When Wizards Made the Pokemon TCG (and how they lost it)

How well was Japan's Pokemon Card Game handled by an American distributor? From production, to tournaments, and eventually lawsuits, it's Japan vs America, Nintendo vs Wizards, Pokemon vs Magic!
Major sources:
General info: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/
Early JP Production: www.elitefourum.com/t/guide-t...
WotC formats & errors: jklaczpokemon.com/
Tournaments: pokumon.com/
Jamboree pictures: www.matobadesign.com/jamboree
EN cards: pkmncards.com/
JP cards: pcg-search.com/

[@jarvis]

great video great production and research

[@meneses7733]

Jarvis?

[@e7193]

jarvis 🥹

[@louisng114]

DeltaSeeker X Jarvis Johnson collab when?

[@sjgc7]

I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch this video until I saw Jarvis as the top comment

[@BlueHazeBurnout93]

@@sjgc7 wow are you easily influenced

[@billybones6463]

I was in the Professor program, a sort of hybrid judge/certification older players could get. When WotC lost the license, they shipped me a box filled with material that they probably had just sitting around and needed to get rid of. As such, I got stacks of promos and rare cards as a cash out when it went to hell

[@pokepop4163]

That was due to the great customer service team led by Mike Boozer. WotC corporate wanted them to just trash all that

[@Ozhull]

​@@pokepop4163 wow. Thanks for this added trivia. I hope this all gets compiled in a coffee table book one day

[@DrewRCR]

Wow cool. What all did you get, can you specify?

[@TheRealMycanthrope]

That is frickin cool

[@VintagePokemonHunter]

Very cool! Do you happen to have any old shirts by any chance?

[@skear0073]

This totally needs a follow-up. The ex era that followed the transition from WOTC to TPCi saw a revival of the game. Looking forward to more videos!

[@pokepress]

It does end fairly abruptly.

[@lkmdude8094]

It also doesn't help that the e-series sets were some of the worst in the games history.

[@grundlestiltzken761]

@@lkmdude8094 Damn, how wrong can one man be?

[@lkmdude8094]

@@grundlestiltzken761 the entire e series had about 10 playable cards. Everything before and after it was just so much stronger.

[@skear0073]

Yeah e-Card series was def rough. Only a few supporters and Pokémon really made it in the 2002 meta. The start of the RS-PK era is really where the game was stellar (this speaking on research and anecdotes, not experience)

[@pokepress]

The “age divisions being phased out” requires clarification-towards the end of the WotC era, they effectively turned the 15+ division into a pool of volunteers to run events and shifted their playtimes to small events late in the day. This was widely accused of being an attempt to steer older players towards their internally owned games.

[@Damienmizerak]

I was a young kid playing in those funny you say that. Lots of older guys and the guy who ran it definitely had some shady things going on even as a young kid I could see and tell after a few POP matches with the one guy he had a little system with the card store he held it in to get more for himself basically to short our actual supply we’d get and he charged extra to sit for an “after event” where it was basically ripping packs and older guys trying to scam me out of my cards left and right

[@TemperedMedia]

@@Damienmizerak The entire American side of the trading card game was full of all kinds of shady stuff like that, and from people of all ages. After I got ripped off, I never went back to it.

[@SilverDrakez]

From the research, music, visuals, and narration, fantastic video. I had no idea the japanese circuit had such success with taming how broken the early meta was. Thank you for all the time and effort you put in, you've made this fan's day!

[@elipsorange]

Great dude! My brother I went to a game store called The Encounter. They hosted MtG and Pokemon. It was such a great time. My dad would drop both of us off and we would be there for hours playing and trading. All the kids would conspire to get more battles in that time to get more stamps in our books. The more stamps, the more promos we got. It was so cool. My brother and I won tournaments, I won 3 place and he won 1st during the gym Heros release. He got a booster box and I got 16 packs. These were the times you could almost complete a mater set with one booster box. Great times!

[@bchnts]

My uncle used to work for wizards of the coast in production line he used to bring me cards and many error and missedcut cards and not properly sealed packs I didn’t know that they would explode in prices I used to draw on them and lost many of them…I only have a few of them today

[@dailydiecastsg]

Easily hundreds of thousands

[@michalljubljanac312]

9:04 The Clefairy + Blaine's Charizard interaction would actually work exactly like intended under Magic's rules. Whenever a card mentions its own name, it is only referring to itself. When a card copies another card's ability, the self-reference is adjusted accordingly. They probably messed this up because whoever worked on PTCG at the time took the terminology from Magic but didn't fully understand its implications.

[@Eamil]

The fact that they applied "stack" rulings to Pokemon supports that argument. It seems like they had some people on the team who just didn't recognize that two TCGs could have fundamentally different core assumptions.

[@michalljubljanac312]

​@@Eamil Yeah, the stack ruling is actually a very similar case. Even if you apply Magic's logic, it would NOT change the outcome of Toxic Gas. The reason for this is that Toxic Gas would be treated as a static ability, not as a triggered ability that uses the stack. Whoever was in charge of Pokemon at WotC at the time seemingly didn't understand either game.

[@Sehon13Ultd]

@@michalljubljanac312 yeah I was about to comment that’s not how the stack works at all

[@DKQuagmire]

For several years on the TCG ONE Website. A website that uses its own Pokemon TCG simulator, played Blaines Charizard as doing 1 fire energy for 40 damage, and discarding that energy after the attack, and then did an additional 20 damage for every extra energy. so 2 fire would do 60. 3 would do 80. However, a few years ago Jason Klazinski reached out to the forums, and we all agreed to return Blaines Charizard to how the Japanese players played the card. It always seemed odd, to have a "20+" written in the attack cost, until then. Also the forums had some ruling issues with "BUZZAP" Electrode's interaction with Blaines Charizard. Now the card only does 20 damage for 1 fire energy, and then does the additional 20 damage for subsequent energy. so 2 fire would do 40. 3 would do 60.

[@mrpinguimninja]

​@@michalljubljanac312i was thinking the exact same thing

[@RichardBlaziken]

This video was so well researched and full of stuff I had never heard about. You make such great content, love to see it

[@hilariousskullnamedcatzo647]

My historic nerdy brain is enjoying this video like all of your other videos 😁 It would also be interesting if we could see a history on 3d card renders because I've always been interested on their designs because of how they always stuck out like a sore thumb compared to other pokemon cards

[@willywomby]

It's criminal that this video has only 150k views, it deserves 10x that amount, really good video though, can't wait to see more from you

[@ProfessorRex]

Amazing video with top quality production value! I really liked how you had the background of each error card as a blurred large version of the card art

[@ZanbonSen]

This was a really good video. The rise of the TCG history videos and them being more educational in format is super cool. I hope you do more like these and I think a combo of content creators like Ruby Retro and yourself would be great for TCG videos. There's like, 25+ years and it feels like it's only just now getting proper documentation in video format.

[@evanfry]

Great work. This is the first source of any kind I’ve seen that explains the business issues behind the loss of license rather than just chalking it up to money or control or change in pop culture preferences. I also didn’t know about the Japanese ban/restriction system, but it makes total sense why their tournaments continued to be vibrant and strategic while in the US it was just about who had the most money for booster packs to pull 4 copies of all the broken cards.

[@KathyXie]

WOTC was also responsible for the international release in every other language I believe, including the Dutch, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Korean, Chinese. Would be nice to see a follow up video about the other regions, if they got tournaments, promo cards, etc in those early days.

[@Zanji1234]

the distribution in Germany is still handled by Amigo Spiele since 1999 so at least the distribution is NOT handled by them (Amigo also has MTG over here). i don't know who handles the translation tough

[@MA-ck4wu]

In 1999 in the Netherlands a collaboration of Nintendo NL and 999 Games (A dutch board/card games company which already had experience importing Wizards of the Coast board games) introduced the card game. Nintendo was also responsible for creating promotional material for the new Dutch audience, including player's guides on how to play the game.

[@KevinArcade87]

​@@MA-ck4wuthey were also printed in Belgium I believe at Cartamundi in Turnhout

[@RednekGamurz]

Man Jamboree would've been such a cool set. The combination of Japanese exclusive cards and new western exclusive cards would've made something really special. It's a shame Wizards wasn't able to have their final Pokémon set be that, and instead they had to end on e-Card. I'm really nostalgic for the WoTC era, despite it's faults, though considering what's going on with them these days, I'm glad they were dropped. Fantastic video as usual.

[@MegaLolcade]

Whats going on with them?

[@RednekGamurz]

@@MegaLolcade Horrible treatment of Magic, DnD, and the DnD community.

[@TemperedMedia]

WOTC has always been about the money first, fans dead last. Good riddance. Japan obviously wanted to drop them because WOTC was getting buried in money yet couldn't be bothered not to make countless ongoing errors in printing their cards and managing their rulesets. WOTC likely thought of PTCG as "theirs" and felt owed mountains of cash in perpetuity. Japan told them to stuff it.

[@themoosetracker6749]

I learned to read with the help of Pokémon cards back when Jungle and Fossil had just released. I've been casually collecting ever since, and I remember being so perplexed at how differently the new EX Ruby & Sapphire cards were framed. I had no idea about how different the two regions were in tournaments, release, etc. Amazing video!

[@bigmule7200]

This channel deserves way more views and subs. Love the content, and how you're exploring stuff about the card game very few ppl do! Would love an 2004-2006 era video

[@AKImeru]

"Imagine pulling Brock's Zubat as a kid" My brother. Been there.

[@RealBullbear]

As if the cave zubats in the game didnt give you enough ptsd 🙈

[@NeroAtlas]

Happy you’re still active on your channel! I subscribed a few hours ago, and I was surprised to already find a new video! ❤ Thank you!

[@togglebott7748]

Banger video As an MTG fan watching Pokémon TCG videos is like peering into an alternate dimension

[@gizmoat17]

This channel is such a hidden gem. The research and presentation of information is seriously top notch. You're finding info and promo materials that take a serious deep dive to find. I hope you continue releasing more videos with this kind of passion and energy. Cheers.

[@theshinru]

Love this. Seeing the errors in video format was very helpful. Keep up the great work!

[@victorvandermilte5857]

That Gym Leader commercial with the clowns... I used to watch ABC cartoons (mostly the Buzz Lightyear and Tarzan shows) while I ate breakfast before school, and that clown commercial played SO frequently. Like every commercial break, sometimes twice. I can remember it so vividly and hear it in my dreams. It seems like it would have only aired for a few months, but for some reason it seems like it ran for years. It's crazy how it was so ordinary and banal at the time, and now it's a potent idol of nostalgia, a window into a world that will never exist again.

[@GaybrohamStinkton]

Literally never knew this had been posted, let alone that it got resurrected

[@Samst0n]

With how poorly wizards has been doing with magic and dnd recently this video feels well timed.

[@tyst5927]

Dont blame wizards thats hasbro who is destroying magic for profits

[@sawcandyman7363]

Rocket Sneak Attack must have been the inspiration behind the Pinkerton debacle lol.

[@ultimapower6950]

@@sawcandyman7363. Hasbro played *Pinkerton Sneak Attack*

[@IANDURBECK]

@@tyst5927 Its not Hasbro who is designing cards. just saying

[@franciscoacevedo3036]

​@@tyst5927Say it with me 😁 private equity

[@greencodecards4life875]

This is the best video I’ve seen that breaks down this subject and explains it so well. Thank you and I hope you make more

[@Big_Dai]

By covering one specific and interesting topic, and using history to draw attention to Wizard's dumb management.. this has been so much better to watch than the several videos covering the TCG history by other creators in even less time. Congrats on a good piece of content!

[@tomcford]

This is one of the best videos on Pokemon I have ever seen. Omg brings back SUCH nostalgia. I competed in a tournament in 1999 at age 11 and am just now picking up the game again 25 years later!

[@danielpayne1597]

Hope you enjoy it. Personally, I think the Pokemon TCG is awesome, except for all the 300 HP "Basic" EX/GX/VX cards that ruin the premise of evolving to power up. The items, Supporter, and other Pokemon cards are great, though.

[@ronnieroyse3]

I was 7 when I entered my first Pokemon League and to this day, I still dont know how to play it but your videos have been awesome and nostalgic. Thank you

[@CVizzle]

Great video! It offers a lot of insight I wasn't familiar with and explains a lot from my perspective. I collected the cards from the beginning all the way through Skyridge but the only place I knew where to get Pokemon cards was the Wizards of the Coast store in my local mall. One day, they just didn't have Pokemon cards anymore. I figured they had finally discontinued making them because by then the craze had died down and I didn't know anyone else who did. It would be another 10+ years before I picked up collecting again and by then the cards were vastly different and I felt like a time traveler.

[@DoubleDog]

Fantastic video. I wish more people would dive into the production side of pokemon tcg history. Can't see wait to see what you make next!

[@joniivee]

This was super interesting, might be the best video you've made yet! :D Great work.

[@AnalogueArchive]

Awesome video. Really detailed info and I learned a lot! Subbed, keen to see more of your work mate!

[@Mystic-Aidan]

New peak Pokémon KZbin video just dropped thank god

[@unattended_baby]

Your videos are great to watch, listen to and provide a ton of insight on the topics discussed. Honestly, I can't wait for you to pop off because homie you're doing seriously good work and I appreciate each piece you make.

[@Pehmokettu]

Interesting video, thank you. :) As a Finnish person who collected WotC era Pokémon cards it was nice to learn where several old Promo cards are originally from. Those were not available here. Here we used the English language version so the smaller kids did't play much with the cards because of the language barrier. They just traded and collected them. The eSeries cards were also not available here because eReader was not released in Europe. For long time I thought that Neo series were the last WotC card series so it felt really weird to find videos couple of years ago where KZbinrs opened eReader card sets. :D

[@firefly1509]

Huh, this surprises me as the e-series sets were definitely sold in Sweden.. I was a bit active in the TCG at the time, playing weekly in a local league and even participated in a tournament once--these videos bring back such old memories, heh.

[@pokepop4163]

Really well done video. I was surprised by how much I learned and was reminded about considering I lived through a lot of it as an Admin on WotC's Pokemon message board and judge. Great job!

[@properkroe]

It’s great to have all of this Informantion presented concisely in a single video. Previously you would have to jump around to many other sources.

[@rubyretro]

Love that this one's popping off. It's an awesome video! I'm gonna steal the idea of using drop shadows, looks great.

[@MagnanimousWaffle]

AMAZING video, well put together, presentation was great, information was delivered in a fluid manner. I have not watched many half hour KZbin Videos that have left me wanting more. Thanks for sharing!!

[@DanielZamudioUreta]

what a great video! We need a in deep documentary with 4 episodes on this matter. Loved it! great work

[@Combuskenisawesome]

Oooh this was a gripping watch; I love these sort of histories on like, the "why" stuff happened as it did. And woah I did not realize there were that many errors in early Pokémon TCG...! Makes sense that it would result from having to rush and then also having Magic's wordings and rulings on the employees' minds on top of that. (Though less so for sticking to the whole thing with Slowking's Mind Games)

[@musabluefire6313]

Nice to see this video is back up

[@KingNexusMOCs]

Awesome video! Filled with plenty of info and facts I didn't know

[@RhysticStudies]

this was a fascinating video. thank you for making it.

[@mophl]

I love your video! It was very intriguing and informational. It defintely cleared up some of the questions I had about the relationship between Pokémon TCG and Wizards. I will say, though, that I thought that the ending was a little abrupt. I expected a summary of what you had already discussed, maybe a brief explanation about how the two companies are fairing today. Something. Anyway, regardless, I loved your video and I hit the like button so that hopefully it gets more views and more likes. Oh yeah, don’t forget to remind people to like and subscribe. I’ve heard it works, Lol. Keep up the great work!

[@Kaido1412]

One of the things I loved back when Wizard of the Coast were in charge of the game's publication internationally, they were allowing players to use cards of any languages as long as they were released in their respective region, including Japanese cards. It was quite common back then to order Japanese boxes online due to their holo and rare distribution in comparison to the WotC products like it was mentioned in this video. The Japanese booster boxes were a bit more pricier, but they had more packs. So getting a guaranteed holo and rare in Base Set, Gym 1 and 2, and Neo 1, and a holo in all other sets was way more interesting and easier to complete playsets of cards for deck construction.

[@Zanji1234]

interessting.... that wasn't allowed here in Germany as far as i know of O_o

[@Kaido1412]

@@Zanji1234 That is a bit odd, in Canada, the US, and France, players were allowed to use Japanese cards and other language cards as long as they were released in their respective region. So it is a bit odd it was not allowed back then in Germany. :( All the players had to do was either have a copy of the card in their region native language (i.e.: English in Canada and the US, French in Canada and France) or the card entry from the Card-Dex printed on the side for any reference on what the cards did for players that didn't knew. The players were also required to either play with a complete Japanese deck if they were using clear sleeves OR could have a mix of Japanese and International released cards if they were using sleeves with an opac back. But when the organized play became the responsibility of TPCi, they quickly removed that ruling and forbid players from using Japanese cards. Though at that point, there was not a big difference between Japanese and English products since the Japanese packs weren't guaranteed to have a foil anymore in them, let alone a rare...

[@TheConuresrule]

No wonder back in late 90s (I was 6 in 99) there was so many Japanese cards mixed in with English cards here in the states.

[@Zanji1234]

@@Kaido1412 ok i've double checked and it seems that on larger events it was okay but most "smaller" locations (also the store in my region) kinda banned them. This was cut in 2009 then

[@abrasive2243]

Incredible video! Well researched! Loved the history lesson man thank you!

[@avant4035]

keep up the great work! you're videos are beyond fantastic and extremely insightful.

[@Azucar752]

Great video, I had always been more curious about the wotc era of cards that I grew up with. Keep up the great content man!

[@Mr.Kanzume]

wow. this was the most insightful PTCG related video ive watched as of late! Great stuff mate!

[@MLESoup]

Really interesting topic! I only collected the cards during that period, so didn't understand the transition of distributors until many years later. I would've loved to see the planned artwork for the Jamboree set

[@pokematt]

Love the video! Very informative and a great watch!

[@aXlittleXgranny]

Absolutely incredible video! as a long time Pokemon fan and collector, this video was such a pleasure to watch.

[@thecarsongardner]

Great video! Appreciate all the effort you spent into researching this topic. I know much of this info is difficult to come by!

[@carsongardner7773]

@@gskotone Very interesting. I appreciate the response and insight. I am an avid collector of vintage Pokemon TCG products (particularly WotC-era sets), and despite my research, I have struggled to gain information on print runs, the quantities of cards printed, and similar info. I'm sure much of this has been lost to time, but I am still curious nonetheless. I'll check these communities out! Thanks again for mentioning this!

[@Kalazt]

This video was really enjoayble! Thank you for making it I'm waiting always for your next video, they are all so good :)

[@jai2go]

just clicked on a third one of your videos and finally connected that all these amazing pokemon tcg videos were made by one guy. love your work

[@Railith]

Wonderful video that showed off those sick stamp booklets you got at the pokemon league back in the day.

[@twarnold14]

For what it’s worth, even in Magic, the clefairy would have to discard the energy. That’s just a baffling wrong ruling from both sides. In Magic, it’s understood that a card’s name in the text box refers to that instance of it. While this has been a rule for as long as I have played (just over 10 years), it got more attention recently with mutate. Maybe things were different in Magic back in the day, but I doubt it. Probably just a poor ruling. As for muk and the stack, did Magic have the stack then? Maybe by then it did, but I know Magic used batches or something before the stack was finally introduced in the Urza’s block. I don’t know the timelines of the 2 games. Also, my interpretation of it (via modern Magic rulings) is that muk would stop those “when played” powers. Magic has cards that shut off those style of effects too, so the rules allow it. (Cards like the new Elesh Norn just prevent those abilities from entering the stack at all.) Magic had an early period where cards interacted weirdly before they cleared things up, and it sounds like they let that mess spill into Pokémon.

[@rbikidportland]

This the type of video to blow a channel up. Good work

[@frederickdelius1106]

Very cool and well done video...i had the misty gym badge from back in the toys r us days. I remember wanting the rest so bad.

[@kigas24]

Being pedantic here but 1st edition lasted in Japan for 15 years not 25, ending with XY CP6 aka the 20th anniversary set. Great video and great concise history of WOTC's Pokemon.

[@CalmAndCollecting]

Man this really took me back. Great info in this video! I knew Wizards had some issues, but seeing them all listed like this is pretty wild haha.

[@RS-fz4ps]

Documentary style vid about the rich history of Pokémon TCG and it’s beginnings. Count me in!

[@yasinshehata]

you're honestly one of the best pokemon youtubers i've watched.

[@ChrisHilgenberg]

Your quick skimming of the errors in print runs made me look at some of my older cards. There was way more than I had encountered. One of my favorite misprints was my 'base set' Mr. Mime, that was missing the Jungle set logo on it. Based on the timeline, I entered the card game the first few seasons, since the pointing system lined up with what I remembered. Our local Toys R Us hosted the club for those initial years, though around 00 or 01, I distinctly remember the runners just giving out the Promos or several additional copies if asked since the league was winding down and they didn't want to keep the additionals. I traded for so much good stuff with the duplicates back then. Fun times, I'd say it was almost as fun as when Pokémon Go originally dropped and everyone went out to do that.

[@marxistharpy]

It was great to learn about early competitive play, thanks for doing the research

[@backlashD]

This is a cool video. I love all those error cards. The errors were the talk of the schools back then, and you were a cool kid if you had some of the rarer ones.

[@SirNilooo]

Awesome video! Keep them coming 🙏🏽

[@kartgal]

Found your channel for the first time. Good stuff!

[@SkulShurtugalTCG]

There's a rumor that Jamboree cards were printed, at least a few of them, even though the set never released. I wonder if there's any truth to it.

[@KatyMay]

loving all your videos, this one included!!!

[@FondestAlloy56]

This is the type of content small channels blow up for you are starting something big keep going

[@ka-powchannel6506]

Great video! Full of history that is mostly unknown

[@AndreaBaldini_]

Keep on with the great job bro! I really appreciate it, bye from Italy

[@Peeweez0]

Crazy nice research especially in the error section!

[@PM20653]

I find this history of their pokeon license on wizards of the coast really fascinating. For every weird thing that wizards of the coast did, they had amazing ideas and concepts for the USA market, introducing new players, releasing cards that were exclusive in japan, and even the idea to release their own original cards. They definitely made some misteps along the way which eventually led to their license being taken away, but for every good they did, im thankful for their services.

[@SPARKRIZZLE]

super interesting video!! good work

[@cesarfranceschy9576]

Fantastic trip down memory lane, thanks a lot!

[@scottovegtable]

I can really appreciate videos like this.

[@devskee2432]

Great Video! brought back alot of forgotten memories. I remember playing the slow king deck when i was like 13 and just wrecking everyone lol. People hated to play against it!

[@doneropersaud1607]

You just got me subscribed just for this. Well done video.

[@pokemonbystander]

Great video. Hope it picks up

[@CyanicCore]

About an hour before this video released, a much older one reminded me Wizards once produced Pokémon cards. My first questions was whether they still do, and here came yours to explain no and why! While a little long for so specific an interest, the whole video is well designed and well researched!

[@CyanicCore]

​@@gskotone I suppose that adds up a little more. To his credit he did include several sources in the description, and quoting is common in videos like these. However, I doubt I'm the only one who'd find the video significantly less impressive knowing that's how this went. Should information gathering really go as far as comments on several pages, listing those few general sites starts to feel almost deceptive as well. I haven't tried to play TCGs in a very long time, but I'd appreciate if you could somehow refer me to some of these comments and other webpages. Perhaps you could make a comment listing this? I want to see how close it is, and perhaps having that out here would bring more clarity for others as well.

[@stevesperling4684]

Thanks for letting me reminisce on the days of being ranked #7 in the world and going to east coast super trainer showdowns in the Meadowlands. WotC Era was great!

[@EnbyLite]

The most entertaining TCG creator, keep up the good work!

[@hikomikos]

Amazing job! Thanks for the video!

[@zombie8hunters]

Man the gran Turismo ost made me relive my childhood .. love the vid man just got into collecting

[@EvilApple567]

While there are certain legitimate reasons why people adore the WotC era and consider it the "golden age" of the TCG (at least in card design), but I think it's mostly nostalgia, and perhaps a bit of the format they used for their competitive circuit. Even that being said, a competitive scene isn't worth much when the game is an unbalanced mess, and while the modified format (introducing rotations) was a good change the fact they never rectified the mistranslated Slowking (until banning it 2 years after release) tells me they couldn't have cared too deeply about the game as a whole since it was a completely over centralizing, broken abomination that slowed games to a crawl and turned them into even more of a clunky mess.

[@Shvetsario]

idk, 2011+ cards look much better

[@PokemonPresents]

Great video!!

[@MiguelGarcia-vj7oo]

​@@ShvetsarioGod no........ Too each their own........

[@americantimemachine7128]

I have playtested a lot of Base through Fossil. While Rocket format was absolute cancer, Fossil era has actually been a lot better of an experience than playing modern for me. So many games end in deckout because of resource managment, which is something that cannot be said about the games current power creep. I find it quite impressive how balanced the game was on the first try. People say "but unlimited Oaks is BROKEN." In practice, it made you lose resources you needed in the long game, and a game that doesn't just END in two turns similar to modern is NOT a bad thing, imo. I play a rain dance deck, and I specifically built it to take out Stall and Haymaker. Sometimes I get stopped out, but faster games definitely occur with that deck and also Buzzap decks with Electrode. The only BROKEN card I can think of in the format is Lass, which still requires more timing to use than rocket format.

[@Zanji1234]

you know that as a distributor you CAN'T change the rules, cards or anything!? I bet the concept of "tournaments" and stuff wasn't that well known for most japanese players (only if you are played magic and other imported games back then). I mean look at the "Star System" which sounds interessting but is a LOT more confusing. I bet WotC was always thinking about a rotation to fix this "issues". Also i feel like they wanted the players later switch to Magic if they "outgrow" pkm

[@stacyowl1658]

as someone who just recently got into the card game, this is interesting to learn about

[@ThatMatt85]

A quick note. I went to the mall tours and I was in middle school so I have a good memory of it. There were no pokemon TCG ones at least in St. Louis which had the end of the first tour and the beginning of the second tour. It was video game tourneys only.

[@330gamescom]

Pretty good video! A couple of small errors (Mysterious Treasures Pikachu listed as a WotC card and Organized Play was originall called 'POP', Pokémon Organized Play, not Play! Pokémon.) But, overall, excellent research!

[@fuzziestbuggiest]

Another amazing video! :) Where can you find those jpn tcg commercials? The neo one with the edm track is so cool..!!

[@stingboy1996]

This video is so amazing. Genuinely learned so much about the card game from here and even Magic the gathering. Love the content!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@pokehalo]

Amazing content and research. Your vids are seriously the best

[@mitchelbrady]

I didn’t realise until I finished this video that it has less than 3k views! Incredible production and research, look forward to more.

[@InciniumVGC]

I totally played in Pokemon League and went to the Super Trainer Showdowns when I was a kid. My local Pokemon scene dried up as soon as Wizards closed their stores and lost the Pokemon TCG to Nintendo.

[@UnwantedCommentary]

Damn so many things I didn't know! Thanks for making this!

[@GuvBubbs]

Awesome content man. Keep it up!