Thanks for the reminder @aquaz . Since it’s been two three weeks (been on vacation for a week), it’s time for another Set of the Fortnight. This time it’s from the HeartGold & SoulSilver era:
Call of Legends bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Call_of_Legends_(TCG)
Discuss:
Favorite cards in the set Worst cards in the set How you feel about this set in general
Call of Legends was released in English on February 9th, 2011, and it does not have a main Japanese equivalent set. It contains cards from the Japanese Lost Link mini-set, as well as L-P promo cards. As the name suggests, it contains quite a few Legendary Pokémon, like the three Legendary dogs (Raikou, Suicune, Entei); Lugia and Ho-Oh; Kyogre and Groudon; Rayquaza; Deoxys; and Palkia and Dialga. All having their own Secret Rare.
PS @milhouse I’ve added the set-title to the title of the Set of Fortnight threads. For consistency / easier to see which sets have / haven’t been done in the future: could you add them to the first five Set of Fortnight threads started by you as well?
Very appropriate set topic. I’ve noticed increased discussion of CoL here lately. A lot of my favorite art from this set I’d describe as vibrant. They really give off a Johto vibe.
As for the SL’s, I have to say that Rayquaza is my favorite. Looking at it in-hand the card is just stunning. The same can be said for most of the SL’s imo, and I think the price for these in PSA 10 currently is totally justified. I have 7-8 SL’s that I’ve pulled myself, straight from pack to sleeve, and I’d be lucky if even one of them came back as gem, mostly due to factory edge wear.
This set is definitely a fan favorite. It’s beginning to hit me how long ago the set was actually released. It was the end of the HGSS era, and really the last of the hand drawn style that called back to the second gen. There’s definitely been a lot of hype around this set lately with people trying to get the SL cards in psa 10 and such. Personally I like the Rayquaza and the Suicune of those, but arguably, I enjoy the holos more than the SL cards. As there are TWENTY FREAKING TWO holos in the damn set! Literally a wanna-be eseries set. More holos than regular rares! The holos were a lot of the time, alternate artworks of other holos in the past HGSS sets. But I feel that the call of legends versions represented them much better. Some of my favorite holos in the set were lugia, espeon, umbreon, rayquaza, and pachirisu, but overall I think my favorite card in the whole set is the holo smeargle. The artwork really pops and it’s so creative since he’s the one using a paintbrush after all. It looks much better than it’s ‘HS’ Undaunted counterpart. I’d post a pic of it, but the holo is something that can only really be enjoyed when it’s in hand.
Speaking of holo, this was the last set that featured galaxy holo as the main type of holo. They killed it off and went to the lined type of holo in the black and white sets that followed. Since then they changed the type of holo every generation. Galaxy holo is still used on promo cards but it just looks visibly cheaper and the effects just aren’t the same. This was the last hurrah for galaxy holo, and they did do a damn good job of it.
My favorite common is undoubtedly the “Phanphy” error card, as I sorta have a few ties to that card lol. Only could be pulled from gift boxes and tins from what I remember since they fixed the error so early in the print run.
Something I feel that is overlooked among the collectors in this set, is the rev holo energies. Aside from their artwork being fantastic, they say they are common rarity. However, that is certainly not the case! Lol, I opened 2 booster boxes of the set back when it came out, and you only got 2 rev holo energies per box. Insane… The prices on those are up there as well because players love to play with them as the “max rarity” option for their deck. When you pull as many holo energies as shiny legendaries, it’s tough to call them a common, even if that’s how they are designated.
Overall this set really hits home for a lot of collectors, and I think they did a fantastic job with the artwork (especially the holos) Been a while since we’ve had an “English” only set.
I’ve started to appreciate this set much more than I used to in the past. When it was released I didn’t have much interest in it but it’s a really nice set and the shinies are what makes it special. In general most of the cards are reprints from earlier HGSS sets but I think the new art work on them is interesting.
It’s probably not a surprise that both the Rayquazas, the holo and the shiny one are my favorite cards from the set. For some reason I’ve always liked the uncommon Quilava too
Oh and I almost forgot about the Ninetales! Both the Call of Legends one and the Heart Gold and Soul Silver version have a pretty artwork
I’ve got my packs for a few weeks already and yes they do replace the reverse holo slot, though I’m not sure about weighing, not into that stuff, just opening them all
Call of Legends
(I kinda like yours better though.)
