A celebration of the Mega Evolution sets:
What’s a better way to celebrate the success of Mega Evolutions and the Scarlett and Violet sets so far, then making the largest English-language Pokémon set ever. Including popular reprints from other Mega Evolutions sets, new format defying trainer cards and A colossal 78 secret Rares. This set has something for every fan of the Pokémon TCG.
What to expect from the 295! Cards included:
Massive would be an understatement for the size of this set. This set contains 217 main set cards and a whooping 78 secret Rares. A daunting goal indeed for any collector to catch them all. This set is mainly based on Mega Evolved Pokémon, however Terastallized Pokémon and normal EX Pokémon do make an appearance here as well. This set has an interesting selection of new cards: the first partner Pokémon from Pokémon Legends Z-A; the partner Pokémon of Larry and Erika; an assortment of new EXs of all types and some very powerful trainer cards.
The Products of Mega Evolutions, Ascended Heroes:
This set is not a regular release set, that means no booster boxes or updating regulation marks on reprinted cards. The no booster boxes make this set scarcer as packs are only available by elite trainer boxes, sticker/coin collections and poster boxes. The Larry/Erika collection and sticker boxes only have 3 packs each, the poster boxes have 10 packs and a promo mega card, then finally the elite trainer boxes have all the usual: 65 card sleeves, 40 Pokémon TCG Energy cards, 6 damage-counter dice, etc... and uniquely to this set a full-art foil promo card featuring N’s Zekrom with 9 packs of Ascended Heroes. These are the only ways of obtaining packs currently for this set so often these products sell out very quickly and any future products will likely sell out fast too.
A celebration of the Mega Evolution sets:
What’s a better way to celebrate the success of Mega Evolutions and the Scarlett and Violet sets so far, then making the largest English-language Pokémon set ever. Including popular reprints from other Mega Evolutions sets, new format defying trainer cards and A colossal 78 secret Rares. This set has something for every fan of the Pokémon TCG.
What to expect from the 295! Cards included:
Massive would be an understatement for the size of this set. This set contains 217 main set cards and a whooping 78 secret Rares. A daunting goal indeed for any collector to catch them all. This set is mainly based on Mega Evolved Pokémon, however Terastallized Pokémon and normal EX Pokémon do make an appearance here as well. This set has an interesting selection of new cards: the first partner Pokémon from Pokémon Legends Z-A; the partner Pokémon of Larry and Erika; an assortment of new EXs of all types and some very powerful trainer cards.
The Products of Mega Evolutions, Ascended Heroes:
This set is not a regular release set, that means no booster boxes or updating regulation marks on reprinted cards. The no booster boxes make this set scarcer as packs are only available by elite trainer boxes, sticker/coin collections and poster boxes. The Larry/Erika collection and sticker boxes only have 3 packs each, the poster boxes have 10 packs and a promo mega card, then finally the elite trainer boxes have all the usual: 65 card sleeves, 40 Pokémon TCG Energy cards, 6 damage-counter dice, etc... and uniquely to this set a full-art foil promo card featuring N’s Zekrom with 9 packs of Ascended Heroes. These are the only ways of obtaining packs currently for this set so often these products sell out very quickly and any future products will likely sell out fast too.
The secret Rares and collecting
If you're a casual fan of the game or not a MEGA fan of collecting all cards in a set, then please don’t try and complete this one. Obtaining all 217 main set cards is an affordable way to get all the new cards mechanics and Pokémon without having to break the bank for the ridiculous pricing on secret rare cards. You may be lucky and pull a high-end card that you could trade or keep but chasing them as a casual fan isn’t worth it. With there being so many secret rare cards in the set the pull rates are about 20% but the odds of getting a high-end card are still low. However, for those of you who enjoy the challenge of collecting them all, well this set may be the hardest you’ve faced in years. 32 IR’s, 14 full arts, 7 mega full arts and 20 SIR’s. All of which are demanding a very high premium due to the limited distribution of the set. The full collection is around £7,500 which is out of the question for 99% of collectors with the biggest hits being the Mega Gengar, the Mega Dragonite and the Pikachu.
The artwork
The Pokémon TCG is known for its artists creating some of the best artworks in card game history and this set has been no exception. Even in the main set the quality of artwork shines as Pokémon's continues their high standard. My notable pick from the main set is the basic Pikachu as its just adorable. Then you have the secret Rares where artist’s get the full card to create masterpieces, this set has a many of them. I recommend looking at the card gallery on the Pokémon TCG website, as you can see all the incredible and unique artwork made for this set. As usual it’s a wonderful mix of different styles and artists that come together to make such an interesting collection. From the strong edge styling of Hitmontop to the smoothest blends on Psyduck every Pokémon secret rare has an incredible artwork that I really recommend you view.
How the set plays and effects on standard:
Firstly, hope the standard rotation isn’t/wasn’t too bad for your fav deck. The new rotation brings about big changes, mainly the lack of hand disruptions to opponents, Goodbye Iono. Hello Unfair Stamp, but due to it being an ACE SPEC and limited to one copy the disruption effects on hands are heavily reduced this rotation. A lot of the very strong trainer options are being rotated out as well allowing decks like team rocket to become more viable. This is a great time to experiment with decks, and this set includes interesting options to try out. For fans of Charizard the new Mega Charizard Y offers brilliant bench removal as an easy include in any deck already using Charizard X. N’s Zekrom another deck I’ve seen emerge from this set with its shred attack to negate effects of your opponent's Pokémon resulting in an aggressive style deck to quickly knock out your opponent's Pokémon. Then finally the most played card from the new set the trainer card Poké Pad. This card is an auto include in any deck with key non-rule box Pokémon. Most decks use support Pokémon without rule boxes so this trainer allows consistency by searching for them and will be a key card to many decks this rotation, so keep an eye out for it in your packs.
Overall thoughts on the set and Pokémon TCG:
The best set you’ll likely won’t be able to collect. I have been collecting and playing since I was 8. In that whole time my feelings on the Pokémon TCG have never been as mixed as they are now. Throughout this set review I’ve been mostly positive as this set in theory and as an idea is brilliant and should be a love letter to the hobby. Reality is much more disappointing. This set is sold out everywhere, whether you blame the Pokémon company for lack of stock or scalpers for buying too many. The fact remains that most people will get little/none of the products from this set. That’s a shame as I wish everyone could experience this set at retail price, but the truth is that they won’t. It hurts knowing that the physical attainment of products and cards is so awful as the actual game is in such a brilliant place right now with so many unique decks and different mechanics that the actual game is probably the strongest it’s been since the start of Scarlett and Violet. So, my finale opinion is this if you’re able to get this set at retail price, I strongly recommend getting it. However, it’s very unlikely you will.
