Pokemon TCG History - Episode 4 - Dawn of Neo: The Rise of Cleffa

[@yawg691]

If you don't hit the bell for this channel you're an oaf. I don't make the rules.

[@rubyretro]

Pinning this.

[@MrBlueSleeves]

Bro is policing the KZbin section

[@Huggbees]

Ah the format that made me quit playing as a kid. Good times.

[@rubyretro]

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." -Charlie Richardson (or something like that)

[@TsukentoX]

@@rubyretro In Wizards of the Coast's case "It was the best of times...It was the blurst of times?! You stupid monkey!" And then they just ran with it.

[@mrunderscorecool]

Never thought I'd see huggbees on here

[@Velflunkle]

Oh! Huggbees! Cool seeing you here. I'd like to suggest playing the game nowadays if you haven't already (and obviously making content would be really cool though not at all expected) there's a lot of cool and powerful stratagies out right now

[@Winterhe4rt]

NEO was the set that literally saved the game from dying right there. Maybe its even the reason the game is still around today.

[@Anisound0]

I never thought that I'd be waiting for the premiere of a historical retelling of the competitive scene of a trading card game, but here I am.

[@lukamagicc]

Now THIS is how you do a video series on the history of something. This really puts you in the era and shows you what came out and what won tournaments. It’s so fascinating, I wish people did this for every card game.

[@rubyretro]

We hope so, too! It would be awesome to see more historical breakdowns of any kind. Thanks for watching!

[@nicholasellrich3522]

I just wanted to let you know that this series is so well done and I practically jumped for joy when I saw this notification. I binged every prior episode in about two days and I was devastated when it was done. Thanks for making content!!

[@rubyretro]

Thanks for watching!

[@MazterP28]

I agree

[@lachlank.8270]

I third the OP

[@Conspirachu]

I love how even 20 years ago, Wizards was doing everything they could to make things arbitrarily worse for their players. Glad to see they stuck to their values all these years later.

[@rubyretro]

XD

[@dragonarcher89]

i mean, they were trying to do wat they thought they could do with the limits, or lack there of, put by nintendo...?. though, were the ideas bad? yeah, probably. but even then, they felt that certain cards were too good. so im basically playing devils advocate here XD

[@solidraven6986]

You gotta stand for soemthing right

[@mrcool9090]

@@dragonarcher89what were the limits in question? I feel like I’ve heard of them can’t make their own cards one with you might be referring to but i don’t see how that would apply here

[@dragonarcher89]

@@mrcool9090 the fact that wizards were unable to put restrictions or outright banning cards. Nintendo or whoever was in charge of the ocg refused to let wizards do much besides distributing the cards and localizing said cards.

[@3xsxs953]

Between all the sloppy, game-breaking mistranslations and then banning 15+ it's no wonder Wizards lost the rights to Pokemon.

[@hookah6579]

Youd think at this point magic would be public domain

[@JetEriksen]

Gods do I miss formats with slower more resource management games. Ive played this game since the EX era, but after enduring the Quacking Punch disaster and then more i couldn't stay. Super looking forward to more and I hope you go beyond and one day talk about the Seismitoad troubles. And by extension Hypnotoxic laser. My favourite era myself were the EX sets. Loved those times c:

[@Rico1221]

After playing the Pokémon tcg game on the gameboy emulator for the switch, it’s been SO interesting learning the history of the meta game. Your videos are so well done! I can’t wait for the next installment 😁

[@rubyretro]

Thanks! More coming soon!

[@funkeyrooster89]

I’ll never forget Slowking. My man. I remember playing multiple on a bench lmao

[@kylezickus2621]

It's been awesome ot learn more about the oldschool TCG decks and meta. Thanks for all your hard work!

[@rubyretro]

Thanks for the support!

[@wusstunes]

I do think it's fun in these early formats the way older cards both set the meta and usually found new niches as new cards entered the meta, even if it got rather ridiculous.

[@rubyretro]

Agreed. Honestly, with a little more forethought and minor tweaks, these could've been incredible eras.

[@bannelore449]

I played PokeTCG when I was younger at a semi-competitive level. My family didn't really have internet access, and I just sort of threw together what I could and figured out tweaks as I went. It's honestly why I enjoy card games and deckbuilding games nowadays. I say that for context, as I really love seeing this retrospective of my childhood. It's really awesome. Appreciate the content!

[@rubyretro]

Appreciate you as well! Thanks for watching!

[@Thomas_Eraly]

Just like False Swipe Gaming you can make competive history of Pokemon I'll never use in my live seem like the most intersting thing ever, Great vid!!!!!!

[@rubyretro]

😊 Thanks for stopping by.

[@MewtwoStruckBack]

The last video covering sets that were new when I was still playing competitively. Thanks for the nostalgia hit!

[@rubyretro]

Happy to provide!

[@untrustworthyshelfing9953]

Your videos are a dream come true. As a lifelong Pokemon fan, you're teaching me so much.

[@rubyretro]

Glad you like them!

[@ToastAtDusk]

Definitely the series I look forward to the most. Didn't really know much about th3 tcg before now, but this has absolutely sparked an interest in me.

[@rubyretro]

Glad you like it!

[@rever6612]

Just wanted to say that these videos are amazing, thanks for doing them! I barely played when base set was released but played online 10 years after on Chirto, a web made by a fan and had no clue about the metas apart from the classic Haymakers, Dothewave and RainDance.

[@rubyretro]

Thanks for watching!

[@BrendanGeormer]

I love anthologies of stuff, and the topic being something I enjoy and have nostalgia for really adds to the experience. Also massive respect for the research that it took to get all this old information, and now it being available in a much more accessible form is fantastic.

[@ayayashamwow2021]

I recently kind of came back to pokemon tcg (Mew Genesect player) to play with people between games of Magic, and the mechanics Im not as familiar with make me wish I was playing old formats again, then I watch this and remember Sneasel and Error Slowking existed. So thanks for making these videos so I can feel nostalgic playing in school with friends when a lot of these cards were first released!

[@rubyretro]

Thanks for tuning in!

[@liamaitken6555]

this is honestly some of the best content on youtube, as someone who started playing in the last few years and missing out on this as a kid its super interesting to see a window into the meta back in the day

[@rubyretro]

Thanks for watching!

[@TsukentoX]

I believe each qualifier basically ran rules however they felt. I entered last minute in Florida because I was 16 and was initially unable to take part until they did away with the 15+ age restriction. I very much remember the one I entered had games of 1 to move at a quicker pace because there were more people than anticipated (which led to them going back on their call of every entrant being able to get 1 free Genesis pack). It also showed Wizards had no idea what the rules were, because they claimed my Murkrow's Feint Attack did not deal an extra 20 damage to the defending Pokémon with 2 Darkness Energy.

[@DKQuagmire]

LOL what! thats insane! I could understand the confusion with bench Pokemon damage, but to an active Pokemon, any Dark type, and/or any of the Team rocket Dark Pokemon, should do an additional 10 damage for each darkness energy on it!

[@TsukentoX]

Exactly. Needless to say, that judgement was what made me lose against a guy running a Riptide Feraligatr deck. :')

[@chainswordcs]

yeah, i wouldn't be surprised if some qualifiers were run a bit differently than others. but that misinterpretation of the rules is just the icing on top

[@RobotKid2000]

I knew/know nothing about competitive Pokemon. This series is amazing, thanks for making it.

[@rubyretro]

Thanks for taking the time to check it out!

[@16maze]

aaron holding it down for us and humbling ruby. lmaooo

[@rubyretro]

😘 -Aaron the editor

[@Smechi489]

First, great video, I'm excited waiting for the next one. Second, here in Chile there is a quite active Base-Neo community that has existed for +10 years. With an annual national tournament, which brings together around 60 people. We played with Slowking errata and Sneasel banned (although during all these years it has been changing, sneasel for example was allowed before). The format can make for highly entertaining games, as well as the most frustrating games possible. Likewise, the most curious decklists seem to be the norm in neo base sometimes. Thanks for all the historical information about how the game was lived there!

[@rubyretro]

Sounds like a fun time in Chile!

[@Gigamex2]

Thank you again for another great episode. It really feels like I'm "playing" through the meta as it developed in those days and I love it!

[@rubyretro]

That's good to hear! Thanks for watching!

[@KrazedApe95Vault]

If you don't love me at my Tackle, then you don't deserve me at my Tail Crush.

[@rubyretro]

I've got the steal if you've got the licks.

[@SupremeDirt]

you know its really interesting finding out that the formats i played super casually with friends are apparently some of the most reviled and broken formats of the TCG because of cards we didn't even know existed. how different it could've been if wizards was allowed to ban cards.

[@headwhop26]

Honestly, these videos fucking slap. I haven’t played the TCG since the first few years it was out and the hit of nostalgia is planetary. So many PokeTubers are over-edited, and that really turns me off. This is so much better. Great pacing and perfect editing and storytelling.

[@rubyretro]

Thanks! Glad you like them!

[@Tvboy777]

Came into organized play as a kid just as Rocket-Gym was rotating out and it was Neo-onward. Everyone I met was so jaded and unhappy, and I was just having a blast with Neo-only format, Slowking and Sneasel newly banned.

[@Matto-5000]

These videos are gold. Thank you. Feels like yesterday I was playing these. Still have the first 1-251 pokemon in a binder in order. With 3 of each gym mon and rockets too.

[@Azucar752]

You make seriously some of my favorite YT content I've seen in years dude. Awesome series!

[@rubyretro]

Thanks! We're thankful for your support.

[@austinestrada8944]

Bro I love everything about this. Keep on doing this for like forever. I recently replayed the TCG game boy games because of you’re first couple videos. This is amazing content and everyone should love it. Keep doing it please

[@rubyretro]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@somethingcleverandwitty567]

Now, I don't play pokemon. I'm a Yugioh guy, but this series has been really informative, please keep it up

[@rubyretro]

You betcha!

[@alexcollins9577]

I’ve seen a lot of channels that are grossly underrated with way less subscribers than they deserve. This channel may take the cake. Incredible content on every level. Thank you.

[@rubyretro]

Wow, thank you!

[@DragonOfTheRoseMoon]

These videos just keep getting visually cooler all the time! Love it! Heck of an opener!

[@rubyretro]

I think they're more visually like Frieza

[@Skips531]

I remember playing gator dance at the San Diego STS as a young teenager and I still have a Polaroid of myself with 2 friends all wearing that ivonic red STS competitor shirt and someone in a giant pikachu costume that we took during the tourney. Slowking definitely was a huge menace there and specifically remember all the conversations around it. I loved this era of Pokémon tcg for those memories alone and this era is what got me into playing more competitively and expanding to other tcg’s later in life.

[@rubyretro]

That's awesome!

[@Derek-xf3eu]

Really interesting. I hope you continue with this. Nobody else seems to be able to make this.

[@rubyretro]

That's the plan!

[@LiamLovesMetal]

@@rubyretrothese videos are awesome dude, keep them coming!

[@marioluigi164]

Watched some season 3 of the anime today and now this! Awesome!

[@RussyPopDnD]

Nice to see Wizard's incompetence stretches back decades.

[@EzDoesitYGO]

These vids need to blow up fr Awesome work as usual

[@rubyretro]

Agreed. Let's make it happen.

[@maccross]

Really appreciate these videos. They make me realize what I mossed for being so young and poor.

[@rubyretro]

Appreciate you watching

[@RowansReviews]

Circling back after watching, another great video. Quality content presented in a very digestible format. Can't wait till we get to the original ex era as that's what I'm most nostalgic for

[@rubyretro]

Not to much longer now. We're excited for it too!

[@jasminemasterss5417]

These vids are so insanely well made. Thanks so much for making them!

[@rubyretro]

Thank you so much for watching them!

[@Nesque]

I don't even know how you play the TCG, I'm just here to watch some nostalgia overflow.

[@vileslair]

I've been playing a wonderful romhack of the Pokemon TCG Gameboy game called Pokemon TCG Neo that has some of these sets. Really cool to see the meta of the time and be able to use some of it. Great video as always!

[@rubyretro]

Thanks! Maybe we'll check out said rom hack at some point.

[@hookah6579]

Link? Would stream that shit. Is it a rom of the sequel with that team rocket of cards?

[@E_X_I_T]

This is legit the best thing I’ve seen in ages, I really hope you continue it!

[@rubyretro]

Tonight @7pm EST

[@LazurBeemz]

Crazy how I collected cards all through this early era, and played with my friends, but ran into NONE of these problems plaguing the competitive scene. We were just playing crappy decks with hardly any Trainer cards in them, cuz trainers were BORING and we wanted to evolve a bunch of Pokemon instead! How little we knew...

[@FlammableLizard]

Thanks so much for another incredible video!! This era of Baby Pokemon is so interesting and it makes me miss their presence. Really looking forward to learning more about this era's STS! :D

[@rubyretro]

Thanks again for watching!

[@montetribal]

These videos are great, really enjoying them. But I am here to say excellent work on the Groudon mouth flaps. They sync so well with the voice over.

[@rubyretro]

Thanks, it takes me hours of slow video scrubbing and manual animation to make it happen.

[@montetribal]

Well it certainly pays off, and doesnt go unnoticed! @@rubyretro

[@SuperLuigiKart64]

Once more, thank you for making such well-produced content about such an interesting game! Little things like the booster boxes/pack designs, transitory animations, and those classic commercials to begin each episode definitely give the cozy, informative feel that makes this series so inviting to watch. Generation 2 was my favorite era of Pokemon, but I had skipped out on playing the card game at the time in order to play Yu-Gi-Oh with friends. It's lovely to see how the game shook up then and take a look at the cards, even if it was a tumultuous time for the game. To answer the question from the ending, my favorite Stage 2 in this era was definitely Feraligatr (Neo Genesis 5). Being a fun "twist" on Blastoise via manipulating energy in different ways, and discarding Energy with the amount of recovery cards is a pretty cool way to boost your damage while being (relatively) safe. And as a side note, Sneasel is one of my favorite Pokemon, so I'm kinda sad I missed out on ruining other kids' days with a Beat Up deck...

[@rubyretro]

I'm also a big fan of Feraligatr. Riptide is so fun to play! - Aaron the Editor

[@LucasHeim]

yesss, I'm so glad there's one more episode to watch, I don't even play the game and I find it so interesting to watch

[@rubyretro]

Thanks!

[@MBison-fs8vp]

With the arrival of Neo I moved from playing at my LGS as it closed down to playing at a local Wotc retail store in the new mall in my area at the time. I have fond memories of my local meta slowly shifting from being 1v1 formats to the tag team format.

[@netaspie]

Absolutely adore your content! Great editing, nice voiceovers, and great overall quality! Keep up the amazing work!

[@rubyretro]

Thank you so much!

[@LTGvideos]

Fantastic video. I love Klaczynski's blog and your videos have the same feel while providing a ton of new information.

[@DKQuagmire]

Back when i used to play on the site TCG ONE, which was an unofficial version of PTCGO, that had all the retro gen 1, 2, 3 and 4 cards, I was always using Jasons blog, to copy his decks! I even made my own decks inspired by his own deck building. Like a Base Set Gyarados deck that abused the "Recall" card with Digger and Minefield. And a Sabrina's Golduck deck, that also abused Digger, Minefield and Rainbow energy, with damage swap Alakazam!

[@rubyretro]

Much appreciated!

[@charlesr951]

I just recently started playing the TCG with my son and this popped up in my feed. The quality of you channel is incredible for how small it is. The format is great and the edits are top knotch. Keep up the good work.

[@rubyretro]

Wow, thanks!

[@xXHardCorrXx]

I have been literally counting down the days till this came out

[@rubyretro]

Sorry to keep you waiting.

[@GGreenHeart]

I started watching this series after recently replaying the TCG Game and falling in love with the Alakazam + Tentacool technique. There's so little I know about the TCG, but the history and deck analysis here is super interesting! I think if I were playing around this time, I'd get a huge kick out of Mankey + Murkrow...

[@LanEXHikari]

Until now, I never grasped how much impact bad translation had to the TCG, can't wait to see more episodes. Keep 'em coming! 👍🏼

[@rubyretro]

Thanks! Will do!

[@SavannahMcReynolds-t7v]

These are so well done and I am so excited for the rest. Thanks for the good work!!

[@rubyretro]

Thank you for your kind words.

[@LuffyMcDuck]

Another video from the era of tcg when I was only collecting cards so I'm really excited for this one too.

[@George-kz5hb]

I have VERY few memories of cracking packs as a kid. But one pack of Neo Genesis remains in my mind. I pulled the focus band as the rare. Glad to see it was a good card competitively

[@Jesse_Dawg]

Great video! Please more like this. Would love an analysis on the cards: value at the time, print stats, stuff like that

[@mikerees5511]

the last deck I ever made as a kid was a holo entei/arcanine deck that I never got to actually use because my parents wouldn't drive me all the way to Denver for the tournament I was gonna play. I can't remember where I was going with that strategy, and I can't remember why I was making a standard deck instead of modified, but it's fun hearing about all these deck lists and knowing how hard I would've gotten wrecked with the decks I had

[@Laura-ns9wx]

I honestly can‘t say wheather I like „Sneachu“ or „Dark Daycare“ better, those names are amazing

[@apeckx5090]

This is really the last video! I could binge this channel for hours more!

[@rubyretro]

We got the next episode coming out Friday!

[@level3xfactor]

Blastoise! Which is my favorite Pokemon in general. Looking forward to more episodes!

[@416610971]

I love how the ad in the beginning shows two of the strongest cards (1 banned) in the format. It's like they knew they were gonna be problems

[@rubyretro]

Good catch. I'm sure they knew they'd be good.

[@nickrispoli2532]

Man I need more of this series when you get the chance. Just subbed. Got a bunch of pokemon cards on a whim for Christmas and this series has been amazing in helping me get into the game side of the cards

[@rubyretro]

Thanks! There will be more soon!

[@KusogeMan]

i went insane with this video i remeber when these cards came out it was crazy

[@taggerung890]

Stumbled across this as i started replaying pokemon tcg on gbc and boy is this a great watch! Thabk you for making this series

[@fangirlforlife237]

Yay for this video!!!! And happy to see your sub count hit 12k!!! 🤩🥳 You guys make lots of people happy when you upload! 😁 This series is so fun/informative to watch, and all the work that goes into these can’t be understated! It’s cool to see how the baby Pokémon had such a role in this. I have the Pichu, and dang that’s crazy about how Slowking was played lol! XD amazing work as always! I do feel like I learn a lot about the cards actually watching :)

[@rubyretro]

Thanks as always for your support! ❤️

[@mikerees5511]

i'm guessing the next episodes explore how much of a force feraligatr riptide decks were, because i definitely remember them being much more of a part of the meta than this episode mentioned. This is such an interesting series. I remember spending *hours* on dial-up internet poring over pogo deck reports.

[@rubyretro]

Feraligatr will get its time on the spotlight for sure.

[@TheLordGlenn]

As someone that played at locals and Pokemon Leagues back through this format, it's kinda crazy to me that so many tournaments and players stuck with playing non-Modified. It was basically enforced everywhere that I played, so seeing Base-Neo decklists is kinda wild. Sneasel and Slowking were very quickly booted out with the banlist, so things definitely diverged at the more "casual" level of play. Riptide Feraligatr was still strong, I vividly remember players running Dark Gengar once Neo Destiny came out... (I'll still remember my days of playing Dark Raichu/Rocket's Zapdos/Sneasel fondly though...)

[@masonoverton4063]

Mom! Dad! Ruby Retro just posted another TCG history video

[@sebashtion4917]

Love this informative series covering the old sets keep up the great work ruby!

[@rubyretro]

Thanks, we will!

[@DownKneeFresh]

these old school videos are awesome!! keep up the great work, looking forward to the next one!

[@rubyretro]

Thanks! Will do!

[@JeremyZielinskiGK]

fav channel on youtube

[@rubyretro]

Appreciate you!

[@RebeccaGunn]

As someone who briefly dabbled with base and really was unable to follow the game from the Neo era onwards - it's interesting to learn more about these sets. The baby Pokemon segment was very interesting considering the newest set about to come out in English is sort of reintroducing the Babies again (but without the Baby rule this time) - On one hand it is regrettable that Wizards couldn't tweak the game, but I can also sort of understand from a business/legal standpoint that it would of likely made it even harder to for TPC to take the rights back in the long run if Wizards could claim to have a considerable impact on the actual mechanics.

[@rubyretro]

That and the risk of having multiple interpretations of cards in international tournaments.

[@cesarfranceschy9576]

wow, cleffa? sounds interesting! thanks a lot for continuing with this!

[@rubyretro]

Thanks for watching!

[@Kalazt]

Wonderful! Thank you all again for this video. They are treat to watch :)

[@rubyretro]

You are so kind, thank you!

[@cancherisimo8991]

Thanks for this series! The history of pokemon tcg is awesome!

[@rubyretro]

You're awesome! Thanks for watching!

[@deogenz]

Super high quality analysis, very shmoov!

[@rubyretro]

Thank you kindly!

[@ConnorKrohnicles]

woohoo new video! Still writing my final paper for a class but once it's done, you best believe I'm coming right back here. Edit: I always love the editing and scripting on these videos, good job!

[@rubyretro]

Welcome back! Thanks for the kind words. 😊

[@WayneMocadlo666]

Been waiting for this. This series is so goated. Wonderful job! 😺

[@rubyretro]

Thanks ❤️

[@370TL]

Loving these videos. Please continue all the way threw to the present lol. I only stopped because my friends and I got into yugioh.

[@rubyretro]

We'll take it as far as we can!

[@bronwaith]

1:35 can I just say that this introduction is FANTASTIC!!

[@bronwaith]

I love how all the energies turned into the letters 💖

[@rubyretro]

Thanks so much!

[@AnaatthiGozo]

Mistranslations causing so many meta shifts sounds hilarious. I'm very much looking forward to you hopefully eventually breaking into the ex-era of cards since that's where I got familiar with the game

[@rubyretro]

We'll get there before too long. Also, I love your profile picture, that I do.

[@lukamagicc]

I wish you could relive this stuff online or they made a series of sequels to the GBC game. I’d love to play certain metas, or relive the experience of having to collect card packs to eventually build these great decks. A video game would be perfect…

[@dukeriver01]

I’m excited for the next part, that’s when I actually had a chance to start competing in my local league 🎉

[@rubyretro]

Stay tuned!

[@vistas5823]

One of the best channels on KZbin, you should collab with Paraspectre!

[@rubyretro]

Maybe we will someday, sooner or later.

[@ajsim]

Nice work! Great content! I loved Slowking at this time. So brutal.

[@rubyretro]

Thanks a ton!

[@DigitalinDaniel]

I never played the actual game much, just collected the cards cause Pokemon... and the Neo block was my favorite and still is. All of the WotC cards are just so much cooler than todays -.-

[@prognemesiss]

ah the old metal energy. fond memories of that. played against many chansey decks, i remember one very fondly. A full health chansey, with 4 metal energy attached. against my Sabrina's kadabra, one simple coin flip and suddenly, that chansey had 110 damage. The sheer terror on the face of my opponent, when he had to put all those damage markers one it, one by one, slowly grasping what just happened, with no backup plan to deal with what would come next. The shock made him give up the game, other players were very frightened to play me. I don't think any pokemon at that time could do the equivilant of 180 damage with a single attack, to account for the 4 metal energy and the 30 type disadvantage of Sabrina's kadabra.

[@billdungeon]

This series is incredible! Keep up the good work!

[@rubyretro]

Thanks! Will do!

[@ancao2555]

I wonder if that was the same Elaine Chase that was prominent in the MtG judge scene and later went on to be a VP at WotC... small tcg world if so. Anyways, this series got me nostalgic for the game and I started up Pokemon TCG 2 on the GBC after meaning to play it for awhile. Keep up the good work!

[@rubyretro]

Thanks for stopping by!

[@fwant2729]

"babe wake up. new Ruby Retro video just dropped"

[@rubyretro]

🫡

[@erikreeds3836]

lovely stuff. it would be nice to see contemporary perspectives on these formats as well - you cover em a little but i find those to be quite interesting

[@Nightwalker86]

I was a cold steel master at "Occult Powers" aka Sneasel / Slowking. A few things: 1. Murkrow was an absolute monster and often far more dangerous than Sneasel, for a few reasons. Beat Up was a prize but a well-timed Mean Look was game over. Sneasel also gave you a turn to prepare for it, or could maybe be knocked back a turn with Energy Removal. Murkrow had no similar checks. Your best out to Murkrow was to already have something that could kill it before it came out AND not already be locked by RSA / Lass / Slowking / Dark Vileplume. 2. Darkness Energy was actually incredibly useful for killing your own Cleffa and Slowking to break opposing Murkrow locks.

[@charizardAnthony94]

YES, MY SWEET BABBU CLEFFA Oh I can't wait to hear of Full Metal Chansey ^^