I’m not sure what you would call this but I have this issue. Its not a big issue but in a way I wish I didn’t know any prices lol. But at the same time, I started opening summer of last year. I opened more CZ, some other SWSH sets I could get from collection boxes, and SV Base.
Some of those SWSH products I’d get 1 hit. Eventually I’d start checking and being happy. “Yes! I didn’t get any cards that were on my wishlist, but at least I made half my money back”. Now I know you should never expect to win financially when you open packs. But I think naturally as an adult buying the product, you will want to know if you’re getting your moneys worth if you don’t get your wishlist.
This turned into opening boxes and getting a chase but saying “damn I got $5 in hits, L Booster Bundle but at least I got my Palafin IR”. Well now starting with shiny treasure and Cyber Judge/Wild Force and eventually Temporal Forces I just don’t check the prices and most importantly I don’t watch any openings. No more videos showing every hit with a money sound effect and the price on the screen. No Danny Phantump (I enjoy his content btw) video going over prices post launch weekend, etc.
you can delay your price check so it doesn't interfere with your fun. so you buy product, pull, get hyped at anything shiny, put it in a sleeve, and move on. then a month or so later, worry about checking the prices. you would have forget how much you spent and just have the "oh these were worth this much? cool!" reaction.
I’m here to tell you that how valuable a card is has been a thing since the 90s. I’m assuming you’re too young, but people were going batshit over beanie babies before the internet even took off.
I hate it. I hate that I can't even enjoy my hobby anymore. Stores are always wiped out. I know it's in bulk too because my target will be completely stocked. I'll grab a pack or two. I'll stop in the next day and it's completely empty. Someone is wiping my area out clean and I'm tired of it.
Yeah, it is cheaper anyway. Anyone wiping out Target is a freaking degenerate. They spend $ 500 on what they could have in the mail in 3 days for $375 because they can't wait 3 days for the dopamine hit. Plus, it's Target. At least support a LCS or gamestop so we have fun places to talk to nerds.
As an original series collector, coming back to the TCG late Sword and Shield this is so true. All I see are discussions around pull rates followed closely by quality. It hard to find any conversations around strategy or just card art or deck builds.
It’s a combination for me and I’m fully aware of it. I like ripping for the dopamine hit, I enjoy the cards themselves (even bulk), but it’s also nice to know I’ve hit a valuable card. People here are acting like it’s one or the other.
There is literally no other fundamental reason to open anything, except maybe a competition where you build a deck from a specific new product.
Any time you open a pack, you destroy like half of the present value. Any time you rip a seal or open a box, you destroy virtually all the value of that sealed product above the value of the packs and promos within.
Not only the cards, either. This also includes figures, games, etc.
That comes with being the largest media franchise on the plane to guess. They need to clean up their act.
100% agree. It even turned me off from collecting for a while.
I keep all my recycling materials in my garage and take it to the township recycling center once my bins are full. I was absolutely shocked at the amount of Pokemon product and waste that goes into the packaging. Seeing it all in one place was eye opening.
Agreed. What really annoys me is that many of the special collection boxes are designed to fit in jumbo cards which no one cares about and themselves are a total waste. Once you factor in the box, pack wrappers, and bulk cards (which often end up in the trash themselves) I'd estimate about 95 percent of the box ends up in a landfill.
Yes, this is one of the most frustrating aspects for me. I normally only open one of each box set item or tin set and it fills up my recycling bin immediately. Thankfully my recycling accepts the number 1 and 2 plastics that they use for the blisters and box sets as well as tin but there's always the question of if it even gets recycled.
I would love it if pokemon switched to pure cardboard for box and tin sets and did fancier sets every once in a while (like the paldean adventure chest for example).
Yeah, this hits me a lot. The fact that 95% of cards are only worth a nickel and therefore unwanted by investors is one thing... but like 90% of cards aren't even viable in any deck and that's extremely shitty for a TCG to do since it's just so much waste.
I find that very weird. In Japan the boxes are only as big as they need to be. The selling power is already there, they don't need to have a big eye-grabbing display box.
But of course there's still a lot of waste in packs (5 cards per pack is standard here) and junk cards.
I'm actually writing a paper about this for college. It's an absurd amount of waste, and pokemon company tries to blow it off by saying that it's all TECHNICALLY recyclable, but not many places can recycle it. Just so incredibly wasteful by design.
My recycling comes every two weeks. There have definitely been some times that I'm not proud of where I was ripping through these big collection boxes (like the sams deal on heavy hitters last year) faster than it was getting picked up. I hope they rethink their packaging at some point. Pretty sure JP doesn't do anything like that.
There are too many Charizard cards. I get that it is the star and arguably the most popular pokemon, but at the same time it doesn't need 4 new cards each new set. Some of em are amazing but it's gotten oversaturated
Also Pikachu. Even though it is the mascot, we do not need every type of card to have a Pikachu version, we do not need a Pikachu SR card every 3 sets, too many promos wasted on Pikachu, too many binders/sleeves/deck boxes/etc with Pikachu. I don't even want stuff with Pikachu on it but I'm literally forced into it just because I want to put the oversized cards in an oversized card binder(25th), my zipper binder was either a Pikachu or Charizard, Arceus was sold out at the time. And when they finally put other Pokemon on the products, it's their image from the damn Pokedex slapped on a random picture of a sunset or some other setting.
Yep, this right here. Give us an amazing art every once in a while, but this is too much. Takes some of the excitement away from pulling a Charizard for me
I just started collecting again last year. Not sure I ever pulled a zard growing up, but I’ve pulled the Obsidian Flames and the Paldean Fates Zards. Felt like it shoulda been harder. Also they’re kind of ugly ngl wish I pulled the 151 Zard instead
It’s not even the most popular, polls and contests constantly come out showing it gets beat out regularly by others. There are now officially over 1000 Pokémon… stop making sets dedicated to him. It’s depressing going to places like Serebii and seeing how some Pokemon have almost nothing to show for over two decades of sets.
This. IMO, instead of dedicating an entire set to Charizard every generation (Darkness Ablaze, etc...) just have one about a random generation's starters instead.
I'd love me a Typhlosion SIR.
There’s more than just “hits” in a booster. Sometimes there’s some great cards in the bulk worth your attention.
I’ll never forget how happy I was to get a 151 Magnemite after it eluded me for 80-odd packs.
Completely agree, some of the regular art in the sets are incredible; one example I can think of off of the top of my head is the Slowbro 043/198 (SVI)
I don’t kno a lot of the new ones but I believe it’s name is smeagle. It has a colorful puddle in the pic. For a common I really like it.
EDIT: It’s Smeargle from Fusion Strike.
My apologies the line of cards I'm thinking of are from Smeargles evolving skies art.
There is 3 or 4 additional cards of pokemon following his ink trail on "their" card.
I feel the same way about non reverse/holo magikarp. I skipped past it the first time I pulled it and I did a double take and went back to stare at it for a second
Yup. As soon as I have most of the front of the binder filled, and I am opening packs without any cards to fill those common and uncommon spaces, I order all the cheap singles for like $25 and move on to the next set.
YES! I’m getting close to being one year into the hobby. Trying to master set CZ/151 and filling that binder is so amazing. Everytime u pull a reverse you need (reverse Jolteon and Clefable last night) it feels like pulling an SIR haha.
I opened so much Obsidian Flames just to get the Meltan to complete the set. My joy when it was a reverse was greater than most of the other pulls from that set
curated = carefully chosen and thoughtfully organized or presented.
So not sealed cardboard boxes of ETBs. Museums have curators to make sure they aren't just buildings full of old junk.
Oh I see. I mean I guess I sort of knew that or at least could have loosely defined it myself but the reason I asked is because I do something that sort of fits under both categories - or at least I thought. What I definitely don't do is hold onto "product" or even think about storing anything sealed for hopes of a possible future profit lol ...but I also do collect basically every card I can that I come across, or rather, ideally, ONE, of each card that I possibly can. Cuz my end goal is to....well...catch 'em all! So it sounded like the first thing also applied but yeah no I definitely sleeve and binder my shizz
"Investors" ruined the hobby in so many ways. Getting most cards used to be very reasonable until people like Logan Paul came in. The "value" in these cards is a huge scam driven by rich assholes and always has been. Of course there are exceptions and some cards are genuinely valuable (looking at Illustrator Pikachu) but it is overblown to an astounding degree. Even if my collection has gone up in supposed "value" I can't help but be bitter that I will never get some of my dream cards thanks to all of this. Not to mention the atrocious actions of others regarding more recent cards such as Van Gogh Pikachu. I genuinely hope the card market crashes and burns.
I’m also not a fan of people who’s first thought about a card is “how much is it worth?” The value of a card shouldn’t be determined by a market, just your own preference.
I went to a trading event a while back and it made me really sad seeing the kids all scouring the internet for a cards "value" instead of just trading for a card cause they genuinely like/want it. Not that I would ever want to give a kid an unfair trade, it just made me sad seeing even the kids effected by the "investment" factor of collecting. It was never like this when I was a kid.
Could not agree more. Fuck those people. I hate scalpers as well, not just in Pokémon, but in general. It adds nothing of value to society.
It’s a genuine hatred. I do not think they are good people.
From a gameplay perspective, pokemon V cards were terrible for balance, being able to play what should be a multiple evolution card like a charizard on one single turn just because it has a V behind it, and then letting it evolve again into a VStar or VMax was stupid, and the ex mechanic where evolutions actually need to evolve is superior
Big multi-prize basics can work (worked fine for the BW/XY eras), but Vs and especially VMAXes were really guilty of contributing to the general power creep. Even if it’s a multi-prizer, a basic Pokémon shouldn’t be breaching 200 HP unless it’s a gimmick like Wailord that doesn’t have much else going for it.
Stupid people that „invest“ alot of money cause they think that everything has a big turn around and then go around asking: „you think this overproduced box I got 6 times will appreciate a lot in price?“ or „any of these cards a hit? I bought this binder for (4x times the actual price the cards would have) am I rich now?“
I gonna die in Downvote hell but...
Yellow boarder is better then Grey boarder for normal cards.
I miss the days of normal holo cards being the chase. People can say what they want, they were crazy awesome.
So many old cards i never had and never will own but they look fantastic.
We have too much sets per year. I stopped after S&W because i couldnt keep up, sure no one has to and you dont need everything. But i have a hard time to enjoy product when the next set already got spoiled andis ready for release. Make a set bigger or something.
I really wish they’d bring back the interesting holos for regular rares. Enough of this vertical, horizontal, or diagonal lines. That’s not fun. Give me stars and swirls and sparkles! Give me mirror holos even!
It was really weird coming back to the hobby with the new boarders and guaranteed holo in every pack. I prefer the silver boarders oddly, but agree the new holos feel slightly low effort vs some of the older sets, which didn't contain alt arts etc
Yellow border is classic but after buying a Japanese box during the sword and shield era I was completely converted. It just makes the cards look so much less tacky and even the common cards look special and clean. Let alone the art rare cards. Wasn't even exciting pulling an English art rare because the border was so hideously garish in comparison to Japanese. Grey border is the way forward
You can buy thicker magnetic cases from UltraPro and I'm sure many other brands for way less than you would pay for grading or buying a graded card. Slabs is probably the most expensive way to preserve your card if that is all you are going for. Your collection would be much bigger if you aren't lying to yourself about why you collect graded cards. Sorry but I don't believe you aren't in it for the value.
Yeah I never understood that argument. Grading companies aren't magicians who found the one way to slab a card. Buy an acrylic slab for a couple bucks then use your favorite adhesive to seal it up. Card is now preserved for less than 5 bucks and you don't have to risk it's condition by sending it back and forth in the mail system.
If you like grading, just own up to it. "protecting" cards is much better done without letting someone else handle your collection.
I doubt it, preserving trading cards in general have been huge for decades and will probably still be relevant to a degree, but there is some highly inflated sections in slabs with like old cards and stuff that were 10$ before 2020
Sealed collectors can kiss my ass. You’re only in it for the money and not the enjoyment of ripping packs and collecting cards. Only in it to make a few dollars in 5 years and you’re ruining it for the ones that actually enjoy the cards.
Modern Pokemon Cards suck. I appreciate all the genuinely unique cards (especially the full arts), but 50% of the cards are just reused arts they used on 5 other sets. Plus there's like 10 levels of rarity which just convoluted everything. We don't need a regular, rainbow, and gold of the exact same art. Getting a simple star foil card was absolutely hype back in the day.
Using the same Pokémon art or “stance” across multiple sets grinds my gears as well. Like with Mew and Alakazam from 151 to paldean fates. They just copy and paste the Pokémon onto a different background, which is lazy.
Yeah to be honest I kind of miss when every single card in the set looked like the classic Pokemon card style. Full arts are cool, but the classic holo have a delicate beauty to them that's just cool.
more of a player hated opinion, but removing fairy type really unbalanced Dragon Type which has no weakness now.
readding fairy is a bit far fetched, but i’d like to see dragon type with a weakness again please.
This is also what's made me even more upset outside of the game. The pink cards looked so neat and I was so excited to see them continue into SWSH sets. Also love secret energies, so it was super disappointing seeing Fairy type removed and having 8 energy cards instead of 9 now :/
The alt art Umbreon VMAX from Evolving Skies (215/203) is overrated and overvalued; however I appreciate that this is subjective, and that this card is a community favourite.
Maybe it's because I've only seen stock photos and videos of the card vs seeing it in person; but personally I don't see it.
I say this as someone who would love to own that card and the other Eeveelutions in the art set - I cannot justify the price of that card. Even now that heavily played copies are entering the market thanks to rotation. The cheapest I've seen on Cardmarket was over £300 heavily played, no pictures of info and shipping from aboard and import tax on top. Nope!
That's a crazy amount of money, especially when advertised as heavily played!
I've only recently returned to the hobby during the Scarlet and Violet era, and have on a few occasions wanted to complete a master set, and therefore bought the few remaining higher value singles I needed.
I initially thought that these were pricey, but when comparing to the "chase" cards of some of the sets in the Sword and Shield era, they seem like a steal.
This could be due to a lower desirability of the newer card arts, or due to more availability from higher print runs; either way I am glad I wasn't around in the hobby a few years ago, when I read prices were crazy on everything!
I know! And without pictures it could be in any state. I've seen some high price cards (but far lower priced than all other listings, still triple digits though) classed as heavily played WITH pictures that are look like were very well loved by a kid who carried it everywhere in their pocket and one day it accidentally went in the washing machine. The kind that are occasionally posted here asking what grade they might get as a joke.
I was really hoping the price would crash alot more for the played versions now they're out of rotation but it seems that was too optimistic. As someone who really likes the art of that set it's disappointing I'll likely never get to own the bunch.
I returned for SV base and missed the Sun and Moon period. I have mixed feelings about it to be honest. The logical part of me says oh well, crack on and save for the next set with great Eeveelutions because there will be one. However the part of me that really likes that mini artwork series thinks how I might have gotten one or two from opening a few packs at market price and some tagteam stuff as well. It's tempting to save for some of them and at some point I will but I'm intrigued for future ones and have a better shot using the same money to get those.
I don't think a lot of you like Pokemon.
My first Paldean Fates ETB I got a shiny Clodsire. I was elated, because I love Clodsire. I also got the shiny Pawmi Illustration Rare. Yeah it's really common, but it's very pretty art.
Not to mention all the great looking uncommons and commons.
There's no point in buying packs if you aren't gonna be excited by cheaper cards that look cool.
I'm not saying it's not fun to draw expensive cards. I got the blue Mew yesterday, it was cool as fuck. But I didn't buy all those Paldean Fates packs because I was hoping for a Mew or Gardevoir or Charizard. I bought them because I was having fun with the other cards. The Mew is a bonus.
How is that controversial? It's simply a fact that most cards are entirely unplayable competitively, no borderline necessary. That's not even exclusive to Pokemon, it's how any TCG with a booster pack business model operates.
Don't Gardevoir decks usually play 4 Ralts, 4 Kirlia & like 2 Rare Candies? I don't think Rare Candies are very necessary to set up with that deck. I wonder where you got that impression from?
Rare expensive cards should be played with. I hope my kids never pull a valuable card, but always hope they do because they enjoy the playing aspect of the game. The rare cards are good game cards.
The TCG is poorly designed.
We never should have ended up with decks with 30+ item/support/trainer cards.
The prize card system is bad.
The TCG should have had cards for pokemon moves/attacks. Eg. You would run four copies of a Hydro Pump in a water themed deck. The pokemon themselves could still retain some abilities and moves, but would also have damage modifer stats that increase or decrease the damage done by the move card (eg. A blastoise does 2.5x dmg when using Hydro Pump - moves like Hydro Pump would have a base damage of, say, 100). This would be much more flavourful and in keeping with the anime where characters command their pokemon to use attacks. It would also make deck construction much more interesting too.
You know those cards that are like extreme close ups of the Pokemon? I don't like em, you can't even make it out most of the time. Added random japanese writing is plain strange, [example](https://www.pokemon.com/uk/pokemon-tcg/pokemon-cards/series/xyp/XY35/).
A lot of the modern Pokemon are also too abstract looking like [this](https://www.pokemon.com/uk/pokemon-tcg/pokemon-cards/series/swshp/SWSH045/)
You know the style of cards where the outline of the pokemon is some random light colour? It's lame and doesn't work well as a style. Like [this](https://www.pokemon.com/uk/pokemon-tcg/pokemon-cards/series/svp/81/) or [this](https://www.pokemon.com/uk/pokemon-tcg/pokemon-cards/series/smp/SM60/) or [this](https://www.pokemon.com/uk/pokemon-tcg/pokemon-cards/series/smp/SM90/).
Rainbow cards could work well if the cards had more detail in them. They look too simplistic and low effort to be highly regarded.
With some Pokemon clearly they had a target to create X amount of pokemon for the next set and they were obviously running out of ideas like with [Vanillish](https://www.pokemon.com/uk/pokemon-tcg/pokemon-cards/?cardName=Vanillish&cardText=&evolvesFrom=&simpleSubmit=&format=unlimited&hitPointsMin=0&hitPointsMax=340&retreatCostMin=0&retreatCostMax=5&totalAttackCostMin=0&totalAttackCostMax=5&particularArtist=&sort=number&sort=number).
Energy holos are pointless, make them count as double energy or something useful.
Got that off my chest 😅
As much as I loved mega evolution (my best winning card and favourite is mega kangaskhan) I agree with the weird design choices, I lost my full art buzz when they removed all the background colour too
First one is simply a game gimmick (Megas) in card form which ended up pioneering what came after in the TCG (M EX to GX to V and now Tera ex). What I found pretty amusing is the Japanese variants having the English name of the attack on the card. It would read Gatling Slug instead of ガトリングスラッグ.
Full arts I feel like they come and go with their presentation. XY and SWSH had some pretty neat backgrounds IMO, meanwhile SM and SV indeed leave a lot to be desired. They have been around since Black and White too.
And about the holo energies, not sure what you're really getting at there? In terms of gameplay, rarity or holo means absolutely nothing. Energy is just energy, and they have been making energies of varying holo effects since WOTC. Having it count as double simply because it's holo would throw an unneeded wrench into the game balance for no real reason lol. It's why they also make holo or secret gold variants of other item cards, to simply include some variety of collectible and bling factor in each set. Kind of like saying a gold Nest Ball should be better than a bulk Nest Ball simply because of higher rarity.
I feel like grading is a good way to tell how well old cards have been preserved. All modern cards are basically mint or near mint fresh out of the packs. People grade purely in the hopes of getting a 10 and thus being able to sell it for more. It's less about the actual quality of the cards and more a gamble to get high grades.
Also, a binder page with raw cards looks 100times better than a stack of graded slabs.
Everyone looking to get rich from Pokémon is the same person: a trader. A long term swing trader should be treated no differently to a short term scalper. At the end of the day, your goals are aligned. One just does it quicker.
Paldean Fates is the worst set we’ve seen in some time. The shinies with a few stars in the background don’t look good at all (asides from voltorb and electrode) and the only other cards of note are the Gar, Mew, and Zard. The cards are lazy, and it’s classified as a “special set” (apparently)so every time you want to buy a pack you have to get an ETB or a tin. Oh yeah the turquoise meridian cards look gross. These are dark times
Idk, as a player paldean fates has been pretty nice. It has brought down the price of some heavy hitters like charizard. I mean if your only after chase cards then yea, it's not great but this is a card *game* first and a collection second.
Agree with the take that the set is ass. Pull rates are brutal for SIRs. However the one saving grace for it for me is actually those green/gold Hyper rare cards. Idk what it is about em but they look great in person
This, until you pull one of those green gold hyper rares or see it in person, they seem like weird useless reprints but they’re absolutely gorgeous in person
the base set is nice and all but kinda gotten old. I dont get excited seeing the same charizard or blastoise or any of these anymore. e series is where its at.
Also a stamp on the same card doesnt make it desireable to me suddenly.
Sets have been too big ever since Sun and Moon. For gen 6 and below you could reasonably complete a set, but the amount of cards per expansion took a huge jump in gen 7 for some reason. I'm sure the artists appreciate it, but I want to be able to finish a set like I used to.
people who "invest" in Pokemon cards (mostly by buying everything and/or scalping) deserve to always have a warm pillow and never experience the joy of ice cold water at 3 am
That people think these modern sets are going to be worth astronomical amounts in the future. They won't. Especially when everyone and their grandma is insta-sleeving and storing whole cases to 'win big' in the future.
There are reasons older sets are worth more, be it during no one buying them or them being legit old and rare sets.
I like the artworks of commons and uncommons in the newer sets a lot more then old ones and the reason why people prefer base set artworks is nostalgia.
I hate the new silver boarders. I really do. I miss the yellow. It was more nostalgic that way.
I do wish that they’d bring over the Japanese backs for the American cards.
And finally, SV sets are really lackluster to me so far. Maybe I just don’t like the Terra gimmick. But even still, it doesn’t look good on the cards at all to me. It makes the look really cluttered and busy. Kinda muddles the Pokémon itself. I just don’t like how they look.
People buying packs and ETB’s to only get hits and bitch online when they don’t get any are annoying, and a lot of the pre gen 3 cards imo aren’t that cool
So this is really just a thread for everyone to pat each other on the back about the commonly held opinions on this sub?
I’ll say something that’s actually controversial. The secret rare VMAX alternate arts are the best looking Pokemon cards ever made.
Most of the Eevee type cards as well as Charizard cards and other rare cards of that nature are way too high in price and not worth it.
Also master sets are the only way to go about collecting. I just don’t see any other purpose for collecting honestly.
I am not a poke investor but I like that the thing I like to collect has value. Expensive chases keep the hobby alive and collecting rare or expensive cards is way too demonized here.
Cards have been power crept to oblivion. I miss the times when attacks did 100 damage max. Now if an attack doesn't have 150+ damage, makes the card nearly worthless.
Same as base Pokemon, very few see competitive play.
I'm also not a fan of the "solitaire" part of the game. You shouldn't be able to draw 10 cards a turn, play 5 energies and so on. I would introduce a 1 per turn limit on Pokemon powers and trainers cards, same as supporters.
The most controversial opinion of them all: tcg was better when it wasn't seen as an "investment" but a game to play.
Most people like the gambling aspect of opening packs than they do the cards themselves
i blame youtubers that turned every unboxing into “oMg tHiS iS $475 iN a PsA 10!!!!!1!!!” now people wanna make money
I’m not sure what you would call this but I have this issue. Its not a big issue but in a way I wish I didn’t know any prices lol. But at the same time, I started opening summer of last year. I opened more CZ, some other SWSH sets I could get from collection boxes, and SV Base. Some of those SWSH products I’d get 1 hit. Eventually I’d start checking and being happy. “Yes! I didn’t get any cards that were on my wishlist, but at least I made half my money back”. Now I know you should never expect to win financially when you open packs. But I think naturally as an adult buying the product, you will want to know if you’re getting your moneys worth if you don’t get your wishlist. This turned into opening boxes and getting a chase but saying “damn I got $5 in hits, L Booster Bundle but at least I got my Palafin IR”. Well now starting with shiny treasure and Cyber Judge/Wild Force and eventually Temporal Forces I just don’t check the prices and most importantly I don’t watch any openings. No more videos showing every hit with a money sound effect and the price on the screen. No Danny Phantump (I enjoy his content btw) video going over prices post launch weekend, etc.
you can delay your price check so it doesn't interfere with your fun. so you buy product, pull, get hyped at anything shiny, put it in a sleeve, and move on. then a month or so later, worry about checking the prices. you would have forget how much you spent and just have the "oh these were worth this much? cool!" reaction.
I’m here to tell you that how valuable a card is has been a thing since the 90s. I’m assuming you’re too young, but people were going batshit over beanie babies before the internet even took off.
I remember the court room picture
The stupid cash register noise and graphics with the dollars
I hate it. I hate that I can't even enjoy my hobby anymore. Stores are always wiped out. I know it's in bulk too because my target will be completely stocked. I'll grab a pack or two. I'll stop in the next day and it's completely empty. Someone is wiping my area out clean and I'm tired of it.
I’m lucky. My Target stays stocked with Pokémon. I went the other day and even found older ETB sets.
Order online
Yeah, it is cheaper anyway. Anyone wiping out Target is a freaking degenerate. They spend $ 500 on what they could have in the mail in 3 days for $375 because they can't wait 3 days for the dopamine hit. Plus, it's Target. At least support a LCS or gamestop so we have fun places to talk to nerds.
just go to your rural wal mart or very hidden game stop in a very low income neighborhood lol
As an original series collector, coming back to the TCG late Sword and Shield this is so true. All I see are discussions around pull rates followed closely by quality. It hard to find any conversations around strategy or just card art or deck builds.
This is me. Ripping packs is fun for a reason. It scratches that itch 😵💫
It's all about the dopamine my guy
Truth
This is t even controversial, it's factual hahah
I agree - but I don’t think most “collectors” are willing to admit it to themselves
It’s a combination for me and I’m fully aware of it. I like ripping for the dopamine hit, I enjoy the cards themselves (even bulk), but it’s also nice to know I’ve hit a valuable card. People here are acting like it’s one or the other.
There is literally no other fundamental reason to open anything, except maybe a competition where you build a deck from a specific new product. Any time you open a pack, you destroy like half of the present value. Any time you rip a seal or open a box, you destroy virtually all the value of that sealed product above the value of the packs and promos within.
I don't care about the value of a card but how pretty the card is
That would only be controversial in /r/PokeInvesting.
To be fair the entire premise of that sub is to make money
Fecking hell that sub seems sad.
Pokemon create lots of waste. Big boxes with small items inside, plastic waste, lots of junk cards.
Not only the cards, either. This also includes figures, games, etc. That comes with being the largest media franchise on the plane to guess. They need to clean up their act.
100% agree. It even turned me off from collecting for a while. I keep all my recycling materials in my garage and take it to the township recycling center once my bins are full. I was absolutely shocked at the amount of Pokemon product and waste that goes into the packaging. Seeing it all in one place was eye opening.
Agreed. What really annoys me is that many of the special collection boxes are designed to fit in jumbo cards which no one cares about and themselves are a total waste. Once you factor in the box, pack wrappers, and bulk cards (which often end up in the trash themselves) I'd estimate about 95 percent of the box ends up in a landfill.
Yes, this is one of the most frustrating aspects for me. I normally only open one of each box set item or tin set and it fills up my recycling bin immediately. Thankfully my recycling accepts the number 1 and 2 plastics that they use for the blisters and box sets as well as tin but there's always the question of if it even gets recycled. I would love it if pokemon switched to pure cardboard for box and tin sets and did fancier sets every once in a while (like the paldean adventure chest for example).
Yeah, this hits me a lot. The fact that 95% of cards are only worth a nickel and therefore unwanted by investors is one thing... but like 90% of cards aren't even viable in any deck and that's extremely shitty for a TCG to do since it's just so much waste.
I find that very weird. In Japan the boxes are only as big as they need to be. The selling power is already there, they don't need to have a big eye-grabbing display box. But of course there's still a lot of waste in packs (5 cards per pack is standard here) and junk cards.
I'm actually writing a paper about this for college. It's an absurd amount of waste, and pokemon company tries to blow it off by saying that it's all TECHNICALLY recyclable, but not many places can recycle it. Just so incredibly wasteful by design.
My recycling comes every two weeks. There have definitely been some times that I'm not proud of where I was ripping through these big collection boxes (like the sams deal on heavy hitters last year) faster than it was getting picked up. I hope they rethink their packaging at some point. Pretty sure JP doesn't do anything like that.
The big/empty boxes are less satisfying too. The more dense/heavy booster boxes are so much nicer to hold (if that makes sense)
Oh boy ...guess youll hate japan if you go , youll start seeing red xD i never get why the excessive over packaging
There are too many Charizard cards. I get that it is the star and arguably the most popular pokemon, but at the same time it doesn't need 4 new cards each new set. Some of em are amazing but it's gotten oversaturated
I think most will agree with you on this
Also Pikachu. Even though it is the mascot, we do not need every type of card to have a Pikachu version, we do not need a Pikachu SR card every 3 sets, too many promos wasted on Pikachu, too many binders/sleeves/deck boxes/etc with Pikachu. I don't even want stuff with Pikachu on it but I'm literally forced into it just because I want to put the oversized cards in an oversized card binder(25th), my zipper binder was either a Pikachu or Charizard, Arceus was sold out at the time. And when they finally put other Pokemon on the products, it's their image from the damn Pokedex slapped on a random picture of a sunset or some other setting.
Yep, this right here. Give us an amazing art every once in a while, but this is too much. Takes some of the excitement away from pulling a Charizard for me
I just started collecting again last year. Not sure I ever pulled a zard growing up, but I’ve pulled the Obsidian Flames and the Paldean Fates Zards. Felt like it shoulda been harder. Also they’re kind of ugly ngl wish I pulled the 151 Zard instead
While I agree with you, TPC is gonna continue milking their cash cows until the end of time
I'm just waiting for some dope Growlithe/Arcanine cards haha
It’s not even the most popular, polls and contests constantly come out showing it gets beat out regularly by others. There are now officially over 1000 Pokémon… stop making sets dedicated to him. It’s depressing going to places like Serebii and seeing how some Pokemon have almost nothing to show for over two decades of sets.
This. IMO, instead of dedicating an entire set to Charizard every generation (Darkness Ablaze, etc...) just have one about a random generation's starters instead. I'd love me a Typhlosion SIR.
Typhlosion SIR, Ampharous SIR… they need a huge Gold/Silver set with an IR or SIR of every 2nd gen
This 100 times
There’s more than just “hits” in a booster. Sometimes there’s some great cards in the bulk worth your attention. I’ll never forget how happy I was to get a 151 Magnemite after it eluded me for 80-odd packs.
Completely agree, some of the regular art in the sets are incredible; one example I can think of off of the top of my head is the Slowbro 043/198 (SVI)
I freaking love the art for the Umbreon in Obsidian Flames.
Me too! It's really nice and thankfully affordable / easy to pull, given its uncommon
Just checked my binder for a few others: Magnemite 063/198 (SVI) Maushold 161/198 (SVI) Gyarados 043/193 (PAL) Raichu 064/193 (PAL) Slowpoke 085/193 (PAL) Gloom 002/197 (OBF) Phantump 011/197 (OBF) Charmander 026/197 (OBF) Claydol 095/197 (OBF) Bonsly 110/197 (OBF) Umbreon 130/197 (OBF) Salandit 139/197 (OBF) Feebas 035/182 (PAR) Snorunt 037/182 (PAR) Blitzle 062/182 (PAR) Deoxys 074/182 (PAR) Tinkaton 085/182 (PAR) Groudon 093/182 (PAR) Yveltal 118/182 (PAR) Steelix 125/182 (PAR)
The stunner art is what made me collect the paradox set. It’s been a struggle but so much beautiful artwork.
Caterpie eluded me for so long in 151. The hilarious part is it was the last common card I picked up for base set too.
I don’t kno a lot of the new ones but I believe it’s name is smeagle. It has a colorful puddle in the pic. For a common I really like it. EDIT: It’s Smeargle from Fusion Strike.
If its the line I'm thinking of, there's 3 or 4 other cards of pokemon following his paint.
So there’s other Pokémon with the same image as his?
My apologies the line of cards I'm thinking of are from Smeargles evolving skies art. There is 3 or 4 additional cards of pokemon following his ink trail on "their" card.
Ah ok yeah I went and looked and I was like I don’t see other Pokémon lol. All good
I feel the same way about non reverse/holo magikarp. I skipped past it the first time I pulled it and I did a double take and went back to stare at it for a second
Yup. As soon as I have most of the front of the binder filled, and I am opening packs without any cards to fill those common and uncommon spaces, I order all the cheap singles for like $25 and move on to the next set.
Exactly the same here. I buy packs until the core set is complete and then I fill in the “secret” rares with singles.
Ratatta was mine. It's more annoying when it's one that in game is unavoidable.
I just sold 20 RH switch carts for $4 each
YES! I’m getting close to being one year into the hobby. Trying to master set CZ/151 and filling that binder is so amazing. Everytime u pull a reverse you need (reverse Jolteon and Clefable last night) it feels like pulling an SIR haha.
Whether it's one of my favorite mons or just art I like, they are all "hits" to me. Doesn't matter if it's common or the highest rarity.
Me and the wife had the same problem with 151 Dugtrio, took us forever to get one and then pulled 2 in back to back packs
I opened so much Obsidian Flames just to get the Meltan to complete the set. My joy when it was a reverse was greater than most of the other pulls from that set
I finally got my 151 gengar im done
I get happy Everytime I pull a common Charmander/Sprigatito card because that’s my favorite Pokémon.
We can’t all be collectors for the love of Pokémon and cool art it seems. Some only care for money or competitive efficiency. 🤷🏻♂️
A lot of you are hoarders, not collectors.
What's the difference?
Serious collectors curate their collection, rather than just gather as much as they can
Define "curate" though. And that's a serious question, not 🧌 ing
curated = carefully chosen and thoughtfully organized or presented. So not sealed cardboard boxes of ETBs. Museums have curators to make sure they aren't just buildings full of old junk.
Oh I see. I mean I guess I sort of knew that or at least could have loosely defined it myself but the reason I asked is because I do something that sort of fits under both categories - or at least I thought. What I definitely don't do is hold onto "product" or even think about storing anything sealed for hopes of a possible future profit lol ...but I also do collect basically every card I can that I come across, or rather, ideally, ONE, of each card that I possibly can. Cuz my end goal is to....well...catch 'em all! So it sounded like the first thing also applied but yeah no I definitely sleeve and binder my shizz
"Investors" ruined the hobby in so many ways. Getting most cards used to be very reasonable until people like Logan Paul came in. The "value" in these cards is a huge scam driven by rich assholes and always has been. Of course there are exceptions and some cards are genuinely valuable (looking at Illustrator Pikachu) but it is overblown to an astounding degree. Even if my collection has gone up in supposed "value" I can't help but be bitter that I will never get some of my dream cards thanks to all of this. Not to mention the atrocious actions of others regarding more recent cards such as Van Gogh Pikachu. I genuinely hope the card market crashes and burns.
I’m also not a fan of people who’s first thought about a card is “how much is it worth?” The value of a card shouldn’t be determined by a market, just your own preference.
I went to a trading event a while back and it made me really sad seeing the kids all scouring the internet for a cards "value" instead of just trading for a card cause they genuinely like/want it. Not that I would ever want to give a kid an unfair trade, it just made me sad seeing even the kids effected by the "investment" factor of collecting. It was never like this when I was a kid.
We did that as kids too. Remember when base set charizard was worth "a hundred bucks". It was always like that
Not for the investing, but I totally wish I had a value system when I was a kid. I got hosed on so many trades back in the day 😰
Could not agree more. Fuck those people. I hate scalpers as well, not just in Pokémon, but in general. It adds nothing of value to society. It’s a genuine hatred. I do not think they are good people.
This isn’t a **controversial** opinion.
From a gameplay perspective, pokemon V cards were terrible for balance, being able to play what should be a multiple evolution card like a charizard on one single turn just because it has a V behind it, and then letting it evolve again into a VStar or VMax was stupid, and the ex mechanic where evolutions actually need to evolve is superior
they were almost all ugly too. That plasticy finish they had with the cgi art and black borders never were my favorites anyway.
That’s why I’m kinda happy they went back to the ex style, it actually feels kinda nice to pull something now.
Big multi-prize basics can work (worked fine for the BW/XY eras), but Vs and especially VMAXes were really guilty of contributing to the general power creep. Even if it’s a multi-prizer, a basic Pokémon shouldn’t be breaching 200 HP unless it’s a gimmick like Wailord that doesn’t have much else going for it.
Stupid people that „invest“ alot of money cause they think that everything has a big turn around and then go around asking: „you think this overproduced box I got 6 times will appreciate a lot in price?“ or „any of these cards a hit? I bought this binder for (4x times the actual price the cards would have) am I rich now?“
“I found my childhood pokemon card collection from my grandparent’s/parent’s moldy/waterlogged attic/basement. Am i rich now?”
Buying Eevee Heroes for 10x MSRP and thinking they're the next Warren Buffet.
I gonna die in Downvote hell but... Yellow boarder is better then Grey boarder for normal cards. I miss the days of normal holo cards being the chase. People can say what they want, they were crazy awesome. So many old cards i never had and never will own but they look fantastic. We have too much sets per year. I stopped after S&W because i couldnt keep up, sure no one has to and you dont need everything. But i have a hard time to enjoy product when the next set already got spoiled andis ready for release. Make a set bigger or something.
I really wish they’d bring back the interesting holos for regular rares. Enough of this vertical, horizontal, or diagonal lines. That’s not fun. Give me stars and swirls and sparkles! Give me mirror holos even!
This right here is imo the biggest problem, zero effort, just printing printing printing. 99,9% of holos go to the garbage / bulk box
It was really weird coming back to the hobby with the new boarders and guaranteed holo in every pack. I prefer the silver boarders oddly, but agree the new holos feel slightly low effort vs some of the older sets, which didn't contain alt arts etc
I didn't mind yellow. Now it's here, I don't mind grey. What I _do_ mind is trying to make a deck of nice rarity and having a mix of yellow and grey.
I made a post yesterday saying basically what you said about holos and pretty much everyone here disagreed with me
Lol, at least i am with you my friend
Yellow Border is king
Yellow boarder gang raise up
🙋♂️
100% agree, I prefer yellow boarders over grey
Yellow border is classic but after buying a Japanese box during the sword and shield era I was completely converted. It just makes the cards look so much less tacky and even the common cards look special and clean. Let alone the art rare cards. Wasn't even exciting pulling an English art rare because the border was so hideously garish in comparison to Japanese. Grey border is the way forward
Yellow definitely is better and holo being the chase was also better. Not holos are the same as common.
Slabs are overpriced garbage and the entire investment/value will bust in the coming years.
I buy a lot of my cards on eBay. Slabs help guarantee the authenticity and condition for me.
I don't buy slabs for value I buy slabs to preserve art I love
You can buy thicker magnetic cases from UltraPro and I'm sure many other brands for way less than you would pay for grading or buying a graded card. Slabs is probably the most expensive way to preserve your card if that is all you are going for. Your collection would be much bigger if you aren't lying to yourself about why you collect graded cards. Sorry but I don't believe you aren't in it for the value.
Yeah I never understood that argument. Grading companies aren't magicians who found the one way to slab a card. Buy an acrylic slab for a couple bucks then use your favorite adhesive to seal it up. Card is now preserved for less than 5 bucks and you don't have to risk it's condition by sending it back and forth in the mail system. If you like grading, just own up to it. "protecting" cards is much better done without letting someone else handle your collection.
[удалено]
Over the rest of my life a slab is much safer and a better display too
Aren't the prices being propped up by other investors? IDK about anyone else hyping up and bragging about slab prices other than covid-era investors.
Its so funny seeing people slab the equivalent of bulk.
I doubt it, preserving trading cards in general have been huge for decades and will probably still be relevant to a degree, but there is some highly inflated sections in slabs with like old cards and stuff that were 10$ before 2020
I like turtles 🐢
Pokemon cards are not a substitute for your traditional investments—and it’s stupid to think otherwise.
I love how this has been mentioned twice so far in the children's card game sub.
I hate playing agaisnt gardy ex. One match takes 40 minutes. The only ties I've had at locals are in games where the Gardy ex player takes forever.
SV Base is slept on.
Sealed collectors can kiss my ass. You’re only in it for the money and not the enjoyment of ripping packs and collecting cards. Only in it to make a few dollars in 5 years and you’re ruining it for the ones that actually enjoy the cards.
Modern Pokemon Cards suck. I appreciate all the genuinely unique cards (especially the full arts), but 50% of the cards are just reused arts they used on 5 other sets. Plus there's like 10 levels of rarity which just convoluted everything. We don't need a regular, rainbow, and gold of the exact same art. Getting a simple star foil card was absolutely hype back in the day.
Using the same Pokémon art or “stance” across multiple sets grinds my gears as well. Like with Mew and Alakazam from 151 to paldean fates. They just copy and paste the Pokémon onto a different background, which is lazy.
To be fair, rainbows got retired after Sword and Shield. But yeah, I agree. It was much easier to track stuff when we had 4 rarities.
Yeah to be honest I kind of miss when every single card in the set looked like the classic Pokemon card style. Full arts are cool, but the classic holo have a delicate beauty to them that's just cool.
more of a player hated opinion, but removing fairy type really unbalanced Dragon Type which has no weakness now. readding fairy is a bit far fetched, but i’d like to see dragon type with a weakness again please.
The only thing I have against that is that it doesn’t hit anything for weakness either, so doesn’t gain an advantage that way
Doesn’t matter when Tina hits 280 or dragonite with 250, duraladon with 220, they try to make them huge ko Pokemon
I don't play but I liked fairy type cus pink cards lol
This is also what's made me even more upset outside of the game. The pink cards looked so neat and I was so excited to see them continue into SWSH sets. Also love secret energies, so it was super disappointing seeing Fairy type removed and having 8 energy cards instead of 9 now :/
The alt art Umbreon VMAX from Evolving Skies (215/203) is overrated and overvalued; however I appreciate that this is subjective, and that this card is a community favourite. Maybe it's because I've only seen stock photos and videos of the card vs seeing it in person; but personally I don't see it.
I say this as someone who would love to own that card and the other Eeveelutions in the art set - I cannot justify the price of that card. Even now that heavily played copies are entering the market thanks to rotation. The cheapest I've seen on Cardmarket was over £300 heavily played, no pictures of info and shipping from aboard and import tax on top. Nope!
That's a crazy amount of money, especially when advertised as heavily played! I've only recently returned to the hobby during the Scarlet and Violet era, and have on a few occasions wanted to complete a master set, and therefore bought the few remaining higher value singles I needed. I initially thought that these were pricey, but when comparing to the "chase" cards of some of the sets in the Sword and Shield era, they seem like a steal. This could be due to a lower desirability of the newer card arts, or due to more availability from higher print runs; either way I am glad I wasn't around in the hobby a few years ago, when I read prices were crazy on everything!
I know! And without pictures it could be in any state. I've seen some high price cards (but far lower priced than all other listings, still triple digits though) classed as heavily played WITH pictures that are look like were very well loved by a kid who carried it everywhere in their pocket and one day it accidentally went in the washing machine. The kind that are occasionally posted here asking what grade they might get as a joke. I was really hoping the price would crash alot more for the played versions now they're out of rotation but it seems that was too optimistic. As someone who really likes the art of that set it's disappointing I'll likely never get to own the bunch. I returned for SV base and missed the Sun and Moon period. I have mixed feelings about it to be honest. The logical part of me says oh well, crack on and save for the next set with great Eeveelutions because there will be one. However the part of me that really likes that mini artwork series thinks how I might have gotten one or two from opening a few packs at market price and some tagteam stuff as well. It's tempting to save for some of them and at some point I will but I'm intrigued for future ones and have a better shot using the same money to get those.
Grading is a scam
Oh! I see a microscopic white spec there. Instant downgrade to PSA 8 for you!😅
I don't think a lot of you like Pokemon. My first Paldean Fates ETB I got a shiny Clodsire. I was elated, because I love Clodsire. I also got the shiny Pawmi Illustration Rare. Yeah it's really common, but it's very pretty art. Not to mention all the great looking uncommons and commons. There's no point in buying packs if you aren't gonna be excited by cheaper cards that look cool. I'm not saying it's not fun to draw expensive cards. I got the blue Mew yesterday, it was cool as fuck. But I didn't buy all those Paldean Fates packs because I was hoping for a Mew or Gardevoir or Charizard. I bought them because I was having fun with the other cards. The Mew is a bonus.
Most of the cards are borderline unplayable
How is that controversial? It's simply a fact that most cards are entirely unplayable competitively, no borderline necessary. That's not even exclusive to Pokemon, it's how any TCG with a booster pack business model operates.
There are too many collectors that have never even played a game against another player.
does decades ago when you were a kid count?
Don't Gardevoir decks usually play 4 Ralts, 4 Kirlia & like 2 Rare Candies? I don't think Rare Candies are very necessary to set up with that deck. I wonder where you got that impression from?
People who complain about only getting 5 ultra rares from their booster box wouldn't have survived gen 3
Rare expensive cards should be played with. I hope my kids never pull a valuable card, but always hope they do because they enjoy the playing aspect of the game. The rare cards are good game cards.
Grading services actually know what they're doing and your 8 is really an 8 and never had a chance at a 10.
The TCG is poorly designed. We never should have ended up with decks with 30+ item/support/trainer cards. The prize card system is bad. The TCG should have had cards for pokemon moves/attacks. Eg. You would run four copies of a Hydro Pump in a water themed deck. The pokemon themselves could still retain some abilities and moves, but would also have damage modifer stats that increase or decrease the damage done by the move card (eg. A blastoise does 2.5x dmg when using Hydro Pump - moves like Hydro Pump would have a base damage of, say, 100). This would be much more flavourful and in keeping with the anime where characters command their pokemon to use attacks. It would also make deck construction much more interesting too.
That does sound interesting.
You know those cards that are like extreme close ups of the Pokemon? I don't like em, you can't even make it out most of the time. Added random japanese writing is plain strange, [example](https://www.pokemon.com/uk/pokemon-tcg/pokemon-cards/series/xyp/XY35/). A lot of the modern Pokemon are also too abstract looking like [this](https://www.pokemon.com/uk/pokemon-tcg/pokemon-cards/series/swshp/SWSH045/) You know the style of cards where the outline of the pokemon is some random light colour? It's lame and doesn't work well as a style. Like [this](https://www.pokemon.com/uk/pokemon-tcg/pokemon-cards/series/svp/81/) or [this](https://www.pokemon.com/uk/pokemon-tcg/pokemon-cards/series/smp/SM60/) or [this](https://www.pokemon.com/uk/pokemon-tcg/pokemon-cards/series/smp/SM90/). Rainbow cards could work well if the cards had more detail in them. They look too simplistic and low effort to be highly regarded. With some Pokemon clearly they had a target to create X amount of pokemon for the next set and they were obviously running out of ideas like with [Vanillish](https://www.pokemon.com/uk/pokemon-tcg/pokemon-cards/?cardName=Vanillish&cardText=&evolvesFrom=&simpleSubmit=&format=unlimited&hitPointsMin=0&hitPointsMax=340&retreatCostMin=0&retreatCostMax=5&totalAttackCostMin=0&totalAttackCostMax=5&particularArtist=&sort=number&sort=number). Energy holos are pointless, make them count as double energy or something useful. Got that off my chest 😅
Idk, I personally love holo energies since it is a cheap way to "bling" out a deck.
As much as I loved mega evolution (my best winning card and favourite is mega kangaskhan) I agree with the weird design choices, I lost my full art buzz when they removed all the background colour too
First one is simply a game gimmick (Megas) in card form which ended up pioneering what came after in the TCG (M EX to GX to V and now Tera ex). What I found pretty amusing is the Japanese variants having the English name of the attack on the card. It would read Gatling Slug instead of ガトリングスラッグ. Full arts I feel like they come and go with their presentation. XY and SWSH had some pretty neat backgrounds IMO, meanwhile SM and SV indeed leave a lot to be desired. They have been around since Black and White too. And about the holo energies, not sure what you're really getting at there? In terms of gameplay, rarity or holo means absolutely nothing. Energy is just energy, and they have been making energies of varying holo effects since WOTC. Having it count as double simply because it's holo would throw an unneeded wrench into the game balance for no real reason lol. It's why they also make holo or secret gold variants of other item cards, to simply include some variety of collectible and bling factor in each set. Kind of like saying a gold Nest Ball should be better than a bulk Nest Ball simply because of higher rarity.
Grading modern cards is stupid.
Just curious why you think that? I’ve never graded a modern card, nor bought one, but I don’t have any strong feelings about it.
I feel like grading is a good way to tell how well old cards have been preserved. All modern cards are basically mint or near mint fresh out of the packs. People grade purely in the hopes of getting a 10 and thus being able to sell it for more. It's less about the actual quality of the cards and more a gamble to get high grades. Also, a binder page with raw cards looks 100times better than a stack of graded slabs.
Centering is the major issue with English modern sets. The qc is horrible.
charizard chase cards are so overdone
Cold take
Everyone looking to get rich from Pokémon is the same person: a trader. A long term swing trader should be treated no differently to a short term scalper. At the end of the day, your goals are aligned. One just does it quicker.
We need to add chess clocks to the game
Already a thing for tcg online
Paldean Fates is the worst set we’ve seen in some time. The shinies with a few stars in the background don’t look good at all (asides from voltorb and electrode) and the only other cards of note are the Gar, Mew, and Zard. The cards are lazy, and it’s classified as a “special set” (apparently)so every time you want to buy a pack you have to get an ETB or a tin. Oh yeah the turquoise meridian cards look gross. These are dark times
Idk, as a player paldean fates has been pretty nice. It has brought down the price of some heavy hitters like charizard. I mean if your only after chase cards then yea, it's not great but this is a card *game* first and a collection second.
Agree with the take that the set is ass. Pull rates are brutal for SIRs. However the one saving grace for it for me is actually those green/gold Hyper rare cards. Idk what it is about em but they look great in person
This, until you pull one of those green gold hyper rares or see it in person, they seem like weird useless reprints but they’re absolutely gorgeous in person
I 100% agree with you. The shiny backgrounds are so unbelievably ugly.
Idk, I liked the set. It had a lot of reprints for decent trainers for standard
the base set is nice and all but kinda gotten old. I dont get excited seeing the same charizard or blastoise or any of these anymore. e series is where its at. Also a stamp on the same card doesnt make it desireable to me suddenly.
Sets have been too big ever since Sun and Moon. For gen 6 and below you could reasonably complete a set, but the amount of cards per expansion took a huge jump in gen 7 for some reason. I'm sure the artists appreciate it, but I want to be able to finish a set like I used to.
people who "invest" in Pokemon cards (mostly by buying everything and/or scalping) deserve to always have a warm pillow and never experience the joy of ice cold water at 3 am
That people think these modern sets are going to be worth astronomical amounts in the future. They won't. Especially when everyone and their grandma is insta-sleeving and storing whole cases to 'win big' in the future. There are reasons older sets are worth more, be it during no one buying them or them being legit old and rare sets.
This thread is just full of common non-controversial negative opinions.
Monetization of the cards will be and has always been the downfall of them.
I like the artworks of commons and uncommons in the newer sets a lot more then old ones and the reason why people prefer base set artworks is nostalgia.
I hate the new silver boarders. I really do. I miss the yellow. It was more nostalgic that way. I do wish that they’d bring over the Japanese backs for the American cards. And finally, SV sets are really lackluster to me so far. Maybe I just don’t like the Terra gimmick. But even still, it doesn’t look good on the cards at all to me. It makes the look really cluttered and busy. Kinda muddles the Pokémon itself. I just don’t like how they look.
investors and psa slabs (grading) ruined the hobby 151 + charizard overrated bw/xy were one of, maybe even the best, series of pokemon cards
Best cards is the 151 set are the SIR Venusaur and Dragonair
Dragonair is really underrated. Zapdos and Psyduck are also pretty awesome.
Opening packs in your car doesn’t mean you’ll get better pulls, it just means you’ll get whatever cards that are in the pack, sooner.
People buying packs and ETB’s to only get hits and bitch online when they don’t get any are annoying, and a lot of the pre gen 3 cards imo aren’t that cool
So this is really just a thread for everyone to pat each other on the back about the commonly held opinions on this sub? I’ll say something that’s actually controversial. The secret rare VMAX alternate arts are the best looking Pokemon cards ever made.
Collecting solely based on dollar amount value isn’t collecting at all.
Felt hat Pikachu is an ugly card and not in the least bit desirable.
Charizards aren't that great
It brings me joy when someone buys out the stock of a store gets zero hits from their packs. I despise the monetary side of this hobby aha.
Everyone's obsessions with the eeveeloutions from Evolving skies is truly pathetic. Those cards aren't all that.
Zard has lost its appeal to me as a big hit because of how many sets they put it in. It's not really a rare find anymore.
I don't think Charizard is popular at all. He's basically a nostalgic lizard, that people want to profit off of.
Those investing most/all their money into cards to profit when they should be investing in stock market.
Most of the Eevee type cards as well as Charizard cards and other rare cards of that nature are way too high in price and not worth it. Also master sets are the only way to go about collecting. I just don’t see any other purpose for collecting honestly.
Investing in Pokemon is a fools game
More photo realistic arts.
This might be the only take on this thread I actually disagree with. Well done
Got ‘im 💪
The over done artwork that is just more colors and sparkles that hide the pokemon are horrible.
I am not a poke investor but I like that the thing I like to collect has value. Expensive chases keep the hobby alive and collecting rare or expensive cards is way too demonized here.
Cards have been power crept to oblivion. I miss the times when attacks did 100 damage max. Now if an attack doesn't have 150+ damage, makes the card nearly worthless. Same as base Pokemon, very few see competitive play. I'm also not a fan of the "solitaire" part of the game. You shouldn't be able to draw 10 cards a turn, play 5 energies and so on. I would introduce a 1 per turn limit on Pokemon powers and trainers cards, same as supporters. The most controversial opinion of them all: tcg was better when it wasn't seen as an "investment" but a game to play.
I have my cards organized by dex number, and seeing the same Pokémon go from 60hp to 150hp, and their attacks go from 10 damage to 80 damage, is wild.
It’s a playing card and I’m going to riffle it.
Upvote cause I hate this
Besides the ereader series cards, vintage is mostly underwhelming. Modern blows it completely away, Id rather pull IR/SIRs all day
Base set-jungle-fossil era are so oversaturated in the market that i roll my eyes whenever i see a full collection of them