Thoughts on the new label? Sketched / Altered cards from random artists (not employed by TPC/TPCi) are very popular right now. Most of them appear to come from PokeColor and are often sold through Probstein (especially during the temporary ban of PokeColor’s account on eBay).
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Now they just need to change “Authentic” to “Unofficial” and we’re there.
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The “authentic” is a misdirection that I don’t like. Saying “unofficial” or even “custom” would be better imo. The only thing that gets this graded is that the art happens to be drawn on a real Pokemon card. Not a fan.
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I will stand by my take.
I hate any of these sketches and alters by random people, no exceptions
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It should be labelled similar to an art show. A pokemon card as a medium has nothing to do with it anymore except maybe the backside pattern, but what exactly is being graded at this point? Also the authentication means nothing from cgc based on previous situations and that i doubt they observed these being done.
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I can’t believe people spend thousands of dollars on these.
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You do wonder how you get approved for one of these trust funds. I can’t imagine it’s open to all the 200 million people out there who could put a moderately tasteful sketch on bulk fodder.
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Congrats to CGC making shady card authentication a shade less shady. The fact they were originally labeling these as authentic is ridiculous.
Another example of what these were originally being labeled as:
Just commission artwork. This whole situation makes me cringe.
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$20 for a novelty, $40 max if its absolutely phenomenal max. No need for anything higher than that. Then again, custom cards also are being sold for $50-150ea nowadays. 
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I was thinking the same thing!
Yep. The Mew sketch for example looks better than the original. If I had any interest in that or the original (I don’t,) I might be a buyer at $20-$40. $571 is Carrie Mathison lithium psychosis territory.
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Excuse me, i think you mean the signed psychic energy because thats all it is in cgc’s viewpoint.
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They don’t really offend me. I think you’d have to be pretty uninformed to think these are real tcg cards.
And since nobody with any level of knowledge could possibly think they’re real, then what are we mad at? The price?
It’s 2026 and people pay a shit ton of money for everything
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I think there is a fine line between artistic expression and attempting to copy others artwork for profit, some of these feel like the latter. However, I understand artists that produce something unique with their own style. But the obvious carbon copies of popular artwork & cards feels off. Ultimately people can buy whatever they want, and wherever everyone lands, these demonstrate the insane demand of pokemon.
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I enjoy some of these custom arts, but it is shocking that people spend 10x of what autos from TCG artists are going for
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Oh yeah, me too. I’ve seen several that are really cool. I’d buy them for 20 bucks but not 2 grand.
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Whoever came up with this needs a promotion
Im sure everyones tired of my stance on grading as a whole but i absolutely love this. Well done CGC. 
