This video has finally come to my attention, and man was it a walk down memory lane. Thank you. I loved innovating at the time. New game, new possibilities, players not set on anything, it was fun to “break rules” with tri-color decks. I will answer your question, though, Re: Gambler. This was basically a 5th Oak, though more importantly, it would allow me to finish off opponents, particularly stall decks, before I decked myself. Because of Item Finder and it really only being needed late game, Gambler gave me a way to shuffle cards back into my library, buying turns. More often than not, when I played it, I had the game reasonably in hand and wanted to flip tails. It was a tech card. Was it great? Not really, but it did it’s just when needed. It also had a 50% chance of being a Super Oak if I had just stalled and needed a prayer answered. 😁
“How to say you’re old without saying you’re old” lmao I was 10 when the cards hit our shores, somewhere around year 2000 I think. Yep, nobody even had cameras back then, even mobile phones weren’t a thing yet lol. Edit: DSLR exists back then, it was a thing, but no kid had that, we just weren’t as tech savvy as kids today are.
All of the true pokémon fans remember the original 151 pokémon, but seeing all those old trainer cards again that i never understood as a kid for the first time in 20+ years was an extreme blast of nostalgia. It takes me right back to 1999 begging my parents to buy me booster packs whenever we stopped at the grocery store near our house since there was a shop called "Cards & Comics" in the same plaza. Just this year i started playing pokémon tcg live at 31 years old and I can't believe what i've been missing. Now that i play the game and know the magic behind it, this makes the early years and this video that much more special. Thank you for this, this video hit me right in my childhood and is very fulfilling to watch. Awesome video.
I could have written this comment myself, even down to the fact that we're the same age! TCG Live has been really good for getting me into playing the game. Super wallet friendly too. I'm looking forward to trying Pocket as well.
I used to compete at Books-a-million all the time. Every weekend they had Pokemon TCG official events. I would battle the gym leaders and collect the badges. Id then go to the snack counter and get a hot chocolate and buy a few packs of cards and open them up from all of the money I made doing yard work at 10-13 years old. So much fun and nostalgia. The smell of the card packs and books. Any time I hit up a book store like that I immediately think of those times. I still have the original set all boxed up 1st editions. several blastoise and like 3 charizards that have been sitting in protective cases for over 20 years now lmao wow time has flown
Wow, this was actually super good! It's nice to see more coverage on old unoptimized decklists from back then (like the list with 4x Machop in it). (Holden)
I was amazed when I saw the quality of this and then noticed your subscriber account. You definitely deserve far more if you keep making videos like this!
I miss 1999 TCG so much. It was the only time I played competitively - my best deck was 2 - Aero, 3 - promo mewtwo, 2 - promo mew, 3 - scyther, 2 fossil, 4 - Bill, 2 - prof oak, 4 - energy removal, 4 - super energy removal, 2 - switch, 2 gust of wind, 4 computer search, 2 Lass, 1 pokemon center, 19 - psychic and 4 double colorless. I really only played locally, but I was pretty unstoppable.
The Pokémon TCG was an incredible experience as a kid, everyone had cards and a lot of places held game nights. Nothing comes close to this experience nowadays because the world isn’t physical anymore - everything is about sitting in a room sharing an experience with a content creator on YT, Twitch or playing online with friends.
Wow, I was just about to go see the next date to this series only to find out that this channel is fairly brand new. All I have to say is thank you and how amazing this video was. Straight to the point, not dragging the video on, amazing editing, and had an amazing flow to it. The only problem I have is that I’m way too early on to your channel. Thanks once again -new subscriber
@@Vilo24 I was driving through LA with my mom and my grandma, we stopped at a toy store and my mom said I could buy a booster pack. I dug through the packs and chose the one with a Charizard on the pack. I was in the backseat of the car when I opened it and I screamed out "I GOT A CHARIZARD!" I remember it so vividly.
As many have already said - loved watching this video as a nostalgia trip. Very well put together. I only ever collected and traded the cards. Kid me didn’t have a clue how to “play” until I owned the TCG for gameboy color.
@@xilencered7788 I loved Gambler as a kid and I think people really slept on that card. It's a -1 to your deck count with a +8 chance that's especially good when you're running energy absorption. The only reason it wasn't abused to death is because of the "Unga Bunga" meta.
Kinda sad i wasn’t older during this era in my life, I was like 11 barely getting a grip of yugioh and a trip to Toysrus Still glad I was old enough to remember going for base and fossil sets as a kid with my dad cause HE wanted me to experience the beginning
Really well edited and researched. I've always heard about early decks like haymaker, but its cool to see the other fledging decks of the time get some spotlight. Looking forward to the next part 👍
My God the memories. I was vgc back when we relied on link cables to battle but since the competitions were always held together with the card competitions I started getting into the cards. Met some of my best friends at those.
I never got into actually playing the TCG, but I always loved the aesthetic of the cards. As a kid, I always wondered why they didn't use those elemental icons in the mainline videogames.
I think because they won't confuse game players since some icons represents more than 1 type (i.e. Fighting represents Ground, Rock and Fighting itself) in TCG.
28:55 While clearly displayed in the video, it may be helpful to vocally distinguish between variants of Mewtwo or other pokémon. Base set Mewtwo and the movie promo Mewtwo clearly served different functions. Similarly, there were two different iterations of Magmar playable and in circulation at the time.
Back in the day you could only buy pokemon cards by asking for them behind a glass display case. The individual cards, the booster packs, and the starter packs were all kept out of reach. The fact that they were treated like jewelry was brilliant from a marketing perspective.
Not true at all. All the card shops and toy stores I went to get cards from had them all out in bins for you to grab. They stopped doing that and put them behind the counter after people figured out you could feel out the packs for ones that had holos or use a scale to weight for heavy packs which pretty much guaranteed a holo. That’s why they started putting in those blank filler cards and code cards so people didn’t weed out all the best packs and leave all the junk ones.
For a little while Target had booster boxes on shelves. I actually weighed packs off the shelf when I was a kid XD it was kinda messed up but my mom only got me 1 pack at a time so I wanted it to be good
That wasn’t true everywhere… I recall grabbing my fighting/ fire starter decks off the shelf hooks myself…. You could also touch the venosaur booster packs in the display box …
@elcuy7518 I remember when pack weighers were the bane of everyone's existence back before they started including the differently weighted code cards.
WOW! What an in-depth and accurate video! Super excited for what's coming next. Love that you do the installments by year and not set so we can get a bigger picture of what was going on during the era.
This brought me back to my childhood. It taught me how to read, how to do math, how to critically think. I still remember very vivid memories of the highlights of playing this game. I still remember me and my friends coming up with decks, going to toys r us and playing in the Pokemon league . Hell I still have all the badges I got from it. My childhood was blessed. Thanks for reminding me.
(8:18) Retro - "Even trying to make cards like Beedrill and Ninetales work." The former was me all the way. Tried to make a Bedrill/Butterfree deck back in the day. Actually, got second in a small local tourney, with it. Was good times. XD
It was truly a magical time… opening a pack of base set and your family and friends all sharing what we pulled and trading immediately was just magic I don’t think we will ever live through again.
This is a type of content I have wished was around on RUclips for a long time. It is nostalgic for people like me for who were around during these glorious times. While being educative to what the game once was like for younger / newer players! ( Here’s hoping you stick to this series for a while to come! I would love to see content on the mid EX era such as Holon Phantoms! ) Sub well earned, stay awesome!
The lack of the rare trainers was due more the commons being a lot better. running max copies of bill oak gust of wind and energy removal made game’s extremely quick. I’m hoping I have some stuff from left from those days I can send to you. Great video.
I know its going to take a long while at this rate but I cannot wait for the black and white era videos where he covers darkrai ex and fluffychomp. Man those were some wild times. Great video!!
This is a great video. Ever since Roobindale's history of yugioh I've been waiting for someone to make a video like this for pokemon! Can't wait to see more of this series
As a 90’s kid, I would give anything to go back and relive that decade to truly savor it. I used my enlistment bonus from the air force to buy a box of booster packs for gen 1 pokemon tcg. I miss how excited i would get when you finally see the sparkly holofoil card. Its a feeling you can only achieve as an adult if you take pain meds with a hot h00k3r.
30:35 Gambler is a techpiece against stall decks, being able to shuffle your 25 card hand back into your deck and buy plenty more turns. In fact, if the stall deck was not playing Gambler themselves, you would completely turn the tide with your own Gambler and now the stall deck is the one forced with decking out. You could even Item Finder the Gambler and do it a second time if you were somehow threatened again with decking out after your first Gambler. Nice video, this took me down memory lane. Pokemon was my first CCG and I remember going to the Pokemon League at the local comic book shop and getting the battle booklet with the stamps, and acquiring the Mew promo. 2 stamps for a win, 1 stamp for a loss. The good ol' days.
When I was a Kid i judged the coolness of a Pokémon based off it was a Star rating and how much damage. I used to think Pokémon like Mewtwo and Mew weren't special apart from rarity...Thanks for showing me an in depth look on competitive Pokémon. I never realized how amazing Pokémon were until I understood how each turn works. Now I have a different look on these wonderful creatures
I had a "No retreat" deck that was dodrio, lickitung, Jillypuff and clefable. It was such a solid deck for a young kid. It ended up getting stolen by another kid after I ended up coming in 10th at a local tournament. It was a solid deck
I loved playing Pokemon TCG in this era as a kid in my after school club. I definitely feel out of it because cards nowadays are power crept to the heavens so it's cool to see how much of a difference there was between cards back then versus now.
Most people never realized but to accelerate your way into the meta, all you needed was to buy 4 blackout theme decks. You would end up with 4 prof oaks 4 hitmonchan 4 super energy removals 4 gust of winds and 4 plus powers and a bunch of energy removals.too. Blackout was built upon the core concept of energy removal as a strategy to disrupt and being offensive with strong basic pokemon. Which ended up being haymaker.
I think running the gambler was a chance to stave off getting decked by an opponent. You can shuffle a large amount of cards back into your deck, and have a chance of only having to draw one back out.
A fantastic video. You give a really clear picture of the meta at the time, while explaining why. Also, as someone who has no knowledge of the Pokemon TCG you're very noob friendly with explaining how the interactions and mechanics work and why they're strong. What a fantastic series!
The Gameboy pokémon trading card game is a good way to collect and play classic pokémon TCG without having to buy the actual vintage cards. You learn quickly in the game and it's simple and functions nicely with no glitches that I can recall.
That opening commercial just screams my childhood. I remember seeing it a lot on TV and on the Pokemon VHS tapes I had of the series. Really well done video as well, saw a lot of what I used in decks then featured as well which was awesome. Cool bit of Nostalgia for me I will say. Never played past locals, but it was fun coming up with different strategies using essentially the same cards. Thanks for the memory jog mate, was an awesome throwback for me and a nice understanding of how the game was actually played then.
Very well done video. As a 90's kid, this brought back so many memories. I remember playing a dragon deck similar to Rod's in the Pokemon Trading Card Game. I only played the Magikarp-Gyarados, Dratini-Dragonair and Charmander-Charmeleon lines and one Kangaskhan for stall and draw power. 11 Water Eneregy, 4 DCE's and a bunch of trainers. I feel like Dragonair's Hyper Beam was an underrated attack.
This video basically confirmed my suspicions that Pokémon tcg loves water types by giving them that Rain dance ability since the beginning Awesome video Can’t wait for part two
i lived through this here in LA. i actually ran a Venusaur/Beedrill deck early on, but it didn't become great until Scyther came out and gave me the chance to hit hard fast. I adopted Lickitung and Dodrio early on as well since I could never really get too many Clefairy/Chansey (broke hood kid and not too many things to trade). When Fossil and the promos came out, a lot of cool variations of strange decks came out, but all of these things are lost since the majority of people didn't publish tournament reports. Great video! Fun trip down memory lane.
I had/have so many of these cards. I don't play anymore but keep the cards purely for their beauty. Cool video and a part of history I've not yet seen on youtube. Good job
I really appreciate the way you present the information here! Some videos on TCG history are too dense or assume too much and expect you to keep track of a lot of elements, but this visualizes and explains things well so it's clear why things are popular even if you only have a basic understanding of the game!
From my username, I'm sure you can tell I was glad to see significant coverage of a certain part of 1999's meta. From the standpoint of the guy who was screaming about anything less than 30 Trainers being stupid from almost the beginning, I was glad to see the inclusion of Insanity in this! I think some of the builds I remember reading about back in the day ran 46 Trainers and really, REALLY relied on that "set up literally everything by using every Trainer under the sun and then ending on Lass" play. Can't wait to see your take on the rest of the old days! As an aside, my personal experience with the game had me as a complete idiot in deckbuilding up until the point where Promo Mewtwo was released. That decklist somehow unlocked me understanding proper play - going from "oh god I hope I draw something that can deal with this in the next 4 turns" to "turn 1 Mewtwo has 3 energy on him and Wigglytuff is getting ready, good luck dealing with this" almost overnight.
So crazy…I remember when I read about the Haymaker deck back in ‘99. I was ten. And the majority of my most valuable vintage cards were winnings from using that deck so long ago. Love it
The effort you put into this video is truly insane. All the inserts and snippets from commercials and anime really made me feel like back in the 90s. Great great video!
I am shockingly surprised that this is the only meta explanation type video on your channel, it's so good I'd love to see more videos about pokemon tcg meta changes through the years
Whoaa ! This bring back a lot of memories ! I remember when I was 10 years old playing meta haymaker with hitmonchan/schyter deck. Always struggling in competition against Chansey/Alakazam combo deck perhaps I did a lot of misplay backthere
Absolutely floored that I didn't find your channel earlier. This is the first video I've watched from you and I'm hooked! Like, I can't explain it, but this video was so informative, and I loved your narration. You could almost feel like you were there during those days. The history of the TCG meta was not something I've ever thought about, but I'm glad you're talking about it
Books A Million was the place to be on the weekends. I never got a chance to go but I was 10 years old when the TCG released. My first two cards ever given to me were Charmander and Charmeleon from a friend of mine. It was such a crazy time at school that schools started banning Pokemon Cards unless it was lunch or recess. Such a simple time. No camera phones existed yet and the internet was mostly just for information. Everyone would play Pokémon either by the TCG or the Gameboy games.
for someone who recently got a job at a card shop and began playing competitively in the XY era, this was an awesome video to learn about the beginning of the card game.
I'm old enough to remember the early Haymaker, Rain Dance and Stall decks. Thank goodness for the GBC game, so I could try all of those out without dropping thousands of dollars on packs. Also, the trainers were completely BUSTED
Subbed just for this series because I’ve always been interested in the card game but never had time to research the history. Look forward to the rest of the series!!
Can’t wait for the next one! My only experience with the card game was the gameboy color game, but I remember discovering how broken hitmonchan was even as a kid.
This has been such an awesome nostalgia trip! I sadly no longer have my old cards but had every card in duplicate and remember the meta with frozen raindance decks and furious commons stacking lots of trainers. Thank you 💕
Makes me nostalgic seeing a lot of these cards. I was only young when they was out and didint even understand how to actually play the game. All I wanted to do was collect my favourite Pokémon
Don't play or collect anymore but massive nostalgia for this. My friends and I were way too young to understand strategy so just tried to build decks around Charizard. Lol
What a trip down memory lane. While I didn't play competitively, I remember when the TCG came out and if I could find packs anywhere, that's where all the money I could scrounge up at the time would go.
one thing I really love about the early pokemon cards was their use of CG. It was so simple and limited but it made them so insanely charming, especially compared to the really soulless CG cards from 5ban graphics nowadays. Also the way you describe all these meta decks makes this sound so exciting, but I've played this format before and it is. interesting.
In NJ we were frequently running 4 Itemfinder beginning in the Jungle era. It allowed you to play a more unpredictable Trainer line-up and get reuse out of your strongest options in a matchup like Lass, or run cards that were situational for late game like Impostor Professor Oak. Another popular strategy in our area was using Fossil Gastly, Fossil Magmar, Scyther, and Wigglytuff together as a deck. It gave you punchy, stall-y, single-energy options while also giving you a whopping 60 damage. Notable is that by getting 10 damage onto a Haymaker Pokémon with Magmar or Gastly, you could usually play 1 fewer Plus Power per game.
Not sure if someone already mentioned this but the one copy of gambler was to counter stall decks. You'd shuffle in your gigantic hand back into your deck after you'd drawn everything. You'd only need the one copy because of item finder.
This is exactly the video series I have been dying to see since I got back into the game a while ago. I hadn't touched the game since Team Rocket prior to Battle Styles release. Amazing work, can't wait to see more videos!
I remember buying the cards back in early 1999, in 4th grade. Really good times. Then I got into Magic the gathering the same year and started going to tournements. Really a good childhood and I wish I could go back to the innocence of it all.
1. Why is the editing in the intro and the video itself so FREAKING GOOD!? 2. WHY NOT MORE SUBS!? 3. Very informative :) More notes: I really love that animated Groudon card in the intro. I love Groudon and man does that animation tickle the nostalgia ribs. Great work with keeping the art style in this video consistent via using the original cards and promo material. This is great content and I hope to see more. Seriously this is some top notch editing, it's been awhile since a youtuber wowed me with transitions. I nearly busted out Pokemon TCG on my Gameboy again just to try out some of these strategies you mentioned for fun. I also found the video to be very informative, since I never actually got to play the card game as a kid. Nice to see what it was like back then. Great stuff, this video should be framed on your wall! lol
I’ve always wanted a video exactly like this, I’m getting into playing again and I’ve always wondered what was meta back in the days before we had 200 plus hp ultra rares and all the new rules
As someone who’s played the Pokémon TCG a majority of their life this was a joy to watch. Absolutely can’t wait for the next part! I’m most excited to see coverage on Delta Species in the future. Went to your channel and saw legacy deck battle videos. That’s pretty awesome! With a better mic setup and more clever editing those would blow up in numbers too. Tricky Gym has some legacy PTCG content, but it’d be great to have a channel like this that looks back and shows the meta and cards from back in the day.
Mahone is actually a friend of ours, so who knows? Maybe we'll Collab with him in the future since he only lives right down the street. We didn't have mics 5 years ago, but we do now. We plan to eventually start posting a game or two a week if the availability of time permits. Mostly, it is a balancing act we are working on to make sure we can post enough content to keep growing so that we can maybe go full time with it eventually. Thanks for watching, and stay tuned!
I bet I know exactly what book you're referring to. If I had to wager a guess, is it "Pokemon Trading Card Game Player's Guide," by Brian Brokaw & J. Douglas Arnold?
@@rubyretro I think it was Pojo's unofficial big book of pokemon, to be fair my initial description was more in line with the guide you mentioned but that's just my memory of it being hazy. Definitely had a segment on haymaker, rain dance, etc though.
Watching this brings back a ton of memories - and gives me a giggle at the "many decks ran over twenty energy cards" ... I remember people being aghast if you ran less than at least a third of your deck as energy! What a time it was - I remember the common / rest area in the mall near the shop where kids bought cards in my town was always overrun by us on the weekends, all trading and playing for hours at a time. What great memories.
The early meta also shows why the rules were changed to prevent playing as many Trainer cards as you liked- the capacity to manipulate a deck was immense in the Base/Jungle/Fossil era onwards, and that's why Neo Genesis Slowking was such an earthshaking card when it came out. Fun Fact: When Prima was asking for advice for the original guide, Chansey was actually suggested (I should know, I ran it that way) for the Haymaker example. They decided against it. (It was common locally because it was both able to deal with Mewtwo and one-shot just about anything with Double-Edge that might be a threat, then could be Scoop Up'd for quickly recovering your pink wall).
I am 46, in 1999 I was 21 years old when the Pokemon game came out. I was an avid Magic player at the time and decided to give it a chance. At my first tournament I was playing a Rain Dance deck and so was a 17 year old friend of mine. In the first 4 rounds of the tournament, I had to teach my opponent the complete rules of the game as their parents watched me. I think the average age at the event was 8-10 years old. Me and my friend had a mirror match at the end of the tournament which he won. I immediately sold my small (but incredibly valuable now) collection and quit the game. I mean what was I doing? Beating up kids less than half my age!?
30:35 while i'm not versed in the broader competitive scene of the TCG, i do remember that gambler was used in my local group a tech card against stall decks, since it was one of the few ways to add cards back to your deck. i ran a variety of stall decks and ended up needing to run gamblers myself.
I was totally floored with the editing skills on this, let alone the actual content of the video! Absolutely amazing information! It's fascinating to learn more about the TCG itself, as I was one of those people who mostly just had fun collecting the packs and keeping the cards in my binder!!
This video was really cool. Fun hearing about not just what the strongest decks were, but also the other things players attempted. I think you've got a really strong format here. I hope you'll continue this series in the future!
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This video has finally come to my attention, and man was it a walk down memory lane. Thank you. I loved innovating at the time. New game, new possibilities, players not set on anything, it was fun to “break rules” with tri-color decks.
I will answer your question, though, Re: Gambler. This was basically a 5th Oak, though more importantly, it would allow me to finish off opponents, particularly stall decks, before I decked myself. Because of Item Finder and it really only being needed late game, Gambler gave me a way to shuffle cards back into my library, buying turns. More often than not, when I played it, I had the game reasonably in hand and wanted to flip tails. It was a tech card. Was it great? Not really, but it did it’s just when needed. It also had a 50% chance of being a Super Oak if I had just stalled and needed a prayer answered. 😁
The source has spoken!
This video and this comment thread made my weekend. Thanks for the reply ❤
❤
I had a mono water deck with Gyarados, Blastoise, and Charizards. I was unstoppable.
I went through all of this while playing every weekend in shopping malls. It was an amazing time
I believe it! Do you happen to have any photographs from the times? We're looking for photos and videos from the time, Rare as they are.
@@rubyretro I dont have any sorry. I dont think i even had a phone at the time haha but i still have all my cards
@@ChefIcaroConceicao Thanks anyways!
“How to say you’re old without saying you’re old” lmao
I was 10 when the cards hit our shores, somewhere around year 2000 I think. Yep, nobody even had cameras back then, even mobile phones weren’t a thing yet lol.
Edit: DSLR exists back then, it was a thing, but no kid had that, we just weren’t as tech savvy as kids today are.
@@ChefIcaroConceicao oooo what cards do you have from the original ones ?!
All of the true pokémon fans remember the original 151 pokémon, but seeing all those old trainer cards again that i never understood as a kid for the first time in 20+ years was an extreme blast of nostalgia. It takes me right back to 1999 begging my parents to buy me booster packs whenever we stopped at the grocery store near our house since there was a shop called "Cards & Comics" in the same plaza. Just this year i started playing pokémon tcg live at 31 years old and I can't believe what i've been missing. Now that i play the game and know the magic behind it, this makes the early years and this video that much more special. Thank you for this, this video hit me right in my childhood and is very fulfilling to watch. Awesome video.
Thank you!
I could have written this comment myself, even down to the fact that we're the same age! TCG Live has been really good for getting me into playing the game. Super wallet friendly too. I'm looking forward to trying Pocket as well.
I used to compete at Books-a-million all the time. Every weekend they had Pokemon TCG official events. I would battle the gym leaders and collect the badges. Id then go to the snack counter and get a hot chocolate and buy a few packs of cards and open them up from all of the money I made doing yard work at 10-13 years old. So much fun and nostalgia. The smell of the card packs and books. Any time I hit up a book store like that I immediately think of those times. I still have the original set all boxed up 1st editions. several blastoise and like 3 charizards that have been sitting in protective cases for over 20 years now lmao wow time has flown
Wow, this was actually super good! It's nice to see more coverage on old unoptimized decklists from back then (like the list with 4x Machop in it). (Holden)
Thanks buddy!
Crazy to see you here WinterShorts, it’s Strife!
@@auraguardianred4771
He's a good friend of ours!
I was amazed when I saw the quality of this and then noticed your subscriber account. You definitely deserve far more if you keep making videos like this!
That means a lot! We'll hopefully be able to make more soon!
He has just 6 videos on the channel and comes from a 5-year break. Give him time, if he keeps going with stuff like this he'll be huge in no time
I had the same thought. Really surprised this was your first video given how refined it was
I miss 1999 TCG so much. It was the only time I played competitively - my best deck was 2 - Aero, 3 - promo mewtwo, 2 - promo mew, 3 - scyther, 2 fossil, 4 - Bill, 2 - prof oak, 4 - energy removal, 4 - super energy removal, 2 - switch, 2 gust of wind, 4 computer search, 2 Lass, 1 pokemon center, 19 - psychic and 4 double colorless. I really only played locally, but I was pretty unstoppable.
The Pokémon TCG was an incredible experience as a kid, everyone had cards and a lot of places held game nights. Nothing comes close to this experience nowadays because the world isn’t physical anymore - everything is about sitting in a room sharing an experience with a content creator on YT, Twitch or playing online with friends.
Locals still exist
Wow, I was just about to go see the next date to this series only to find out that this channel is fairly brand new. All I have to say is thank you and how amazing this video was. Straight to the point, not dragging the video on, amazing editing, and had an amazing flow to it. The only problem I have is that I’m way too early on to your channel. Thanks once again -new subscriber
Thanks for the support and kind words! We're hoping to get the next one out before too long, so stay tuned!
This brings back memories. I can't believe this was over 20 years ago, I still remember pulling my holographic Charizard as a kid.
how long did you hold on to it?
@@vanesslifeygo I still have it :)
I still have my holo charizard too I pulled from a pack I bought from the ice cream man
@@Vilo24 I was driving through LA with my mom and my grandma, we stopped at a toy store and my mom said I could buy a booster pack. I dug through the packs and chose the one with a Charizard on the pack. I was in the backseat of the car when I opened it and I screamed out "I GOT A CHARIZARD!" I remember it so vividly.
I found mine in my very First booster pack… After 3 years i lost interest in the cards and gave them away… damn me ill guess
As many have already said - loved watching this video as a nostalgia trip. Very well put together.
I only ever collected and traded the cards. Kid me didn’t have a clue how to “play” until I owned the TCG for gameboy color.
Same. That’s how I learned. I play it at least once a week.
what an incredibly well made video.
i always played gambler as a kid because i wanted one more "oak" in my deck
Yep or a last minute gamble without having to discard cards you will need later
@@xilencered7788 I loved Gambler as a kid and I think people really slept on that card. It's a -1 to your deck count with a +8 chance that's especially good when you're running energy absorption. The only reason it wasn't abused to death is because of the "Unga Bunga" meta.
Kinda sad i wasn’t older during this era in my life, I was like 11 barely getting a grip of yugioh and a trip to Toysrus
Still glad I was old enough to remember going for base and fossil sets as a kid with my dad cause HE wanted me to experience the beginning
Really well edited and researched. I've always heard about early decks like haymaker, but its cool to see the other fledging decks of the time get some spotlight. Looking forward to the next part 👍
Happy you liked it! Stay tuned!
My God the memories. I was vgc back when we relied on link cables to battle but since the competitions were always held together with the card competitions I started getting into the cards. Met some of my best friends at those.
I never got into actually playing the TCG, but I always loved the aesthetic of the cards. As a kid, I always wondered why they didn't use those elemental icons in the mainline videogames.
I think because they won't confuse game players since some icons represents more than 1 type (i.e. Fighting represents Ground, Rock and Fighting itself) in TCG.
28:55 While clearly displayed in the video, it may be helpful to vocally distinguish between variants of Mewtwo or other pokémon. Base set Mewtwo and the movie promo Mewtwo clearly served different functions. Similarly, there were two different iterations of Magmar playable and in circulation at the time.
Its 4am, i have work tomorrow, and here i am watching a video essay on a 20+ year old meta. Your channel is amazing
Thank you for the support! Now get some rest!
It do be like that tho
Back in the day you could only buy pokemon cards by asking for them behind a glass display case. The individual cards, the booster packs, and the starter packs were all kept out of reach. The fact that they were treated like jewelry was brilliant from a marketing perspective.
Not true at all. All the card shops and toy stores I went to get cards from had them all out in bins for you to grab. They stopped doing that and put them behind the counter after people figured out you could feel out the packs for ones that had holos or use a scale to weight for heavy packs which pretty much guaranteed a holo. That’s why they started putting in those blank filler cards and code cards so people didn’t weed out all the best packs and leave all the junk ones.
@@Eckoman18probably depends on where you went.
For a little while Target had booster boxes on shelves. I actually weighed packs off the shelf when I was a kid XD it was kinda messed up but my mom only got me 1 pack at a time so I wanted it to be good
That wasn’t true everywhere… I recall grabbing my fighting/ fire starter decks off the shelf hooks myself…. You could also touch the venosaur booster packs in the display box …
@elcuy7518 I remember when pack weighers were the bane of everyone's existence back before they started including the differently weighted code cards.
WOW! What an in-depth and accurate video! Super excited for what's coming next. Love that you do the installments by year and not set so we can get a bigger picture of what was going on during the era.
Much appreciated!
Ope, meant to post under this account.
This brought me back to my childhood. It taught me how to read, how to do math, how to critically think. I still remember very vivid memories of the highlights of playing this game. I still remember me and my friends coming up with decks, going to toys r us and playing in the Pokemon league . Hell I still have all the badges I got from it. My childhood was blessed. Thanks for reminding me.
Happy to do so!
Phenomenal video. Already stoked for episode 2.
Thank you so much. Stay tuned!
@@rubyretro m......................
I'm..............
@@yoshifanatic?
30:39 the one of gambler was probably to avoid deckout! I run one in my stall lists for that reason.
(8:18) Retro - "Even trying to make cards like Beedrill and Ninetales work."
The former was me all the way. Tried to make a Bedrill/Butterfree deck back in the day. Actually, got second in a small local tourney, with it. Was good times. XD
Nice work!
Thanks. X3@@rubyretro
It was truly a magical time… opening a pack of base set and your family and friends all sharing what we pulled and trading immediately was just magic I don’t think we will ever live through again.
This is a type of content I have wished was around on RUclips for a long time.
It is nostalgic for people like me for who were around during these glorious times. While being educative to what the game once was like for younger / newer players!
( Here’s hoping you stick to this series for a while to come! I would love to see content on the mid EX era such as Holon Phantoms! )
Sub well earned, stay awesome!
Thank you so much!💜 Stay tuned!
The lack of the rare trainers was due more the commons being a lot better. running max copies of bill oak gust of wind and energy removal made game’s extremely quick. I’m hoping I have some stuff from left from those days I can send to you. Great video.
I never knew how to play as a kid but I spent hours studying the art work from the hand me down cards from these first few sets
Alakazam + Tentacool + Mr. Mime was so much fun. It was difficult to fight against Muk and Aerodactyl, but there were ways to counter it.
Now that I am a Magic person I can only imagine if I were allowed to have a deck with FOUR FREE ANCESTRAL RECALL IN IT how busted that would be.
I know its going to take a long while at this rate but I cannot wait for the black and white era videos where he covers darkrai ex and fluffychomp. Man those were some wild times.
Great video!!
We'll see. The churn rate for videos may eventually pick up. Thanks for watching!
This is a great video. Ever since Roobindale's history of yugioh I've been waiting for someone to make a video like this for pokemon! Can't wait to see more of this series
Thank you so much! We're excited to make more, so stay tuned!
As a 90’s kid, I would give anything to go back and relive that decade to truly savor it. I used my enlistment bonus from the air force to buy a box of booster packs for gen 1 pokemon tcg. I miss how excited i would get when you finally see the sparkly holofoil card. Its a feeling you can only achieve as an adult if you take pain meds with a hot h00k3r.
30:35 Gambler is a techpiece against stall decks, being able to shuffle your 25 card hand back into your deck and buy plenty more turns. In fact, if the stall deck was not playing Gambler themselves, you would completely turn the tide with your own Gambler and now the stall deck is the one forced with decking out. You could even Item Finder the Gambler and do it a second time if you were somehow threatened again with decking out after your first Gambler. Nice video, this took me down memory lane. Pokemon was my first CCG and I remember going to the Pokemon League at the local comic book shop and getting the battle booklet with the stamps, and acquiring the Mew promo. 2 stamps for a win, 1 stamp for a loss. The good ol' days.
When I was a Kid i judged the coolness of a Pokémon based off it was a Star rating and how much damage. I used to think Pokémon like Mewtwo and Mew weren't special apart from rarity...Thanks for showing me an in depth look on competitive Pokémon. I never realized how amazing Pokémon were until I understood how each turn works. Now I have a different look on these wonderful creatures
I had a "No retreat" deck that was dodrio, lickitung, Jillypuff and clefable. It was such a solid deck for a young kid. It ended up getting stolen by another kid after I ended up coming in 10th at a local tournament. It was a solid deck
I'd be interested in seeing a list. Thanks for watching!
I loved playing Pokemon TCG in this era as a kid in my after school club. I definitely feel out of it because cards nowadays are power crept to the heavens so it's cool to see how much of a difference there was between cards back then versus now.
Thanks for watching!
I was literally talking to my friend the other day about how so don’t see content like this for card games. So I’m in.
Most people never realized but to accelerate your way into the meta, all you needed was to buy 4 blackout theme decks. You would end up with 4 prof oaks 4 hitmonchan 4 super energy removals 4 gust of winds and 4 plus powers and a bunch of energy removals.too. Blackout was built upon the core concept of energy removal as a strategy to disrupt and being offensive with strong basic pokemon. Which ended up being haymaker.
I think running the gambler was a chance to stave off getting decked by an opponent. You can shuffle a large amount of cards back into your deck, and have a chance of only having to draw one back out.
A fantastic video. You give a really clear picture of the meta at the time, while explaining why.
Also, as someone who has no knowledge of the Pokemon TCG you're very noob friendly with explaining how the interactions and mechanics work and why they're strong.
What a fantastic series!
Thank you so much!
Dang, this channel needs to blow up. The quality of this video is insane!
Thank you!
During My First Year Of Middle School (1999-2000) I Got Pokémon Trading Card Game Base Set Cards And Pokémon Yellow Video Game For Christmas 1999.
The Gameboy pokémon trading card game is a good way to collect and play classic pokémon TCG without having to buy the actual vintage cards. You learn quickly in the game and it's simple and functions nicely with no glitches that I can recall.
That opening commercial just screams my childhood. I remember seeing it a lot on TV and on the Pokemon VHS tapes I had of the series. Really well done video as well, saw a lot of what I used in decks then featured as well which was awesome. Cool bit of Nostalgia for me I will say. Never played past locals, but it was fun coming up with different strategies using essentially the same cards. Thanks for the memory jog mate, was an awesome throwback for me and a nice understanding of how the game was actually played then.
Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching!
This randomly showed up on my feed, well worth the watch, excited to see more!
Thanks, stay tuned!
Very well done video. As a 90's kid, this brought back so many memories. I remember playing a dragon deck similar to Rod's in the Pokemon Trading Card Game. I only played the Magikarp-Gyarados, Dratini-Dragonair and Charmander-Charmeleon lines and one Kangaskhan for stall and draw power. 11 Water Eneregy, 4 DCE's and a bunch of trainers. I feel like Dragonair's Hyper Beam was an underrated attack.
What an interesting deck composition for the time.
The nostalgia 🥰 you just had to be there
This video basically confirmed my suspicions that Pokémon tcg loves water types by giving them that Rain dance ability since the beginning
Awesome video
Can’t wait for part two
Water has gotten some insane support throughout the years for sure. Thanks for watching, stay tuned!
I was very exited to see if their was a different video but this channel is new ! Definitely sticking around
Thank you, stay tuned!
This is such an amazing nostalgia trip and very well made! Can't wait to see more of this series!
Thank you! Stay tuned for more!
Wow, nice video! Thank you so much! Please do more videos of the following metas after 1999 :-)
Stay tuned!
i lived through this here in LA. i actually ran a Venusaur/Beedrill deck early on, but it didn't become great until Scyther came out and gave me the chance to hit hard fast. I adopted Lickitung and Dodrio early on as well since I could never really get too many Clefairy/Chansey (broke hood kid and not too many things to trade). When Fossil and the promos came out, a lot of cool variations of strange decks came out, but all of these things are lost since the majority of people didn't publish tournament reports.
Great video! Fun trip down memory lane.
did you make it out of the hood
I had/have so many of these cards. I don't play anymore but keep the cards purely for their beauty. Cool video and a part of history I've not yet seen on youtube. Good job
Thanks!
Talk about a blast from the past. You’ve earned yourself a subscriber. Looking forward to watching more of this series.
I really appreciate the way you present the information here! Some videos on TCG history are too dense or assume too much and expect you to keep track of a lot of elements, but this visualizes and explains things well so it's clear why things are popular even if you only have a basic understanding of the game!
Glad you enjoyed it!
From my username, I'm sure you can tell I was glad to see significant coverage of a certain part of 1999's meta. From the standpoint of the guy who was screaming about anything less than 30 Trainers being stupid from almost the beginning, I was glad to see the inclusion of Insanity in this! I think some of the builds I remember reading about back in the day ran 46 Trainers and really, REALLY relied on that "set up literally everything by using every Trainer under the sun and then ending on Lass" play. Can't wait to see your take on the rest of the old days!
As an aside, my personal experience with the game had me as a complete idiot in deckbuilding up until the point where Promo Mewtwo was released. That decklist somehow unlocked me understanding proper play - going from "oh god I hope I draw something that can deal with this in the next 4 turns" to "turn 1 Mewtwo has 3 energy on him and Wigglytuff is getting ready, good luck dealing with this" almost overnight.
Sounds like you knew evaluations what was up. Thanks for watching!
So crazy…I remember when I read about the Haymaker deck back in ‘99. I was ten. And the majority of my most valuable vintage cards were winnings from using that deck so long ago. Love it
The effort you put into this video is truly insane. All the inserts and snippets from commercials and anime really made me feel like back in the 90s. Great great video!
Thank you so much!
I am shockingly surprised that this is the only meta explanation type video on your channel, it's so good I'd love to see more videos about pokemon tcg meta changes through the years
We're working on more. Stay tuned!
Whoaa ! This bring back a lot of memories ! I remember when I was 10 years old playing meta haymaker with hitmonchan/schyter deck. Always struggling in competition against Chansey/Alakazam combo deck perhaps I did a lot of misplay backthere
Great video! I really hope this channel grows. Rocket is definitely an intersting expansion, can't wait for the next video.
Thank you so much! Stay tuned!
Absolutely floored that I didn't find your channel earlier. This is the first video I've watched from you and I'm hooked! Like, I can't explain it, but this video was so informative, and I loved your narration. You could almost feel like you were there during those days. The history of the TCG meta was not something I've ever thought about, but I'm glad you're talking about it
Glad you like them!
Books A Million was the place to be on the weekends. I never got a chance to go but I was 10 years old when the TCG released. My first two cards ever given to me were Charmander and Charmeleon from a friend of mine. It was such a crazy time at school that schools started banning Pokemon Cards unless it was lunch or recess. Such a simple time. No camera phones existed yet and the internet was mostly just for information. Everyone would play Pokémon either by the TCG or the Gameboy games.
really well done videos! the animation was amazing
Thank you so much!
Thank you for making a video on this subject. Really bringing me back to my League days.
I absolutely loved this retrospective. thank you.
No, thank you!
for someone who recently got a job at a card shop and began playing competitively in the XY era, this was an awesome video to learn about the beginning of the card game.
I'm old enough to remember the early Haymaker, Rain Dance and Stall decks. Thank goodness for the GBC game, so I could try all of those out without dropping thousands of dollars on packs.
Also, the trainers were completely BUSTED
Same with me!
Subbed just for this series because I’ve always been interested in the card game but never had time to research the history. Look forward to the rest of the series!!
Stay tuned!
Can’t wait for the next one! My only experience with the card game was the gameboy color game, but I remember discovering how broken hitmonchan was even as a kid.
Stay tuned!
This has been such an awesome nostalgia trip! I sadly no longer have my old cards but had every card in duplicate and remember the meta with frozen raindance decks and furious commons stacking lots of trainers. Thank you 💕
Makes me nostalgic seeing a lot of these cards. I was only young when they was out and didint even understand how to actually play the game. All I wanted to do was collect my favourite Pokémon
Most kids didn't, but it's hard to deny that the cards made for great collectibles. Thanks for watching!
Don't play or collect anymore but massive nostalgia for this. My friends and I were way too young to understand strategy so just tried to build decks around Charizard. Lol
For a brand new channel, you killed it with the editing and presentation, super excited for the next meta!
Thank you so much! Stay tuned!
What a trip down memory lane. While I didn't play competitively, I remember when the TCG came out and if I could find packs anywhere, that's where all the money I could scrounge up at the time would go.
Thank you for covering the early meta so well. Can't wait to see more!
Stay tuned!
one thing I really love about the early pokemon cards was their use of CG. It was so simple and limited but it made them so insanely charming, especially compared to the really soulless CG cards from 5ban graphics nowadays.
Also the way you describe all these meta decks makes this sound so exciting, but I've played this format before and it is.
interesting.
Awesome video
Recently got back into the TCG with live launching and it’s awesome to take a look back at the old metas as the game evolved
Welcome back and thanks for watching!
In NJ we were frequently running 4 Itemfinder beginning in the Jungle era. It allowed you to play a more unpredictable Trainer line-up and get reuse out of your strongest options in a matchup like Lass, or run cards that were situational for late game like Impostor Professor Oak.
Another popular strategy in our area was using Fossil Gastly, Fossil Magmar, Scyther, and Wigglytuff together as a deck. It gave you punchy, stall-y, single-energy options while also giving you a whopping 60 damage. Notable is that by getting 10 damage onto a Haymaker Pokémon with Magmar or Gastly, you could usually play 1 fewer Plus Power per game.
Amazing quality. Easily a 1m+ view video. You deserve subs!
That would be a pipe dream, but I appreciate your optimism! Thanks for watching!
Not sure if someone already mentioned this but the one copy of gambler was to counter stall decks. You'd shuffle in your gigantic hand back into your deck after you'd drawn everything. You'd only need the one copy because of item finder.
If I played another 9 year old in '99 and he had 3 promo Mewtwos to play with I probably would've fought them
This is exactly the video series I have been dying to see since I got back into the game a while ago. I hadn't touched the game since Team Rocket prior to Battle Styles release.
Amazing work, can't wait to see more videos!
Thank you, stay tuned!
Wonderful video Nick!
Nick and I worked hard on it, so the complement is much appreciated!
OMG at 8:55 when the electabuzz sound effect played I lost it and laughed so hard. Bless this video
I remember buying the cards back in early 1999, in 4th grade. Really good times. Then I got into Magic the gathering the same year and started going to tournements. Really a good childhood and I wish I could go back to the innocence of it all.
The Zapdos scream at 11:50 sounds like a Spongebob side character scream
🤣
1. Why is the editing in the intro and the video itself so FREAKING GOOD!?
2. WHY NOT MORE SUBS!?
3. Very informative :)
More notes: I really love that animated Groudon card in the intro. I love Groudon and man does that animation tickle the nostalgia ribs. Great work with keeping the art style in this video consistent via using the original cards and promo material. This is great content and I hope to see more. Seriously this is some top notch editing, it's been awhile since a youtuber wowed me with transitions. I nearly busted out Pokemon TCG on my Gameboy again just to try out some of these strategies you mentioned for fun. I also found the video to be very informative, since I never actually got to play the card game as a kid. Nice to see what it was like back then. Great stuff, this video should be framed on your wall! lol
I am overly flattered. I'm glad all the editing work I put in paid off for some. Stay turned, the next episode is coming soon!
I’ve always wanted a video exactly like this, I’m getting into playing again and I’ve always wondered what was meta back in the days before we had 200 plus hp ultra rares and all the new rules
Happy to oblige!
As someone who’s played the Pokémon TCG a majority of their life this was a joy to watch. Absolutely can’t wait for the next part! I’m most excited to see coverage on Delta Species in the future. Went to your channel and saw legacy deck battle videos. That’s pretty awesome! With a better mic setup and more clever editing those would blow up in numbers too. Tricky Gym has some legacy PTCG content, but it’d be great to have a channel like this that looks back and shows the meta and cards from back in the day.
Mahone is actually a friend of ours, so who knows? Maybe we'll Collab with him in the future since he only lives right down the street. We didn't have mics 5 years ago, but we do now. We plan to eventually start posting a game or two a week if the availability of time permits. Mostly, it is a balancing act we are working on to make sure we can post enough content to keep growing so that we can maybe go full time with it eventually. Thanks for watching, and stay tuned!
Makes me nostalgic for an old strategy guide I had on this era, wonder if I still have it buried away somewhere
I bet I know exactly what book you're referring to. If I had to wager a guess, is it "Pokemon Trading Card Game Player's Guide," by Brian Brokaw & J. Douglas Arnold?
@@rubyretro I think it was Pojo's unofficial big book of pokemon, to be fair my initial description was more in line with the guide you mentioned but that's just my memory of it being hazy. Definitely had a segment on haymaker, rain dance, etc though.
Awesome video, brought back memories. I hope there is a second or third video.
Watching this brings back a ton of memories - and gives me a giggle at the "many decks ran over twenty energy cards" ... I remember people being aghast if you ran less than at least a third of your deck as energy! What a time it was - I remember the common / rest area in the mall near the shop where kids bought cards in my town was always overrun by us on the weekends, all trading and playing for hours at a time. What great memories.
🥰
The early meta also shows why the rules were changed to prevent playing as many Trainer cards as you liked- the capacity to manipulate a deck was immense in the Base/Jungle/Fossil era onwards, and that's why Neo Genesis Slowking was such an earthshaking card when it came out.
Fun Fact: When Prima was asking for advice for the original guide, Chansey was actually suggested (I should know, I ran it that way) for the Haymaker example. They decided against it. (It was common locally because it was both able to deal with Mewtwo and one-shot just about anything with Double-Edge that might be a threat, then could be Scoop Up'd for quickly recovering your pink wall).
I am 46, in 1999 I was 21 years old when the Pokemon game came out. I was an avid Magic player at the time and decided to give it a chance. At my first tournament I was playing a Rain Dance deck and so was a 17 year old friend of mine. In the first 4 rounds of the tournament, I had to teach my opponent the complete rules of the game as their parents watched me. I think the average age at the event was 8-10 years old. Me and my friend had a mirror match at the end of the tournament which he won. I immediately sold my small (but incredibly valuable now) collection and quit the game. I mean what was I doing? Beating up kids less than half my age!?
Nowadays, it feels kids make up like 10% of the player base. If that.
30:35 while i'm not versed in the broader competitive scene of the TCG, i do remember that gambler was used in my local group a tech card against stall decks, since it was one of the few ways to add cards back to your deck. i ran a variety of stall decks and ended up needing to run gamblers myself.
I was totally floored with the editing skills on this, let alone the actual content of the video! Absolutely amazing information!
It's fascinating to learn more about the TCG itself, as I was one of those people who mostly just had fun collecting the packs and keeping the cards in my binder!!
Thanks for supporting!
Great video, looking forward to 2000
Thank you! Stay tuned!
This video was really cool. Fun hearing about not just what the strongest decks were, but also the other things players attempted. I think you've got a really strong format here. I hope you'll continue this series in the future!
Thank you so much! Working on the next one now.