5 worst Pokemon TCG design styles of all time

While the Pokemon TCG is known for having some truly beautiful cards worth hundreds of dollars among collectors, there are also some undeniably poor card styles that have either gone completely forgotten by a majority of fans or become memes in the community. Thankfully, it would seem that these silly card gimmicks and illustration styles have fallen out of favor.

With this in mind, it can be somewhat nostalgic to look back on some of the more low-quality designs seen throughout the history of Pokemon's trading card game. Here are five of the absolute worst formats of all time.

Note: This article is subjective and based on the author's opinion.

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5 of the Pokemon TCG's worst design styles of all time

1) EX/ex

EX and ex cards are typically rather bland, with most of the focus for these variants being on the Hyper Rares for the expansion (Image via The Pokemon Company)

The EX and ex formats of cards are practically the same, just at different times in the Pokemon TCG's lifespan. These cards are okay to look at but do very little to look interesting or distinct, with most cards in this format being 3D renders of the pictured creature usually in the middle of an attack.

These cards are worth more for their value in the game as they are the most accessible form of the most powerful cards from the expansion. As such, the hyper-rare versions of these cards is where a much greater emphasis on making unique and interesting artwork can be seen.

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2) 2011 BW McDonalds Promo Starters

These cards look significantly worse than their Japanese counterparts (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Admittedly a very obscure choice for this list, the Starter Pokemon from the first McDonalds set of promotional cards have become valuable collector's items, despite their lackluster designs. The Western version of these cards features basic clip art of the three starters of the Unova region sitting in a holographic void of their associated color.

The Japanese prints of these cards is much more interesting, as each of the three starters can be seen standing outside of the region's respective Pokemon Lab. This is even more odd considering that other holographic cards present the pictured monsters in actual environments, but the starters are restricted to a limbo of bland, colored foil.

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3) Gold secret rares

Gold secret rares featured artwork where the creature was barely visible at all (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Another thankfully shelved artstyle used for secret-rare cards is the gold color scheme that made the creatures these cards were meant to depict practically invisible. While the original Reshiram and Zekrom cards were very unique and still go for quite a high price today, this style got old very quickly among collectors.

While gold cards are still somewhat used to this day for certain items or Pokemon, they include the creature in its natural colors, with the gold simply being the focus of the background rather than the primary color used for the whole card, including the monster's design.

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4) Every BREAK card

BREAK cards were thankfully short-lived in the Pokemon TCG (Image via The Pokemon Company)

BREAK was a gimmick introduced in the sixth generation of the franchise and was only present for a couple of expansions before thankfully being cased aside. These cards were horizontal, something briefly touched upon with the Legends series of cards released around the time of the Heartgold and Soulsilver games.

These cards featured the pictured monster completely gold, which drained the creature designs of their unique colors. This made the cards relatively bland to look at, relying solely on tacky and psychedelic backgrounds to carry their visual appeal.

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5) Pokemon Prime

Pokemon Prime is still a format seen in the modern age of the Pokemon TCG (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Pokemon Prime cards are typically holographic and feature the pictured monster from a fish-eye-lens angle. While this would make for an excellent in-universe meme of trainers capturing their beloved partners at obscure angles as we do with our pets, it does not translate as well in collectible trading cards.

With these monsters attempting to be imposing in most of the cards using this style, Pokemon Prime cards end up looking incredibly goofy. While most of these cards came out in the fourth generation of the franchise, a Pokemon Prime card featuring Dragapult was included as a part of a promotional collection for Sword and Shield.