I’m still in shock when writing this post, but I just opened 12 ex era booster packs from various sets and wanted to share this extremely nostalgic experience with you guys on E4. They were meant to be opened, but I didn’t think it’s today, lol.
A little bit of backstory: I purchased the 12 packs from a single seller for about $4k USD 2 months ago. The seller advertised most of the packs as guaranteed heavy with a few as “highly likely”. I chose to purchase 12 packs to make it looks like a custom made booster box with 12 chances to pull holos, and a slim chance to pull a gold star.
Fast forward to today, I had a rather stressful work week and was trying to have some fun. I had my eyes on the packs and before I realized, they were all opened. In the end, I got 7 holo (or ex) pulls out of the 12 packs, with 5 packs left being light packs. I don’t think I make the purchase value back, but that’s expected, and I don’t mind since I really enjoyed the opening experience. I spent time going through each of the commons and uncommons, and they really helped activate my memories as a 9 years old boy. The most dissatisfying part of the opening was that I pulled two energies as non-holo rare, that really sucks, who came up this f**king idea to put energies as non-holo rares? I’m pretty sure I asked the same question when I was a kid, lol.
I almost forgot how much fun it was to open these packs and I’m seriously considering investing (or burning to be accurate) more into sealed products. The list and the photos below show the notable pulls in each pack (also added the pack weights info to contribute to our pack weight database). Enjoy:)
Format: - - - -
1st - TM Magma vs TM Aqua - Blaziken ex - Team Magma’s Rhyhon Reverse - 17.50
2nd - TM Magma vs TM Aqua - Team Magma’s Claydol Holo - Aqua Energy Reverse - 17.54
Congrats on the pulls! Original ex era is what I collect and grew up with as well. Very brave from a value perspective, but it sounds like it was well worth it enjoyment-wise. I hope to be able to open a couple packs again some day. Thanks for sharing!
For the love of god nobody, despite me asking a ton, has explained the labeling system to me with the tags haha. What are the differences in labels here? Pre-grades or something else?
Opening EX Series packs truly is a magical experience. Like you, I had accumulated a lot of EX Series packs, and I also opened quite a few recently (as you probably know since you’ve been in the pack weight thread haha). And the feeling is unbelievable. Regardless of what you pull, it’s always worth it for the experience alone. I’ve begun accumulating heavy packs again and I’m so excited to open them…
And congrats on the pulls! Especially on the Blaziken ex (I love that card so much). And Lapras ex isn’t too shabby, either. Seeing the silver border pop up as you open the pack is one of the most amazing experiences. It’s one of those truly priceless experiences. You and I are now 2 vs. 2 on ex pulls – should start a running tally to see who on this forum can pull the most exs lol.
Anyway, good luck on the grades with these!! And thank you very much for your valuable contribution to the pack weight spreadsheet – these aren’t packs that are opened too often so it’s so great to get more data! I’m updating the spreadsheet in a moment.
Ex sets are amazing, with the price of the packs these days there’s no way I would or could open any, but I can imagine the experience you had. With ex sets it feels like you always pull something good because the reverse holos are so good. I really wish Pokemon would go back with individual reverse holo patterns for each set.
Go for it! The value is really not too bad if you can pull some PSA 10s. And the pops are so low that it makes it very exciting. I pulled a Squirtle reverse holo from a TMTA pack (which is currently at PSA) and if it grades a 10, which I believe it will, it will be the first one in the world. The Blaziken that nostalgia_old_bird pulled also happens to be insanely low pop and will be easily worth 5-10x the value of the pack if it grades a 10.
Plus, the experience is priceless. Pulling an ex for the first time in probably 15 years was an indescribably amazing experience. It is absolutely worth it, and I really do think that every EX Series fan should go for it at some point. I’ve opened, at this point, probably $6k or $7k worth of loose EX Series packs and I don’t regret it for a second. Have I lost money? Absolutely. But it’s not something you do with the intention of making back the money – it’s all about the experience!
Haha, usually each color is associated with a specific condition in my labeling system, but this time it’s just randomly assigned since all of them are going to PSA.
