getting them in mint
Easy: Plasma Freeze!
Just...look at the cards in the set...don't they have such a wonderful style?
https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-...tist=&advancedSubmit=&sort=number&sort=number
Also other Black and White expansions are very cool.
Just...look at the cards in the set...don't they have such a wonderful style?
https://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-...tist=&advancedSubmit=&sort=number&sort=number
Also other Black and White expansions are very cool.
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Dark Explorers
I'm really enjoying the variety of answers in this thread!
Evolutions.
One, it got me into the game. But two, it's kind of Wizard's fault.
If you've never played Magic, you might not know that Wizards have an exact opposite approach than TPCi's "REMEMBER KANTO?". Yes, they still often pander to nostalgia (I mean, it's a 26-yo brand), but they equally hate and reject their old sets and design philosophies. They've openly stated that they won't bring back "old card frames", even as promotional cards, because they subjectively don't like how they look.
In that case, Evolutions is everything I wanted from Magic, but in Pokemon. A massive nostalgia kick that goes all out and isn't pretentious about it. I just wish it was bigger and contained casually-playable Supporter cards.
One, it got me into the game. But two, it's kind of Wizard's fault.
If you've never played Magic, you might not know that Wizards have an exact opposite approach than TPCi's "REMEMBER KANTO?". Yes, they still often pander to nostalgia (I mean, it's a 26-yo brand), but they equally hate and reject their old sets and design philosophies. They've openly stated that they won't bring back "old card frames", even as promotional cards, because they subjectively don't like how they look.
In that case, Evolutions is everything I wanted from Magic, but in Pokemon. A massive nostalgia kick that goes all out and isn't pretentious about it. I just wish it was bigger and contained casually-playable Supporter cards.
Rising Rivals was the set that got me into Pokemon as a whole so probably Rising Rivals