Overnumbered Cards in TCG

A few implemented elements in the TCG are the same, even when the implementations are different as in the case of the TCGP game compared to the TCGL as well as the physical version that becomes the basis for the virtual version. One of those elements is the numbering of cards in an expansion, as well as the related element of "overnumbering". It's a bit of a strange term for a strange element, and it's one that can stand to be explained for its understanding. 

First off, all cards in an expansion, including ones shared across sub-expansions as in the TCGP implementation, are numbered on the lower left corner from 1 to however many there are for the "common" cards. These would correspond to the Diamond rarity cards in TCGP and different rarities in the physical and TCGL implementation (these also needing a separate explanation). They're also arranged roughly in thematic order from Pokémon cards by type to Trainer cards. Beyond these cards, that's where "overnumbering" occurs.

The situation occurs because these cards are considered especially rare and unique, yet not necessary to have and can stand in for the lower-numbered variety. In fact, they're cards of higher rarities in the various TCG implementations and often of the "full art" variety, which as players know are hard to find even with their heuristics to find such cards. In any case, the card numbers continue to increment beyond the number for "common" cards, and that's why they're called "overnumbered", being in excess of "common" ones.

Physical players will likely have few barriers to exchanging (read: buying and selling) these cards, but electronic players don't have it so easy. Recently, TCGL announced a time restriction on the trading of these cards to six months after an expansion release, which becomes an incentive for players to keep the cards. Meanwhile, in TCGP, most of the cards have rarities of two Stars or higher and thus cannot be traded (yet), while the one Star cards can be traded, but at a cost to players. So, the "overnumbering" is also in a way a proxy for rarity.

"Overnumbering" cards in the Pokémon TCG - for whichever form one opts to play at present - might seem like a small thing, and it is in a way. Yet it's also a form of indexing that keeps tabs not only for the cards that players expect in an expansion but also the ones that take it beyond the "common" realm. Given the commonality of implementation across forms, understanding it might just help to make it seem less of a strange thing and more of a useful thing.

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