What makes a "set" a set?

Collecting
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A recent thread got me thinking, what cards are set cards that we don’t really think about as “set cards”?

English majority collectors probably miss more than JP collectors, but the one that sticks out in my mind most, is Southern Islands. Another might be Vs Set. Ironically, it literally says “set”, but are there any others? What constitutes a set in your opinion?

  • Must be playable in standard?
  • Must have a wide-spread retail release with booster boxes and ETBs?
  • Must simply come in booster packs?

Maybe this is a simple question, but maybe not. If there’s a “set” (anything NON-Promo) that you think flies under the radar, let’s share it below.

Let’s start with Southern Islands… Actual set, or just a “set”?

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In a literal sense it must have an official set list with numbered cards that fall within some sort of structure. 1/64 → 64/64 (or 75/64 with secrets etc). This can be true of the traditional set release, holiday set releases, or collection releases like Radiant Collection. It can also be true of promo series like SWSH, Black Star Promos, or Southern Islands as you mention.

In a more general and meta sense, you can apply the word ‘set’ to any grouping of cards that have some sort of relation to each other. For instance I’d call the Crystal cards from Aquapolis and Skyridge a set, or set-like group of cards. You’d say you completed the ‘Crystal set’ if you had all 9 of them. Same goes for Shinings, or Gold Stars, or any other grouping of cards that shares some sort of commonality.

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This is exactly how i see it too.

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With the way TPC is releasing some of the less conventional products, this is probably the best way to put it. Even special releases such as the Yu Nagaba Eeveelutions or 25th Anniversary Collection Promo Pack cards are contained as an identifiable set, yet they’re promos. The Start Deck 100 is a massive conglomerate of cards new or reprinted forming various decks, but they are numbered as a set featuring SR full arts. These recent products loosen up the definition, which is subsequently more flexible for collecting

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Bingo

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When you do a given amount of repetitions in a repeatable frame or session.

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Just reading the title I already asked myself the exact same question you made and so started to have doubts.

As @milhouse said, one requirement is having a prefixed number of cards inside of it.

But I think black star promos for example are out because while the numbering is progressive, is not predetermined. We can say that’s determined now, 20 years later, unlike the other sets that comes out with an already predetermined numbering from day 1.

Or also, the base/neo intro packs, because cards have their own numbering that’s made for teaching you how to play the game so you get duplicates in pokemon or energies, trainers, but with different numbers.

What bothers me about southern island it’s its distribution.
You get the full set already complete from the get go. It’s like getting a trainer kit. You buy it and you have cards 1/18 to 18/18.
So should being available in packs be a requirement for considering it a “set”?
What makes “completing a set” a goal is getting the cards a bit at a time, mostly unboxing packs, so southern island feels strange in a certain way, while you can buy individual cards, the fact that the set itself has been distributed all together commercially doesn’t feel completely right, and that’s why I think you made that question in the first place.

This also applies for the pokemon rumble, best of games, or the creator pack.
What’s the point of buying packs if just by taking one you get all the cards together? Can you really consider it a “set”?

Also is the symbol another requirement for calling it a “set”? You can distinguish between cards based by the numbering and the symbols. What gives you a base set 2 zard instead of a base set zard? The symbol and the numbering (they already thought they could made sets with the same numbers of cards).
And again, while the symbol is helpful (we all know base set doesn’t have one because he didn’t need one, it was the first, so it sort of doesn’t count) there are exceptions (no-symbol jungles).

Taking the shining or crystals together I think you should just call them “the shinings” or “the crystals” because the “full set” comprehends those and other cards. I mean “the shinings” can comprehend neo revelation shinings, or the coro coro mew shining also, not just the neo destiny ones.

If you take old japanese sets, their numbering is just the pokedex number of the pokemon, and some of the promo cards had the set symbol like the coro coro gym for example. Are they part of the set? You could not unbox them from the packs.

What other requirements can you think of to a “set”?
You can’t consider the uniqueness of artworks, because the reprinting of older cards in newer sets would nullify the status of “set” of the new ones.

You can’t even consider layouts because the same goes for more than one set.

And also, the fact that there’s a prefixed denominator of cards, the same symbol, and that those cards came out in the same booster packs justify the existence of secret rares or out of series (TR dark raichu crosses my mind) for being part of a set.

If I got your question right I have more questions than answers, so the only thing to do is trust the bulbapedia tcg expansions page and just say those are set and the rest is philosophy.

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well, it’s more esoteric. I think practically, as collectors, we can convey what we mean by “set” in any given circumstance. Obviously, if I say “Vs Set” everyone knows what I mean, and if I say Southern Islands or Nada Wake set, I may not actually mean “set” as in scheduled release, but we know. Still, when it comes to it, I think it’s an interesting thought.

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