Whenever I speak with collectors over the age of 17/18 or so, I usually hear the same origin story. “I collected cards as a kid, and then sold/gave away/packed up my collection, but now I’m getting back into collecting.” I’m sure we can all relate to this! So, if you find yourself in this position, this is a guide to getting back into the Pokemon card collecting hobby.
Step 1: Determining what you want to collect.
Pokemon cards have been around for approaching 20 years! 20 years ago the internet, cell phones, and laptops were just dreams. Many things have happened in 20 years, and many, many Pokemon cards have been printed. Finding which cards speak to you the most can help with collection goals and not spending too much money. Were you blown away by the Base Set Charizard and Shining Mewtwo? Maybe you want to collect WOTC cards. Did you dream of pulling a Gold Star or ex card? Then perhaps the EX Series is right for you. As of Ancient Origins, there are 65 English Pokemon TCG sets and 61 Japanese sets. Selecting which ones you want to collect is big. I’ll give a short overview of each era right now.
Generally, collectors refer to eras in the Pokemon TCG. There’s the WOTC (Wizards of the Coast) era, when cards were manufactured by, you guessed it, Wizards of the Coast. Sets released in this era include Base Set, Jungle, Fossil, Team Rocket, and all Gym and Neo sets. While WOTC did manufacture a couple e-series sets, the card design did change and therefore the e-series is usually considered a separate era. Highlights of the WOTC era include 1st Edition Base Set of course, the Neo Shinings, and fantastic artwork and nostalgic card design all around.
The e-series era introduced scannable cards if you had an e-reader for your Game Boy Advance. This era of cards us usually hit or miss with collectors, as many loved the beautiful artwork, but were discouraged by literal barcodes on all cards except holos. The e-series includes the famed Crystal cards, with Crystal Charizard, Lugia, Ho-Oh, and Celebi being highlights.
The e-series era blended into the EX series era in what is generally considered to be the time when the Pokemon TCG was least popular, from around 2003-2007. However, this does not equate to a dropoff in card quality. The EX series introduced Pokemon-ex, more powerful versions of regular Pokemon. The cards included full holographic borders and artwork, and followed up the Crystals and Neo Shinings as true Ultra Rare cards, usually being 2-3 per booster box. Later EX Series sets included Gold Star cards, which featured Shiny Pokemon and were the first cards to show Pokemon breaking out of the artwork box. These Gold Star cards were incredibly difficult to pull, with one coming in every two to three boosted boxes. The EX Series was the longest era to date, spanning four full years and including 16 distinct English sets. The EX series is my personal favorite for the variety of cards, nostalgia, and design.
The Diamond/Pearl/Platinum era did away with Pokemon-ex and introduced some interesting new mechanics, first and foremost being Pokemon Lv. X. These cards were similar to Pokemon-ex but worked differently in the TCG. Also introduced in the DPt era were ultra rare reprints of WOTC-era cards, fully-evolved basic Pokemon as Pokemon-SP, and shiny reverse holo cards of not very interesting Pokemon.
After the DPt era came the Legend era, featuring Legend cards with two separate halves, each with a different legendary Pokemon, and Pokemon Prime. Pokemon Lv. X, Pokemon-SP, and all other previous mechanics were abandoned. The Legend era mainly featured Pokemon from Johto as it was based on the Gold and Silver remakes, Heart Gold and Soul Silver.
Following the Legend era came the BW-XY era. This era is usually lumped together because of similarities in card mechanics. The BW sets introduced Full Art Pokemon cards, which had art covering the entire card instead of the regular artwork box. This mechanic was quickly abandoned in favor of a return to Pokemon-EX (now capitalized) in the Next Destinies set. However, they did release full art versions of these new Pokemon-EX, which were a big hit with collectors and players alike. The BW era added ultra rare golden-border Trainers and Pokemon. All Pokemon featured in these gold-border cards were shiny.
The XY era added Mega Evolution to the TCG, with M Pokemon-EX. Mega Evolution cards feature one very powerful attack and evolve from Basic Pokemon-EX. The XY era continued all mechanics from the BW era except the gold border trainers for a short time, which returned in Primal Clash. Full art versions of M Pokemon-EX were also introduced in Primal Clash, much to the excitement of collectors.
There are also Promotional cards that go with every era, such as trophy cards for winning tournaments, store promo cards, and mail-in cards. These cards are not part of a set but are usually much more rare and expensive.
Usually the newest era of cards is the most readily available and least expensive to find sealed products. However, the challenge of finding older products can be fun. Whichever era(s) you collect from is fully up to you, but it helps to dictate which cards you want to collect.
Step 2: What language should I collect in?
This may be a no-brainer for some, and a serious predicament for others. Do you prefer the ease of collecting and recognizability of English cards, or the higher quality and rarity of Japanese cards? Maybe you want to collect a lesser-known language, such as Chinese, Korean, Dutch, or Spanish.
English Pokemon cards are the most recognizable and most widely collected type of card. Some English products may be very expensive, but are usually not too hard to find. However, there are downsides to English collecting. There are an insane amount of English card collectors. Chances are, if you have a card, five hundred other people have it in better condition along with every other card from that set. There is very little exclusivity and uniqueness in English card collecting. Also, English card quality is generally lower than Japanese quality. English cards may have slight edgewear, centering issues, and factory printing lines coming right out of the pack.
Japanese cards are usually harder to find, more expensive, and less marketable than English cards. It sounds like a bad deal right off the bat. However, Japanese collecting has many perks. First, sets are released in Japanese a few months before their English counterpart. Japanese card quality is almost always perfect coming right out of the pack. And, fewer people collect Japanese, making it a more exclusive type of collecting.
You don’t have to collect just one language (I myself collect both English and Japanese), but again, it helps to draw some lines so you aren’t tempted by that Korean booster box or Dutch Base Set Charizard.
Step 3: How do I want to collect?
Deciding how to collect cards is a big decision. Basically it all boils down to this: sets or singles? Do you want to collect every card in a set, completing it and never needing to open another pack or buy another card from the set again? Or do you only want one or two cards from the set, and don’t want to bother with the rest of it. Full set collecting is tedious, but rewarding. Singles collecting can save you money, but may not be as satisfying. This may also include decisions on what, if any, sealed products you want to buy. Maybe you want to pull cards yourself out of packs, or you want to just buy them.
Step 4: How do I want to display my cards?
Do you want your cards all lined up next to each other in a binder, or do you want them in stacks of toploaders for better protection? Important questions, again, all up to you. Displaying a collection successfully can be a fantastic achievement and really make you proud of your hard work.
Another part to this is professional grading. Do you want to go after the best condition cards in the best grades, or not? The debate over whether or not to grade should not be held here, but deciding whether or not you want your cards graded is an important part of your collection.
Step 5: Money.
Collecting cards costs money, that’s the truth of it. Usually coming back into collecting we find that we are able to buy many of the cards we had idolized as kids, but could never get. Be sure to set a budget for your card collecting. If you find a card you really like but doesn’t fit into your budget, sell some of your less wanted cards. Keeping a good budget is essential to successful collecting. If you spend too much, you may be forced to sell off your collection at a loss. There really isn’t a downside to spending too little. Life comes first, always remember that.
Thank you guys for reading this guide, and I hope it is helpful to anyone who is getting back into Pokemon card collecting. Obviously all decisions are your own, and this is a ‘guide’ for a reason. Do what makes you happy, but if you make decisions about all the questions I have posed here, you will thank yourself later on.
