Rebuttal of Folly of Legendary Collection and its Reply - Pokepop
Well, there they go again…
It seems that WotC is once again held up to expectations that are unrealistic and impossible to meet. It makes me wonder if people that have been exposed to the way this franchise works are really that thick-headed or just willfully ignoring the reality of this game's situation. Back when Base Set 2 came out, there was a lot less communication between WotC and the fan base. Reaction to the set had to stand totally on what it appeared to be: a reprint set of cards that were still readily available in their original sets and a delay in the eagerly awaited Team Rocket set. If you ignore BS2, there was almost a year between when Fossil came out to when TR came out. And it did have a negative impact on the game. There was nothing interesting about BS2. It added nothing for either collectors or players. Today, there is a good amount of communication with WotC and we can better understand why they do the things that they do.
And so, what situation do we find ourselves in now? Why
exactly was this set made? Is it merely a Base Set 3?
To get right down to it, it was made because Card-E (now called Expedition) got
delayed. Right there, you have the number one with a bullet reason why this set
was made. Nintendo wanted WotC to release the Expedition cards around the same
time that Card-E was released for Game Boy Advance. BS2 was made for a similar
reason when you get down to it: because Rocket got delayed. The reality was,
much of it was beyond WotC's control. They couldn't come out and say it, but
the delay in releasing Team Rocket was due to, shall we say, outside
influences. They had the set ready, but could not release it until given the
go-ahead. Such is the life of a licensee. Many players keep disbelieving the
truth about where the control of this game resides, but truth it is. Nintendo
wanted no competing new Pokémon product to be on American shelves while it
released Gold and Silver for Game Boy.
Therefore, Team Rocket sat. And sat. So BS2 was made to get
some new release on the store shelves. It wasn't great, but it was something.
It was not so much BS2 that hurt the game so much as the long delay between
Fossil and TR. WotC needs to put a release out about once a quarter. If they
miss that window, we wind up with a loooong time between sets. This dead time
is worse for the game than any reprint set.
Given that they had to get a product out and a new set was not ready to
substitute for Expedition, they are left with reprints. So, how are they going
to package those reprints? They could have just made BS3, which some accuse
this set of being. But they have been doing a heck of a lot more than treating
this game like the cash cow that some accuse them of treating it as. If that were
the case, we would just have a BS3. Instead, they tried to accomplish a few
goals while filling the need to get a set on the store shelves:
1. Make it useful to the Modified format. They put in cards that will give more
options to the Modified format but that won't overpower it. Note that even
though these were reprints, they still had to get approval from Japan and some
cards that they wanted to include were not approved (Blastoise and Electabuzz,
for example). Crying for Computer Search is silly. Releasing over powered,
under-costed card would only result in making Modified into Unlimited. And
whether you like Modified or not, what would be the point of that? Just play
Unlimited if that is what floats your boat.
2. Create a set that would be balanced for Drafting. None of the Japanese sets
were created with this in mind, so this is a first for the Pokemon game. Whine
about how no one plays draft if you want, but realize that drafting is an
important format to help stabilize the health of this game. Drafting with
unbalanced sets that were not made with Drafting in mind can only go so far.
This one aspect of LC alone clearly demonstrates WotC's commitment to the long
term health of this game.
3. Do something new for the collectors. This is why the Reverse Holos and Box
Toppers are in there. While maintaining the rarity of regular foils, WotC has
added new types of Premium cards. If you enjoy collecting, this set presents a
real challenge! If you don't care about collecting, at a bare minimum it increases
your odds of getting a good card by 33%.
Now, if you don't care about collecting, don't ever want to draft, and have all
of these cards that you need, you don't need to buy any of this set. You can
use your old cards when playing Modified. Or continue on with your Unlimited
deck that is made exclusively of the "Power" cards (Zzzzzzzz…).
Feel free to save your money. Or, if you only want a reverse Holo of one
particular card (say, a reverse holo Sandshrew), then trade for it. Please,
though, don't buy a single pack of LC. The set is, admittedly, not the best
thing since sliced bread, but it is what it is and it accomplishes many things.
Take it for what it is.
By the way, you will never see any new cards coming into Pokémon that equal the power of the early "Power Cards". TPC will just not make them any longer. Nor will they allow WotC to make them. You will have a long wait for the next Sneasel.
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Michael Martin
PokePop
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