Why ‘Evolving Skies’ Will Forever Be the Best Sword and Shield Era Set

2021 was an odd time. Following on the heels of a year that will undoubtedly go down in history for being one of the most tumultuous and strange years of all time, 2021 saw the general rise of hobbies and acceptance of a world without parties, travel, and things like that. One of those hobbies which was destined to grow insurmountably during the year was none other than the Pokemon Trading Card Game. In fact, YouTube celebrities and nostalgia for earlier, better times drove many back into the open arms of what is surely now the preferred trading card game.

Of course, the phenomenon would give rise not only to an opportunity to quench nostalgia for better times – it would bring with it its fair share of 49ers looking to strike it rich as if it were the gold rush. Called ‘scalpers’, these people looking to turn a profit from opening Pokemon product have perhaps forever tarnished the image of Pokemon within the greater gaming community.

However, there are those among us who remain purists. We grew up playing the game. We turned our back on the game. But we eventually came back to the game, and realized that it’s okay to like stuff from our childhood even if we are now grown up.

The Pokemon Company Has Finally Caught Up with the Shortage

The Pokemon Company could never have anticipated what was going to come – complete and utter pandemonium. The gold rush that the demand for Pokemon cards set off was enough for many stores to suspend sales temporarily – some even permanently. Now not only are old, graded cards valuable – brand new cards hot off the press and freshly pulled from packs are fetching incredible values.

Pokemon was not ready to fully combat this new demand, but they were able to try. In fact, one fifth of all Pokemon cards ever printed were printed during the period of the pandemic into today. And now, Pokemon has announced that they will more than double the amount of cards they are printing in order to keep up with demand.

Of course, as more cards are printed, prices for new cards will inevitably fall. Already, people are pointing out that rare cards in the most recent sets are not going for as much as they once did at the height of the craze. Indeed, the narrow timeframe when a new set releases that cards are at peak value is diminishing. Within a few weeks with plenty of packs opened around the country and the world, card values commonly reduce by half or more.

Evolving Skies Came at the Height of the Pokemon Card Shortage

But this wasn’t the case when Evolving Skies came out. Evolving Skies released into a world still driven mad by Pokemon. Locked in their houses with disposable income, people from all walks of life took to their local stores to hunt for the latest shipment of Pokemon cards. Today, in 2022, shelves are still torn apart by scalpers and genuine fans alike. But with a less ravenous hunger than they were when Evolving Skies hit the shelves in 2021. During those days, you were hard-pressed to find Evolving Skies packs and product anywhere. If you didn’t happen to walk into your local Target right as the Pokemon man was loading up the shelves, you weren’t likely to get any.

In a way, this hunt for Pokemon product led to the fun of the game. Just like when hunting for Pokemon in the wild in the games, you had to hunt your local stores for packs just for the chance of getting the newest, rarest cards.

Evolving Skies Was A Great Set in its Own Right

Apart from the craze and the thrill of the hunt that the Pokemon card shortage caused, Evolving Skies was one heck of a set. The timing just also happened to be perfect. Not only did this set have just about everything you could want from a collector’s perspective – the popular Eevee evolutions and tremendous alternative art variations – it was also a fantastic time in the meta game.

It Was A Great Time for Pokemon TCG Standard Players

For those devoted few who play Pokemon TCG Standard religiously, you will remember what the Standard Meta was like during the reign of Evolving Skies. For a few blissful months, players battled it out online with the likes of Leafeon VMAX, Rapid Strike Urshifu, Jolteon VMAX, Suicune V and many others vying for dominance in an incredibly varied meta game. Other than the Inteleon Line, there was not a single card that every deck had to run in order to win.

Just a few months later, after an incredibly successful special set launch that was Celebrations, Fusion Strike was released and the meta was forever changed. Now, suddenly, Mew VMAX was the only truly viable deck to play, and if you wanted to win your local event you had to either pay to play Mew, or try your best to counter it.

Fast forward to the next set that came in February, and suddenly every deck was running Arceus. To this day, while Mew VMAX and Palkia VSTAR are viable, most decks run Arecues or Arceus combined with something else.

Not to mention Evolving Skies was one of the last sets to feature truly competitive grade VMAX attackers. Today’s meta features very few VMAX attackers, with the hyper powerful and less liable VSTAR Pokemon generally being preferred over their three prize cousins.

It was a Great Time for Collectors

From a collector’s standpoint, Evolving Skies will always be the best in the SWSH era. Not only did it fetch exorbitant prices due to the shortage, it was filled with massively collectable cards. Alt arts of many fan favorites upped the anti in this set, and Rayquaza VMAX alt art is still worth more than $200 on the ungraded market. Due to the popularity of Evolving Skies, these cards will undoubtedly hold up their value overtime.

Evolving Skies will forever be remembered as the absolute height of the Sword and Shield era of the Pokemon TCG. It will probably be heralded as one of the greatest Pokemon TCG sets of all time, with many young people clamoring for their Evolving Skies cards that they no longer had twenty years from now.