Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Unimpressed with Undaunted and Unleashed

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Prime

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Discussion on new Undaunted set

I posted a comment in another thread a few days ago about my disappointment with Undaunted and I felt like it was poor placement for such a comment. So, I decided I'd make a new thread in an area where the topic could be properly discussed.

My message discussed my disappointment with the mixing of promo cards with cards from other sets to produce a brand new set and how moving of cards between sets can have a negative effect on the overall integrity of the sets and on the actual game.

For all those who don't know, Unleashed is made up of cards from three japanese products: Expert Deck - Metagross vs. Leafeon, Battle Starter Decks, and 23 cards from Revived Legends. Because close to 1/4 of Revived Legends was removed in order to make Unleashed, when Undaunted came around (the set based on Revived Legends), there was a hole that had to be filled. There were only 79 cards that could be printed from Revived Legends, so to create Undaunted, 2 Legends were pulled over from the next japanese set, Clash at the Summit, and a few promos that had been given out through tournaments and promotions in japan were added to the set to finish the set at 90 cards total, which is the smallest Pokemon set since Neo Revelation which was released in October, 2001.

Undaunted is looking like a very poor set, and I think that is because almost all the good cards were pulled out of it and put in Unleashed. Those cards are:

  • Kingdra Prime
  • Lanturn Prime
  • Tyranitar Prime
  • Steelix Prime
  • Entei / Raikou Legend
  • Entei / Suicune Legend
  • Suicune / Raikou Legend
Imagine how the format would be if none of these cards were legal for Nationals and Worlds because they would have been originally printed in Undaunted. Moving cards from one set to another makes a big impact on the organized play of the game. The Seniors National Champion won his last round thanks to Entei/Raikou Legend.

I really wish TPCi would just print the japanese sets exactly how they are. No moving of cards, no breaking of sets into smaller ones. Japan releases a set, 3-6 months later, TPCi releases the same set in english.
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Moving of cards from the original set to another and having to fill in the 'hole' with promos and such...

... can have negative ramifications on the game; Competitive players have a lesser urge to buy packs because they don't want most of the cards. They have less fun at Pre-Releases because even more of the cards they pull are not the 'few' they really want. The value of the set plummets, hurting both the collectors and the sellers.
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Because Nintendo needed to come up with a 4th set to meet their yearly quota, they had to create one out of thin air by mixing a bunch of products together and in return totally gimping the next set, Undaunted.

I'd rather they just translate the cards, manufacture them, and try to stay as closely to how japan packages the products as they can. Instead of combining 2 collections together with a bunch of cards from the next set, just release those 2 collections in english and let the next set be exactly what it is in japan.

Smaller sets, less sets in a year; either of these ideas would be acceptable if the sets we received were of higher quality. It's not about quantity, it's about quality, and Nintendo shouldn't strive to fit a minimum number of cards (edit: or sets) and toss away...
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...the integrity of the sets and the wellness of the organized play in order to do it.

What do you think?
 
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Prime said:
This is going to be the first set where I'll be trading away my foils for rares and my primes for trainers. :frown:

Smallest set in years, and probably the least impacting set in this format (to be seen).

I really wish TPCi would just print the japanese sets exactly how they are. No moving of cards, no breaking of sets into smaller ones. Japan releases a set, 3-6 months later, TPCi releases the same set in english. Any 'promo' sets that really lack any playability and are purely cosmetic collectibles should be marketed as such, like the Pokemon Rumble game was. How this set was handled with the promo collection mixed into it would be like if the Rumble cards were mixed into Rising Rivals or such; just a big mistake. And this "big mistake" has happened multiple times now.

It doesn't matter the size of the set. Give us a 50-card set for all I care, but make it worth the time to collect it. Don't mix in 50 promo cards just to make the set a certain # of cards. When sets of promos are mixed into sets, it can have negative ramifications on the game; Competitive players have a lesser urge to buy packs because they don't want most of the cards. They have less fun at Pre-Releases because even more of the cards they pull are not the 'few' they really want. The value of the cards plummet, hurting both the collectors and the sellers.

Yes, non-competitive players will buy anything, and before anyone points out that TPCi/Nintendo is a company and companies try to make profit, I understand that, but without competitive play, Pokemon wouldn't be profitable enough to continue to be produced. Yes, I said it, and I'll say it again. Without competitive play, there wouldn't be enough interest coming in the game for the game to survive. Hundreds of TCGs have died out because there was no competitive play and interest in them, and Pokemon would be next, even if it took a few years to happen. It'd be right next to Magi-Nation, Duel Masters, in the discount bin at wal-mart. It's a bold statement to say, but I stand by it.

And if we want to talk about maximizing profit, how about the aspect that Nintendo combined two products that could have been sold separately. In that aspect, Nintendo chose to lose possible income. So this is evidence that not every action is fueled by money.

The japanese equivilant of Undaunted isn't amazing either, I understand that, but diluting a 'weak' set with unplayable promos not meant to be paired next to competitive cards only makes the set seem a lot more weak and a lot less important. In the end, everyone loses out from actions like these.

Smaller sets, less sets in a year; either of these ideas would be acceptable if the sets we received were of higher quality. It's not about quantity, it's about quality, and Nintendo shouldn't strive to fit a minimum number of cards and toss away all the important aspects of the game in order to achieve it.

That's all I gotta to say about that. /gump
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The moment I saw the foil Scizor I died inside..

The biggest issue is that, while tehre are some cool / useful cards in there, the sheer amounth of "was never meant to be anything else then starterdeck stuff and has no use whatsoever" is just frustrating. There are cards that arent great but serve some purpose and someone might want to use them (the eevees e.g.) but cards like scizor and marcargo? When you pull them from a pack you can trash them instantly, theyre worthless...
 
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Aren't all sets like this in terms of playability? A few gems that add to the metagame and the rest is binder fodder for collectors. This has been the case with every set since at least D&P.
 
The set is pretty lackluster. The biggest things I saw in the set were Energy Exchanger, and the driftblim was interesting. However I enjoyed the prerelease due to the artwork, eeveelutions, and the sleeves. I really enjoyed the artwork to the legends and legend box, including a few other cards.
 
Ok, moved part of a thread over to this one. Keep going with the discussion.
 
The only useful cards I saw were Muk, Vileplume, some trainers, Scizor prime, and possibly a Umbreon/Espeon combo and kyogre groudon legend. I dont think it should have warranted a set at all. Like above posts has said, Most of the rares and holos are completely useless.
 
There are not many cards which are playable for BR and league.

I am very disappointed that cards like gliscor, scizor and marcargo become holo cards ,because they are very bad. I could understand that Scizor is a holo card because it is a popular Pokemon in my opinion, but Marcargo? I have never seen someone who like marcargo.

In my opinion the most useful cards are houndoom, togekiss, vileplume , weavile ,muk, energy exchanger, defender, flower shop girl, legend box, the eeveelutions primes, slowking prime and the legends.
 
I agree. I used to toss tonsss of $ into buying boxes around SF & PL. Those sets were great, and had many good cards.

Recently, these sets have been so bad that I skipped the PR and haven't purchased a SINGLE pack or box (which I used to NEVER do). Why waste my money on crap sets? TPCi is really losing out and should expect people to quit playing if these lame sets keep popping up every 3 months.
 
flower shop lady is awesome for what it is. it is also that one card that everyone draws into T1 and holds on to all game wishing it wasn't there. what I'm trying to say is, it does have its purpose and it does its purpose wellm its just unfprtunate that the most playable card in the set is the recovery card. I'm glad to see sage's training but that doesn't make it great. defender and energy exchanger will see no play. legend box is cool, but are legend decks viable? don't think so...unfortunately, I think the best legend is ho oh as it doesn't have horrible weakness (i think gyrardos will lose popularity) and doesn't give up 2 prizes and doesn't have multiple specific energy requirements
 
Are you using the correct set names? Aren't there only 40 cards in Lost Link, and we have yet to get any of them...

For now, my opinion of mixing and matching sets isn't as strong as yours. It's simple, but my only gripe is with the mixing of the art, since Japan's Legend sets don't match up art-wise with the Metagross/Leafeon deck cards.

Since I'm a sucker and a collector, I'll still continue on buying packs. It's still something fun for me. I suppose it's not that big a deal for me because I'm not always looking for what is playable. I make all sorts of decks for fun, and I've already thought of a few fun things for Unleashed and Undaunted.
 
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I heartily concur, Prime. I was totally planning on going to a PR (and also Drafting later that day,) when I saw the scans online the night before.

Out of 90 cards, there were about 2-3 pokemon I wanted, a few worthy trainers, and 1 playable Prime. Completely a waste of 25 dollars for the PR and another 20 for the Draft. I won't spend any money on packs of this set, and just trade for the cards I want/purchase singles. Especially on a poor college student's budget.

Unimpressed is my sentiment as well. Unenthusiastic would also fit the analogy.
 
Out of 2 Drafts, I got about 30$ worth of cards. Certainly not terrible, however I still lost money and am going to just buy singles from now on.
 
I'm curious as to how much of the Pokemon card-buying demographic is actually composed of competitive players. Main reason being, for those who buy packs just for collection purposes, Undaunted will probably do favorably; it's got a lot of popular Pokemon, regardless of their actual utility in a competitive environment.

As a non-competitive player and an active trader, it's rather disheartening to see sets with such a lack of quality. I suppose my main gripe is also echoed in the OP: why all the set manipulation? We're supposed to be playing catch-up to Japan's set, yet we get handed one of the smallest sets in a long time filled with cards of questionable quality. Why not just have the sets as they are? Set size isn't an issue; personally, I would find having a large set a good incentive to purchase a box, as long as the set is decent all around *cough SV*. I doubt translations are the issue either, considering Bangiras can translate an entire set in a night with 99% accuracy. I mean, sure, you gotta put the filler somewhere, but diluting the main sets isn't the solution.

Needless to say I won't be purchasing more than a couple of packs from this set. I've got more than enough money to purchase a box, but as everyone else said, it's simply not worth it.
 
Yeah, this set is AWFUL. The only moderately good cards in it are Scizor, Slowking and Espeon Prime. Maybe Umbreon but I won't say that because I hate umbreon :p At least Slowking Prime has a kind of weird Trade off power. Even though your opponent gets to choose, it's still going to be useful.
 
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