Fun pulls without spending tons of money?

[buggy]

@zorloth

Sacari beat me to it… Chinese Legend Maker and Spanish Ruby Sapphire. Both are worth like 1/50th of what English is worth. Very affordable and the closest you’ll get to opening English EX Series packs outside of actually opening English EX Series packs.

That said, I’d also recommend buying some heavy EX Series packs. As a fellow EX Series enthusiast, opening English EX Series packs is a truly magical experience. There’s nothing more exhilarating, nostalgic, and just straight-up fun than opening them. And when you see that silver border pop up over the edge…amazing. You can get heavy FRLG packs for $275 on eBay, which is a pretty decent deal. Yes, you will usually lose money. But the EV actually isn’t that terrible if you can score some 10s. For instance, I opened ~15 packs within the past month (FRLG, TMTA, Sandstorm, Hidden Legends, Holon Phantoms, etc.), and some of the highlights of my pulls were a reverse holo TMTA Squirtle, a TMTA Swampert ex, and a holo Sandstorm Mawile. If the Squirtle comes back a 10, it will be the first one in the world (and there are like 10 PSA 9s…). I have to imagine that being a Squirtle and a pop 1 will make it worth at least a couple hundred bucks… And the Swampert ex is also pretty low pop in 10 and is definitely worth a decent amount as well (not sure of the exact amount because of low sales volume, but probably somewhere in the $500-$1000 range). The Mawile is probably only like $100 in PSA 10, but that’s still more than the pack cost me lol. Of course, you probably won’t want to sell what you pull (I know I’m not going to…except maybe the Squirtle if it gets a 10). Plus, putting aside the EV, the experience itself is DEFINITELY worth it. It was honestly a priceless experience, and I definitely will be opening many more packs in the future for that reason alone.

Thanks for the detailed response! Hmm you may have convinced me on going for heavy ex series booster packs because like you said the experience would just be awesome and I know I would really treasure whatever rare cards I pulled…

[zorloth]

@buggy

@zorloth

Sacari beat me to it… Chinese Legend Maker and Spanish Ruby Sapphire. Both are worth like 1/50th of what English is worth. Very affordable and the closest you’ll get to opening English EX Series packs outside of actually opening English EX Series packs.

That said, I’d also recommend buying some heavy EX Series packs. As a fellow EX Series enthusiast, opening English EX Series packs is a truly magical experience. There’s nothing more exhilarating, nostalgic, and just straight-up fun than opening them. And when you see that silver border pop up over the edge…amazing. You can get heavy FRLG packs for $275 on eBay, which is a pretty decent deal. Yes, you will usually lose money. But the EV actually isn’t that terrible if you can score some 10s. For instance, I opened ~15 packs within the past month (FRLG, TMTA, Sandstorm, Hidden Legends, Holon Phantoms, etc.), and some of the highlights of my pulls were a reverse holo TMTA Squirtle, a TMTA Swampert ex, and a holo Sandstorm Mawile. If the Squirtle comes back a 10, it will be the first one in the world (and there are like 10 PSA 9s…). I have to imagine that being a Squirtle and a pop 1 will make it worth at least a couple hundred bucks… And the Swampert ex is also pretty low pop in 10 and is definitely worth a decent amount as well (not sure of the exact amount because of low sales volume, but probably somewhere in the $500-$1000 range). The Mawile is probably only like $100 in PSA 10, but that’s still more than the pack cost me lol. Of course, you probably won’t want to sell what you pull (I know I’m not going to…except maybe the Squirtle if it gets a 10). Plus, putting aside the EV, the experience itself is DEFINITELY worth it. It was honestly a priceless experience, and I definitely will be opening many more packs in the future for that reason alone.

Thanks for the detailed response! Hmm you may have convinced me on going for heavy ex series booster packs because like you said the experience would just be awesome and I know I would really treasure whatever rare cards I pulled…

Absolutely. I really didn’t get hooked on it until I pulled a Swampert ex out of a TMTA pack and, as dumb as it may sound, it was probably the biggest rush I’ve felt in my whole life. It felt like what I imagine heroin feels like. And that experience made me open another 10+ of the heavier packs in my collection. And while that was the only ex I ended up pulling, I don’t regret it for a second.

If you’re like me and grew up with the EX Series, opening the packs again as an adult is an event that really can’t be put into words. I never really understood the whole interest in opening vintage packs until I did it myself. But it’s simply not about what you pull – it’s all about the experience. So yes, I would highly recommend giving it a shot. And if you do decide to, definitely check out the thread on EX Series pack weights. We have a public Google doc with a decent amount of pack weight data that could be helpful if you’re trying to assess whether or not a pack is heavy. FWIW, the ‘heavy’ FRLG packs on eBay are pretty damn likely to be heavy. I was considering buying one or two myself. They are all in the 17.41g to 17.46g range, and that seems to generally be what heavy packs weigh. So those are pretty solid options. One suggestion: avoid the ‘heavy’ Hidden Legends packs on eBay like the plague. The ones on eBay are in the 17.45g range, which is likely NOT heavy for Hidden Legends.

[buggy]

@zorloth

If you’re like me and grew up with the EX Series, opening the packs again as an adult is an event that really can’t be put into words. I never really understood the whole interest in opening vintage packs until I did it myself. But it’s simply not about what you pull – it’s all about the experience. So yes, I would highly recommend giving it a shot. And if you do decide to, definitely check out the thread on EX Series pack weights. We have a public Google doc with a decent amount of pack weight data that could be helpful if you’re trying to assess whether or not a pack is heavy. FWIW, the ‘heavy’ FRLG packs on eBay are pretty damn likely to be heavy. I was considering buying one or two myself. They are all in the 17.41g to 17.46g range, and that seems to generally be what heavy packs weigh. So those are pretty solid options. One suggestion: avoid the ‘heavy’ Hidden Legends packs on eBay like the plague. The ones on eBay are in the 17.45g range, which is likely NOT heavy for Hidden Legends.

Yes I also grew up opening the ex series booster packs so I am excited to give it a shot! And thank you for the pack weight advice.

[auswulf]

@buggy

I see, thank you all for the input! I will check out all of these modern sets. As for vintage/ex-series cards, does anyone know of a mystery box or something with a chance of pulling them? Maybe the solution is just to look for old collections in garage sales? That could be fun too…

Going off observations Mystery boxes are usually not great value and should be avoided.

Garage sales or the local markets are great places to pick up old school cards and booster packs.

Just be careful with booster packs and cards at local markets and garage sales. You can run into fake cards and products.

An ex partner years ago bought a fake booster box of HGSS once full of fake cards at the local night markets. It was tough to tell her that they were fake when she brought them home. She thought she had found a great deal.

[effectspore]

a booster box of the latest set is always the answer

[pikazardcollector]

I’ve been ripping evolutions and tag all stars like crazy lately and I have been having a blast!