Summary
ThePokemon TCGhas always been one of the simplest trading card games to get into. Understanding how energy and type matchups work is usually enough to get you going through your first battle. However, on the playground, not everything is followed 100 percent of the time,
This comes from the misinterpretation of card art, special promo rules, and the difference in rarity between the video game and the TCG resulted in some pretty funny misconceptions. There are also plenty of cards that looked more powerful as a kid than they really were. Here are ten Pokemon cards you thought were good as a kid.
10Switch
It Doesn’t Steal Pokemon
Switch is possibly one of the most useful cards in the Pokemon TCG allowing you to skip the cost of retreat and bring out one of your healthy Pokemon out for a spin. However, if you were the type of kid who threw away the instruction booklet and just admired the images, using Switch was more akin to a trade.
After all, the image depicts two Pokemon being traded. Defending Pokemon? Active Pokemon? Benched Pokemon? Playground rules decree that you take your opponent’s Pokemon by force and give them the weaker one.
9Birthday Pikachu
Just Let Pikachu Win
A verycute promo card features Pikachuin a birthday hat getting ready to indulge in a delicious cake. Birthday Pikachu is a special card that grants you an additional 50 damage if you manage to win a coin flip.
While you can ask for proof that it is really your opponent’s birthday, are you willing to demolish your ten-year-old opponent on their special day? Perhaps this is why many players could pull off a win with this card in their childhoods, giving them the illusion that the card was more powerful than it really was.
8Ancient Mew
Rare In The Movie
For Pokemon 2000, the TCG got a special promo card depicting an ancient Mew carved onto the surface of some stone. The actual card is illegible without a translator, but its design is unique among all the other cards of the time and ever since.
Because of this and its role in the film, it meant that it was powerful as well. However, with its 30HP and Psychic attack that only does 40 damage, it isn’t great.
7Unown
Spell Words On The Bench
Unown is a special case in the Pokemon TCG.The third Pokemon movieestablishes that Unown can rewrite reality by spelling words. After all, each one is based on a letter from the Alphabet. This made Unown seem rarer than it was but also more powerful.
The entire strategy behind these cards revolved around spelling four-letter words. While there are many words that can be spelled as the number of Unown expanded, finding every secret word made Unown look strong.
6Ditto
Steal Your Opponent’s Pokemon Team
One of themost unique Pokemon in the first generationis Ditto. Ditto can transform into anything and the original card gives it the same ability. Originally released inthe Fossil expansion, Ditto can take the form of your opponent’s Active Pokemon.
This ability always seemed cooler than it really was as a kid. Just the thought of stealing the moves of your opponent’s entire team sounds like a solid strategy. Unfortunately, any status effect immediately knocks Ditto back to its original form.
5Machamp
The First Rare Card
Machamp is one of the first truly special Pokemon cards you would get simply for buying the original base set. It often came bundled with your starter cards inside a neat plastic bag. The card is holographic and has the first edition stamp on the surface.
Seeing as first edition cards are considered rare and Machamp has 100HP, it could be mistaken for a strong card. However, cards like Hitmonchan were much less setup to get those heavy-hitting attacks to become active.
4Japanese Or German Cards
Make Up The Moves And Effects
Foreign cards always found themselves into your deck as a kid. Perhaps it came from a strange pack you found at a flea market or from someone selling cards in bulk. Instead of HP, you had KP and the backs of the cards also had different art than the American release.
These cards were often mistaken for being extremely powerful and very rare. Especially when cards are released early in Japan and there is nothing to compare it to unless you can read Japanese. That Murkrow isn’t as powerful as it looks.
3Base Charizard
The Most Expensive Card
One of the most expensive cards in modern-day Pokemon is the original Base Charizard. Unopened base sets can sell for a pretty penny just for the fact that they could possibly hold a Charizard within.
This makes Charizard one of those cards which growing up, seemed like a big deal. After all, Charizard was already the most popular of the first three starters. So why wouldn’t it be the most powerful card in the TCG?
2Legendary Pokemon
Winning Not Guaranteed
Legendary Pokemon from Mewtwo to Ho-oh often seem like a pretty big deal. After all, they are legendaries, and if the video games and anime taught kids anything, these are the most powerful Pokemon in the franchise.
The TCG card swaps the rules a bit with legendary Pokemon not automatically being the best cards in the game. However, as kids, players were content just flashing their opponent that Ho-Oh and watching them tremble in fear.
1Vending Machine Cards
A Game Of Chance
On every grocery run, you had a chance to come across a vending machine claiming to sell rare cards. Usually, these cards could range from as cheap as two dollars up to five with only the back of the card visible. It would then dispense a card inside a sleeve made of plastic or sandwiched between cardboard.
Surely these cards are rare to be presented in such pristine methods, right? Not always. Usually, the cards were common cards in Japanese or German. Other times the card was actually rare, but nothing game-winning. As long as it looked pretty, that would be enough for the playground.
