CGC Trading Cards Now Grading Variants for 2001 Pokémon TCG Set

On February 4, 2000, Japanese publishing company MEDIA FACTORY released the newest Pokémon Trading Card Game set: Gold, Silver, to a New World. This was the first set to feature Pokémon from the Johto region, the setting of the newest video games in the series, Gold and Silver. The set contained 96 total cards, including 60 new Pokémon, two new energy types, and over 30 trainer cards.

A year later, MEDIA FACTORY released a short reprint of Gold, Silver, to a new World. The 2001 reprint corrected several errors from the 2000 release, including changes to the text describing a Pokémon’s moves, energy requirements, damage counter corrections and move power.

The grading team at CGC Trading Cards® will begin recognizing error corrections on these Gold, Silver, to a New World reprints. So far, the team is recognizing four cards: Pichu, Donphan, Quilava and Darkness Energy.

Pichu No. 172

In the original print released in 2000, Pichu’s Pokedex entry in the bottom right-hand corner included the word “denki,” or “electrical” by mistake. The revision released in 2001 corrected this error by changing “denki” to “dengeki,” or “electric shock”. The period in the second line of text was also moved over to allow space for the extra characters.

A Pichu, Pokémon (2000) Gold, Silver, to a New World No. 172 (left) and a revised Pichu, Pokémon (2001) Gold, Silver, to a New World No. 172 (right). Click images to enlarge.

Close-up examples of the original and revised flavor text, with the erroneous period (left) and the corrected version (right). Click images to enlarge.

Donphan No. 232

Donphan’s original print is missing the 10x damage counter next to its first move, making it seem like its first move does no damage at all unless the player reads the text underneath. The reprint corrects this error.

A Donphan, Pokemon (2000) Gold, Silver, to a New World No. 232 missing the 10x damage counter (left) and the corrected 2001 reprint (right). Click images to enlarge.

Quilava No. 156

Quilava’s second move has five lines of text in the original print. The 2001 reprint streamlines the attack's text in order to facilitate gameplay, which shortens it to four lines.

A Quilava, Pokémon (2000) Gold, Silver, to a New World No. 156 with the original five lines of text (left) and the 2001 revised version (right). Click images to enlarge.

Darkness Energy

Like Donphan, Darkness Energy had a damage counter error that was corrected in its reprint. Darkness Energy incorrectly stated that players needed to place 10 damage counters on the Pokémon that the energy was attached to at the end of the player’s turn. This was corrected to 1 damage counter in the 2001 reprint.

A Darkness Energy, Pokémon (2000) Gold, Silver, to a New World with the erroneous 10 damage counter text (left) and the revised 2001 version (right). Click images to enlarge.

Close-up examples of the original and revised damage counter text, with the erroneous 10 damage counters (left) and the corrected version (right). Click images to enlarge.

Now that these new variants are being recognized, CGC Trading Cards has updated the certification data of all the previously graded cards to account for them. CGC Trading Cards is able to keep its database clean and accurate by utilizing the verification images taken of every CGC-certified card. In addition to these four variants, CGC Trading Cards will also continue to grade other variants from the Gold, Silver, to a New World set, such as Typhlosion No. 157.

CGC Trading Cards provides expert authentication, grading and encapsulation for all standard-sized Pokémon TCG cards across several languages, including Japanese and English sets. If you’d like to have your cards certified by the company, click here to learn how to submit.