I remember back in 2014-15 when I was first getting into collecting, the new sets being released were some of my favorites. I’d stay up late to catch the leaks of full arts from Japan, I’d pre-order basically every new set as soon as it was possible (often with little to no info on the cards that would be in there) just because I knew the set would be great. And I was always rewarded for doing that, as opening the newest Japanese set was one of the most exciting things I’d do back then.
However once CP6 passed and we got into Sun & Moon, I stopped buying most sets and even staying up for the leaks. The cards were boring and predictable. There was never really anything unique or interesting until we got to the Tag Team era. Tag Team special arts were incredible, but with so much “fluff” in the sets (rainbows, regular full arts) that was still boring, it was hard to get excited about these sets. The early Sword & Shield sets were nice as they returned to more lively backgrounds for full arts and cut the number of chase cards, but there still wasn’t too much to get excited about. I focused the majority of my collecting on the older cards from the EX series and BW/XY during this time because there just wasn’t anything I wanted in the new sets.
However, from Legendary Heartbeat to Shiny Star V, Single Strike/Rapid Strike Master, and now Matchless Fighters, I’m back to where I was in XY. I’m looking to buy product to open, I’m diligently staying up to see the new leaked cards and getting so excited when they show up. I can’t help but feel like modern Pokemon is back or even eclipsing where it was in the past. The artwork is incredible, the Pokemon selection is top notch, and the sets are wonderfully themed. We get new mechanics and ideas like Amazing Rares, unique special arts, and beautiful regular full arts all rolled together into one set. Sure we’ve still got the rainbows but even now they’re way more interesting than they were in SM.
Is anyone else feeling a new level of excitement and interest in modern Pokemon recently?
I could not agree more that modern has been killing it recently. I was never the biggest fan of rainbow arts so SM was very eh for me with big chase cards as well, but the special arts these days have been killing it and I have been finding myself wanting more and more of them. This is one of my personal favorite modern cards in a while. Moderns future looks bright!
Big agree. The last two sets especially are super fire. I especially think that V cards are the best thing to happen to English pokemon since like the ex era. Not vmax, but specifically V cards. I dunno what it is about them but I love the vast majority of them, even if the background isn’t fancy or anything. Maybe it’s finally time for English and other languages to give up the yellow borders… please god stop using the yellow borders
Your timeline echoes mine personally a lot. I was really into modern around the ORAS XY sets, going downhill slightly in the BREAK era, to just who gives a shit in early SM. These days modern sets are pretty much banger after banger. I would say Tag Team alternate arts are still on top but it’s really close and I wouldn’t be surprised if the new alternate arts topple them in the near future. Who would have thought that if they put a single ounce of effort they could make attractive looking cards?
A reminder of what is possibly one of the worst cards ever printed, lest we forget the dark ages:
Yes it’s wonderful I feel like a kid again after have stopped collecting new sets in Black & White. Almost a decade later can’t believe how much I missed it without knowing!
I honestly love modern more than vintage right now. Maybe it’s a symptom of being the hot new thing, but there’s so much to love about modern lately.
Modern full arts and alt arts are great.
Modern artists like sowsow and HYOGONOSUKE have been killing the commons and uncommons.
And modern Japanese promoes are absolutely stunning.
I don’t think there’s anything to dislike about modern right now 'cause even if you’re a hardcore Gen 1/2 fan, they’re remixing popular Pokemon with the Galarian forms.
Can’t leave out other bomb ass common artists like Chibi, Seiko, and Mizue too. The common and uncommon cards have been so so so good. I love the current art direction Pokemon has taken
Who would’ve known during the early sm era that we’d get mitsuhiro arita full arts, sowsow and hyogonosuke arts in the future? The early swsh sets were a step back but at this point I think they’re doing this on purpose. After 25 years of tcg sets they know exactly what they’re doing.
If you think about it, having the early sets of a new gen “bomb” makes sense. You’re introducing 100+ new Pokemon, people are going to be debbie downers no matter what until they warm up to the new designs in a couple months/year… why not experiment with new art styles and save the for sure bangers for the latter half of the sets. Exact same thing happened with S&M. I strongly believe that Cosmic Eclipse is one of the best sets of all time, but most of SM was suuuper bleh
I’m really liking it because it’s such a departure from SM era chase cards. I think you’ve always been able to find nice art in any set but the chase card artwork was severely lacking in SM. I’ve almost completely skipped the entire era in my binder sets because I genuinely did not enjoy the chase card art work at all.
It’s not something they had to do but I’m glad they’ve shifted back towards having high quality art in their chase cards versus just repeating the same CGI artwork in a different parallel. Personally think it’ll give each set a much more unique flavour and lead to better long-term viability as a collectible.
Couldn’t agree more. I stopped buying any modern and gradually got disinterested with the hobby after the release of S&M base, was not a fan of the look of the full arts and hyper rares at all. Fast forward to last year, I watched maxmoefoe open a Legendary Heartbeat box and pull an Amazing Rare, instantly got roped right back into collecting and I bought myself a booster box straight away, first Pokemon related purchase in almost 2 years.
The artwork has been taken to a new level, I’ve placed other collection goals on hold to buy boxes of the recent sets that have come out to get them chase cards. Also, I want a binder full of that Moltres card.
I don’t think I’ll ever dive back into modern like I did into the hobby during the ex/DP days, but I’ve got my toes wiggling around in it. I’d be full sending modern if I felt any emotional attachment to Sword & Shield at all, but I don’t. Shining Fates was/is a big miss for me because I feel no connection to the Galar region, but the Secret Rares themselves are so freaking beautiful that I’ve just looked to collect the gold Pokémon from each set. I’m still not sure what an Eternatus is, but that gold VMAX…YO.
Aside from wishing quality control was better, I’m glad that Pokémon has pivoted from a relatively uninspiring Sun and Moon era (that significantly improved Team-Up on, let me be clear) to where we’re at today.
Yeah, personally the Blaziken Vmax kinda brings me back to Hoenn for some reason. Not just because of the Blaziken, but the stylization and the funny little story that is seemingly happening with the Zangoose in the background. Can’t go wrong with the Moltres, so eerily dark and charming, I’m in love with that card.
I feel like it is an excellent blending of old and new eras. It seems refreshed right now.
