Expedition Base Set (TCG)

Expedition (Japanese: ?) is the name given to the fourteenth expansion of new cards and Theme Decks for the Pokémon Trading Card Game. It was the first set to be compatible with Nintendo's e-Reader peripheral.

Set size: 128 in Japan, 165 in North America.

Sequence: 14th set in Japan, 13th set in North America. A set gap was created by Wizards of the Coast declining to print both Pokémon VS and Pokémon*Web.

Release date: December 1st, 2001 in Japan, September 15th, 2002 in North America.

Miscellaneous:

• This set could have been released back in May 2002, however it was pushed back to August because Nintendo wanted to release the E-Reader before the set. However, errors caused it to be pushed back again to August. Shipping confusion forced many buyers to have to wait until late September to get their packs. Worse for European players, as the European release of Expedition was decided to be April 2003, around the same time of the e-Reader's release in Europe.
• This is another first in the world of Pokémon; the first Card-E based set. Card-E cards have all sorts of information stored within a "Dot Code" bar found on the left and bottom sides of the card. The bottom bar stores 1 kilobyte of information, while the left bar stores 2 kilobytes. By using the Nintendo-brand E-Reader (for the Game Boy Advance), you are able to view information about the Pokémon, play a mini-game, fiddle with a Melody Box, or activate a special attack for that Pokémon. The special attack function was not a favorite of many TCG players, since a number of them didn't think it's fair for the game to play favors with people who happen to shell out a lot of money. However, the feature wasn't tournament sanctioned, to the relief of many.
• Because of the Card-E features, most Expedition cards lack the flavor data on the Pokémon (Length, Weight, Level, and PokéDex entry). The absence of that information continued into the EX sets. This may cause problems with the Trainer Card Blaine's Quiz #1.
• The ID number on each Card-E card is for the GBA E-Reader device. Since the name lack of Levels on the cards now meant that "Pikachu" might mean almost any Pikachu card from the Card-E sets, a unique ID was placed on each card so that it would be easier to scan in order.
• Expedition also splits the "Pokémon Power" classification into two; "PokéPower" and "PokéBody". PokéPowers are activated abilities as PokéBodies are "always on" abilities. It wasn't well recieved at the time, but shortly after Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire introduced similar Abilities into the Pokémon games.
• This set was once known as New Dimension. But since its initials are ND (like Neo Discovery and Neo Destiny) the name was changed.
• Expedition also used Reverse Holos, but are more "official" looking than the ones found in Legendary Collection.
• Another change from previous sets are pack sizes and rarities. Because of the extra licensing fees Wizards has to pay to use Dot-Code technology, the pack size was reduced from 11 to 9. On top of that, collectors could find one nonholo rare in every pack, with holo-rares still being 1 in 3 (which replaces a common card). So, each pack contained:
  • 5 Commons
  • 1 Reverse Holo Card
  • 1 Nonholo Rare
  • 2 Uncommons

(With 1 common removed from the pack in order for a holo-rare to be added in.)

• Expedition was the first set Wizards produced that didn't have a 1st Edition printing of it (as in no cards from Expedition and on had a 1st Edition stamp on it).
• Even though the box toppers in this set are numbered XX/12, only 4 appear in this set. The other 8 were released in Aquapolis and Skyridge.

Theme Decks: Echo and Electric Garden.