Wondering what everyone’s opinion is regarding masaki promos? To me, it seems crazy that most of these 9’s are around $100-$200 (with the exception of Gengar). The pop is low & there doesn’t seem to be many / if any available raw in mint condition.
Were the prices ever higher than they are now or are these the current record prices for the promos?
I just bought a few 8 sets off a guy & think I’m going to hold for awhile as I’m anticipating price increases for these. I know these are probably considered a niche market but c’mon… Only $100-$200?
Gorgeous cards, amazing backstory, great art, and nice value.
Like you said, the only thing is it is a little niche still. All it takes is 1 or 2 hyped up YouTubers to promote it and get people to see that these cards even exist. Most people will love the art and the story of the cards. Just lacking majority awareness.
@mewtuw, Smpratte has hyped them in a few videos. They are a great item to collect and I’m super happy with my PSA 9 set. I think a lot of japanese promos are behind the english cards, but you can expect them to rise in value. Just give it time. A couple years ago the 9’s were all about 100 bucks each, so there has definitely been growth. Anyone will tell you that a card doubling in value in under two years is a good deal and Gengar has done with a 2.5 multiplier I think.
In my opinion it’s a pretty good bet to think these could go up - and they have. The 10s have move up significantly in value which leaves 9s tantalizingly affordable. In these tumultuous times people are already starting to get priced out of english WOTC PSA 9s, and the Masaki are basically the gateway drug to Japanese promos that people may start turning to. The increasing price of Gengar will also start to pull up the value of the rest of the set.
The cards don’t need to hyped on youtube. They will do fine on their own.
makes me wonder about the Web Gengar as well since it’s not like the AWESOME disco Gengar image was produced in hugely large numbers, and they did have first ed and unltd issued in the web set
I Love seeing my name next to hype. Watch out GaryVee.
The fact people believe I am the primary reason for prices moving is hilarious.
Masaki cards are inherently tough to grade and popular. They aren’t consistently available in mint condition on the ground floor (Japan). Naturally supply is limited, regardless who is talking about them.
Lol oh come on man. I don’t think YOU are the reason. I simply pointed out you have mentioned them in some vids and have said they were a great item to collect. It’s fine, I mentioned them in a vid too when I bought some and I agree they are awesome to collect. I guess that means I hyped them too. We can be hyper brothers… together!!!
One final note… favorite move growing up was “hyperbeam”… what’s better than a beam that hypes???
In all seriousness, Even the largest channels can only drive demand if the variables are there. Unlistedleaf gets a lot of unexamined heat for “hyping” up cards, when in reality it has little to no affect. His Festa 2016 video stuck because the card is actually the rarest festa + the most desirable. Where the same comments about reds Pikachu and cards that common had 0 affect.
@smpratte I wouldn’t necessarily say you “hype” cards, it’s more like you shine a light on already great cards that may be under appreciated, and organic interest naturally increases as a result.
There’s a couple of PSA 9 Gengars listed for $999 on eBay at the moment. Sellers obviously see that they could sell given the low availability. I picked up a PSA 8 Gengar for $100 last year, but as one of my favourite cards, I’ve been looking for a 10 since then. The low pop makes them almost impossible to pick up. Because there are relatively few recent sales, I’m guessing the next public one could be pretty big and fuel the hype train.
NB if Scott’s hype worked every time then Southern Island would be up there with 1st edition base
Yeah - the last 10 sold for over $1.7k on PWCC, I believe. 10’s are out of my reach but there’s less than 100 9’s for every single one of these, besides Alakazam (119). They should not be around $100-$200. The gengar did sell for $500 as a 9 - so hoping the others follow suite.
Yeah I agree - I think it’s only a matter of time before they do. I might try and pick up the rest of the set in an 8 now before then! I have the Gengar and Alakazam but got sidetracked when looking to pick up the others. I’m not as exposed to PWCC auctions being in the UK, but will have to keep an eye out. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next Gengar 10 goes for $3k+ but we shall see!
I sent in my complete Masaki set to be graded recently and they were the only grades that caught me completely off guard - I thought all my cards were mint but they came back as PSA 6s. Apparently they had super subtle indents. So these are the rare cards that I am just going to crack open the cases for and enjoy them in their raw form along with the rest of my Vending / Red/Green QS / Bulbasaur/Squirtle deck cards. That might my favorite binder to flip through.
But anyway, back to the question at hand - I think the Masaki cards are great and the PSA 9 values are amazing in this market.
@smpratte, I think its not about YouTubers hyping up random cards that aren’t actually rare but more just hyping up cards that are truly limited and awesome and rare that not many people know about. Not creating inorganic hype but rather an awareness to a large pool of fish that would likely think Maskai promos are amazing, like most of us on here who know about them already do.
No offense you are a small time youtuber compared to some of the big guns but your video on promos is what introduced me to the Masaki and vending series and now its saved in my ebay to hopefully buy someday. Imagine the amount of people a huge youtuber would bring to this limited set?
TL;DR - YouTubers bring awareness of niche cards and sets to the masses
Absolutely! And no worries about calling me small time. That’s why I was teasing earlier about hype, because I’m not a proper youtuber.
Not trying to be too serious guy, but I think the word “hype” is typically a scapegoat for people’s frustrations. We are ultimately only collecting because of 90s “hype”. I don’t think inorganic hype really sticks. It’s mainly a buzzword to avoid having to make a specific point about why something is happening.
Where “exposure” makes more sense. As many have mentioned in this thread, videos can put focus on cards, and that exposure only sticks if there is interest!
Exactly, and a set like this will have actual interest after exposure. I mean come on, look at it! So I was saying its only a matter of time before it is featured somewhere and the masses become aware of it and lust for it (organically lol).
Funny on the 90s hype thing cause my dad the other day was trying to say that pokemon is just a “fad”… Ok dad, just like the internet is a fad…
That’s very true that niche cards stay niche until someone brings them to the surface. It’s still niche, but I think maybe 4 or 5 years ago I picked up the Gotta Mew and Gotta pikachu. I didn’t know what they were at first until I did some serious digging. I followed up by making edits to bulbapedia and added them to the list of unnumbered promos to help make people aware they existed. Only then did I notice a slow climb in interest among collectors. I got that piakchu for 4 bucks and it graded a PSA 9 worth who knows just because it is so niche. Gemmintpokemon bought a 10 copy of the mew for around 1000 nucks too.
Another niche card I really like are the champion road Johto starters. Not sure why so few people like them, but I think it’s so cool that they have a gold star genesis symbol.
