Expansion packs ranked based on how fun I think they are
Disclaimer: I started playing this game around Celestial Guardians, so I don't have full context on the metas before that. For these packs, I considered them in the context of the current format, so that might not do justice to how weak/strong they were on release.
also this list is not ordered
S Tier-
Genetic Apex - Um... no shit? Also Mewtwo is my favorite pokemon of all time
Celestial Guardians - These packs are actually legendary. Don't get me wrong, Lunala sucks (unfortunately) and fighting against Incineroar or Solgaleo was actually hell on earth, but these packs easily have the most enduring, timeless cards ever released in this game. You can thank celestial guardians for rare candy, poison barb, leaf cape, illima, guzma, oricorio---all cards that have transcended being "meta." These cards are mandatory on certain decks, even a full year after this pack released. Easy S tier.
Eevee grove - is peak. The eeveelutions are already such popular pokemon, there was basically no way to fumble this pack. They added eevee ex in this pack which allowed you to run 4 eeveelutions in one team, and I'm pretty sure this is the only pokemon able to do that to this day. Now, did it suck to get 2x eevee bag flareon nuked? sure, but there were also some gems in this pack. Before Suicune and copycat, Sylveon was the best draw engine in the game. It was like the OG indeedee, where people would just slap sylveon on their deck if there was room and it would produce value just by existing. Eevee bag was like a balanced (in retrospect) version of He Who Shall Not Be Named, and honestly I just love this pack. Even pokemon who weren't eeveelutions were pretty good, like alcremie and dragonite. S tier pack
Fantastical Parade - is even more peak. If I'm being objective, this pack probably belongs in B tier. This pack introduced He Who Shall Not Be Named and had multiple EX's that were dead on arrival (mega swampert, toxtricity, gigalith)) and Gardevoir isn't even the best card in it's own set, but I'm biased and its my tier list so its going in S-tier. Like I said before, Mewtwo is my favorite pokemon, but I hadn't downloaded the game during genetic apex, so I never got to play my goat. Not to mention, right when I started playing, most Meta Mewtwo strats were getting hard countered. Dark type meta -> suicune -> hydreigon + absol. Psychic type in general is a pretty neglected type, but ts genuinely made mewtwo unplayable. But then gardevoir dropped, and finally gave me the guiding light i needed. I ended up getting my boy to masterball for the first time, so this pack will always be s tier for me. Plus Gardevoir immersive is one of the prettiest in the game.
Mega Rising - Do I even need to say anything? This was the most hyped up pack I've ever seen, and it delivered. It's been so long since this pack dropped, but the playrates for some of these pokemon hasn't even wavered. Altaria, indeedee, ching ling (shudder), jolteon, blaziken, hell dragon---yeah this pack was nuts. and there were some pretty fire trainer additions that are still relevant, like flame patch (which is currently the glue keeping Charizard semi usable), Lisia, May (pokemon communication found dead in a ditch), and heavy helmet.
AND COPYCAT???? copycat alone puts this pack at S-tier, this card is another forever-meta card like rare candy.
B tier-
Extradimensional crisis - Stop. Firstly, they could not have picked a more peak, auraful name for this pack. This pack had a lot of incredible cards at the time it released, but these cards were deadass hell on earth to play against. Back when this pack came out, you couldn't just heal 120 damage in one turn like you can now. You could Lillie and 2x potion, but if you didn't have those cards, you would just have to eat that to the face. Guzzlord strats made me want to tear my hair out, and buzzwole is an actual terrorist. There's probably classified documents that reveal that Buzzwole and Silvally are responsible for 9/11. I still tell horror stories about bro to this day. Now there are some cool cards on here that are good additions to the game. Zeraora and Tapu koko never hurt anybody, and electrical cord is a pretty decent card. But yeah nihilego alone caps this pack at b-tier. tf you mean you're TRIPLING your poison chip just by existing?
Spacetime Smackdown - Now like I said before, I never played when this pack came out, but this pack does have a lot of cards that are still relevant to this day. The problem is... those cards are all toxic. Rocky helmet, rampardos, cyrus, mars, weavile, and FUCKING DARKRAI. Rampardos and weavile have fallen off now, but not before making my life a living hell like the others. Now there are definitely some fun cards in this deck which save it from d tier. I actually use Levitate giratina more than broken-space bellow giratina and fighting coach lucario is a pretty good support card that's seeing a little bit of a resurgence. But overall I can't in good faith put these packs higher than b.
Shining Revelry - This pack had a lot of really strong cards, but also a lot of really mid cards. Like clodsire is the most harmless EX I've ever seen, and I've never lost to a deck with lucario ex in it. but this pack also introduced some really decent, timeless cards like PCL and red. Now those cards alone should put shining revelry at S-tier, but MurderEveryoneYouHoldDearatina released in this pack, starting one of the most toxic, brainless meta's I've ever witnessed. Fighting Giratina + Darkrai was the most boring, irritating slog and the fact that I'm complaining about it when I didn't even play when it dropped is just a testament to how toxic it was. And then right when it fell out of the meta Secluded Springs dropped and summoned giratina out of the Distorted World. If buzzwole and silvally are 9/11, giratina is unit 731.
Triumphant Light - This is honestly the hardest sounding name out of all of the packs. And Arceus is a pretty timeless card since it keeps popping up here and there anytime status effects creep into the meta. Lots of cards have direct synergy with Arceus which I think is pretty cool. I didn't play during the height of this pack, but garchomp was a pretty evil card when i first started playing and so was crobat. Also this pack has irida, and thats a pretty decent card.
Crimson Blaze - yeah this pack was honestly just mid icl. Charizard y wasn't even the strongest pokemon in its own set despite having the most damaging move in the whole game. venusaur and steelix basically stole the spotlight, and the other megas were dead on arrival. Fighting type had very little support, so lopunny basically flopped despite the pervs' best efforts, and I found Blastoise overdosed in an alley in las vegas. Charizard's immersive is fire though.
C Tier -
Deluxe pack - This was a really good pack when it released. It didn't have new pokemon, but it was a great way to complete your decks if you were missing an EX or something. The 2 star art and immersives in this pack were also honestly incredible. So why is it in C tier?
Oak. Full art Professor Oak has single-handedly crashed the pokemon card market. Like no bro i'm not going to trade you oak for budding expeditioner, are you out of your mind? trying to get any other 2 star cards is basically impossible if you don't have oak or maybe cyrus.
Paldean Wonders - This set is mid and all the good cards that came out of it are toxic imo. Like Meowscrada EX is so bad that people completely ignore it and just run regular meowscrada instead, and none of the other paldean starters got EXs. Armarouge has an incredible full art, but it released in the wrong era. If this card was around during Celestial Guardians, it would've been overpowered, but nowadays its just mid, niche at best. Gholdengo is a shadow of his vgc self. And then theres fucking Oh Lawd He Comin and chien pao. Chien Pao brought suicune back from the dead and bellibolt was just so irritating to play against, especially because it was one of two good strategies from this pack.
Doo Doo Tier -
Mega Shine - Okay, this pack isn't that bad,.Mega Scizor was one energy away from being the best card in the game, but its still pretty decent even now. Slowbro was kind of funny but ultimately never that good tbh. Manectric is also a really strong card from this deck. But Gengar is one of the worst megas in the game next to latios and ampharos, and this is HIS PACK. Like they tried to make a venusaur 2.0 but they didn't give Haunter anything to make it tanky or generate energy like ivysaur so it kind of flopped. I think the main blunder was making gengar a dark type instead of keeping it a psychic type. If it was psychic type then it could have slightly better energy management, but honestly i think this card was just doomed to fail, which is a major shame considering how popular gengar is.
And then there's fucking igglybuff and darkrai. Darkrai by itself makes this deck D tier, enough said.
Mythical Island - Now I didn't play during this set, but all of my friends did and they told me horror stories of celebi back in the day. Considering I was getting rinsed by celebi during celestial guardians...yeah. Also, I'm mad that Mew is terrible now. I want that card to be good so bad, but Mew is just so squishy and 99% of pokemon can 1. tank their own attacks and/or 2. have such specific conditions on their attack that genome hacking is basically useless. Leaf is cool though.
Wisdom of the Sea and Sky - honestly, this pack is going down here simply because 95% of the cards from this deck was either useless or toxic. The baby pokemon were an excellent addition to the game, and some cards were pretty decent like Lyra and Elemental switch. But at the same time this pack had fucking SILVER in it. like my opponent is genuinely like "I'm going to use my supporter to not to improve my position but to sabotage yours" like screw you dude. Ho-Oh and Lugia were basically dead on arrival too. People kept trying to make it work, but that strat was actually terrible. Ho-Oh wasn't that bulky and could get OHKO or 2HKO before it set up. Like you needed to set up you pokemon so it could setup another pokemon, and the games were really fast paced back then so if your opponent was probably already attacking by turn 2 or 3.
Also, CROBAT dropped during this pack and people immediately started pairing it with darkrai and nihilego and that strat was actually hell on earth cuz they would also put dark pendant on and just prevent you from winning the game.
Also, also, SKARMORY dropped during this pack which was like steelix before steelix. Like that fuckass bird had 140 health but would tank 300 damage how does that make sense.
Secluded Springs - Sui. Cune. Suicune. Suicune. Suicune. Listen man, suicune might be the xerneas of this game. I've never seen the addition of a singular thing completely change the whole nature of a game like this. Suicune + giratina + greninja will forever be seared into my retinas. this card that literally punishes the opponent for playing the game, everything about this game revolved around how to play and how to play against suicune. You couldn't play anything other than countermeta if you wanted to have fun during this pack. ts was actually horrible. And the worst part is that the deluxe pack released after this instead of an expansion pack so we were actually stuck in suicune hell meta for two whole ass months. This shit was like brawl metaknight. This shit was like GOATS in overwatch. Worst expansion ever.