Prime, if you were advising a new player on which set to purchase, which set(s) would you choose?
Original HGSS would be first, I think that we agree on. The second set? Hmm.
Before I take a look at the scans, the most important concept of a set for new players is how good the trainers/supporters are. There are a ton of Pokemon to choose from, heck you can use pokemon from older sets. Without good trainers and supporters, no deck runs, period, fun, casual, nada.
Okay, so I've looked at the trainers/supporters in the sets since HGSS, and I think CoL and UL has the best out of the 5. Onto the next diagnosis: playable rares and foils.
One thing that I noticed is that CoL has 22 Foils compared to UL that has 11. That means that on average, it's going to be harder for a new player to get more of the same foil card after buying a few packs.
One horrible thing for CoL is that 8/11 Shinies, which are completely unplayable (but enticing to a new player) are reprinted as foils. That's not good for a new player since they will most likely pull these reprinted foils.
On the upside, I think some of CoL's foils are better than some of UL's foils, but it's almost all the reprints, with maybe one or two being new in the set. The bad thing is that with so many foils and 8/22 of them (more than 33%) of them being absolutely unplayable, the new player will most likely not have much to work from.
I think the rares in UL are better overall than the CoL rares, although I like the Starter Stage 2s, but those can be gotten in HGSS.
Last call: the uncommons. Are there any decent ones?
Boy, i didn't think sets had these few uncommons. 13 for CoL and 15 for UL. That's not much to work with. UL doesn't have much to work with. CoL has Donphan and the Eeveelutions.
You may be right.
Okay, my final call.
HGSS-1 is the first set I'd advise for new players. Unleashed is the second set I'd advise for new players.
"But prime, you just said CoL had better uncommons and a few better foils..."
Yeah, but it just dawned on me that on average, a new player is going to pull a Prime or Legend card in every 5 packs they purchase. With CoL, they could buy 15 packs and not pull a Shiny card, not counting the fact that the Shiny cards are unplayable and their value is sinking every day.
CoL and Unleashed may both be similar in decency when reviewing the main set, but when taking the Super Rares into perspective, any HGSS set is going to blow CoL out of the water. These Primes and Legends will allow the new player to trade for the extra foils they need to strengthen their evolution lines. Foil energy and unwanted Shiny Pokemon won't.
This just highlights one of my problems with this set: potential. This set had so much potential, yet there were so many poor decisions.
The reprints were not a bad idea. Just there were some poor choices. The shiny Pokemon as SRs were not a bad idea, maybe not welcomed by all, but not a bad idea, but the ratio choice was a poor choice. The foil energy was a GREAT idea, but the ratio choice was a really poor choice.
People think back to Emerald with mixed feelings, but most have some positive thoughts of it. Foil energies flying all around, massive game-breaking cards like Medicham EX and Battle Frontier. Some, a few, decent reprints. Overall, better choices than poor choices.
Many people wanted CoL to be Emerald 2, but what we got was more equal to Base Set 2 (2).
Considering that I can't find HGSS packs (or boxes) for reasonable prices, I'm recommending CoL to all of my new or young players to help get them started in the game.
If stores aren't selling the older sets anymore, there's nothing else you can recommend other than whatever is available.
And I'll make this comment now. I could come up with 5 reprints off the top of my head that would be 100% better than some of the reprints we saw in CoL. I'm not a super competitive player, and I constantly help the players at my league build decks. Why weren't better options chosen?
