At the most recent Pokemon Presents, the Pokemon Trading Card Game Classic was formally announced. As more information about the base set reprint becomes available, more and more game enthusiasts appear concerned. This new collectible was advertised as a "premium Pokemon TCG set that will last a lifetime" during the Pokemon Day reveal.
More than 26 years ago, the 102 cards that made up the original Pokemon TCG base set were released in Japan. These cards are still regarded as classics by collectors today. Similar to the older Charizard cards, many are becoming increasingly expensive and difficult to locate in good condition. As a result, the Pokemon Trading Card Game Classic appears to be an excellent way to get these cards into the hands of eager fans, but many are dubious about who will actually be able to obtain this set.
Fans are expressing excitement and apprehension about this new set on the Pokemon TCG subreddit. It is described as "basically an expensive collector's item" in the first comment on the announcement thread. Since the English website currently does not list a price among its details, there was uncertainty regarding the base set reprint's price. However, the retail price listed on the Japanese version of the website is 35,000 yen, or just over $250 USD at the time of writing. Pokemon cards have become more and more expensive in recent years as people rush to buy and resell them solely for the value of the cards, which has caused many in the devoted fanbase to grow weary and impatient.
There are a lot more specifics about what will be in this set, including how many and what kinds of cards can be anticipated, on the Japanese website for the Pokemon Trading Card Game Classic. According to reports, there will only be 60 cards in total, and some of them (like the previously revealed EX prints for Lugia, Ho-Oh, and Suicune) won't even be base set reprints, making this a mini-base set that only contains 48 of the original 102 cards. The set does have a modern aesthetic, and many commenters on the Reddit thread point out some of its cool features, including the 3D poison and burn tokens as well as the ball-rolling tool that takes the place of coin flips. Many people wonder whether or not that's worth $250.
Another commenter adds, "Great, another TCG product that's going to get scalped to bits," in reference to the availability issue. The Japanese website mentions a lottery that Japanese customers can enter for a chance to win the set, suggesting that it is aware that the supply will likely fall short of consumer demand. The English website has not yet proposed such a lottery or another method of distributing Pokemon Trading Card Game Classic to prevent the majority of the supply from falling into the hands of Pokemon TCG resellers.
The Pokemon Trading Card Game Classic set releases sometime in late 2023.
Source: Pokemon.com English, Japanese