The Neo series was the first block of cards released for Generation 2, consisting of Neo Genesis, Neo Discovery, Neo Revelation, and Neo Destiny. This set brought with it new species, new mechanics, rebalanced cards, and an attempt at a more casual focus.
But the biggest impact of this generation was the introduction of rotation. For the first time, the Pokémon TCG was not simply a hodgepodge of every card that existed. The Base-Neo format was a real thing for a time, but 2001 introduced Rocket-On or (as it was known then) the Modified Format.
This would mark the beginning of a more modern approach that splits the history of the TCG up into tiny little chunks. The ramifications of introducing rotation permanently changed the game, and mostly for the better. But we have a lot to cover.
Amazingly, the bulk of this block's power came from the very first set. Neo Genesis came fully stocked with a wide array of powerful cards that shifted the metagame overnight.
A Whole New World to See
The first big change is obviously that there were 100 new species of Pokémon. The card designers were no longer being forced to find new ways to name the existing 151 species and could finally stretch their wings a bit.
These new species brought with them meta-defining new attacks and abilities, like Riptide, Wild Growth, and Fire Recharge. The Stage 2 starters were some of the most impactful cards, proving that evolution decks would be back in style going forward.
It's noteworthy that they set a soft cap on the HP for basics at this time. The vast majority of non-evolving basics were capped at 60 HP, probably as an attempt to move away from the dominance of the haymakers of Generation 1.
The most infamous addition to this metagame was the small lineup of Baby Pokémon. These cards had meta-relevant effects, no Retreat Cost, and a unique rule box that could negate any attack with a coin flip, as long as a Baby was in the Active Spot.
Genesis Cleffa is a staple 4-of in any deck from any Neo format, due to its absurd Eeeeeeek attack (essentially a once-per-turn mulligan for just one Colorless energy) and the Baby Rule.
It wasn't uncommon for a game to start with two Cleffa staring each other down and screaming until both players were finished setting up.
These babies, along with some key survivability cards, forcibly slowed down aggro decks. This was one of the key factors in enabling slower Evolution decks.
This was also the set that introduced Tool cards, which simply attached themselves to a Pokémon to provide an effect as long as they were in play.
The obvious intent was to mirror the new hold item mechanic in the main series games. Capturing the flavor of the real games was still very much a consideration.
The most infamous of these new Tools was probably Focus Band, which could allow any 'mon to survive a lethal attack with 10 HP if you won a coin flip.
When combined with a Baby, this reduced the odds of scoring a KO to a miserable 25%. These formats are remembered for being heavily luck-reliant, and for good reason.
There was also a conscious effort to rein in Trainer Cards. Professor Elm is a not-so-subtle nerfed version of Professor Oak, refreshing your hand at the cost of locking you out of Trainers for the rest of your turn.
This isn't the only "fixed" card in the set, either. Mary reads like a nerfed Bill, Super Scoop Up reads like a nerfed Scoop Up, New Pokédex is a slightly buffed Pokédex, and Double Gust seems like an obvious attempt to rebalance Gust of Wind.
The mistakes of Generation 1 were clearly fresh in their minds when developing this set. There was even a new counter to Energy Removal in Ecogym, which just flat out returned any energy removed from a 'mon to the hand.
A Brand New Attitude
Another huge addition was a set of two new types, Darkness and Metal, to reflect the new Dark and Steel-types added to the main series. Weirdly, they didn't come with Basic Energy cards.
Instead, these types had to rely entirely on Special Energy cards for their energy. Darkness Energy gave a flat +10 damage boost to the wielder's attacks. It did have a self-damaging downside, but since that only applied to non-Darkness cards, it didn't balance the card at all.
Metal Energy had the opposite problem. While Darkness Energy was too good on Darkness cards, Metal energy was too good on non-Metal cards. It reduced damage taken by 10, at the cost of reducing the damage output of non-Metal 'mons it was attached to.
But some cards, like Base Chansey, don't care about attacking. This led to some extremely annoying new variations of stall, and obviously the new Metal-type cards were made much, much harder to kill by this energy.
Genesis Sneasel is the epitome of every design mistake you can possibly make. It has no Retreat Cost on a card with above average bulk. It uses an energy type that boosts its damage output when it already goes far above-rate.
But worst of all, they looked at Jungle Wigglytuff's Do the Wave and asked themselves, "What if this was on a basic for twice the damage, but also required coin flips?"
So, so many games were decided by whether or not Sneasel flipped enough heads to one-shot something.
It is worth noting that it was almost tolerable when Super Energy Removal was legal, though. When they rotated that card out, they banned Sneasel as a compromise.
Genesis Steelix was easily the most dominant new Metal-type, though it never achieved Sneasel's infamy. A Steelix with at least one Metal Energy on it was nigh-unkillable. God help you if they attach a second one.
Tail Crush was also a noticeably above-rate attack. I believe this comes down to them valuing the new Energy Cards as if they were comparable to Double Colorless Energy, which gave a lot of these new 'mons powerful attacks.
This is ultimately part of what gives the Neo formats their flavor, though. Since only a handful of Darkness and Metal 'mons existed, it did feel right for them to be special.
Maybe not Sneasel levels of special, though.
Genesis Slowking deserves a bit of a footnote here. He features one of the worst mistranslations of the entire WotC era. The intended effect of Slowking is to disrupt Trainers on a coin flip if he's in the Active Spot.
They left out that part, meaning you could force your opponent to flip up to 4 coins for every Trainer they played. But WotC, ever eager to make bad decisions, ruled that all of their cards should be played as printed.
This resulted in the card being banned out of competitive play entirely, as it was just too easy to make Trainers virtually unplayable.
Closing Thoughts
The other Neo sets definitely had some key cards here and there, such as Discovery's Tyrogue, Revelation's Kingdra, and Destiny's Dark Crobat, but the precedents of the era were set into place immediately by Neo Genesis.
Big Basic decks were out and Evolution decks were in, for really the first time in the game's history. You could certainly argue that the new cards therefore had the intended effect, but while this time is remembered fondly, it also lives on in infamy as the most coin flips per turn of any format in the entire TCG's history.
Still, Base-Neo and Rocket-On are a breath of fresh air compared to the degenerate absurdity that defined the Base-Rocket and Base-Gym formats.
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