Huge Shoutout to The Pokemon Aaahhh! Discord and Website. Without help from contributing members, this Video would not be possible! www.pokemonaaah.net/ discord.gg/pw3bdTKM
Great video! Growing up with the EX and Diamond & Pearl eras, the EX sets have to be my favourite sets Pokemon cards ever, especially the Delta Species cards.
In the UK, I don’t remember seeing any of the cards for sale at this time and any events for the games only took place in major cities so it became a really difficult time to actually do anything or get anything
I feel like Pokémon neglected the UK for a long while. You used to have UK specific boxes for WOTC and stuff but I guess they didn’t feel the need to do that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yes the 3rd generation was a dark time. I actually didn’t play Generation 3 until Emerald came out because in my own words back then “Pokémon was for little kids” as my younger brother begged me to get Sapphire version, as I ended up buying Metroid Zero Mission instead when it released. Me and my brother preferred to buy Yugioh TCG over Pokemon TCG when it released. I bought very few Pokemon TCG packs during this era. The first pack I got from Generation 3 was EX FireRed & LeafGreen where I pulled a Gyarados ex, which I still have to this day. It was literally the anime that still kept me attached to the Pokémon franchise and not completely abandon it.
I def remember this period being when Pokémon wasn’t considered kool anymore. On the playground Yugioh was “IN” and Pokémon was “played out”. It wasn’t until diamond and pearl came out that I saw my classmates (now in high school at the the time) on a Pokémon craze again. And then of course Pokémon go years later had everybody acting like it was 1999 again.
Decent video, I just personally prefer my video essays without any sny biased comments/Snickers here and there.. regardless if I agree with them or not. Is the purpose of the video to inform or persuade?
I just have to disagree with the game part. Ruby and Sapphire almost immediately became the best selling GBA games and boosted sales of the console. In the end, they sold 16 million units.
That doesn't mean the games sold as well though. Selling well doesn't equal growth. Ruby & Sapphire sold almost 10 Million less copies than Gold & Silver. Yeah, it was still a success, but interest was starting to dip. Emerald did a lot to help though, selling one million more copies than Crystal did
I can confirm that as a 10 year old when Pokemon was popular in the US in the late 90’s and by 2003 as an 13 year old, No one in my school was playing Pokemon anymore, let alone collecting the cards. I did however came back to it when Fire Red & Leaf Green came out, but no cards. No one was interested in the cards anymore after Gen 2, or the show. Yu-Gi-Oh came along and got hot along with the cards. Then you had new episodes of Dragon Ball Z. We were growing up, no one knew Pokemon would stay relevant in the future.
Hi. Celebi Collector here. Dark Celebi was likely put in ex Hidden Legends to use as the star of the Forest Guardian theme deck. It contrasts well with Jirachi, since its another Mythical low HP Pokemon.
@WhimsicottTCG I never looked into the theme decks to be honest but that makes sense. I def need to check again on the holos that’s an extremely unnoticeable detail haha’ thanks for watching and thanks for the comment!
@@ProfessorMetri Glad to help out where I can. I'm not super knowledgeable on ex era, but I've been studying random PTCG trivia throughout the years so sometimes I know some stuff
Gen 3 was by far the coolest era of the TCG and I'm glad people are starting to realize it... Just wish they weren't so expensive my wallet is still starving after buying that gold star ray
Sorry I opened all the packs I bought 20 Years ago when I got a pack of Gen 3 every other week it seemed like. Gen 3 was when I was most purchasing Pokemon Cards. Maybe it was just that cool to see cards promoted & packs at retail stores that weren't Gen 1. For some reason you couldn't find anything Gen 2 in 2001-2003 except the games where I lived then Gen 3 Changed Everything. G2 Barely getting promoted is why everyone thought Slugma & Skarmory debuted in Hoenn.
I own a goldstar flareon from the last set and apparently it usually goes for 130$. I dont know how much mine would be worth though since its far from ideal condition.
Hey Big fan of the EX era and I think something you touched on in this video applies to way more sets. Gen 3 is the BEST for set identity but it’s not just a few sets. It tells the whole story of Gen 3 as if playing the game. No other Gen does this as well as Gen 3 does. Ruby Sappire - is the early Hoenn routes with mostly early route, petalburg/ dewford town type pokemon Sandstorm - the desert and electric pokemon and matching the area of Mauville Dragon - It’s Meateor falls (seen in the BG of many cards) and then Mt Chimney (seen in the BG of Charizard) Magma Aqua - Magma Aqua interning us to the evil teams and their plots -Hidden Legends later game where we have access to surf, rainy routes and the regi dungeons Fire red leaf green- breaks the Hoenn story to tell Kantos story again Rocket- shows us the team rocket post game in the sevii islands but also a glimpse at the GameCube games with shadow pokemon and many of the Johto pokemon missing from our collections. Then - ex deoxys for the more mythical pokemon events as well as other post games stuff With Ray Emerald - Emerald which sorts recaps everything -Unseen forces (Random Johto themed set, maybe just filler) Finally we have the Delta specis PEAK creativity -power creepers and off one with the E4 and Battle frontier
Dude this is SO cool, This video could have been an hour long with this type of knowledge haha, my favorite comments have been the ones where i learn something new. I just took a peek at your channel and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have to go binge watch every lore/history/theory video you made.
@@ProfessorMetri aw thanks so much, just subscribed to you and yeah honestly in my opinion they've never beaten the identity of this generation. From gen4 onwards theyr happy to put all the legendaries and such in the sets asap. I think Scar Vi is maybe teying but because of the open world it's hard for them to tell a clear story. The best we have is Scar Vi - Intro to the region and the 3 story paths Paldea evovled - Starters upgraded, and the ruin quartet Obsidian flames - idk Elite 4, team stars, Geeta set maybe? Paradox Rift -Area Zero Temporal forces - DLC Area Zero stuff Twilight masqureade - Kitikame Shourded Fable - Mochi mayhem event The Terapagos Set - Indigo disc. In theory that's what the sets are about but in practice the art's dont feel like they reflec tthese parts of the games in the same way as say the hoenn era does.
Interestingly enough a lot of competitive Pokemon tcg players look back on this era (specifically the 2006 era) as one of the best in the history of the tcg, as the standard card pool facilitated a lot of smart back and forth gameplay and decks could easily make comebacks if they were far behind
So I’ve seen! I really don’t know much about the TCG (I’m a fake fan I know) but Man people LOVED the game during the Ex era everyone who plays says it was the most fun meta
@@ProfessorMetri Klaczynski considers it the most skill-testing era of the TCG, and as a former Magic player who didn't play Pokémon at the time (plus I was only 8-13), I can definitely see it.
This was the era I grew up in and I’ve never thought of it as “the dark ages”, if anything that is the golden era from RSE to DDP/HGSS. My favorite cards are the Delta cards and Gen 3 EX cards.
Idk gen 5 was pretty beatdown in its time, I was an avid fan in my youth as black was MY pokemon game, not the first I had played but the first that was actually mine, but even as a kid I thought the hate gen 5 got was dumb. Gen 5 best gen ❤
Honest question: do most people treat the tcg as a collection item vs an actual game? Most of this video focuses on art, foils and themeing as opposed to actual game mechanics or meta game.
@@naramoro Actually no, there is a very large portion of the community dedicated to playing. It’s a bit surprising how polarizing the groups are though. RUclips will almost never recommend the actual game to someone who’s only interested in playing. I only collect so I really don’t know anything about meta and the actual game during that time but I can refer you to some videos.
A video on the metagame and key cards that defined decks of the time definitely would have been a lot better video. As someone who actually played a lot during this time, the game was very interesting with a wide variety of top decks. Collectors kinda ruin trying to go back and play the ex era though since the prices exploded. Also always find it funny that a ton of the unplayable cards are usually the most expensive cards.
@@williamkeiser7562 my target audience is collectors, not players. I don’t think the video would have been better covering mega decks and key cards as I don’t know anything about that, I think you just found the wrong video
Thank you for this! This was the generation when I briefly got into the tcg again but mostly just played emerald for months, still my favorite pokemon game! The cards from this era are probably the most valuable I have, I still can't believe I actually pulled a dark tyranitar...
@@Ivan2Jura emerald is 100% my favorite game I still play it today. The cards from this era just feel different - there’s 2 dark tyranitars and they’re both so cool
this might be the single most impressive video i've seen covering the ex era (and i'm a bit of an ex era snob so it's been tough to find super well done/accurate info over the era) - genuinely 10/10 on this. definitely excited to see the rest of the content you cover (:
Best Pokemon TCG video I've watched in a long time. The quality of your videos and views/subs don't match so hoping you keep putting this great content out there as you'll surely get the attention you deserve!
I think that Sandstorm will start/has started to be appreciated a lot more by collectors now that we know for a fact that a lot of the Jamboree cards were repurposed for it. Great video! It's a shame that most sets don't have solid overarching themes nowadays.
I think Jamboree is still such an unknown thing. I thought of making a video but there’s already some incredible content regarding the topic ruclips.net/video/HC1e0e-0a2U/видео.htmlsi=5CRi2kgscjRApWzq I highly suggest giving it a watch. Really cool to see it talked about though, thanks for the watch!
Counting on this “Pokemon” phase to… catch on. There just may be something there for people to attach to. Edit to shout-out the work done editing this masterpiece. This is S-Tier content, truly you ARE a Professor after all!
insane video and insane editing ! shame that pokemon tcg history is such a niche but interesting content, you deserve way more for the work you've done !
Great video. Good job calling out the stolen Unseen Forces Gold Star Dogs. Probably a bit late to edit but the Japanese Mcdonald's squirtle wasn't in the EX Team Aqua & Team magma set. A Japanese Meiji Squirtle Promo with the cherry blossoms was in the set though. The japanese Mcdonald's Squirtle was released in english Pop Series 4 set.
You’re actually insane for catching this, Im sure how I made that mistake bc I made a note not to add any Japanese cards in this video haha. I assume it’s the same card but different artwork and i grabbed the wrong version. I do all my editing Really late at night so it was probably a slip up. Thank you for catching it
@@ProfessorMetri The pokemon company are known to reprint the same cards with different illustrator artwork. The Pokebody and attack are the same so it is a easy enough mistake. I hoard Japanese Mcdonalds and Pop series 4 Squirtle and have a few Cherry blossom Squirtle in my personal collection so I am pretty familiar with the two cards.
WTF do you mena "darkest point"? That's literally the best era of the TCG and still popular to this day. It wasn't as big as first gen of the TCG, but it still sold fairly well for trading cars.
I have a few issues with the video I'd like to correct. First is when you showed the timeline for the releases of FireRed, LeafGreen, and their accompanying sets. The image you used for the JP set isn't actually part of the TCG, it was the set of e-cards released alongside the games that let you add new trainers to Trainer Hill. The actual set that went with FRLG was Flight of Legends, a set focused around the legendary birds and didn't even feature the starters at all. The starters included in EX FRLG came from starter decks that released a month before Flight of Legends. As for Rocket's Raikou ex and Rocket's Persian ex, they were never removed from the JP set, Rocket Gang Strikes Back. They were promo cards given out at tournaments that got added as box toppers to localize them. For Deoxys Speed, it was again never removed from any set. Both releases of the set, Japan's Clash of the Blue Sky and our EX Deoxys released BEFORE Emerald, the game that introduced the form. In fact, the JP set didn't even have the normal forme, it was part of a starter deck. Lastly, for EX Emerald, it's an EN only set that was a mishmash of various JP only promo cards that hadn't been localized yet. That's why the set lacks an identity. The video's good, but feels like you could've done more research.
1. Regarding FRLG, youre totally right, i used to the wrong pack art but the dates are still valid. When it comes to What Pokémon were included in the set, Starters were indeed a big focus (2 of each with Charmander getting 3 as a box topper) however, this is for the English side, which is what this video mostly Discusses. 2. As for the Rocket's Raikou and Persian Ex, once again correct they weren't technically "taken out" of the Japanese set, but you can't deny the belong to the rocket set. So placing Rocket cards in an unseen forces box is still a little strange. Surely they could have made any other Pokemon cards to be box toppers. it just seems out of place. 3. I'm starting to think my use of "taken out of the set" should have been switched to "Not put into the set". I did my best to touch on some Japanese parts that i thought were important without really going deep into the Japanese side of things but i totally missed a bunch of details. I think the EX emerald one is the most notorious for this. I'm not sure how i overlooked that it lacked a JP counterpart. thanks for filling me in on all of this. It took a LONG time to try and put this together but even with all that time there were still mistakes. I appreciate you watching and giving your input
Awesome video in terms of both information and entertainment! Excellent edits, love team rocket returns set, and I like the sableye gem reverse evidence theory haha!
I always loved the gen 3 era pokemon cards the most past the e reader stuff. The card layout was very nice to look at, the artwork felt really distinct and the foiling was top notch. I remember how blown away we all were at ex cards with how they looked. Delta species also was nuts to look at, seeing pokemon be completely different types from what we were used to. So much cool stuff came out of those sets.
I’m mastering this entire era of sets, and you did such an incredible job of giving the background on a fairly unknown era of the TCG! Thank you so much for all the work you put into this video! It really puts it all into perspective and has inspired me to create a video of my own!
New sets really do have amazing artworks that are truly incredible but I think full arts and ex’s lack any sort of identity. SIRs and common hold all the story but they don’t always complement each other
I remember as a kid, around the time of Diamond and Pearl you could trade some of the lvl. X cards for 2-3-4 ex cards, they just weren't popular. You can probably guess how I know, I was that kid getting all the ex cards!! Still to this day, my favorite generation of cards and Gen IV is a close second, nostalgia mixed with pure aesthetics!
This was a great video! Team Aqua & Team Magma was the last set I bought until I randomly was in a Target and bought a pack of Steam Siege! Haven’t missed a set since 😎
15:24 In Generation III, Deoxys's form depends on the game: Normal form in Ruby and Sapphire, Attack form in FireRed, Defense form in LeafGreen, and Speed form in Emerald. Emerald was released globally in may 2005 so it kind of makes sense they put speed form in the emerald set 😅
Reverse paterns from EX era will never be beaten ! This was and will always be the peak era, just incredible artworks from the best artists of the TCG.
Also from gameplay perspective it is considered the best era of the TCG, archetype diversity, high technical skill ceiling and deckbuilding strategy hevily rewarded. But to be fair it was also quite expensive, there were some decks over $300 which was crazy for a card game in 2004/2007 not named yugioh.
Just gonna say, the post-Unseen Forces sets are what I consider to be the death of the TCG (until much more recently), so it's interesting to hear that the era previous to that is the one people generally consider darkest. I guess I didn't collect a ton at the time (dropped off TCG during Gen 2), so maybe it's just hindsight, but still. The E-Reader cards are just cool as hell, imo.
I should have been more clear with statistics in the video but When I say “darkest” it doesn’t mean people disliked the TCG, in fact it was probably the most competitive well liked competitive scene ever and people who were collecting loved it. What makes it the “darkest” was that Pokémon, the company, was on a steep decline. Red and blue sold ~31 million copies, gold and silver sold ~24 million and Ruby sapphire sold ~16 million.
Those years is where I played the TCG the most by far. I played competively as well as I could as a high schooler with little money. By far the best years to play the tcg. My favorite decks I used back then were my dark dragtrode deck and team magma deck. I still have all the pieces to remake my team magma deck too.The TCG went to crap when gen 4 started and I couldn't get into it anymore. It just wasn't the same anymore and the power creep started to get gross to me with those Pokemon prime at ex level of power but no drawbacks.
I’ve had a lot of people tell me this was one of the best times ever competitively for Pokémon which is so cool to see. While Pokémon was struggling financially, the people who were still in it were having the time of their lives.
Awesome video man! tysm! I work at a tcg shop and while I am definitely making sure to refer to this video for pokemon tcg information, is there anyway you still have the references for your information in this video thats not wiki? In case I’m asked, I hope to be able to refer to multiple references. Thank you again!
A lot of the references really did come from Bulbapedia, the website has ALOT more information than people realize. I wouldn’t go father than recommending people to Bulbapedia. If you have players interested in learning about the games history rather than design and collecting I’d check out “Ruby Retro”
This was a wonderful video to watch. I remember gazing at these cards when I was subscribed to Beckett. As you mentioned in your video, Yugioh was taking my time, so I didn't bother trying to collect Pokemon cards from this era, unfortunately.
@@ProfessorMetri Agreed! It was cool to be able to "pretend" to be kaiba or Yugi and summon their ace monsters. Or even relieve certain formats from the anime like The Dox Brothers Labyrinth.
@@ProfessorMetri I believe they had a tendency to curl and the reverse foil could sometimes break apart. I'd have to dig some out, but I remember the set having quality issues.
If that was the dark ages, what do you call the current hot mess that is Scarlet and Violet? I'd go so far as to say that if they don't start making nice cards again soon, Pokemon WILL die. Current gen is an obvious cash grab
I’m not entirely sure why people have this idea. Scarlet and violet is BOOOMING sure, they’re catering to some nostalgia fans but overall Pokémon in general is at an all time high. The flood of People are joining the hobby’s as collectors is one thing but the absolute insane turnout at competitive tournaments is astounding. Pokémon isn’t going anywhere. Sure, the overall identity of each set feels a bit lackluster but you can’t deny artworks are currently peak. I think they do need to make some changes for pack hits bc I feel they keep devaluing them. Full arts used to be THE hit of the pack now it feels pretty lame to pull one. Im sure they’ll figure it out
@ProfessorMetri because I sell more S&V stuff than anything else and besides 151 and Paldean Fates, the value isn't there and the attributes that create later value aren't either. Combine that with the anime axing Pikachu and Ash and you have a recipe for disaster. The cards are being PUMPED out in ridiculous numbers and collectors are careful nowadays. There will be TONS of high grade S&V in the future and the commonality of it will tank any chance of investment.
I’m sad it took me so long to finally get to watch this, but holy smokes was this amazing. Seriously cannot tell you enough how good this video is. So informative and fascinating.
Serious question: How did the theft of the Gold Star Dogs cause their price to go down? Id like to pick some of them up, but if they're destined to fail, oof I better not.
Instead of going into the hands of kids opening packs in went into binders and sleeves. If you look at the population for gold stars from unseen forces it’s 2-3x higher than any other set. - I don’t think this affects current day pricing. Market price has settled along time ago haha but they won’t continue dropping it is what it is now
I sort of agree with this. There have been hundreds of Japanese promos that never made it to English but at the same time, Team Magma Team Aqua was 100% the wrong set to put it in. They stuck out like a sore thumb and I think it would have fit better in any other sey
Huge Shoutout to The Pokemon Aaahhh! Discord and Website. Without help from contributing members, this Video would not be possible!
www.pokemonaaah.net/
discord.gg/pw3bdTKM
Huzzah! Glad we could be of help to you 😊
One of my least knowledgeable eras explained beautifully 👍🏽 mans put in the work
You grifters you. We lived Pokémon!
Ruxin34 jumpscare in a Pokemon video wasn't expected lol, but this is a great little history piece, good stuff!
Great video! Growing up with the EX and Diamond & Pearl eras, the EX sets have to be my favourite sets Pokemon cards ever, especially the Delta Species cards.
Me too! The delta species sets especially but those have so much lore to them I wanted to dedicate a video to it
In the UK, I don’t remember seeing any of the cards for sale at this time and any events for the games only took place in major cities so it became a really difficult time to actually do anything or get anything
I feel like Pokémon neglected the UK for a long while. You used to have UK specific boxes for WOTC and stuff but I guess they didn’t feel the need to do that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What a trip down memory lane... Thanks so much for the video!
Thanks for watching :)
Yes the 3rd generation was a dark time. I actually didn’t play Generation 3 until Emerald came out because in my own words back then “Pokémon was for little kids” as my younger brother begged me to get Sapphire version, as I ended up buying Metroid Zero Mission instead when it released.
Me and my brother preferred to buy Yugioh TCG over Pokemon TCG when it released. I bought very few Pokemon TCG packs during this era. The first pack I got from Generation 3 was EX FireRed & LeafGreen where I pulled a Gyarados ex, which I still have to this day.
It was literally the anime that still kept me attached to the Pokémon franchise and not completely abandon it.
I def remember this period being when Pokémon wasn’t considered kool anymore. On the playground Yugioh was “IN” and Pokémon was “played out”. It wasn’t until diamond and pearl came out that I saw my classmates (now in high school at the the time) on a Pokémon craze again. And then of course Pokémon go years later had everybody acting like it was 1999 again.
Awesome content bud, hipe to see what comes next 🙂
I have nothing with this era. If you let me pick between a Base set unlimited Charizard or any goldstar i pick he Charizard any day.
Decent video, I just personally prefer my video essays without any sny biased comments/Snickers here and there.. regardless if I agree with them or not. Is the purpose of the video to inform or persuade?
The purpose of this video was for me to talk about a topic I enjoy
Great video, make more
I just have to disagree with the game part. Ruby and Sapphire almost immediately became the best selling GBA games and boosted sales of the console. In the end, they sold 16 million units.
That doesn't mean the games sold as well though. Selling well doesn't equal growth. Ruby & Sapphire sold almost 10 Million less copies than Gold & Silver. Yeah, it was still a success, but interest was starting to dip. Emerald did a lot to help though, selling one million more copies than Crystal did
I disagree with the whole thing lol, it was never about to “fall off” this guy is just delusional
@@Bighous503 yeah there was a decline, but it was still the most profitable franchise at that time. The TCG though was in a rough state lol.
OK zoomer @@redheadmedia7901
I can confirm that as a 10 year old when Pokemon was popular in the US in the late 90’s and by 2003 as an 13 year old, No one in my school was playing Pokemon anymore, let alone collecting the cards. I did however came back to it when Fire Red & Leaf Green came out, but no cards. No one was interested in the cards anymore after Gen 2, or the show. Yu-Gi-Oh came along and got hot along with the cards. Then you had new episodes of Dragon Ball Z. We were growing up, no one knew Pokemon would stay relevant in the future.
this was exactly what happened to me as well. we all shifted to MTG at circa 2001. such a shame because pokemon was and still is a very nice TCG
@@MrRager1989 I love that I have so many testaments to my video being true lol
Hi. Celebi Collector here. Dark Celebi was likely put in ex Hidden Legends to use as the star of the Forest Guardian theme deck. It contrasts well with Jirachi, since its another Mythical low HP Pokemon.
Also the reverse pattern in Ex hidden legends is different from FRLG and TRR which have the symbols randomly applied instead of a consistent pattern
@WhimsicottTCG I never looked into the theme decks to be honest but that makes sense. I def need to check again on the holos that’s an extremely unnoticeable detail haha’ thanks for watching and thanks for the comment!
@@ProfessorMetri Glad to help out where I can. I'm not super knowledgeable on ex era, but I've been studying random PTCG trivia throughout the years so sometimes I know some stuff
Gen 3 was by far the coolest era of the TCG and I'm glad people are starting to realize it... Just wish they weren't so expensive my wallet is still starving after buying that gold star ray
I wanna pull a gold star so badly 😭 I love your Pfp metagross is awesome
@@ProfessorMetri good luck pulling one. Just getting your hands on unopened ex deoxys packs is like finding the Holy Grail
Sorry I opened all the packs I bought 20 Years ago when I got a pack of Gen 3 every other week it seemed like. Gen 3 was when I was most purchasing Pokemon Cards. Maybe it was just that cool to see cards promoted & packs at retail stores that weren't Gen 1. For some reason you couldn't find anything Gen 2 in 2001-2003 except the games where I lived then Gen 3 Changed Everything. G2 Barely getting promoted is why everyone thought Slugma & Skarmory debuted in Hoenn.
If you don’t mind me asking, how much did you buy the rayquaza for? Im trying to get one and dont want to overpay
I own a goldstar flareon from the last set and apparently it usually goes for 130$. I dont know how much mine would be worth though since its far from ideal condition.
This is by far the best video you have done! I already feel big-brained after watching 🗣💯
not the clip of ruxin wearing my merch LMAO
LOL I’m pretty sure he owns every piece of merch you sell he’s always wearing it. Thanks for tuning in dude ❤️
Trying My Best
This is straight peak. Edits to education is too good. 👨🍳😘
Hey Big fan of the EX era and I think something you touched on in this video applies to way more sets.
Gen 3 is the BEST for set identity but it’s not just a few sets. It tells the whole story of Gen 3 as if playing the game. No other Gen does this as well as Gen 3 does.
Ruby Sappire - is the early Hoenn routes with mostly early route, petalburg/ dewford town type pokemon
Sandstorm - the desert and electric pokemon and matching the area of Mauville
Dragon - It’s Meateor falls (seen in the BG of many cards) and then Mt Chimney (seen in the BG of Charizard)
Magma Aqua - Magma Aqua interning us to the evil teams and their plots
-Hidden Legends later game where we have access to surf, rainy routes and the regi dungeons
Fire red leaf green- breaks the Hoenn story to tell Kantos story again
Rocket- shows us the team rocket post game in the sevii islands but also a glimpse at the GameCube games with shadow pokemon and many of the Johto pokemon missing from our collections.
Then - ex deoxys for the more mythical pokemon events as well as other post games stuff With Ray
Emerald - Emerald which sorts recaps everything
-Unseen forces (Random Johto themed set, maybe just filler)
Finally we have the Delta specis PEAK creativity
-power creepers and off one with the E4 and Battle frontier
Dude this is SO cool, This video could have been an hour long with this type of knowledge haha, my favorite comments have been the ones where i learn something new. I just took a peek at your channel and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have to go binge watch every lore/history/theory video you made.
@@ProfessorMetri aw thanks so much, just subscribed to you and yeah honestly in my opinion they've never beaten the identity of this generation. From gen4 onwards theyr happy to put all the legendaries and such in the sets asap. I think Scar Vi is maybe teying but because of the open world it's hard for them to tell a clear story. The best we have is
Scar Vi - Intro to the region and the 3 story paths
Paldea evovled - Starters upgraded, and the ruin quartet
Obsidian flames - idk Elite 4, team stars, Geeta set maybe?
Paradox Rift -Area Zero
Temporal forces - DLC Area Zero stuff
Twilight masqureade - Kitikame
Shourded Fable - Mochi mayhem event
The Terapagos Set - Indigo disc.
In theory that's what the sets are about but in practice the art's dont feel like they reflec tthese parts of the games in the same way as say the hoenn era does.
Interestingly enough a lot of competitive Pokemon tcg players look back on this era (specifically the 2006 era) as one of the best in the history of the tcg, as the standard card pool facilitated a lot of smart back and forth gameplay and decks could easily make comebacks if they were far behind
So I’ve seen! I really don’t know much about the TCG (I’m a fake fan I know) but Man people LOVED the game during the Ex era everyone who plays says it was the most fun meta
@@ProfessorMetri Klaczynski considers it the most skill-testing era of the TCG, and as a former Magic player who didn't play Pokémon at the time (plus I was only 8-13), I can definitely see it.
Its because it literally never was as balanced again. Wasn't before Ex era either.
You're making history with this one. Thank you for putting in the work. From all of us.
This was the era I grew up in and I’ve never thought of it as “the dark ages”, if anything that is the golden era from RSE to DDP/HGSS. My favorite cards are the Delta cards and Gen 3 EX cards.
Idk gen 5 was pretty beatdown in its time, I was an avid fan in my youth as black was MY pokemon game, not the first I had played but the first that was actually mine, but even as a kid I thought the hate gen 5 got was dumb. Gen 5 best gen ❤
Honest question: do most people treat the tcg as a collection item vs an actual game? Most of this video focuses on art, foils and themeing as opposed to actual game mechanics or meta game.
@@naramoro Actually no, there is a very large portion of the community dedicated to playing. It’s a bit surprising how polarizing the groups are though. RUclips will almost never recommend the actual game to someone who’s only interested in playing. I only collect so I really don’t know anything about meta and the actual game during that time but I can refer you to some videos.
A video on the metagame and key cards that defined decks of the time definitely would have been a lot better video. As someone who actually played a lot during this time, the game was very interesting with a wide variety of top decks. Collectors kinda ruin trying to go back and play the ex era though since the prices exploded. Also always find it funny that a ton of the unplayable cards are usually the most expensive cards.
@@williamkeiser7562 my target audience is collectors, not players. I don’t think the video would have been better covering mega decks and key cards as I don’t know anything about that, I think you just found the wrong video
I believe the casual audience are mostly collectors. And yes the casual audience is the majority.
I grew up a bit after the 3rd gen TCG, but none of the kids at my school that had pokemon cards knew how to play the game.
Thank you for this! This was the generation when I briefly got into the tcg again but mostly just played emerald for months, still my favorite pokemon game!
The cards from this era are probably the most valuable I have, I still can't believe I actually pulled a dark tyranitar...
@@Ivan2Jura emerald is 100% my favorite game I still play it today. The cards from this era just feel different - there’s 2 dark tyranitars and they’re both so cool
this might be the single most impressive video i've seen covering the ex era (and i'm a bit of an ex era snob so it's been tough to find super well done/accurate info over the era) - genuinely 10/10 on this. definitely excited to see the rest of the content you cover (:
Duuuude the editing in this video is INSANE! 🤩
Best Pokemon TCG video I've watched in a long time. The quality of your videos and views/subs don't match so hoping you keep putting this great content out there as you'll surely get the attention you deserve!
it's so weird thinking of gen 3 as a low point for pokemon, when it's my favorite generation of games and anime. and I love those ex cards
Love that you put in the research for this one. Great video dude
Great job dude!
I think that Sandstorm will start/has started to be appreciated a lot more by collectors now that we know for a fact that a lot of the Jamboree cards were repurposed for it. Great video! It's a shame that most sets don't have solid overarching themes nowadays.
I think Jamboree is still such an unknown thing. I thought of making a video but there’s already some incredible content regarding the topic ruclips.net/video/HC1e0e-0a2U/видео.htmlsi=5CRi2kgscjRApWzq
I highly suggest giving it a watch. Really cool to see it talked about though, thanks for the watch!
@@ProfessorMetri Oh yeah, I love Matoba's stuff!
Great video, I already knew most of this stuff since I grew up with this area but was nice to hear about regardless. Looking forward to more
Thank you!
Loved this! EX era is so special to me so it was a treat to learn all that info I never knew. Can’t wait for the delta species video!!
Thanks:) it’s literally my child hood so it’s special to me too
Counting on this “Pokemon” phase to… catch on. There just may be something there for people to attach to.
Edit to shout-out the work done editing this masterpiece. This is S-Tier content, truly you ARE a Professor after all!
insane video and insane editing ! shame that pokemon tcg history is such a niche but interesting content, you deserve way more for the work you've done !
Coming from mtg I didn't know people actually played the Pokemon TCG. Thought it was just something kids collected. Interesting.
It’s more alive today than ever! I don’t personally play but it’s a big part of the hobby
Great video.
Good job calling out the stolen Unseen Forces Gold Star Dogs.
Probably a bit late to edit but the Japanese Mcdonald's squirtle wasn't in the EX Team Aqua & Team magma set. A Japanese Meiji Squirtle Promo with the cherry blossoms was in the set though. The japanese Mcdonald's Squirtle was released in english Pop Series 4 set.
You’re actually insane for catching this, Im sure how I made that mistake bc I made a note not to add any Japanese cards in this video haha. I assume it’s the same card but different artwork and i grabbed the wrong version. I do all my editing Really late at night so it was probably a slip up. Thank you for catching it
@@ProfessorMetri The pokemon company are known to reprint the same cards with different illustrator artwork. The Pokebody and attack are the same so it is a easy enough mistake. I hoard Japanese Mcdonalds and Pop series 4 Squirtle and have a few Cherry blossom Squirtle in my personal collection so I am pretty familiar with the two cards.
I love pokeman and the naive fans. They are easy to steal.
WTF do you mena "darkest point"? That's literally the best era of the TCG and still popular to this day. It wasn't as big as first gen of the TCG, but it still sold fairly well for trading cars.
I have a few issues with the video I'd like to correct. First is when you showed the timeline for the releases of FireRed, LeafGreen, and their accompanying sets. The image you used for the JP set isn't actually part of the TCG, it was the set of e-cards released alongside the games that let you add new trainers to Trainer Hill. The actual set that went with FRLG was Flight of Legends, a set focused around the legendary birds and didn't even feature the starters at all. The starters included in EX FRLG came from starter decks that released a month before Flight of Legends. As for Rocket's Raikou ex and Rocket's Persian ex, they were never removed from the JP set, Rocket Gang Strikes Back. They were promo cards given out at tournaments that got added as box toppers to localize them. For Deoxys Speed, it was again never removed from any set. Both releases of the set, Japan's Clash of the Blue Sky and our EX Deoxys released BEFORE Emerald, the game that introduced the form. In fact, the JP set didn't even have the normal forme, it was part of a starter deck. Lastly, for EX Emerald, it's an EN only set that was a mishmash of various JP only promo cards that hadn't been localized yet. That's why the set lacks an identity. The video's good, but feels like you could've done more research.
1. Regarding FRLG, youre totally right, i used to the wrong pack art but the dates are still valid. When it comes to What Pokémon were included in the set, Starters were indeed a big focus (2 of each with Charmander getting 3 as a box topper) however, this is for the English side, which is what this video mostly Discusses.
2. As for the Rocket's Raikou and Persian Ex, once again correct they weren't technically "taken out" of the Japanese set, but you can't deny the belong to the rocket set. So placing Rocket cards in an unseen forces box is still a little strange. Surely they could have made any other Pokemon cards to be box toppers. it just seems out of place.
3. I'm starting to think my use of "taken out of the set" should have been switched to "Not put into the set". I did my best to touch on some Japanese parts that i thought were important without really going deep into the Japanese side of things but i totally missed a bunch of details. I think the EX emerald one is the most notorious for this. I'm not sure how i overlooked that it lacked a JP counterpart.
thanks for filling me in on all of this. It took a LONG time to try and put this together but even with all that time there were still mistakes. I appreciate you watching and giving your input
Took me a minute(3 weeks) to remember to watch this. I absolutely loved it though. Great work as always brother keep em coming!😊
Thanks Chris, love you 😘
amazing anaylisis man, ex era tcg will forever the be colour of my childhood
Man i remeber the Ex era i was just a kid. This era is what got me even more into pokemon.
This era is my childhood
Awesome video in terms of both information and entertainment! Excellent edits, love team rocket returns set, and I like the sableye gem reverse evidence theory haha!
Thanks dude! appreciate the comment and the watch :) was also a pleasure to meet you although briefly at card party!
Dude, really great video! Was awesome meeting you this weekend. 👊🏽
I always loved the gen 3 era pokemon cards the most past the e reader stuff. The card layout was very nice to look at, the artwork felt really distinct and the foiling was top notch.
I remember how blown away we all were at ex cards with how they looked. Delta species also was nuts to look at, seeing pokemon be completely different types from what we were used to.
So much cool stuff came out of those sets.
I’m mastering this entire era of sets, and you did such an incredible job of giving the background on a fairly unknown era of the TCG! Thank you so much for all the work you put into this video! It really puts it all into perspective and has inspired me to create a video of my own!
The EX series sets just felt so thematic and complete, they really felt tightly knit together compared to newer sets.
New sets really do have amazing artworks that are truly incredible but I think full arts and ex’s lack any sort of identity. SIRs and common hold all the story but they don’t always complement each other
Great video, showed up in my recommend and I was surprised this didnt have more views. I would love to see more TCG history videos like this!
I remember as a kid, around the time of Diamond and Pearl you could trade some of the lvl. X cards for 2-3-4 ex cards, they just weren't popular. You can probably guess how I know, I was that kid getting all the ex cards!! Still to this day, my favorite generation of cards and Gen IV is a close second, nostalgia mixed with pure aesthetics!
This was a great video! Team Aqua & Team Magma was the last set I bought until I randomly was in a Target and bought a pack of Steam Siege! Haven’t missed a set since 😎
BLUE-EYES!!!
Will go down as One of the most iconic yugioh moments ever. Thanks for your videos and for checking this one out :)
Now in 2024, I think the roles of the Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh TCGs are reversed. Now it Yu-Gi-Oh that’s going through a dark period.
15:24 In Generation III, Deoxys's form depends on the game: Normal form in Ruby and Sapphire, Attack form in FireRed, Defense form in LeafGreen, and Speed form in Emerald. Emerald was released globally in may 2005 so it kind of makes sense they put speed form in the emerald set 😅
Wow I had no idea, thanks for that info. I never got to catch deoxys in the original games they were so exclusive
The GameCube games also had Normal Forme Deoxys with it being the default form for whatever game didn't get an exclusive form.
Bro another banger video, I truly love the info videos that you do I can’t wait for the delta one!
Reverse paterns from EX era will never be beaten ! This was and will always be the peak era, just incredible artworks from the best artists of the TCG.
Also from gameplay perspective it is considered the best era of the TCG, archetype diversity, high technical skill ceiling and deckbuilding strategy hevily rewarded. But to be fair it was also quite expensive, there were some decks over $300 which was crazy for a card game in 2004/2007 not named yugioh.
the professor has spoke… and the edits were godly
These sets were my youth! Enjoyed these sets, still remember saving 5 euro's for a pack and enjoying opening it! Great time!
I hadn’t seen “unseen forces” in a long while, the lugia starter deck was the thing I ever got from the TCG, fun memories
Just gonna say, the post-Unseen Forces sets are what I consider to be the death of the TCG (until much more recently), so it's interesting to hear that the era previous to that is the one people generally consider darkest. I guess I didn't collect a ton at the time (dropped off TCG during Gen 2), so maybe it's just hindsight, but still. The E-Reader cards are just cool as hell, imo.
I should have been more clear with statistics in the video but When I say “darkest” it doesn’t mean people disliked the TCG, in fact it was probably the most competitive well liked competitive scene ever and people who were collecting loved it. What makes it the “darkest” was that Pokémon, the company, was on a steep decline. Red and blue sold ~31 million copies, gold and silver sold ~24 million and Ruby sapphire sold ~16 million.
speed deoxys was probably in the emerald packs because it was only available in that game
What?! That’s crazy! I LOVED gen 3. Gen 2 my favorite tho
Makes me think of Disney's dark age of the late 60's till mid-late 80's a bit.
Very informative, thanks 🎉
Love this video about my favourite era, cant wait for the delta one!!
I'll admit it was during this time my interest in Pokemon started falling off
This was so well done! Appreciate a great video essay and thanks for dropping some knowledge! 🎉
Thanks dude! Appreciate the watch. I’ll see you soon haha
merchandise and licensing are just as big of a part of pokemon as any of the others
I played with those sets as a kid =) Aqua v Magma, Team R Returns & Unseen Forces were the best, Deoxys felt strange. Nice vid =)
Me too! Thanks for watching
Great videos! More history videos like this please!
Great video! RUclips needs to push this on the algorithm #creatorontherise
Those years is where I played the TCG the most by far. I played competively as well as I could as a high schooler with little money. By far the best years to play the tcg. My favorite decks I used back then were my dark dragtrode deck and team magma deck. I still have all the pieces to remake my team magma deck too.The TCG went to crap when gen 4 started and I couldn't get into it anymore. It just wasn't the same anymore and the power creep started to get gross to me with those Pokemon prime at ex level of power but no drawbacks.
I’ve had a lot of people tell me this was one of the best times ever competitively for Pokémon which is so cool to see. While Pokémon was struggling financially, the people who were still in it were having the time of their lives.
Awesome video man! tysm! I work at a tcg shop and while I am definitely making sure to refer to this video for pokemon tcg information, is there anyway you still have the references for your information in this video thats not wiki? In case I’m asked, I hope to be able to refer to multiple references. Thank you again!
A lot of the references really did come from Bulbapedia, the website has ALOT more information than people realize. I wouldn’t go father than recommending people to Bulbapedia. If you have players interested in learning about the games history rather than design and collecting I’d check out “Ruby Retro”
I believe decoys speed form was release in the games until emerald that is why
This was a wonderful video to watch. I remember gazing at these cards when I was subscribed to Beckett. As you mentioned in your video, Yugioh was taking my time, so I didn't bother trying to collect Pokemon cards from this era, unfortunately.
Yugioh felt so much cooler because the show connected so well with the cards and it made it fun to play when you felt like yugi
@@ProfessorMetri Agreed! It was cool to be able to "pretend" to be kaiba or Yugi and summon their ace monsters. Or even relieve certain formats from the anime like The Dox Brothers Labyrinth.
2004-2008 was the time I collected Pokemon
Speed Deoxys wasn't available until Emerald Version came out so that's probably why they postponed it.
I learned this from multiple comments! You are absolutely correct
Now I beg you please do a collab with Tolarian Community College and, well, Professor... 😂
🫡
15:19 No that makes sense though, Deoxys Speed Forme was not present in the movie and was not obtainable in the games until Emerald released later.
You’re totally right! I learned this from other comments too! Thanks dude
I’m surprised you didn’t mention how flaky the EX Deoxys reverse holos are.
What do you mean by flaky? I have a few but I don’t have issues with them. We’re they really poor quality?
@@ProfessorMetri I believe they had a tendency to curl and the reverse foil could sometimes break apart. I'd have to dig some out, but I remember the set having quality issues.
W video after hearing about the maybe new team rocket set coming late 2024/ early 2025 !
I’m so excited for that!
Turn your audio up next time.
🫡
9:47 I was not let down. When I saw Reggie Rock Johnson, I "ün ün" and you got one edited in there
Regirock is the best rock
Really interesting to hear about why there were only 9 cards in a pack. Good video!
I know! I loved learning about it myself in the research for this video
Not gonna lie the generation 3 was amazing. I had a tyranitar ex from that era and a delta species Latios and I loved them.
awesome cards!
They put random promos into English sets because we need to get them somehow for playing the tcg
I just think TMTA was the wrong set to do that lol
If that was the dark ages, what do you call the current hot mess that is Scarlet and Violet? I'd go so far as to say that if they don't start making nice cards again soon, Pokemon WILL die. Current gen is an obvious cash grab
I’m not entirely sure why people have this idea. Scarlet and violet is BOOOMING sure, they’re catering to some nostalgia fans but overall Pokémon in general is at an all time high. The flood of People are joining the hobby’s as collectors is one thing but the absolute insane turnout at competitive tournaments is astounding. Pokémon isn’t going anywhere. Sure, the overall identity of each set feels a bit lackluster but you can’t deny artworks are currently peak. I think they do need to make some changes for pack hits bc I feel they keep devaluing them. Full arts used to be THE hit of the pack now it feels pretty lame to pull one. Im sure they’ll figure it out
@ProfessorMetri because I sell more S&V stuff than anything else and besides 151 and Paldean Fates, the value isn't there and the attributes that create later value aren't either. Combine that with the anime axing Pikachu and Ash and you have a recipe for disaster. The cards are being PUMPED out in ridiculous numbers and collectors are careful nowadays. There will be TONS of high grade S&V in the future and the commonality of it will tank any chance of investment.
I’m sad it took me so long to finally get to watch this, but holy smokes was this amazing. Seriously cannot tell you enough how good this video is. So informative and fascinating.
The video didn't really answer the title question
Ex emerald is the optimum energy bling
Pokémon cards was the sh** back in the wtf are you even saying
Did you watch the video lol
Serious question: How did the theft of the Gold Star Dogs cause their price to go down? Id like to pick some of them up, but if they're destined to fail, oof I better not.
Instead of going into the hands of kids opening packs in went into binders and sleeves. If you look at the population for gold stars from unseen forces it’s 2-3x higher than any other set. - I don’t think this affects current day pricing. Market price has settled along time ago haha but they won’t continue dropping it is what it is now
@@ProfessorMetri Oh wow, that makes perfect sense. Many more mint copies in the supply.
Nice vid. Professor is right..aloha
The card shop here closed around that time
EX era is the only era I collect
How the Pokemon TCG survived it is darkest point in history
Yes
The good reason for including non themed cards is so we can have cards that otherwise were Japanese exclusively promo cards.
I sort of agree with this. There have been hundreds of Japanese promos that never made it to English but at the same time, Team Magma Team Aqua was 100% the wrong set to put it in. They stuck out like a sore thumb and I think it would have fit better in any other sey
@@ProfessorMetri fair
Crazy cus this time frame had the best cards, from e readers to delta species
It did! People who were in the hobby were having a great time but sales data(I forgot to include it) shows it wasn’t really popular!