I collect all sets from base set to power keepers, my childhood sets. I jump around a lot from which sets I add to depending on my mood. Sometimes im in an e series mood for a couple of months, then I get hooked on collecting ex’s. I’m always jumping around slowly completing all 30 or so sets at the same time.
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Charizard. I bought 3 holos and a reverse holo from evolutions set just on a whim 2 years ago for 10 bucks each. Now they are valued about 10x that each. Just can’t go wrong with that original Charizard art. It is just gnarly. It seems to me that certain sets just have 1 or 2 cards with iconic artwork that people love, aside from Charizard even, that which makes them very valuable.
I try to stick to my goals, but if something pops up that I really like and interests me, I’ll buy it. Atm my goals are complete set of shinings, my top 12 favorite gold stars (can’t afford all 27 and not a huge fan of the Japanese ones), and Celebi cards. Also trying to put together a complete set of shadowless and WoTC packs.
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I search PSA 9 or PSA 10 and sort by ending soonest and filter auction style and bid snipe anything that’s close to the cost to grading. Not even a year ago you could get mint cards for less than grading price. My current limit is holo/reverse for 20$ or 12$ for non holo. Some cards still slip by but not many in today’s market. Case in point of unlimited energy going for 40$ at auction. I don’t get dupes.
Other than that I research cards I like and buy them if the price is right.
Screenshot as example
I have no idea. I just buy stuff that looks cool, prioritizing old and rare stuff.
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I count up my Natta Wakes and see which card in the set I have the least of. Then I know what to collect next. 
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discord.gg/UtjfDG message a mod on the forum for access. Dont forget to pack your anti-sea rhinoceros undergarments
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If I like the artwork, it goes on my checklist to buy sooner or later
I’m basically a dog thats perpetually trying to chase way to many cars at the same time.
I let myself buy a psa card each payday for around 300-400 nzd. Crack open a few beers and just browse ebay for a few hours until theres something i like. No real rhyme or reason.
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Buy a mewtwo card that I don’t possess yet.
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When I first got back into the hobby, I spent hours poring over bulbapedia, pkmncards, youtube, etc. I ended up making checklists of cards that I want so I’ve been slowly checking things off. I’m primarily buying cards based on art so that’s how I decide what to buy next.
On a smaller scale, any time there’s a new miniset of cards I like I try to go after. The new gold Pokemon cards in SwSh and the Japanese Amazing rares are a couple minisets that just came out and I’d like to collect. So basically, whatever strikes my fancy and fits in my monthly budget.
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Much to my shock, this year I obtained the three hardest to get unique Chansey cards (Snap, No 1 Trainer, Expedition Sample Set). So now I’m picking up the remaining Japanese ones and will realistically have a life long goal completed by the end of the year (! Still can’t believe it).
My Chansey collection is currently just all unique arts in Japanese and English, so I did consider expanding to other languages, but it felt more like a chore and a pricy one at that than an enjoyable collection goal. Maybe one day. Also I want the No 1 named girl trainer cause yolo.
I have some long term English goals still underway, but to come up with new goals I pretty much browsed Instagram and saw cards or sets that caught my eye! There are some Japanese mini promo sets I’m into. I love the idea of a Tag Team master binder set. I’m also thinking about artist binders. I got the VS series set this year and want to get the VS theme deck cards next. Might go for English black stars promos. It’s actually overwhelming how much is out there but I gotta catch em all!
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