Card condition

[danny]

So I almost solely collect WOTC cards. Recently however, I’ve got into completing ancient origins and of course the 20th anniversary edition.

Now, my WOTC cards and those of my friends, even the those that have been treated like crap still hold their shape. The new cards however ARE crap. I just opened a charizard EX (super fun), but a number of the cards warped almost instantly. So whats the deal?!

p.s. Is it just me or do uncommon/common reverse holos feel like a participation trophy? i much prefer them unholo’d

[acebren]

yeah in my opinion cards made these days look tacky as hell

[milhouse]

We have had many, many discussions and bitch sessions here concerning the quality of the current English cards. It’s slowly gotten worse since the start of B/W Era, some sets in particular are just horrible for it. Japanese cards on the other hand are of quality stock and printing, it’s extremely evident when you compare them next to each other.

[areestee]

The thought of the backs of English Primal Clash cards still makes me cringe. Hard to believe that was five sets ago now though.

[woolsluk]

This is why Japanese cards are the way to go with collecting, never taken a card straight from a pack thinking it would only score an 8 at psa. With English cards it seems this is a common issue and has been for a while.

[pokemonsyndicate]

@milhouse

We have had many, many discussions and bitch sessions here concerning the quality of the current English cards. It’s slowly gotten worse since the start of B/W Era, some sets in particular are just horrible for it. Japanese cards on the other hand are of quality stock and printing, it’s extremely evident when you compare them next to each other.

In my opinion this is engrishes strong suit to a grader that has rarity and only gem mint 10 as a priority. Its what makes them awesome. Sure there is 10 billion of them out there, but there nirly impossible to score a 10 on because of the quality. So I really love them… But there also very nostalgic for me personally. I’d hate it if all those full arts submitted came back as gem mint 10s from engrish. Thing is people try and say that Japanese grade better so there easy to get in 10s and these people are usually engrish only collectors or havnt tried grading difficult Japanese cards, but everyone has there niche so if they want to think that, then thas fine. This easy grade on japanese 10s is only true with the new ones since every westerner is opening the crap out of them and there’s mint copies all over the planet being graded for profit at release/ or collected. But try grading the older cards that didn’t really make it out of Japan at release. So in the end it all comes down to the set, and the newer engrish sets are starting to look very dam appealing to me because of the shit quality. Me like.
But also the engrish pcg/adv era are drieing up like crazy, so ohh dear… I hope I can open some before the boxes go really insain like that deoxies box

Not that you don’t know this allready Milhouse, but I thought I’d elaborate my evolved stance on engrish since joining this forum, and studying ta tingz with hisoka and friends xD

[milhouse]

You are right Syndicate. It’s a bit of a reverse where the old English are better quality the the new. And the new Japanese are better than the old.

[smpratte]

@pokemonsyndicate

@milhouse

We have had many, many discussions and bitch sessions here concerning the quality of the current English cards. It’s slowly gotten worse since the start of B/W Era, some sets in particular are just horrible for it. Japanese cards on the other hand are of quality stock and printing, it’s extremely evident when you compare them next to each other.

In my opinion this is engrishes strong suit to a grader that has rarity and only gem mint 10 as a priority. Its what makes them awesome. Sure there is 10 billion of them out there, but there nirly impossible to score a 10 on because of the quality. So I really love them… But there also very nostalgic for me personally. I’d hate it if all those full arts submitted came back as gem mint 10s from engrish. Thing is people try and say that Japanese grade better so there easy to get in 10s and these people are usually engrish only collectors or havnt tried grading difficult Japanese cards, but everyone has there niche so if they want to think that, then thas fine. This easy grade on japanese 10s is only true with the new ones since every westerner is opening the crap out of them and there’s mint copies all over the planet being graded for profit at release/ or collected. But try grading the older cards that didn’t really make it out of Japan at release. So in the end it all comes down to the set, and the newer engrish sets are starting to look very dam appealing to me because of the shit quality. Me like.
But also the engrish pcg/adv era are drieing up like crazy, so ohh dear… I hope I can open some before the boxes go really insain like that deoxies box

Not that you don’t know this allready Milhouse, but I thought I’d elaborate my evolved stance on engrish since joining this forum, and studying ta tingz with hisoka and friends xD

I think you raise some solid points there Ben!

However, I think the decline in quality is also a deterrent to collect the newer english sets as a whole. Basically, if a collector has the option to buy a wotc pack from almost 20 years ago, and have the same if not better chance of earning a high grade than a new release pack, they will most likely chose the former.

In English cards defense, they do have the blue back, which inherently makes condition more finicky. However, there is a noticeable decline in recent sets outside of the blue back factor. That decline is a turn off for me personally.