It’s been a little over 2 years since I started collecting again. Until 2 days ago, in all of 2025 I had only spent money on 3 cards because all of my goals have become unaffordable. Meaning…collecting PSA 10s. Goals like getting the cosmic eclipse pikachu in a 10, with reds pikachu also in a 10, and the lost origin pikachus in a 10. Last December all of those things would have been a total of $500. I really like the way the 10s label looks as displays for my collection, so seeking them seemed like a fine thing to do.
But then, when the boom happened, all of my goals were impacted and that could no longer happen. Even cards that I could send in to make my own PSA 10s were unaffordable because of PSAs value tier. It was a bummer to look at the Mewtwo and Mew promo card go from $100 in a PSA 10 last December to over $1k, and now is back down to $750…$220 raw. Still very unaffordable to me.
So, I thought to take a gamble. I sent in a card to PSA that looked very clean and that, when graded as a 10, was valued at over $1k. I had paid $280 (including the grading and shipping costs), and this gamble really would have made my collection great in the grand scheme of its size (only having about 24 cards total).
But then, something strange happened. This card that I thought looked very clean…came back a 9.
At the time I didn’t really know what to do. I mean, how could this happen? I did the things. I bought the centering tool, I looked at the corners through a 10x lens, I inspected the surface, and still…it came back a 9.
Am I a fool? Did my eyes deceive me? Am I not cut out for grading cards?
Needless to say it was pretty discouraging. It’s tough looking at pokemon cards all year and watching them fade into the vacuum of unaffordability. Kinda sad actually.
Fast forward to 2 days ago and put yourself at my kitchen counter making a Christmas list. You smell the pine and cinnamon candle burning, you feel the not-yet-warmed seat of the not-quite-tall-enough bar stool against your skin, and you look down to see that there’s a beautiful baby fully wrapped to you, sleeping soundly. After a hour you notice the muscles in your thumbs ache as you scroll and type into EBay’s search bar. Every listing you see is a card that is $150+ dollars in a PSA 10, when last year those same cards were $50. So you search something else. Burgerchu Burgerchu Burgerchu…as far as the algorithm can see.
Suddenly, as you doom scroll your way past all the Burgerchus, you see it. It’s beautiful. It has a fully yellow background, an E-reader on the bottom, and the most beautiful name in all of Pokemon at the top….Pikachu.
It was the 2003 Pikachu EX Nintendo promo #12…and it had a phat swirl to boot. Right next to the face…ohhh yeah baby 
And what’s that? The price was only $120? You’ve been chasing this card since you can remember! The centering looks great from the minimized thumbnail and, although you can’t really see the grade, you click it…
It’s a PSA 8. Could this really be? Surely there’s some kind of mistake. But then, you remember all the videos you’ve seen and all the EliteFourum posts you’ve read about vintage cards, and how PSA can be overly strict on them. Maybe a print line gave it an 8, or maybe iTS pOpULaTiOn CoNtRol, yet you move your aching thumbs leftward across the screen and the back appears before you.
The back is, much to your surprise, beautiful.
The corners were round and blue, the edges had no whitening, and the centering? *chefs kiss*
Your feel an exciting sensation flow through you. You no longer feel the ache in your thumbs, the seat beneath you is warm, and you could swear on your life that the bar stool grew the perfect inch taller. You practice all the ways you’re going to tell your beautiful bride all the great things about this card when she gets home.
“But it’s an 8…” she says, “Idk if I can do it. It would be the lowest grade in your collection. I just…I just don’t know if I can bring myself to do it.”
You explain to her that yes, it is an 8, but look at it! It’s beautiful! And it’s pretty affordable! She still doesn’t quite understand this discovery, but your mind is set and your heart is fixed on this card.
Now put yourself on the most comfortable mattress you’ve ever known and fully awake at midnight, questioning whether you should have had that cup of coffee at 4pm.
“I wonder if there are any other cards out there that are graded lower and look great,” you think to yourself, “surely there are promos or other cards that look great and are 9s.”
You turn toward your nightstand and reach for your phone. Your lampshade wonders why you punched it and your not-tired hands grip your tiny answer encyclopedia. The soft EBay colors illuminate your face and your eyes grow in disdain for every extra second you have to look at this screen in the dark. You click the search bar and type “Pokemon PSA 9s.” For miles and miles all you see is bad centering and whitened corners. Centering corners centering corners centering corners. For ever and ever amen.
But what’s that? A Mewtwo vstar card? With good centering? And what’s that? It’s a 9? Surely the back can’t look that gr-
You’ve found it! A strong 9! You thought it was a myth, you thought it was cope, you thought it was a lower standard, but here it is! In all its glory! And for what price?? Astounding! This is incredible! Amazing! Unbelieva-
Anyway all this to say that I’ve recently come to accept that I’d rather have strong 9s in my collection to keep it growing than trying to buy a 10 for 10s sake. I do still love and want 10s, but 9s can be good too. And maybe I could consolidate my 9s to afford a 10 at some point, but I’ll take 9s. Will I ever go back to only collecting 10s? Has anyone on here ever done that? Thx
