It feels impossible to keep up on modern at this pace.
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The rate that sets is the main reason I just pick up a few singles here and there. Focus on my main collection and just enjoy the new stuff coming out. Too much stuff!
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I agree I definitely pick and choose what set I open up because they just release so quick
In those 3 recent years, 22B cards were printed. In the prior 20 years of pokemon tcg, 30B cards were printed in total. Modern bulls are in serious denial. Modern buyers represent much more of the population of platforms such as this/fb/etc. So naturally there will be a huge bias on what the popular opinion is.
Thank you for sharing these numbers.
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i had a feeling e4 was mostly just modern enthusiasts
the thing i always find so funny about the conversation about modern being overvalued is the complete disregard of people who buy because they like the cards and want to keep them. instead its always talking about pokemon cards like they’re stocks which (i imagine) is not how most people treat this hobby.
Modern should he for collecting in a binder imo. The full arts are really nice. But again everyone should do what they want with their cards
It doesn’t really matter how many billions of cards are produced if the top 100 most desirable cards make up only an extremely tiny fraction of that.
The other thing people fail to calculate is that there is always a built-in buffer in prices. Ultimately it doesn’t matter if there are 6 million moonbreons if only 20 are available to be purchased at a given time. If prices fall, there is less motivation to sell and less people will list them. If prices rise, everyone pulls the card from their binder to get it graded. The effective supply on the market acts as friction or like an elastic band that pulls the price back to a certain point.
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I wish this was the case. A large majority of collectors are “investors” in Pokemon. Go to any card show or community event and you’ll see and hear the investor rhetoric nonstop. It’s all over Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram too. It’s pretty rare to find places like e4 where the majority of users are collectors who do not (solely) view their collections as speculative assets.
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yes but the internet is not representative of the entirety. there isn’t a single person i know IRL who has pokemon cards and views them as anything other than a collectable or a card game. of course when i go into a card shop or hop on twitter, there are plenty of voices spouting value. the algorithm isn’t going to favor someone who bought a couple packs at walmart and put the cards in their binder without telling the world.
i couldn’t even begin to guess the ratio of collectors who view buying cards as a strategy vs collectors who buy cards because they like them and want them at that given time, but i imagine it is not the same ratio as who feels the need to share on twitter or facebook or whatever.
ultimately the biggest issue i see with stating something like modern is too volatile or unstable or whatever and that people should just focus on vintage right now because it is stable or whatever is that there are plenty of people who find vintage boring. do we just not collect for the next 5 years and experience the hobby purely as observers? it doesn’t matter what the market is doing. if we want a card and we can afford it, we will buy it.
that is why cards are not overpriced. they are adequately priced at any given time so long as they sell.
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The market is priced at the margin. This is how Real Estate works. It’s the prices of only the homes or commercial real estate currently being sold that affects the price. The overall supply doesn’t matter if no one is selling but it does matter if everyone is selling.
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When I attend card shows and trade nights in my community, the majority are treating their cards like stocks/investments and communicate in this way. It’s actually one of the reasons why I haven’t gone to many events as of late. You can get burnt out from that kind of interaction real quick.
Maybe it’s because I live in a big city full of people wanting to make money on their hobby? Or maybe it’s because the people looking to sell are more likely to attend these events? I couldn’t tell you. Whatever it is, I am constantly shocked at how many people engage in the hobby in this way.
But I am curious to hear if others have similar experiences.
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I think the modern cards are often more appealing for a few reasons:
- Visually. I think a lot of people prefer the modern artwork. For me this varies. A lot of times I prefer the older cards, but some of the new full art cards are just incredible.
- Its fun opening booster packs. It appeals to the gambler in all of us. The hope we will get that super lucky pack with our chase card. It’s exciting. Modern sets you can get booster packs more readily to enjoy this. Social media further hypes this up by having videos of people pulling the perfect pack and it gets everyone chasing that sensation.
- There are no more fancy cards for a variety of people’s favorite Pokemon. Instead of only having rare or promo cards of the big Pokemon we now have some incredible cards for even more common Pokemon that are people’s favorites. Like an example is the new Squirtle full art card for 151. Incredible card. Back in the day there weren’t any fancy rare Squirtle cards. Only for Blastoise.
- Greater opportunities for a Gem Mint 10. For those who like graded cards there are WAY more opportunities for Gem Mint graded cards with modern sets than vintage cards. For those who are particular about their condition like I am this definitely factors in. Would you rather have a PSA 5 of an old card or a PSA 10 of a new card. That answer is going to vary depending on the person. But especially when the new card may be visually more appealing I think a lot of people will go for that.
- Age of people participating in this hobby. I’m 33 and was a kid when Pokemon first came out. I like to chase the nostalgia of my childhood. If you are 23 today and into the hobby you might finally start to have money to put into this hobby and the Pokemon you grew up with might be more of the modern ones so those may appeal more.
- Finally many people are for sure speculatively hoping they will get rich in the future off these cards when they see how others have faired well from older cards.
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I think it’s a big product of YouTube/instagram. Everyone wants to hold/own an expensive card and it’s also a form of status I think.
For instance collecting base set because they think it will make money over time as opposed to collecting it because it was the first Pokémon cards you saw as a kid. I also think a lot of collectors who collect that way didn’t like Pokemon from the beginning and just got into it because it seems like fast money which it’s not
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That was a joke, right? I would say E4 could not be further from that. Most people prefer Vintage over modern on here. Especially in comparison to Reddit, FB etc.
@genchiro it was a joke in response to this
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Vintage is so much fun.
“But wait how is vintage fun?”
Because I play with the cards… this is a mind-blowing concept since 95% of collectors are exactly that, solely collectors. Playing Base-Fossil, Base-Gym, Base-Neo, etc has been some of the most fun I’ve had playing tcgs ever. It’s fun, nostalgic, challenging, and yes lucrative. At the end of the day my cards aren’t going to “rotate out” or get reprinted into oblivion hurting their value (looking at you mtg).
Also if anyone is interested in playing the game with vintage cards the discord server is called Pokemon 1999. We do a variety of monthly leagues over webcam.
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i’m happy you find enjoyment in it. i know there are a small number of players who do still enjoy the novelty of base-fossil. i can see the fun in playing unlimited supporters per turn since they were all simply trainers.