What was the least expensive to play competitive format?
Cheapest Format?
- Thread starter Takamajorania
- Start date
Every format had their more expensive cards. This format being one of the more expensive ones to date. Not sure how Americans priced stuff during HP-on
BW-On and NXD-On are the most expensive formats because of Big Basic EX's and
Tropical Beach (which is a staple card in almost every Stage 1/Stage 2 deck right now). The cheapest formats were back in DP-On, MD-On, and HGSS-On IMO.
There's roughly only 3-4 metagame decks that are viable in the current Modified format right now going into NXD-On: Blastoise/Keldeo, Plasma Toolbox, Genesect/Virizion, and maybe Darkrai but that's really about it. Everything else being played is decent but not good enough for the most part.
Tropical Beach (which is a staple card in almost every Stage 1/Stage 2 deck right now). The cheapest formats were back in DP-On, MD-On, and HGSS-On IMO.
There's roughly only 3-4 metagame decks that are viable in the current Modified format right now going into NXD-On: Blastoise/Keldeo, Plasma Toolbox, Genesect/Virizion, and maybe Darkrai but that's really about it. Everything else being played is decent but not good enough for the most part.
I thought MD-on got expensive when Luxray LvX got released. HGSS-on also had Magnezone and Yanmega Prime that were going so ridiculously high for such an overrated deck.
Not adjusting for inflation I'd say Base Set probably...
The expensiveness of a format relates to how many big dollar cards you need for your deck to function. The most expensive cards are generally Super Rares (EX, Lv.X, ex, Shiny, Prime, etc.) and certain other cards can have their prices inflated due to their popularity and/or how difficult it is to obtain them (Tropical Beach, Pokemon Catcher)
Now there have been tons of formats, but if we break it down into blocs there were:
Base - Fossil
Rocket - Gym Leaders (Owner Era)
Neo Genesis - Neo Destiny
Expedition - Skyridge
Original Ex
Diamond & Pearl
Heart Gold Soul Silver
Black and White
So if we are going by the big dollar cards then our current EX format and the original Ex format are both eliminated, as both could require up to four copies of a Super Rare card in a deck. Heart Gold and Soul Silver also had the same issues, which means I'd remove that bloc as well. So then you have Base era, Owner era, Neo Era, Expedition Era, and Diamiond and Pearl Era. I'd also say to remove Diamond and Pearl as there were cards such as Claydol, Uxie, Luxray Lv. X, etc. that could reach high dollar prices, and were necessary in most decks.
Now I cannot comment on the Expedition Era as I was not playing during that time, but assuming that their formats were not the cheapest then it comes down between Base, Owner, and Neo. All three were relatively cheap compared to today's standards, but Base was the cheapest due to the game being in its original state which meant that it was more geared towards collectors, which meant that a player who could build a deck without highly collectible cards could make one fairly cheaply. I'd say a decent competitive deck back then probably ran someone about $50 which isn't too bad.
The expensiveness of a format relates to how many big dollar cards you need for your deck to function. The most expensive cards are generally Super Rares (EX, Lv.X, ex, Shiny, Prime, etc.) and certain other cards can have their prices inflated due to their popularity and/or how difficult it is to obtain them (Tropical Beach, Pokemon Catcher)
Now there have been tons of formats, but if we break it down into blocs there were:
Base - Fossil
Rocket - Gym Leaders (Owner Era)
Neo Genesis - Neo Destiny
Expedition - Skyridge
Original Ex
Diamond & Pearl
Heart Gold Soul Silver
Black and White
So if we are going by the big dollar cards then our current EX format and the original Ex format are both eliminated, as both could require up to four copies of a Super Rare card in a deck. Heart Gold and Soul Silver also had the same issues, which means I'd remove that bloc as well. So then you have Base era, Owner era, Neo Era, Expedition Era, and Diamiond and Pearl Era. I'd also say to remove Diamond and Pearl as there were cards such as Claydol, Uxie, Luxray Lv. X, etc. that could reach high dollar prices, and were necessary in most decks.
Now I cannot comment on the Expedition Era as I was not playing during that time, but assuming that their formats were not the cheapest then it comes down between Base, Owner, and Neo. All three were relatively cheap compared to today's standards, but Base was the cheapest due to the game being in its original state which meant that it was more geared towards collectors, which meant that a player who could build a deck without highly collectible cards could make one fairly cheaply. I'd say a decent competitive deck back then probably ran someone about $50 which isn't too bad.
Riskbreakers said:
Yeah I remember Yanmega Prime being a problem in HGSS-On cause TPCi refused to reprint it as a Tin Promo when it was stupidly good with Mew Prime and Jumpluff HGSS for Mass Attack. Send Jumpluff to the Lost Zone to have Mew Prime copy Mass Attack for OHKO's and retreat into Yanmega Prime to use Judge to attack for free, good times. It may have also ran HGSS Vileplume which was annoying at the time as well.
Back when Luxray GL Lv. X got expensive in MD-On we still had a much bigger cardpool of playable cards than we do right now. I was running Charizard while one of my friends was running Gyarados SF and came in 2nd place with it at Battle Roads. Magnezone Prime I remember used to be a thing with Eels until Zekrom came along when Stage 2's were starting to be too slow for the format. I felt like the last part of HGSS-On was the last true format we had in the Pokemon TCG up until now.
By the way DawnOfXatu, our current EX Format is God awful compared to the original Ex Format where there were ACTUAL Ex's of Stage 1 and Stage 2 Pokemon instead of being exclusive to Basic Pokemon in general or turning evolved Pokemon into Basics like what SP's and the EX Battle Boost expansion did. The TCG itself really needs to slow down instead of going too fast with the way Pokemon cards are designed these days.
Card Slinger J said:
I do remember that deck and I'm pretty sure it did run Trainer Lock to slow down the opponent.
But the big deck(s) that made Yanmega Prime expensive was Magnezone/Yanmega (Primetime) and Kingdra/Yanmega. Right after the rotation was the period where it was the most expensive, but it dropped off pretty quickly once Primetime fell out of favor.
dmaster out.
People started running Zekrom more. Then they understood how overrated Yanmega Prime was.