Modern cards in high grades are fun little speculations or good ways to flip but are bad value for collectors imo.
99.99% of modern cards aren’t rare and are in amazing condition. 8/10 of the time they will grade PSA 10 straight from the pack and 50% of the time they will grade BGS 10 or better (better being black label). The large quantity of cards being graded means that you wouldn’t need to look far to pick up a PSA 10 example of any given card.
Unless you really care about collecting grades the premium you pay for 1 high grade modern card could be used to pick up so much more.
Personally, I play the TCG competitively still and the only modern cards I collect are from the decks that I’ve had the most success with. For example graded PSA 10 cards like FA/SR Pikachu & Zekrom GX, Holo/RH Team Up Gyarados, FA/SR Lucario & Melmetal GX.
I do have nearly complete master sets of XY Evolutions and Hidden Fates though, opening packs from both those sets made me feel like it was 1999 again. Also, I am hoarding some booster cases of Evolutions not for investment but to open/grade eventually because that’s what I enjoy the most.
i don’t think you should judge how other people collect their cards…if someone wants to display sealed boxes to look at, how is that being lazy? If i wanted to build a wall of sealed booster boxes so i can keep my wife out on the other side, i think i’d be more diligent and hard working than most.
There’s an inherent difference between collectors and investors. Raffi touches on this as well on his videos as well. Ultimately, collectors would WANT to have a specific item with no specific goal of when to let it go. Investors will look for the cheapest price and have a set target of how much they are willing to let it go for WHEN they buy the product, i.e. “i’ll buy a Pikachu for 30 and a year later sell it when it’s 60.” Also, some people prefer binder collections as opposed to slabs. How can you judge their collection because it’s being “damaged” in a binder? I bet you collectors like SMPratte, David Persin, youtuber RealbreakingNate and etc etc all have cards that can be graded as a 10 in their binder.
And now to answer the thread question! I do both binder and slabs. The chase cards i’ll get it graded but the others as a set will be in a binder. It leaves that blank spot for that chase card in the binder so i’m always torn whether i should get a second card for the binder or not…To finish off, i’ll go to pokellector.com and mark down what i have so i know what’s missing and i’ll buy singles. There’s plenty of modern to have sealed and opened!
@dblast, I collect both modern and vintage, English and Japanese, binder and slabs. I think every era has something to offer and modern’s biggest offerings are the cheapness and availability of mint condition cards to me. The thing that draws me to the vintage cards is the artwork which I feel modern is lacking BUT I do still enjoy the visual appeal of a lot of modern cards. I just treat them differently i.e. I’d buy canvas artwork of some vintage cards but I wouldn’t buy a canvas of a rainbow rare charizard.
This has been discussed to death so I won’t spend much time on it, but you can absolutely earn money in modern and I don’t think anyone contests that. For a lot of popular cards, the ability to buy a mint card, grade it at a 9/10 and flip it for profit is quite apparent i.e. eeveelutions/charizard from hidden fates. However, one thing I will note about modern sets is that I hope it doesn’t become like basketball cards, where people go around and buy up the entire store and resell for massive markups. This has been happening with Hidden Fates, plenty of people going around buying up the entire stock of tins/boxes and then leaving others to either buy online at a markup or go around to multiple stores hoping to find some available. I love the hobby and one of the biggest appeal of modern is its accessibility and affordability. It would straight up suck if this wasn’t the case anymore.
Regarding buying modern cards to profit later, principally it’s possible but with any modern card, I question the top end growth potential going forward. I don’t doubt you can make some money on them, but one of the reasons PSA 10s of vintage cards are so expensive is that they were/are harder to grade. Most modern cards are not like that, which results in ease of grading and higher 10 pops. This could have a significant impact on the ceiling of prices, but it also might not i.e. modern charizard prices. I think there’s a complex relationship between boxes, grading, and pop reports which I’m not qualified to speak on but suffice to say modern is a different animal than vintage in this regard and it does change how prices could work.
I keep a binder where I put anything GX or better. Like to collect cool modern cards and random sets such as the General Mills cards and Detective Pikachu, other random promos, etc. Rainbows and textured full arts get 2 page spreads. Then when it’s filled up start a new one. Almost all are random cards pulled from various sets.
Regular holos, reverse and c/uc go in cardboard storage containers and get ignored.
Sometimes I’ll pick out a card from the binder and get it graded.Then will usually sell it because I don’t want random modern, sub $50 cards taking up space in my psa collection. So I do enjoy modern a lot more in binders.
Only recently started to keep some modern products sealed. Maybe I’ll sell them down the line for a profit, or maybe I’ll open some out of print product in the future for fun. Either way is good.
I buy a box of every modern Japanese box and open them and keep one of each C/U/R card in a binder in set order. If I don’t pull the cards I really want then I buy them.
For English I buy a few packs only to open and get the few singles I want. Mostly of my favorite Pokemon only really.
@quuador , while it’s ‘nice for collectors prices while others to focus on wotc’, it’s already happening and modern sought after cards are skyrocketing in raw card prices. Unfortunately sometimes there’s not much market data on their selling psa 10’s that reflect the actual demand for the card. The modern cards are drying up for sought after cards and prices have arisen that if one didn’t collect the secret eeveelution sets, it’ll only go up in price. You mention reserving some cards to sell for profit, not a bad idea to sell the cards you don’t favor as much or to trade them in to acquire cards more favored by you. Nonetheless, slabbed culture promotes highest prices as it’s been graded for condition and preserved in plastic.
@richi2rich , It’s better for pokemon economy then hoarding sealed products. Even buying a couple of graded slabs (if you hold modern sealed), provides some market data for the cards you preferenced slabbing, and helps that card’s price grow accordingly. You can build a nice wall with PSA slabs as that would be alot of booster boxes to build a wall! Get your favorite cards in plastic, the community obviously supports it and you’re on E-4 with elitist collectors. Binder copies maybe high grades, but 60% time they are under psa 10 from pack fresh.
@pokenastic Some secret rares going beyond $75 for nm versions. Ie. Sylveon FA secret. Those are worth slabbing and everything from the hidden fates set since it behaves like wotc 1st ed, and everyone’s grading wotc 1st commons. If you knew hidden fates behaved like wotc 1st ed set, wouldn’t you want to own as many psa 10 slabs of the hidden fates before they skyrocket? UK is already paying big bucks for booster packs. Get the card, not the boosters…
@xzini , you own psa slabs, dont you think your favorite pokemon in the packs would get encased in plastic if they were 10 candidates?
Buy some raw full arts of gen 1-3 Pokemon here and there, but don’t collect much else. If I get the itch to open packs then I’ll get a Japanese box, or a special Korean set box (like sm8b) because with 90% of English product I open I might as well be throwing money in the garbage.
Perhaps there are so many newer modern sets it becomes a lot of work to familiarize with modern cards. I’m not saying to collect sets of steam siege and slab them, but there are cards and even sets (xy, hf) that would be worth getting the 10’s for. But those that already finished their PSA 10 HF/Evo set probably don’t need to worry so much. And if you think your binder copies are PSA 10’s, lol ok.
@dilbert , I’m not saying to open English boosters over Japanese boosters, but if the foils were indeed harder to acquire for English booster packs, it wouldn’t be throwing away money to purchase the english card in PSA 10, they’re typically more expensive in set cards then their japanese counterparts for that reason.
The idea that I won’t open $5 booster packs because of bad English pull rates or pay $30-100 for psa 10 for the set’s cards, but I’ll probably need $300-1,000 for the booster box in the future is not good for the pokemon economy or for when that person in the future that spends $x money on booster box and opens it to not find his chase card in the box… Supporting Graded slabs supports pokemon economy as ebay’s reflected highest prices with graded slabs.
Some want the chase for scarce cards, but don’t want to open the booster packs or buy said scarce card in PSA 10 unless it hits X amount of min value is delaying pokemon economy and card’s potential.
If you’re willing to spend thousands on sealed booster boxes, you’d be doing yourself and pokemon economy for the set a favor by purchasing a few of the psa 10’s as well. No I’m not saying Buy the top charizard card and pay 1000s, but if you hoard hidden fates and don’t own any psa 10 hidden fates, what the heck that is so greedy.
@rybatony , who needs a house when you can have the 1st ed base set? Oh buy the house first? Ok, thats easy… buy the house then drop 150k on the 1st ed base set. Ok right on
If you are paying rent, you should really consider the modern sets first…
@dblast , I have read the thread and there are some points where I think some clarification is needed:
You spoke of serious/real collectors. What constitutes a serious/real collector? What isn’t a serious/real collector? Is it tied to a certain amount of money I have to spend per month, and is this amount the same for any collector regardless of their income?
In your opinion, can collecting sealed product be called collecting at all? Or is it always investing, because the element of appreciation is allegedly missing from sealed product?
You said that it seems to you that some members are just not educated enough to recognize that modern product is a good investment. Maybe you can school me here and tell me how we can make any predictions about the investment-potential of modern in the first place? So far, modern has flatlined for 90% of its entire existence (ignoring some minor fluctuations), and only recently did we see some serious growth of modern product. So my question is: How can we say that modern has any investment potential when we don’t have a history to base our predictions on? The past of modern product only allows us to say one thing: It has shown to have some flipping potential. But other than that? The minimum hold time of a real investment is 10 years. So even if you take the oldest modern product, you barely scratch those 10 years (it’s closer to 8 years for XY). And if I look at XY products and rate it on investment potential, it still looks not good because it was basically 7 years of very little activity and one year of increase. By any estimation, that’s not a good development. To say that modern is a good investment, we would have to examine the market for another 5 years at least and look if the current upwards trend is consistent. I also believe that many people who are saying that modern isn’t a solid investment are not saying this just because they don’t like modern, it’s because we lack a time line of past development to base our estimations on.
You said you defend modern product. As a bit of self-reflection, why exactly do you defend it? You already answered this in response to Quuador and said that you saw the lower entry prices of modern. So I assume that you already invested in modern product. Do you see a chance that you or other collectors of modern product defend it because you already invested in it? I could see myself in a scenario where I spent money on some product and desperately want it to be a good long-term investment, because otherwise it would mean that I bet on the wrong horse or just simply made an investment that’s sub-optimal. So because I’m so pot committed, I feel the need to justify my actions and my purchases, not based 100% on facts but also on my feelings about my actions. Does this way of thinking in any way apply to your reasoning?
Lastly, to answer your original question: If I buy modern product, it’s PSA graded cards, because I want the quality of the card to be clearly defined by numbers, not personal opinions. I also don’t buy sealed for the most part because I don’t have enough space to store many big items. Grading myself for modern is also out of the question because of my location, the costs outweigh the gains. Then I base my investment-purchases of modern product on the same factors that I apply to any investment-related purchase:
Pop report (how many copies are there and what’s the PSA 10:PSA 9 ratio → this is good for predicting whether the future market will be driven by hype only, or if there’s some legit scarcity behind it)
Method of distribution (cards that couldn’t have been bought are almost always more desirable than cards from products, and set cards are almost always more desirable than cards from a product with a determined content like starter sets)
Rarity/Pull-rate: Ties in with the former point: Were the cards distributed in a limited fashion? If not, was the pull-rate low?
Pokemon species: Is the species depicted on the card popular and therefore more desirable? Or is it just my personal favorite?
Potential for mini collection: Is the card a part of a mini-set or any other closed entity like same artist or same method of distribution? Examples are Masaki cards, Gold Stars, Shinings, Crystals, play promos. But also stuff like eeveelutions. One of the reasons why eeveelutions are so collectible is because with almost any release, you can create a small mini-set by collecting all eeveelutions from one release.
past history of the card: How did its value evolve over time? I’m talking about a period of 5 years minimum. Price spikes or bubblebaths do not count, it’s about the overall development.
The more points a card checks on this list, the higher its investment potential is to me. Looking at modern, I just don’t see the potential (yet). Population is very often oversaturated, modern set cards are often mass-produced, rarity is outweighed by the high production numbers and amount of PSA 10s due to high card quality) and we don’t have an extensive history for most modern product, and the few products that have one don’t show the longterm growth I want to see yet.
If I really had to invest in modern, I’d stay away from set cards 99% of the time (exceptions exist, like Mewtube) and focus more on Japanese promos with mini-set potential. Poncho Pikachus. Scream promos. Or special releases like the 20th anniversary Team Rocket suitcase or Mario/Luigi Pikachu.
I just don’t understand how many times people try to respond in a childish way. Ladies and gentlemen, the word doesn’t run in this way. Dblast gave a good try presenting his perception and I agree with it.
And to all the people holding strong emotions with their “true investment” and trying to argue back to make them sounds superior. Good luck.
Just enjoy the cards. Buy the cute or cool ones or the rares. Collect them all and have fun. From this standpoint, modern cards are all ways better.
Seems like serious collectors that want PSA 10 1st edition base set, if similar mindset, would want PSA 10 of ie. Hidden Fates set. Maybe not every single modern set released, but the the ones that have most favorable cards. Some modern collectors collecting 1-2 slabs would be a great start to a world of serious collecting, not to disqualify binder folks but graded cards are pretty cool…
Collecting sealed products is what LGS do, they also sell magic cards and sometimes sports cards. Are they that knowledgeable about the artworks or pokemon cards, probably not. They miss the appreciation of the cards inside, and are likely focused on later sale value of said sealed product. That’s how some people collect, but the ones that enjoy pokemon cards may prefer Graded Slabs. I think it’s important to grab a handful of modern slabs to diversify the collecting portfolio, to say the least.
Just because gamestop sells pokemon booster packs, doesn’t make them collectors, wouldn’t you agree? Unless you think gamestop is one of the biggest pokemon card collectors because of how many sealed products they’ve seen…
It’s difficult to speculate, but if you find a card you like, it’s likely another person will like it so it may go up in value. This can become tricky because even if it goes up in value, you might not want to sell the card since you only own one and are more of a collector then looking at it’s monetary value. Ie. I don’t really want to sell a Sylveon GX Sv76 for $400+ because I prefer to keep it. I bought it knowing others would like it too. Heck I remember buying espeon psa 10 for $60 before it was $300, even though the cards were available to grade, etc.
Unprecedented time in Pokemon. There is much hype for modern and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to convert those fanatics to slabbed products, they’ll work their way up towards vintage. How can we say that modern has any investment potential when we don’t have a history to base our predictions on? We mustn’t be too focused on the past, but look towards the future with the current popularity of Pokemon. If you think kids and adults will like pikachus/rowlets, why would you not collect the psa 10 pikachus/rowlets? The principle of buying cards you like because you like it still applies, but rather then just buying the cards for binders that could have whitening on back or light scuffs on front, just get the PSA 10 slab and sell it down the line if you prefer binder cards. More stats will present itself in upcoming pokemon discussions, but there are indeed history of cards growing in value, and I’m not talking about the newest set ie. swsh2, I’m referencing modern and others have briefly touched on the cards they’ve accumulated in the modern sets that are worth mentioning, but to the reader to do their own modern homework. I have ‘vested’ interest since my cards are from wotc and modern. Think the wotc collectors would also like to see the rollercoaster ride that ‘modern’ pokemon cards are revealing, they’re furthest from a cap for some sets/cards as that pokemon is popular or the artwork is good, etc.
I see a lot of benefit for everyone to diversify and get modern products. That way the newer kids that join e-4 that want to talk about their Full Art Secret rares are not bullied into thinking it’s wotc or bust slab mindset. There’s way too many new people joining pokemon, that it would be better to include and develop these interests. Also, my pokemon journey consist of a pokemon store in the future and businesses that rely on finding those rare wotc collections for grading/flipping are thin and few.
The group to buy modern cards is massive, they should consider slabbed cards. If you buy pokemon cards in slabs for older generations, why not buy some modern slabs and rather then divide wotc / modern?
@7l7l , Oh you think it’s mint in binder. Get a couple psa 10 slabs and see real mintiness. lol
for modern, i used to buy a new booster box during release to open for the enjoyment. then sell all the rares, ultra rares, etc. to try to break even on the money spent on the box. if there is a card/artwork i really like, it goes into my binder. on the rare chance that i think something might be great to get in a psa slab, i usually buy it. i don’t do much grading myself, particularly now. i’ve been doing this for MTG as well. i usually come out a bit short on the box money, but i think the enjoyment is worth the gap. with MTG, you can almost always break even or make a small gain with this method. in short, i recommend it for anyone on a budget but enjoy pack openings.
i’ve stopped since sword and shield, however, because i’ve had less time recently. there is for sure work involved with selling cards on eBay one at a time. instead, i would just buy a few packs (usually less than 5). it gives me the satisfaction of doing some pack opening, and the amount of money spent is low enough that i don’t care about breaking even. i hold all the leftover cards in storage till i can sell the bulk at an event where there are vendors. last year i got back almost $100 from a few thousand cards. MTG bulk is worth way less, so I’d have to save longer to get enough to be worth anything. this model works for what i want to get out of the modern sets.
the biggest reason i don’t normally buy psa modern cards is while it’s in print still for a few years, card prices don’t usually jump because of consistent availability of raw, mint cards.
I love collecting modern, I think the artwork on 90% of the new sets are great! Not to big a fan of GX-V cards tho (5 Ban sucks)
How I collect is that I buy atleast 2 boxes of japanese and 1 english and open everytime a new set comes out Put the once I like the best in a binder and the others go in a box
So many people are waiting for xy booster boxes to run out, when the cards are already going up in prices for some cards… When they’re over $200/300, you modern folks might overlook the psa 10’s because of the price they’ve arisen to.
love that you guys collect modern, I think you’d enjoy it as well to have a couple of your favorite cards in new sets as slabs, whether they be japanese or english… See what the slab fuss is about.
If it goes up in value, it may surprise you too!
lmao. Some are wondering why promote modern, do I have some kind of store or something to promote? -not really, just shop on ebay, there’s tons of modern slabs. Everyone should grab some…
Put the once I like the best in a binder and the others go in a box