I’ve seen a few different polls ranking peoples favorite ex era set but never a tier list comparing all of the sets. This is ranking ex era sets amongst themselves so F tier does not mean a bad set in general, just the weakest ex era set compared to other ex era sets.
The most controversial on my list is probably ex deoxys. Im one of the few people that legitimately dislike the ex deoxys reverses so it sort of taints the set for me. It has decent holos and mostly and okay assortment of ex cards but very little set cohesion. Also I like all of the ex era sets, this is just me ranking them compared to each other.
S - Team Rocket Returns is one of the greatest sets of all time. Perfect theming with the return of Dark Pokemon makes even regular holos and uncommons fun to collect. Chase cards are all fantastic between the ex and Hoenn starter gold stars.
A - Dragon & Sandstorm feature phenomenal artwork on par with earlier e-reader sets and fantastic set cohesion. Unseen Forces brings back some great Gen 2 love and Delta species introduced a fun and interesting subset of card in the delta species that ties the set together.
B - These sets are all solid with great theming, artwork and chases (just not as strong as those above).
C - The big one here is Deoxys. Outside of the three gold stars (which are incredible), everything else about the set is a flop and lacks any real identity. The other sets here either lack set cohesion (R&S) or are similar to Deoxys in that they’re held together by a few gold star chase cards and nothing else.
D - Emerald is a Frankenstein set with nothing of note. Some may love TMTA for its originality and set cohesion but it’s not my cup of tea. Hidden Legends and Power Keepers are just plain uninspired as a whole with next to no saving graces.
Lord almighty do I HATE the foil pattern on ex deoxys.
I’d have to put Rocket Returns and Dragon on top myself, sandstorm was a great set too, though the packaging was lack-luster. I feel like one thing that hurt ex era was a consistent miss on the ENG packaging. Most sets don’t do anything for me. and wouldn’t make me think there’s anything cool inside. It matters.
If enough people respond to this thread we could make a composite tier list based on everyone’s answers. Would be cool to see!
If I had to guess, TMTA will be most the polarizing set and Dragon/TRR/FRLG will be pretty universally considered great. I’d expect HL/PK to be considered the worst by most people (although I actually kinda like HL lol).
Yea I could do a point system and post the average tier list from everyone’s responses. It is surprising how polarizing TMTA is. I think some people just either really like or dislike the cg art style most of the set has. Sandstorm also seems to be pretty divisive. It seems to mostly be either really high or really low on peoples lists.
For TMTA, I think it’s the CG art style as you mentioned but also the crazy repetition of Pokemon (3 Carvanha, 3 Corphish, 3 Electrike, 3 Rhyhorn, 3 Houndour, etc). That and the lack of team-owned exs (such a huge oversight, IMO, though I still love the set to death).
I genuinely don’t understand why Sandstorm is divisive, though. Maybe it’s just the lack of popular Pokemon? The art and theme are top notch.
sandstorm doesn’t have any monster chase cards I think. You’d need to be a die-hard gen 3 fan to love the set. RS has mewtwo, Dragon has zard and ray, tmta has suicune. Sandstorm you really gotta love that wailord or gardevoir. Which I know my hoenn hoes do, but its probably not appealing to casual gen 3 fans
