So a few weeks back I attended the pre-release of the new Pokemon TCG expansion Ancient Origins. This was the second pre-release that I attended with the first being Roaring Skies earlier in the year. If you have never been to a pre-release before I highly recommend it! Not only are they great value for money, but they're loads of fun. I'll go on to explain how the day works and what you receive.
For a pre-release, you pay an entry fee of $30 (AUD) however you receive 8 booster packs on the day. 6 booster packs are given to you at the commencement of the event, and the last 2 booster packs are given to you at the conclusion. You use the first 6 booster packs to create a deck and then you play in a 5 round (usually), best 2 out of 3 tournament. If you are like me and had never actually played the TCG before, only collected, then let my allay your fears and say that everyone is really friendly and will teach you how to play. It's loads of fun to learn and it great to spend some time with others who have a passion for the TCG just as much as you do. People also bring along their collections to show off cards, make trades and discuss artwork, ultra rares and secret rares.
Now to tell you about the Ancient Origins expansion.
First of all, the artwork on the booster packs are awesome! There's Hoopa Unbound, Mega Tyranitar, Shiny Primal Groudon and Shiny Mega Rayquaza. I really love the colour scheme on these packs as well. I think they highlight the darker side of this expansion, especially the kind of scary looking Hoopa Unbound!
In this expansion there are a standard 98 cards. There are 25 EX cards and 2 secret rares. The secret rares in this set are Energy Retrieval and Trainers Mail. Now I need to mention, there are 3 cards, Shiny Primal Kyogre EX, Shiny Primal Groudon EX and Shiny Mega Rayquaza EX that have the typical secret rare "gold" artwork. These cards however are NOT secret rares. For a card to be a secret rare, the collection number must be greater than the total number of base cards in the set. For example, the Shiny Primal Kyogre EX, Shiny Primal Groudon EX and Shiny Mega Rayquaza EX are listed 96, 97 and 98/98 respectively, making them normal ultra rares. Energy Retrieval and Trainers Mail on the other hand are listed 99 and 100/98 respectively, making them the secret rares in this expansion.
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| Secret Rare 99/98 |
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| Secret Rare 100/98 |
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| Gold Ultra Rare 98/98 |
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| Gold Ultra Rare 96/98 |
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| Gold Ultra Rare 97/98 |
The other EX's in this expansion also have amazing artwork. I think the 3 shiny cards above, are going to be the ones most sought after, as well as the Hoopa Unbound EX Full Art. The cards that I'm most looking forward to however are the Sceptile EX Full Art, Ampharos EX Full Art, Giratina EX Full Art and one of my favourite pokemon Lugia EX Full Art.
Finally, here's a look at what I pulled from my packs at the Ancient Origins pre-release:
So all in all I think this expansion is going to be an awesome one; there's shiny Kyogre, Groudon and Rayquza, Hoopa Unbound and loads of amazing full art artwork. What's not to love?! Let me know what cards you guys are most looking forward to and if you pull that Hoopa EX Full Art.
Good luck with your pulls!
Casey
