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GYM HEROES EDITION
Probably the best set ever.

Links:
Gym Heroes Card List
Gym Heroes Preconstructed Deck Info
• Gym Heroes Card Scans
Japanese Gym 1 Scans

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So really... what is Gym Heroes? Here are the facts:

Set Size: 132 in the US, at least 128 in Japan (94 avaliable in packs + 34 fixed cards)

Set Order: 6th set in the US, 6th set in Japan

Release Date: August 14th, 2000 in the US, Spring 1999 in Japan.

Other Goodies:
• The Wizards-based Gym Heroes greatly differed than that of Japan's Gym 1. Most of it dealt with how the set was made up; Gym 1 focused more on fixed cards and other cards found in Preconstructed decks while Heroes was, like always, pack driven.
• Aside from that, since Gym 1 focused solely on the first four "Kanto" Gym leaders (Brock, Misty, Lt. Surge, and Erika), there was an obvious lack of Psychic Pokémon. Now we're not sure what the reaction was in Japan, but Wizards decided that it would be a good idea to mix in a few cards from Gym 2 just so Psychic Pokémon fans wouldn't get shafted. Therefore, Wizards took Gym 1 and Gym 2 and mixed them up a bit to make Gym Heroes.
• Because of this change, the set symbol was changed, therefore not confusing collectors or something.
• This set marked another one of Wizards somewhat unpopular decisions for the Pokémon TCG. Since there were a number of "fixed" cards in Gym 1 (fixed meaning that they had no rarity), Wizards decided to give a number of them a rare rarity. Some of them were good enough to be a rare, but other cards like Misty's Tentacruel weren't deserving of their rarity. These "common rares" created quite a stir in the Pokémon TCG community. We here at PA! support Wizards through thick of thin, and understood that for the most part, it was how rare they were in Japan, NOT the card's abilities, which justified their rarity. Many people however didn't share our position. Oh well. Either way though, Wizards decided to base the rarity of fixed cards in Gym 2 on their game play abilities over their "fixed" properties.

Other Images:
Japanese Brock Deck
Japanese Erika Deck
Japanese Lt. Surge Deck
Japanese Misty Deck
Japanese Gym 1 Pack
Gym Heroes Advertisement
Japanese Misty's Tears

Symbol: The symbol for Gym Heroes was a "light" stadium. The symbol for Gym 1 was a bird's eye view of an arena with the word "Gym" in it.


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