EX Dragon Master Set questions

General
1

Hello E4. It’s 3:30 in the morning in Pokesoap time, and I can’t stop thinking about EX Dragon. What an incredible life I live. So, EX Dragon is a set that has a lot of sentiment to me. It’s the set that got me into the the game and jump started my collection. Expedition was my first pack, but EX Dragon was my first theme deck. I have lots of memories playing my Fire Fang theme deck against my parent’s Expedition Electric Garden theme deck.
Somehow, dumb collector me has not completed this set. How can I not have completed my most meaningful, memory filled, and favorite set? I don’t know! My brain works in mysterious ways.

So, in my set completion journey, I’m going to take a detour and complete EX Dragon, because I need to for my own sanity.

Normally I would stop at the standard print and save the master set for later, but not this time. I want an EX Dragon master set. So, 4E, this is where I need your help. I need some other collectors to double check my work and make sure I’m not missing any cards on my wants list.

My master set requirements:

-Regular set is complete
-Reverse Holo set is complete
-Variants are complete

Stretch goals:
-PSA 9 of all holos + EX cards from the set

The money cards, aka cards that are going to put a sizable hole in my wallet.
-Reverse Holo TV Reporter
-Nat Champ. Charizard

For variants, I’ve been referencing this post:
www.elitefourum.com/t/updated-6-15-15-alternate-set-card-checklist-english/11788/1

And have found the following list:

ex Dragon:
 15/97 Flygon [Holo; e-League; Apr. 2004]
 15/97 Flygon [WINNER Stamped; Holo; e-League; Apr. 2004]
 19/97 Salamence [Holo; e-League; May 2004]
 19/97 Salamence [WINNER Stamped; Holo; e-League; May 2004]
 32/97 Gyarados [Prerelease Stamped]
 98/97 Charmander [City Championships Promo; 2003-2004]
 99/97 Charmeleon [State Championships Promo; 2003-2004]
 100/97 Charizard [National Championships Promo; 2003-2004]

ex Battle Stadium/Master Trainer Decks
 24/97 Camerupt [w/out e-Reader Logo, ©2004]
 25/97 Combusken [w/out e-Reader Logo, ©2004]
 39/97 Seadra [w/out e-Reader Logo, ©2004]
 58/97 Horsea [w/out e-Reader Logo, ©2004]
 69/97 Numel [w/out e-Reader Logo, ©2004]
 85/97 High Pressure System [w/out e-Reader Logo, ©2004]
 88/97 TV Reporter [w/out e-Reader Logo, ©2004]

My questions are this:

-Is there a staff variant of the prerelease Gyarados? When did Pokemon start issuing staff prerelease in addition to non-staff prerelease cards?

-Are there staff variants of the Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard given out at the championship events?

-Bagon 50/97 was printed with a variety of different convention stamps, but as a promo card. As a buyer, if you were purchasing a complete EX Dragon master set w/ variants, would you expect these cards to be in the set?

-Same with the EX Dragon cards in the Latios/Latias trainer kit deck. Would you expect these cards to be present in the set, or would you consider these cards as their own special subset?

Oh! Also, if you have any of the non-e reader logo variants, please send me a DM! I really want these cards, but I do not want to pay the ridiculous “wow look at this cool misprint!!!” prices on Ebay.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post! Just wanted to double check my work with other collectors before I jump back into collecting next week. (Next weekend I’m going out to buy my new binders!!! Very excited!!!)

-Pokesoap aka Madison S.

Unrelated note:
Expect a major buy thread in the coming few weeks. Since I’m moving all of my cards to new binders, I’m going to do a condition check on everything, and replace cards that, in my mind, need to be replaced.

2 Likes
2

Luxio from Diamond and Pearl was the first to have “STAFF” on it.

I do not believe there was a staff variant, could place trust in just the 3 championship promos.

A complete set on Ebay generally is reverse, normal, and secret’s. A true master set is everything in my eyes. I would get them all for example the inquest and the gencon.

Anything that is related to the set as in extra release on the side but shares the same art work as one of the set, id add in. Binders have lots of pages to fill, fill that thing up.

3

Thank you for your response! It’s cool to learn that “staff” started with DP. Makes collecting the EX series prerelease cards a little easier!

I agree! I want my master sets to really be master sets. Having all of the reverses + normal prints is nice, but if you can add the variants, why not add the variants?

Agreed! Can’t wait to fill this bad boy up! Will be fun to focus on a singular set for awhile. It’s going to feel awesome when it’s complete. :grin:

So, as an update to my list:

Bagon Promos:

-Unmarked
-Gencon
-Inquest
-Scyre

Latios/Latias Ex Trainer Kit

-Bagon 1/10
-Numel 5/10
-Torchic 7/10
-Magnemite 4/10
-Magneton 5/10

World Championship
-TV Reporter
-Mr. Briney’s Compassion
-Magnemite
-Magnemite
-Magneton
-Rayquaza EX

4

See I’ve trimmed down what I’d consider a true “Master Set”. I’d classify it as any product that was available in the retail environment/ packaging. So blisters with promo cards would qualify but pre-release or prize cards would not.

This is mainly due to the fact with all the various cards that can be available for a set it would be rare and potentially impossible for master sets to be completed. Take for instance Evolutions. Good luck finding both Winner DCEs along with the Top 8 and all other various variant cards.

5

With the blister promos, I personally put them into their respective promo set, unless they’re a reprint w/ a different holo pattern. For example, I’d put the Hawlucha w/ the galaxy holo variant from the Breakthrough checklane blister into a Furious Fists binder.

There are certain card variants I place into my personal “trophy card” category. For me, this is any card that’s over $500 and not part of a set, or a very specific hard to find variant.

Example of cards NOT in my “trophy card” category
-Championship arena Black Star Promo 28.

While the card runs in the $700-$1000 range, it is still part of a set, meaning one day, for my definition of a Nintendo EX Series Promo set to be complete, I’ll have to have this card. I’ll just have to save up for it.

-English Tropical Beach/ Wind non staff + staff

-DCE promo non staff + staff

Example of cards IN my “trophy card” category

-The winner DCE you mentioned + variants

-Language variants/top 32, 16, etc prints of tropical wind/beach.

Some of these cards will be possibly impossible to track down, yes, but whoever said this wasn’t a quick goal?
If I complete master sets with the definition of reverse + standard print only, I’ll honestly get bored. Why not try to go the distance and create the most insane collection possible, even if it takes several years, even decades.

IDK, I’m just a really optimistic collector. Maybe I’ll find the cards, maybe I will not. Only time will tell. :blush:

6

I see where your thinking comes from, but that’s what makes a “master” set a master set. In all reality, in my mind, there should be a lot of complete sets but only one master set. A set that has all possible cards that may only be able to obtain a few times and therefore only one or maybe two people have ever obtained the set.

That’s what I determine that person to be the master of that set. Hunting down all those cards and finally completing that whole set, should be considered a much bigger accomplishment then just a complete set.

As always, just my opinion.

7

Totally understand that logic as well. I suppose it comes down to we don’t really have a name to distinguish between a complete “regular” set, a complete set with all reverses, a complete set with all reverses and alternate/ promo cards and a complete set with all of everything with that set symbol. I like the term “Master Set” but until we have terminology to distinguish between various set completeness it’s going to be a topic that keeps coming up every couple months.