“Obsidian Flames” English Set List, Products, and Info!

Water Pokémon Master

I like Pokemon more than you! :p
Webmaster
Elite Member
Advanced Member
Member
Froakie and Frogadier, but no Greninja?! What the heck?

Anyway, this set is a bit...amazingly bad from a competitive perspective. If literally none of the cards from it see widespread play in competitive decks, I wouldn't be surprised. In a way, this set actually makes me appreciate past "filler" sets more because they had some great cards.
 
The Greninja ex that went with the dangling Froakie and Frogadier was removed for a deck promo.
 
Froakie and Frogadier, but no Greninja?! What the heck?

Anyway, this set is a bit...amazingly bad from a competitive perspective. If literally none of the cards from it see widespread play in competitive decks, I wouldn't be surprised. In a way, this set actually makes me appreciate past "filler" sets more because they had some great cards.
Greninja was cut to be turned into a promo for an ex battle deck. Not sure why they wouldn't just do the same for the rest of the line, though...
 
I have to agree that the majority of the cards are meh. I don't play TCG, I just collect, so the Charizard, Eiscue, and a few other full arts are on my collection list. Right into the binder :)
 
This set's competitive value isn't quite as non-existent as ye olden Emerging Powers, but seeing how this is a rehash of Champion's Path where TPCI blatantly banked on nothing but the Zards, this is the most disappointed I've been with an English set in years. I WANT to like this set, especially since Charizard-ex is NOT a particularly bad card! But this article absolutely nailed it; this really is Champion's Path with an extra 100 cards' worth of bulk, making the Lizardon (all four of them) in the room even MORE obvious. At least there's still some awesome Illustration Rares, unlike Champ's Path!
 
I must acknowledge this interesting fact, though: this is the third era in a row where the third set of the era has been the Charizard set, which (I suppose) isn't such a bad tradition, even if it's unintentional! It's just a darn shame that the third time ISN'T the charm in this case, and this set has been assigned one of the trashiest set lists in recent memory...
 
im honestly fine with having a filler set that doesn't have much of note beyond the few art rares i have my eye on - gives me time to rest and not have to track card prices for a while lol. this also just proves to me that pokemon company really has no business releasing such an ungodly number of cards every set multiple times per year when they clearly don't have enough actual good ideas to merit it... i would love to see fewer sets per year with fewer cards per set if it meant the cards that WERE included were actually interesting
 
im honestly fine with having a filler set that doesn't have much of note beyond the few art rares i have my eye on - gives me time to rest and not have to track card prices for a while lol. this also just proves to me that pokemon company really has no business releasing such an ungodly number of cards every set multiple times per year when they clearly don't have enough actual good ideas to merit it... i would love to see fewer sets per year with fewer cards per set if it meant the cards that WERE included were actually interesting
I'm fascinated by these narrow-minded comments. You are completely ignoring which culture this game is coming from and what Pokemon is even about. The article clearly states what a big chunk of this set is about - beginners. Beginners in Japan are much younger and are a much larger crowd as in the west. These EX decks are 500 yen - we don't even get boosters here for that price - what, again, shows which demographic these are for. Japanese kids progress way slower with their reading ability too. Better cards need more complex kanji - so clearly they need to provide an easier access. Lastly, Pokemon TCG is not mainly about the competitive scene, but far more about collecting (yeah, not just AR und Full arts). There are over a 1000 Pokemon now. You need a constant output to satisfy fans of each one. More over illustration plays a much bigger role in Japan too - all these illustrator have a large fanabse itself. So there are enough valid points for the Pokemon company to put out so many cards - even if the bottom line is just money. If your are only arguing from a competitive side, your are completly missing the mark. Moreover nobody forces you to get the whole set. The hobby is easy accessible - you can simply just pick up the five cards you need and ignore the rest.
 
Champion's Path was this idea done exponentially worse. I said what I said. Especially with this set, at least, not having the gall to steal a Shiny Zard from the prior set for no good reason. That one Shiny Zard gets displayed in my Darkness Ablaze binder for that very reason. Absolutely shameless, and that set deserves all the hate this set is getting, and more.
 
Champion's Path was this idea done exponentially worse. I said what I said. Especially with this set, at least, not having the gall to steal a Shiny Zard from the prior set for no good reason. That one Shiny Zard gets displayed in my Darkness Ablaze binder for that very reason. Absolutely shameless, and that set deserves all the hate this set is getting, and more.
Shiny Charizard Vmax was released in Shining Fates not Champion's Path. Also, in Japan the 3 prints of Charizard Vmax were released at different times, it's not like they released all in one set and then were split in different sets in the west for no apparent reason. The regular print was in a deck (released in March) similar to the ones that compose this set, the Rainbow Rare was a promo (released in July) and the Shiny was in their high class set (released in November). So when Darkness Ablaze was released (in June) the regular print was the only one in existence at the time.
 
Back
Top