Gym Heroes (TCG)

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Gym Heroes (Japanese: ? Gym 1) is the name given to the six expansion of new cards and Theme Decks for the Pokémon Trading Card Game. It was based on the first four Gym Leaders of Pokémon Red and Blue.

Set size:

132 in North America, at least 128 in Japan (94 available in packs + 34 fixed cards)

File:Gymheroessymbol.gif
The symbol for Gym Heroes was a white stadium.

Sequence

6th set in North America, 6th set in Japan

Release date

August 14th, 2000 in North America, Spring 1999 in Japan.

File:Gym1symbol.gif
The symbol for Gym 1 was a Pokémon arena.

Miscellaneous

  • This set is known as "Gym 1" in Japan. There is a significant difference between Gym Heroes in North America and Gym 1 in Japan, namely what cards were available in those sets. Gym 1 focused solely on the first four "Kanto" Gym leaders (Brock, Misty, Lt. Surge, and Erika). Because of this, there was a lack of Psychic Pokémon. Wizards of the Coast, when releasing the set to North America, decided to mix in a few cards from Gym 2, just to mix some Psychic Pokémon into the set.
  • The set symbol was changed between Gym 1 and Gym Heroes, apparently to avoid confusing collectors.
  • Another unpopular decision made by Wizards was the way the rarity was accounted for. Since there were a number of "fixed" cards in Gym 1 (cards only available in special "Gym Leader" preonstructed decks), Wizards decided to give a number of them a rare rarity. While most of the new rarities were appropriate, other cards, like Misty's Tentacruel, didn't deserve their Rare rarity. These "common rares" created quite a stir in the Pokémon TCG community. Although the logic behind it made sense (fixed cards are inherently rare), many fans disapproved of the action. By Gym Challenge, however, Wizards decided to base the rarity of fixed cards on their game play abilities over their "fixed rarity" properties.

Theme Decks

Misty, Brock, Erika, and Lt. Surge.

Card List

North America

Japan