To help explain how I feel, I need to share a bit about how I function and where I come from.
I’m part of the first Pokémon generation. I was playing Pokémon Blue back in middle school and I absolutely loved the universe, just like I loved Dragon Ball and Zelda. I used to collect Pokémon and Digimon figures. Strangely enough, I never liked Pokémon cards at the time. I felt they were a huge missed opportunity because they could have been so much better. Even though I bought tons of boosters, I ended up throwing everything away. The only card I truly loved was Ancient Mew, which stayed pinned above my bed like a treasure with a giant piece of sticky tack.
I really enjoyed Gen 3 much less. I felt Kyogre, Groudon, and the Regi trio were not as well designed as the previous legendaries. I completely skipped Gen 4. Back then, we found it ridiculous to have so many legendaries and mythicals. Plus, I was growing up and gradually moving away from Pokémon.
I got back into it during Gen 6, which I really liked. Then came Gen 7 and Pokémon GO. Honestly, I thought Pokémon cards didn’t even exist anymore. Around that time, I was focused on hunting and collecting ultra-rare event Pokémon in the games like PCNY event distributions. I still have an incredible digital collection of very rare distributed Pokémon sleeping in Pokémon Home.
Then in early 2022, I started getting interested in the cards again. Somehow, I completely missed the whole Logan Paul wave and the global boom of 2021. I don’t know how I avoided it, but I did. I only discovered it about a year after everyone else. Seeing so much attention being given to a part of the Pokémon world again, which really began with Pokémon GO, made me genuinely happy. I decided to step into this new side of the universe.
One important point is that I live in a non-English-speaking European country, where the card market is mostly focused on non-English cards. At the time, I just wanted to own a piece of Pokémon history, so I looked into the Base Set. My biggest fear was buying fake cards, so I decided to only purchase graded cards. Authentication was a key factor for me, which also explains my complete rejection of CGC today. Among graded cards, I only wanted the highest possible quality, so Gem Mint. Holo cards were already too expensive for me at that point, so based on my mindset, the obvious choice became the Base Set starters in PSA 10 in my native language. Those were my first purchases.
As I got more involved in the hobby through Facebook groups, I started thinking that I could expand my collection from a historical perspective by picking up the other commons and rares from the Base Set in PSA 10, which I did. Then I read somewhere that Skyridge was the least printed WOTC set and did not exist in my language, making it even rarer. So I bought some PSA 10 commons of Pokémon I really liked, like Arcanine, Moltres, and Vaporeon.
But then I realized how small my local market was. It was incredibly difficult to find even simple PSA 10 commons from the Base Set, and prices were often too high because there was almost no turnover. At that point, I was still buying what I loved, a piece of history in top condition. But I started thinking that card liquidity was important to me. Even though I was buying for fun, I needed to be able to sell if necessary. So I sold off all my Base Set cards.
From there, my collector profile started to become clearer. I wanted to combine passion with potential investment. I began building two collections in parallel. The first one involved high-value cards, often over a thousand euros, that I really liked but also believed had strong potential. I bought the three English gold star legendary dogs in PSA 10, which were relatively cheap compared to other gold stars because of their backstory. I also picked up Rayquaza, Latios, and Latias stars in PSA 10, but in Japanese because the English versions were way too expensive. Then I focused on promos that I loved and believed had big potential, like Mario Pikachu or Charizard from the Art Collection.
At the same time, I was also picking up niche cards that I loved purely for pleasure, without any resale potential. These included 1995/1997 Top Sun, anime Carddass, and Ken Sugimori Carddass.
Eventually, I started realizing that I was spreading myself too thin and spending money in too many different directions. As someone responsible for a family, I knew I had to be more careful with these expenses. So I began to reflect on my goals. I kept several collections in parallel, reminding myself that the key to good investing is diversification, and the key to buying in a risky collectible market is to only buy what you love, so you can enjoy it even if the price collapses and you’re stuck with it.
My two collecting directions became more defined. First, cards with real upside in my opinion, cards with history and actual rarity. I sold off my expensive set and promo cards like Gold Stars and Mario Pikachu to go after prize and trophy cards instead. The ultimate goal of that collection is to reach the highest level of trophy cards. Even if it ends with just one card at the top of the pyramid, I’ll be satisfied.
The second collection is much simpler and actually the reason I started writing this post. It involves buying cool, lower-cost cards on a regular basis. Old EX cards, full arts, promos, and so on. The goal is not to keep these cards forever, and I’m happy to sell them as soon as there’s a market bump, like recently when I sold quite a few. That’s also why I go after Gem Mint. There’s no price ceiling, unlike PSA 9s which will always be capped by PSA 10s.
For this side collection, I now focus exclusively on English cards for better liquidity and appreciation potential, and on Japanese-exclusive cards. Why do I buy them? Because I enjoy them. If the price doesn’t move, I’m happy to keep them. And if the price rises, I have no problem selling to free up cash to help push my main collection—the trophy one—to a higher level. At this stage, I prioritize trades and selling cards that have gained value, rather than injecting more money, which would be disproportionate given my personal life.
So now I find myself priced out of this second part of my collection, the one that used to be more casual and easygoing. I really enjoyed seeing it evolve organically through small purchases and occasional sales.
All this long post to say one thing. It’s important not to reduce people in this card world to a few stereotypes like “real collector,” “investor,” “scalper,” and so on. We all have a backstory that brought us here. Our goals and motivations are different, and most of all, they evolve.
this. I have friends who are sports card/comic collectors who make great money and the word “ten” doesn’t exist in their vocabulary for vintage desirable items.
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Who’s that Pokémon?! It’s Greedent V: