Pokémon-e TCG: EX Ruby & Sapphire (Japanese: 拡張パックExpansion Pack) is the name given to the first main expansion of cards from the EX Series of the Pokémon Trading Card Game (the ADV Era in Japan). The set is the first to feature Generation III Pokémon and Pokémon-ex in the card game.
Blurb
Calling All Pokémon Trainers!
Capture and train more than 40 brand-new Pokémon, liven up your battles with new Poké-Powers and new 2-on-2 Battles, and become the Pokémon Champion of a whole new world!
Information
EX Ruby & Sapphire is the name given to the first main expansion of the EX Series of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. In Japan, it was released as Expansion Pack, the first expansion in the Pokémon Card Game ADV Era. It is based on Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, featuring Generation III Pokémon. The English expansion was released on June 18, 2003, while the Japanese expansion was released on January 31, 2003.
EX Ruby & Sapphire introduced Pokémon-ex, a type of Pokémon. Pokémon-ex are significantly stronger Pokémon. When a Pokémon-ex is Knocked Out, the opponent takes two Prize cards instead of one. Pokémon-ex have Holofoil borders.
EX Ruby & Sapphire also introduced an updated card design, which included numerous changes. The border on the left returned to normal, while the border on the bottom remained thicker to retain the necessary space for the Dot-Code strip (only the Pokédex entry was displayed when scanned). There were several circles on the left of the card. The artwork window and Evolution box were changed from gold to silver. The Evolution box, Stage and illustrator information were moved below the artwork window. The Energy symbols for attacks were smaller and were presented linearly. The copyright information moved to the center on the bottom of the card, so did the unique ID number. For EX Ruby & Sapphire, the text for attacks, Poké-Powers, or Poké-Bodies was now displayed in a new line, separate from the name. For Expansion Pack, the left and bottom borders returned to normal and were changed to silver.
At the time of this expansion's release, numerous rule changes in the Pokémon Trading Card Game took place. Retreating was limited to once per turn; previously, retreating could be performed as often as a player liked during their turn. A Confused Pokémon would put 3 damage counters on itself if it tried to attack and the coin flip was tails, instead of doing 20 damage to itself (affected by Weakness and Resistance). If a player took a mulligan, the opponent now could only draw 1 card, instead of 2, for each mulligan. The opening coin flip was now performed after setup, and if it was heads, the player that flipped the coin was required to go first. During that player's first turn, they were not allowed to draw a card at the beginning or play a Supporter card.[1]
EX Ruby & Sapphire was the first expansion to be distributed by Nintendo of America. In Japan, this was the first expansion to have pre-constructed Half Decks released alongside it.
The ADV Expansion Pack was released in both Japanese and Korean. The Japanese set was available in both 1st and unlimited edition, while the Korean set was only available in 1st edition.
The EX Ruby & Sapphire expansion was released in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, with cards in all of these languages also available as Reverse Holos. All non-English releases used the updated card design without the e-Reader dot code strips or "e" logo.
Many non-holo cards were printed with multiple codes in the bottom-left corner:
Japanese non-holo Commons have four different codes, while non-holo Uncommons have two.
English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese non-holo Commons have three different codes, while non-holo Uncommons have two.
Korean cards have only one code per card.
The purpose of these different codes is unknown. Similar code variations appeared throughout the first half of the EX Series.