Lately, I have been on a kick buying old Japanese half decks/quarter decks/special decks/whatever other names they have for them. I have particularly been buying these decks from the EX and LV. X eras.
Does anyone else buy them regularly? And for those of you who do buy them and crack them, what is your general anecdotal experience of the condition of the cards inside?
I recently purchased a Japanese Team Rocket Returns Silver Deck Kit (the one with Rocket’s Articuno EX and Dark Dragonite) for $335, which seemed like an outstanding purchase at the time. If even just one of the two main hit cards grades a PSA 10, you’ve already pretty much doubled the price of the entire box (or close to it). Well, I cracked the kit, and lo and behold, both Rocket’s Articuno and Dark Dragonite had small corner dings plus moderate edge wear.
However, some of the old LV. X decks (specifically the Shaymin and Regigigas ones) I purchased were just fine.
What I noticed with the Team Rocket Silver Deck is that the two decks inside are very loose without much protection, so they probably slid around over the years which caused the damage. I have a Black Deck Kit coming as well that I got for about $240 (it has the Rocket’s Moltres EX and Dark Tyranitar) that I’ll probably just keep sealed now after that experience.
Some of the other LV. X decks (e.g. Charizard vs Garchomp [which I also purchased recently] and Infernape vs. Gallade) look to be similar to the Rocket Deck Kits in terms of how the cards are arranged, as do some of the other EX kits (like the Magma Deck and Aqua Deck).
So for those who have bought these kits and cracked them (which I understand is probably a small number), did you have a similar experience with the cards inside? Or were you luckier?
Maybe someone like @fourthstartcg, @zorloth, @hisoka107 or @randox can shed some light on this? I know you guys are the EX experts around here, and I think I’ve since fourthstar open up similar decks on his YouTube channel.
I can help a bit here, I have cracked a few decks from this era! The packaging really is the biggest issue here, it varies from product to product. I cracked a Silver and Black deck kit several years ago and had similar issues with edgewear on some cards. Another product that has these issues are the gift box tins (Mew/Lucario, Emerald). It’s not guaranteed that there will be issues, it feels like it’s dependent on how the product was treated. The Black Deck Kit I opened I graded both of the holos as PSA 10s, but the Silver had issues.
Other products like the Groudon/Kyogre decks and Johto starter decks seem to be much more resilient to damage of the cards inside as long as they stay sealed.
I have some of the Lv. X decks but haven’t cracked them, so can’t add personal experience there. Overall, I would not buy the deck kits/gift boxes with the expectation of the cards inside being pristine. As time goes on it’s more likely that the bad packaging will result in damage to the cards though, so if you do buy them sealed make sure they’re getting stored correctly.
If you are, it’s funny because I literally just got this in the mail as I read your message. Lol. I’m about to crack it in a few. I figured those types of decks would be more resilient because the cards seem to be packed more tightly than the Silver Deck cards were.
Cracked a decent amount of these, from the EX half decks to the vs decks and the lv.x a few years back. The only one I remember not being clean aside from centering was the Typhlosion EX deck. Everything else has been very solid, especially the lv.x VS decks and the quarter decks (lv.x, type based ex ones).
Everything looks fantastic. Groudon might have a very, very minuscule ding on the top back edge (or it might just be the way the card was cut; hard to tell what it is), but almost definitely not enough to matter much at PSA. All of the other cards are pristine with great centering, which is great because there are some great cards in there (Delta Species Charmander/Charmeleon, etc.).
I’ve opened most of the DP and DPT japanese decks. The Regigigas, Shaymin and Mewtwo decks were killer to me. The strap that surrounds the deck was too tight, or the cards warped, and there is a strong impression left on the edges of the Lv X cards. The rest of the decks were fine.
My Milotic EX deck had a creased corner. I imagine it was loose and had been shaken around in the box.
I actually had a lot of luck with the Regigigas and Shaymin decks you mentioned (haven’t gotten a Mewtwo one yet). The straps were definitely pretty tight and the cards had cupping, but nothing too bad that won’t straighten out inside of a Card Saver.
I almost bought the Milotic deck a week or so ago, but someone else snagged it before me.
Out of curiosity, did you open the Charizard vs. Garchomp DP LV. X deck? How was it if you did?
I’ve only opened the English ex/lvx decks so can’t be of much help here sorry! Never knew that the Japanese ones had these condition issues tho - that’s pretty interesting.
@mjs61290, yes, several actually. No issues, the cards came out gorgeous. I only opened one infernape and gallate deck, but that was fine too. As you’ve said, same arrangement.
I just opened up a Holon Research Tower Lightning Quarter Deck unlimited. The Eevee in the middle of the deck was perfect, the Jolteon ex on the front had a couple of corner issues from the packaging, but still great. The rest of the cards were perfect condition wise, except maybe a couple of corners with poor cut quality from the factory.
