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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.
#50 Mew ex (Legend Maker)
Formats legal: Modified (2006-2007)
There was one combination of cards that made Mew ex strong
and that combination won me my first World Championship. The
idea revolved around using Mew ex to copy Manectric ex's
Disconnect attack after playing either a Battle Frontier or
Cursed Stone stadium. In 2006, almost every deck was
devastated by one of these two stadiums. (Remember, Stadiums
used to count as Trainers in 2006.) The main reason you used
Mew ex to attack rather than Manetric ex itself is because
you wanted to be able to repeat this attack. If you attacked
with Manectric ex, you could lose your ability to repeat
Disconnect after it was knocked out. This relentless barrage
of one attack would shut decks down, and many of the games
the deck won were by simply using Disconnect on every turn
that wasn't the first or last turn of the game.
#49 Electabuzz (Base,
Base 2)
Formats legal: Standard (1999-2002)
A powerful, quick basic that was usually paired with
Hitmonchan or Mewtwo. Electabuzz's fighting weakness was its
only issue, but when cards like Mewtwo & Scyther scared
players from playing Hitmonchan, Electabuzz became even
stronger.
#48 Ancient Technical Machine [Rock] (Hidden
Legends)
Formats legal: Modified (2004-2006)
Ancient Technical Machine [Rock] worked great because so
many decks during its lifespan involved using Rare Candy to
evolve their basics directly into Stage 2 Pokemon. Picture
your opponent has just played three Rare Candies to evolve
three basic Pokemon into Stage 2s. This situation would
usually look grim for you. However, using the Stone
Generator attack on Ancient Technical Machine [Rock] turns
all these Stage 2 Pokemon back into basics. Now, your
opponent has just wasted three of their four Rare Candies!
There was a neat trick with this card, too. It involved the
fact that players would often attach Double Rainbow Energy
and Scramble Energy on the Stage 2 Pokemon they evolved from
Rare Candy. When you used Stone Generator and turned them
back to basic Pokemon, these energy cards would be
discarded, since they cannot be attached to basic Pokemon.
As if the card weren't strong enough by itself, it was even
deadlier when paired with Dark Tyranitar & Dark Ampharos.
Attaching an Ancient Technical Machine to Dark Tyranitar and
using Stone Generator was extremely powerful, because all
the Stage 1 and Rare Candied Stage 2 Pokemon would turn into
basics, and then immediately take Sand Damage. Then, when
your opponent re-evolved his Pokemon, Dark Ampharos' Darkest
Impulse would put two more damage counters on them. If you
repeated this process the damage would accumulate and the
second or third Stone Generator would often wipe out half of
your opponent's board!
#47 Recycle Energy (Neo:
Genesis)
Formats legal: Standard (2000-2002), Modified (2001-2003)
Recycle Energy wasn't just great against Energy Removal &
Super Energy Removal, but worked great with Super
Energy Removal. You could choose Recycle Energy as your
energy to discard, which would return it to your hand. The
card was great in unlimited where Energy Removal & Super
Energy Removal were rampant. Additionally, it allowed you to
get away with less energy than you would usually have to
play, since it would never go to the discard pile from play.
#46 Focus Band (Neo:
Genesis)
Formats legal: Standard (2000-2002), Modified (2001-2003)
Focus Band was a card that dominated the Modified format. In
a format where players built powerful evolution cards like
Feraligatr & Blaine's Arcanine, games were often decided on
Focus Band flips. Flipping heads on Focus Band meant your
powerful Pokemon survived another turn. This meant two
things: your opponent wouldn't get a prize that turn, and
your opponent would have to deal with another attack from
your surviving Pokemon. Focus Band could also be attached to
baby Pokemon to force your opponent to need two favorable
coin flips for a KO. This was particularly useful when
trying to buy turns to set up when you were falling behind.
It did see some play in Standard, too, often attached to
baby Pokemon and other low HP basics that were otherwise
easy to KO.
#45 Spiritomb (Arceus)
Formats legal: Modified (2009-)
Spiritomb was one of the first cards that actually provided
an answer to the trainer-heavy SP decks that have dominated
the last two seasons. It slows the game down, and allows
evolution heavy decks to set up without being run over by
the speed and disruption SP decks gain from cards like
Energy Gain & Power Spray.
#44 Ditto (Fossil)
Formats legal: Standard (1999-2002)
Transform allowed any energy attached to Ditto to provide
any energy type. This meant Double Colorless Energy could be
used to provide two of whatever energy types you needed.
This made Ditto easy to power, and a great counter to Mewtwo
& Sneasel.
#43 Luxray GL LV. X (Rising
Rivals)
Formats legal: Modified (2009-)
It's not just a speedy attacker, but an option to run in any
deck to allow you to KO weak Pokemon, or trap high-retreat
Pokemon active. Free retreat makes it even better. The only
issue with this card is its fighting weakness makes it an
easy target for Toxicroak G.
#42 Call Energy (Majestic
Dawn) Formats legal: Modified (2008-)
Going first in Pokemon is often a disadvantage because you
aren't allowed to play Trainer, Supporter or Stadium cards
on the first turn of the game. Good players relied on
Supporter cards like Roseanne's Research and Pokemon
Collector to get their basic Pokemon out so that they could
evolve next turn. However, if you play first you cannot play
these Supporters and you will need to wait until next turn
to fetch your basic Pokemon. Call Energy allows you to get
your basic Pokemon out turn one, so they can be evolved on
your next turn. This allowed Stage 2 decks to get Claydol
out quickly, which helped them draw into the cards needed to
evolve the rest of their Pokemon.
Don't think Call Energy is just for evolution decks, though.
It also works in some SP-Pokemon decks, allowing you to get
3 SP-Pokemon out on the first turn, and immediately use
Power Spray.
#41 Wigglytuff (Jungle,
Base Set 2)
Formats legal: Standard (1999-2002)
Wigglytuff was the first evolved Pokemon to actually have
success in the Pokemon TCG. Do the Wave combined with one
PlusPower scored a one-hit KO on Hitmonchan, Electabuzz,
Scyther and Mewtwo, four cards that dominated the early
years of the game. Wigglytuff could go off on turn two via
Double Colorless Energy, but was kept in check by Super
Energy Removal.
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