The three packs meant DeNa delayed the start of the upcoming ranked season, which is coming soon but will be short-lived because of the next expansions release
However, Flash has since been banned in every constructed format apart from Vintage, where it is restricted instead
As much fun as it sounds to flood everyone with cards and watch them drop armies of horrifying everything 5 turns into the game with the goal to hopefully steal some (note: it never works), we needed something a little bit more competative
Several factors influence Diamond & Pearl card values: card condition (mint cards worth 3-5x more), rarity (holographic and rare cards command higher prices), first edition status, PSA/BGS grading scores, and market demand for specific Pokemon
Decks that want to play counters are almost always control decks, and control decks would much prefer to gain life rather than cause opponents to lose life, so all things being equal they would have preferred to play with Absorb but there were other considerations that forced most of them down the black road instead
