I’m trying to gauge how rare world champions pack unlimited is. I see a lot of the cards are very low pop, but just how hard is it to find this set/minty copies of these cards. There’s the eeveelution gold stars in this set too!
I started looking for an unlimited WCP Pichu at least as far back as 2015 and I didn’t find one until January 2021. It was the last Japanese Pichu card I needed and prior to that I had been offering $600 for a minty copy.
Now that I have the card though I’ve seen 5 more come up for sale (of which I bought 4) and I’m aware of 2 changing hands privately.
The gold stars are a lot easier to find; not because they’re more common, but rather because those are more likely to get listed. The rest of the cards from the set are just filler, so very infrequently appear.
It is my belief that the packs were only available to purchase at Spring Battle Road 2008, whereas the 1st edition version was available to purchase both online and at various Battle Road events in 2007. This at least helps explain why the unlimited versions of the cards are seen so infrequently.
This is correct as far as we know, the unlimited packs and boxes were scheduled to be sold at every day of the 2008 Spring Battle Road, but after the first two days the rest of the event ended up being cancelled due to bomb threats. So uld ended up with only 2 days of in person sales total.
@op That’s also my buy thread that Chris linked, I’m working on completing a master set of unlimited WCP and those 14 cards are all that I am still missing out of the 108. This has been a really weird set to complete honestly… you can find the gold stars daily but you’re going to pay $4-700 each if not more for a mint copy. But common rarity cards may be listed once a year by one seller in Japan. I’ve grabbed some of the holos for $7, and I’ve grabbed some non holo commons for $30+ each. It’s been my mindset that I don’t know how long it will be until I see another one of the cards come up, so I should probably pay the sometimes high price as long as it’s not too egregious… I’m looking at you mr. $80 for two energies. The thing is that while these cards are unquestionably very very very rare, there’s also almost no demand for them outside of niche Japanese collectors such as myself. No demand = low price, it’s that simple.
I also search multiple Japanese sites as well as ebay every single day for cards using a couple of different search terms so I’ve been able to get most of the cards listed in the last couple months. Even though I only have 14 cards left to complete the set I have no idea how many weeks or months or possibly years it’ll take to get them all. I’m hoping it’s not that long!
From time to time I will have a period of searching heavily for the mint gold stars. I’d like to grade all three PSA 10. I’ve gotten two 9s, one 10 (Jolteon), and a handful of <7 condition from gambling on bad photos.
I’m sorry, I sold them (besides the Jolteon 10) to help recuperate the cost from my search. But, I am still searching for Vaporeon and Flareon gem mint, so if you like, I can DM you next time I come across an Unlimited binder copy. Do you have a condition preference/budget?
Just looking for a nice front, no creases, so it looks decent in a binder. Not looking to pay mint prices, so I am in the $100-$300 range each depending on condition. Thanks for thinking of me and hopefully you find some nice minty copies out there.
It might be tough in that price range for a no-creases/nice front; my CGC 6 Vaporeon gold star unlimited sold for $290 recently. But I will keep an eye out
Sealed unlimited WCP booster packs have only come up fore public sale twice in the last 2 years from my memory and one was an auction that ended up being an opened pack (The bottoms can be opened without the top stickers being removed, however this does leave creases at the bottom). Before that I can’t remember too many public sales in the last 10 years.
The sealed packs are much rarer to find then then the cards (though some cards in the set seem to be much rarer then other cards, even though they are the same rarity) for another reason being that the boosters where made from a thin cardboard that easily bends and can become flattened out if not looked after. Making them harder to store and keep unopened over the years.
I only know a handful of people with a sealed unlimited WCP booster.
As the others said before me, UED World Champions Pack is extremely rare/scarce.
It took me tens and tens of hours and I had to speak to hundreds of people (really) to eventually find a UED WCP booster pack. It is in good condition, still have the seal but has been opened at the bottom to check for the cards and everything was put back inside. So it is complete (cards, ad, plastic ring), but not unopened.
I am only aware of one sale on Mercari on August, 2020, containing 25 booster packs, 10 were apparently unopened (« apparently » because when they are gently opened by the bottom, it can be very hard to detect that they have been opened) and 15 were opened.
The buyer opened nearly everything if I remember correctly.
We did a lot of search with the other people who commented about how UED WCP was released and it’s nearly sure that they were only sold during Spring Battle Road 2008 which saw 3 of the 5 events cancelled due to bomb threats. So only 2 events were held.
The fact is that even in 1st edition this series was not really appreciated in Japan. And when unlimited was released at Spring Battle Road 2008, the series was nearly one year old and several DP series had been released so Japanese people were not interested in it.
Seeing the population of graded unlimited gold stars (only 1 PSA 10 Vaporeon for example and never more than 6-8 of each gold stars graded + some BGS that I have seen) I came to the conclusion that less than 5,000 packs were sold, and I am pretty sure it is far less. Maybe 2000 is a fair number.
I will add that I have never seen any UED WCP booster box. This is my next goal, to prove that they existed, and the dream would be to prove that there is still one sealed somewhere…
Regarding the following statement: “We did a lot of search with the other people who commented about how UED WCP was released and it’s nearly sure that they were only sold during Spring Battle Road 2008 which saw 3 of the 5 events cancelled due to bomb threats. So only 2 events were held.”
A little more rare than that. There were 5 venues in various cities where the tournament was to take place over the course of several days (i think 5-7). 3 of those venues were cancelled without a single day of tournament play or prize/tournament cards awarded. Two venues had couple days of tournament play before their venues were ultimately closed down/cancelled as well due to the bomb threats. This is why prize cards like 2008 Spring Battle Road Cynthia’s feelings barely exist and are actually rarer than the trophy card Miracle Diamond (which was awarded in 2007 Spring Battle Road and was intended to be given out again throughout the 2008 Spring Battle Road tournament.
In short, and getting back on track, you could probably only buy these cards at the following two venues over the course of 1-2 days:
Hokkaidō conference: Sapporo Park Hotel, Sapporo on March 23, 2008.
Kansai conference: Asia & Pacific Trade Center (ATC), Osaka on March 29-and 30, 2008.
Thanks for the addition, I indeed once read this information but could not prove the fact that they were cancelled before the end because of the date of bomb threats.
It seems the information about cancellation appeared on the beginning of April, so I was not sure they were cancelled before the end. But yes I always kept that information in mind.
Yes that’s crazy to see how rare Cynthia’s card is.
And for UED WCP, I would love to have more information but even Japanese people do not know a lot, this is very specific, I need to find the right person.
I have the information straight from the source. I meant to start posting a collection thread on wednesdays but got too busy after my first two weeks. I’ll post about WCP Unlim and Cynthia with the info you’re looking for tomorrow.
Oh that’s so cool I can’t wait to read this.
After you share your information I will probably make a post on my IG account since I love WCP and sharing new information about it (if you are okay with it of course)
(if you are okay with it of course)