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Pokemon Home
Magic
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Ness's Nest
The Top 50 Pokémon Cards
Below I've ranked what I believe are the Top 50 Pokemon
cards of all time. Now, you're probably wondering, how did I
determine which cards were better than others? Well, for
each card, I considered three different things:
#1 The Strength of the card
Self-explanatory. How good was the card? Did it win games?
Was it easy to counter?
Over the card's lifespan, how long was this card good? Some
cards were legal for more years than others, so I don't
consider a card that was good all four years it was legal
much better than a card that was equally good for the two
years it was legal. Instead, I try to look at it by
averaging its strength over its lifespan, but weighed
slightly in favor of ranking the card in its prime.
#3 Versatility of the card
Cards that can be played in more decks are better cards.
That's why you'll see a lot of trainers at the top of this
list: these cards weren't just good, but they were used to
win games in a variety of decks. You'll also see Pokemon
that are used for Poke-Powers higher than a lot of Pokemon
that require a specific type of energy.
Another way to interpret versatility was if a card was
playable in both Standard and Modified. I gave a small bonus
to cards that were good in both formats.
Not familiar with Standard and Modified?
Standard is the first tournament format used in the Pokemon
TCG. It allowed players to use all Pokemon cards. While it
technically still exists today (called "unlimited"), the
last legitimate tournament for it was held in 2002, so
anything from the first three sets (Base, Jungle & Fossil)
rotated out in 2002, as far as me, common sense and this
article are concerned.
The second format, called Modified, began in 2001. The first
modified format allowed cards only from the Team Rocket, Gym
Heroes, Gym Challenge and Neo: Genesis expansions. In the
modified format, the oldest four or five sets rotate out at
the end of each year, or "season." This keeps the game
interesting and also makes access to tournament-legal cards
easier for new players. Modified is the official format of
all sanctioned Pokemon TCG tournaments today, and the annual
Pokemon TCG World Championships.
Overall, I spent over 16 hours re-arranging and moving cards
off & on this list. After all, ranking cards isn't a perfect
science. For those of you that are long time players of the
Pokemon TCG, you will be taking a trip down Pokemon memory
lane. And for the rest of you who never really played
competitively, I'm sure you'll still get a kick seeing which
cards had the biggest impacts on the game.
#40 Medicham ex (Emerald)
Formats legal: Modified (2005-2006)
Medicham ex dominated the 2005 format, with Wise Aura
crippling every deck's reliance on either Pidgeot's Quick
Search or Magcargo's Smooth Over. Without these powers,
decks struggled to set up and Pure Power could pick off
anything on the bench while a hopeless Pokemon was stranded
active by Pow! Hand Extension. One of the neat tricks with
Pure Power is that you could avoid taking prize cards until
a later turn, which worked with Rocket's Admin., Pow! Hand
Extension, and also prevented your opponent from effectively
using Scramble Energy.
#39 Double Rainbow Energy (Team
Aqua vs. Team Magma, Crystal Guardians)
Formats legal: Modified (2004-2008)
Double Rainbow Energy was legal at a time Double Colorless
Energy was not; so, while many cards that had a two
colorless attack costs would have preferred it (Nidoqueen,
Ludicolo, Dark Tyranitar, Dark Ampharos, Gardevoir & Gallade
in 2008), they settled for Double Rainbow Energy. Of course,
the drawback of -10 damage was often insignificant, while
the bonus of powering almost any attack you can think of
made it a great addition to some decks. Cards like Dusknoir
& Infernape were two of the strongest combinations.
#38 Dunsparce (Sandstorm)
Formats legal: Modified (2004-2005)
Dunsparce was the set-up card in 2004, with all
evolution decks running four. It grabbed three basic Pokemon,
allowing you to evolve them on your next turn. You could
also use Sudden Flash to stall if you found yourself in a
desperate situation.
Formats legal: Modified (2005-2006)
There were some cool tricks this card let you pull off.
Combined with Rocket's Admin., Pow! Hand Extension took away
valuable special energy cards, trapped high-retreat Pokemon,
allowed you to KO vulnerable benched Pokemon. Countless
comebacks in 2005 & 2006 began with a crucial Pow! Hand
Extension.
-----------
#36 Holon's Castform (Holon
Phantoms)
Formats legal: Modified (2007-2008)
Holon's Castform powered attacks on Pokemon that would be
otherwise impractical for decks to use. This included Lugia
ex's Elemental Blast and Steelix ex's Mudslide. The card
also worked great with Mew ex's Versatile Poke-Body to
provide the necessary energy to use any attack in play. It
was easily accessed with cards like Holon Mentor, and was
also a great opening Pokemon in decks that played high
amounts of Delta Pokemon.
#35 Metal Energy (Neo:
Genesis, Expedition, Ruby/Sapphire, Delta Species, Holon
Phantoms, Emerald, Unseen Forces, Power Keepers, Mysterious
Treasures, Secret Wonders, Rising Rivals, Undaunted)
Formats legal: Standard (2000-2002), Modified (2001-)
The first Metal Energy could be used to reduce damage
non-metal Pokemon did to themselves by 20, which worked
great with Rocket's Zapdos and Chansey. After metal energy
was rewritten in Ruby/Sapphire, it still remained a powerful
card with Metal Pokemon. Stacking several Metal Energies on
a Pokemon like Dialga G LV X can be a pain in the butt for
your opponent to KO.
#34 PlusPower (Base,
Base 2, Diamond & Pearl, Secret Wonders, Platinum,
Unleashed)
Formats legal: Standard (1999-2002), Modified (2007-)
Any solid card that let you score quick wins is going to be
on this list. PlusPower has ruined many unlucky Pokemon
players' days, with opponents drawing through their decks
looking for as many copies as they could to score a turn one
win. Of course, it was always good midgame to turn attacks
that were just short of a KO into a KO. It would eventually
come back to modified and see some play, but never had the
same strength it had during its first few years.
Formats legal: Standard (1999-2002), Modified (2000)
A great counter to Hitmonchan and a powerful, speedy
attacker. Mewtwo was seen in many decks until Neo: Genesis
released two strong, psychic-resistant basic Pokemon. Energy
Absorption was a great combo with Super Energy Removal.
#32 Hitmonchan (Base,
Base 2, Platinum)
Formats legal: Standard (1999-2002), Modified (2009-)
Hitmonchan was a beast during the first year of Pokemon.
It's high HP and cheap attacks allowed it to run over decks
with fast KOs. It wasn't until Scyther was released that
this card would be kept in check. Even then, it still saw
play.
Reprinted in Platinum as a gimmick, it is technically legal
in Modified, but no longer a strong card.
#31 Scyther (Jungle,
Base 2, Platinum)
Formats Legal: Standard (1999-2002), Modified (2009-)
Scyther was the first card that effectively countered
Hitmonchan. A free retreater with a colorless attack,
Scyther was a solid Pokemon to open with, and splashed into
just about any deck during the first year it was released.
It saw play in 2001 and 2002, too.
Like Hitmonchan, Scyther was also reprinted in Platinum, but
only as a gimmick, and is not a viable tournament card.
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