I love a good set theme, and every now and then a set will have a subset or sub-theme in it which im also a big fan of. It was fairly rare back in the day but later swsh sets all had TG/GG cards which served this purpose (though didnt exactly stick to any theme)
Still many people, including myself, note this as a sort of turning point in set quality in swsh so i wanted to make a discussion thread on the past subsets that I liked. Three came to mind as standout favorites for me:
I am a huge fan of the unowns and i have no real reason why. Theyre pretty derpy but this was a great subset, and they also replaced the revese slot so you could still get holos or exs in the pack!
Probably does not strictly meet the requirements of a subset but its my post so im adding it. The holo bleed subset of neo rev is my favorite subset ever. All the cards look amazing with my favorite being this fish. The holo bleed id topic here on e4 is probably my favorite thread and the one ive learned the most from. Imo the slight chance a neo rev box has these bleeds is what makes the sealed product extra special.
Hey what’s up wailmer it’s shadowless here, I think CoL is one i hve to go with! It features legendary Pokémon in their shiny form, some never printed before. It’s almost like gold stars but not really hahaha. I feel they have the most room to grow since the sun set even has complete pairs of legends like lugia/hooh, Kyogre/Groudon/rayquaza, etc
Not sure if this thread fits the theme aspect of your topic or is it just purely based on the type of Pokemon featured in the set and/or physical aspects of the cards itself.
Ah yeah it could go there. But the subsets dont really need a theme i just like a theme. CoL is themed just on legendaries which is fine. But its also got a unique card style which isnt really based on set or era so id consider it something else. I guess you could even argue shadowless is a subset of base. Though strictly speaking, subsets that were accidents or errors probably dont belong. But i wanted neo rev in there so i bent the rules
I guess my only rule would be unique art/holo that exists in 1 set. Which exclueds gold stars and dp shinies and stuff like that
The Amazing rares are…amazing and if they didn’t happen to come from sets that got reprinted into oblivion I believe strongly more people would really appreciate them
I really like Amazing Rares. I think the texture on them is beautiful and the Pokemon selected are all pretty solid. I have a binder page of my favorite Amazing Rare. I think these cards are pretty underrated and are surprisingly cheap imo (under $3 a piece).
I’ve always thought the Legendary Collection reverse holo subset was pretty cool. Must’ve been pretty exciting when the reverse holo slot debuted with such a crazy holo pattern!
Definitely thought it was fake and a knockoff the first time I ever saw the legendary reverses. I can really appreciate them now with all the information and see how truly ahead of the time they were with some of the reverses they had back in the day. That firework pattern is so beautiful and easy to get lost in.
If I am considering Promo cards, then one of the biggest subsets are the “cosplay” promo cards. Why I consider these as subsets is because they are across various promo sets and I also include cards where a Pokemon is wearing an outfit typically worn by humans (so not just cosplaying other Pokemon)
The Meadow Pattern is available in all languages this set was released in: English, Japanese, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, and Russian;
The Elegant Pattern is a Japanese exclusive;
The High Plains pattern is an English exclusive;
The Marina Pattern is available exclusively in Italian and Spanish;
The Continental Pattern is available exclusively in German and Korean;
The Savanna Pattern is a Portuguese (Brazil) exclusive;
The Icy Snow is a Russian exclusive.
(The French set only contains the default Meadow Pattern, and none of the other patterns.)
I also love the unown set. made sure to complete it early… Still very attainable.
I have to wonder what “subset” means though. It’s a broad concept in your post, so I’d say, mine would be the alternate arts printed in the OG McDaonald’s set, that pair with the aquapolis rares:
It’s not quite a ‘subset’ so much as just another set of cards, but Japan had some really cool battle cards during the e reader series. You could scan them into Ruby Sapphire and battle the trainer pictured I think. The back arts were quite cool too.
