According to tcgplayer pull rates, looking for a specific alt art is ~1 in 3 cases.
1 Like
What’s the sample size?
They say over 8000 packs. They’ve posted pull rates for the last three sets: Silver Tempest, Lost Origin, & Astral Radiance. Silver Tempest has the odds of opening a specific alt-art Pokémon V card as 1 in 674 or 1 in 3.1 cases. Lost Origin and Astral Radiance has it closer to 1 in 3.75 cases. Varies from set to set of course.
If you want a larger sample size you could take the average of all three sets they posted. Sample size would be close to 25,000 packs which is pretty good.
1 Like
Alt arts are not the rarest cards in the set though.
Rainbows are (whether they are desirable or not is another issue) and depending on the number in the set, the pull rate is close to 1 in 7-8 cases for an individual card.
Many PSA 10 from VMAX Climax have print lines. I personally don’t like them. Have to buy multiple to get 1-2 without print lines for collection and flip the rest back to market.
Desirability is not another issue, I think it’s very much tied to what we’re talking about here. Looking for a specific reverse holo of a card in a set also has terrible odds but because you get a reverse holo in every pack, you don’t care much when you pull a 1 in 200 reverse holo common.
Rainbow rares are 1 in 80 while alt arts are 1 in 168, according to TCGplayer’s analysis on Silver Tempest. You can argue looking for a specific rainbow card is “rarer” but no one considers rainbow cards rarer than alt arts, especially when you can go on TCGplayer and find singles for most rainbows under 10 bucks.
Rainbows in Pokemon vs god rares in DBS are not even comparable. The most desirable rainbow rare ever made is Charizard GX from Burning Shadows and it goes for $300 raw. Bardock god rare goes for $2000 raw. And Bardock is not even close to being the most popular character in Dragon Ball.
People care more about the type of rarity rather than the rarity of an individual item or event. You see this across most collectibles, with exceptions of course.
You can have a lottery ticket with a number sequence that is 1 in 292 million but if it’s not the winning ticket, it doesn’t matter.
1 Like
I just got my 13-card English submission. Most of these cards are re-submits. After my first GCR sub was a complete bust I caved and resorted to cracking the best-looking cards of the ones I thought deserved 10s. I did manage a few upgrades and thankfully they made it worth my while (and the cost of grading).
10 Likes
Thanks! I upgraded the gyarados to a psa 9 
1 Like
At least Absol, the most important card, got a 10.
nice return! i have a pichu in an 8 as well from a recent sub. like you said, it feels like theyre just throwing 8s out just because
Fair enough, but the reason alt arts are “rarer” is that there are fewer of them. The rates are the same as full arts.
You could just say, let me take Chesnaught FA, it’s the only one with Chesnaught, and then search out exclusively for it. It’ll be horrible because you’re only looking for one card.
So, does Pokemon need whatever rare from DBZ? Most certainly not. It’s not even easy to get cards to fit out your deck. If you are unlucky, I’ve seen 9-12 boxes to get an individual V card. And yet you need 4.
Stoked my cards are back even though it wasnt long (30days total under economy). Overall for my first time grading everything went well enough.
First some errors, almost exactly what I expected for the grades except my near-and-dear-to-my-heart Dragonite did better than I considered (I know exactly how it was stored for 20years) and the ungraded HF promo. I submitted it sealed to prove it wasnt tampered at all but apparently that didnt matter.
Squirtle art is just soothing to look at, Poliwhirl has a repeating diamond pattern on the foil layer peeling and obstructing going diagonally, Brigette is no texture, and a WOTC yellow filler card.
My general cards that I figured would do well to grade. Again, everything within or better than expected except Lisia, really thought it’d get over a 9.
Really happy with Latias and Blastoise, not bad for a cheap binder collection bought in 2018, and what the heck am I going to do with a 10 Sightseer? I dont need a card that expensive when that money can go towards decks.
And the one offs that I graded for fun. Eon ticket and a Playtest card I had come across.
Disappointed about Eon tickets grade but I like its quirkiness so thats the important part. Sorry for the playtest card not showing, until I get a “We absolutely will never grade this” answer I dont want to show it and compromise its ability to be authenticated.
Anyone know how to talk to CGC to give them proof or research information on a playtest Pokemon card
. Id submit it again in a heartbeat, I just want to see it authenticated so I can share it.
5 Likes
| 1 | 1 | 68646844 | NEAR MINT-MINT 8 | 1999 Pokemon Game 22 Pidgeotto 1st Edition | Card |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 68646845 | MINT 9 | 1999 Pokemon Game 22 Pidgeotto 1st Edition | Card |
| 3 | 1 | 68646846 | NEAR MINT-MINT 8 | 1999 Pokemon Game 63 Squirtle 1st Edition | Card |
| 4 | 1 | 68646847 | NEAR MINT-MINT 8 | 1999 Pokemon Game 63 Squirtle 1st Edition | Card |
| 5 | 1 | 68646848 | NEAR MINT-MINT 8 | 1999 Pokemon Game 63 Squirtle 1st Edition | Card |
| 6 | 1 | 68646849 | NEAR MINT 7 | 1999 Pokemon Game 63 Squirtle 1st Edition | Card |
| 7 | 1 | 68646850 | NEAR MINT-MINT 8 | 1999 Pokemon Game 63 Squirtle 1st Edition | Card |
| 8 | 1 | 68646851 | EXCELLENT 5 | 1999 Pokemon Game 63 Squirtle 1st Edition | Card |
| 9 | 1 | 68646852 | NEAR MINT 7 | 1999 Pokemon Game 63 Squirtle 1st Edition | Card |
| 10 | 1 | 68646853 | MINT 9 | 1999 Pokemon Game 45 Caterpie 1st Edition | Card |
| 11 | 1 | 68646854 | EXCELLENT 5 | 1999 Pokemon Game 43 Abra 1st Edition | Card |
| 12 | 1 | 68646855 | NEAR MINT 7 | 1999 Pokemon Game 30 Ivysaur 1st Edition | Card |
| 13 | 1 | 68646856 | NEAR MINT-MINT 8 | 1999 Pokemon Game 30 Ivysaur 1st Edition | Card |
| 14 | 1 | 68646857 | MINT 9 | 1999 Pokemon Game 39 Porygon 1st Edition | Card |
| 15 | 1 | 68646858 | MINT 9 | 1999 Pokemon Game 39 Porygon 1st Edition | Card |
| 16 | 1 | 68646859 | MINT 9 | 1999 Pokemon Game 39 Porygon 1st Edition | Card |
| 17 | 1 | 68646860 | EXCELLENT 5 | 1999 Pokemon Game 24 Charmeleon 1st Edition | Card |
| 18 | 1 | 68646861 | NEAR MINT-MINT 8 | 1999 Pokemon Game 24 Charmeleon 1st Edition | Card |
| 19 | 1 | 68646862 | GEM MINT 10 | 1999 Pokemon Game 24 Charmeleon 1st Edition | Card |
| 20 | 1 | 68646863 | EXCELLENT 5 | 1999 Pokemon Game 73 Impostor Professor Oak 1st Edition | Card |
| 21 | 1 | 68646864 | MINT 9 | 1999 Pokemon Game 77 Pokemon Trader 1st Edition | Card |
| 22 | 1 | 68646865 | MINT 9 | 1999 Pokemon Game 78 Scoop Up 1st Edition | Card |
| 23 | 1 | 68646866 | NEAR MINT 7 | 1999 Pokemon Game 58 Pikachu 1st Edition-Yellow Cheeks | Card |
| 24 | 1 | 68646867 | NEAR MINT-MINT 8 | 1999 Pokemon Game 58 Pikachu 1st Edition-Yellow Cheeks | Card |
| 25 | 1 | 68646868 | NEAR MINT 7 | 1999 Pokemon Game 58 Pikachu 1st Edition-Yellow Cheeks | Card |
| 26 | 1 | 68646869 | MINT 9 | 1999 Pokemon Game 32 Kadabra 1st Edition | Card |
| 27 | 1 | 68646870 | NEAR MINT-MINT 8 | 1999 Pokemon Game 18 Dragonair 1st Edition | Card |
| 28 | 1 | 68646871 | NEAR MINT 7 | 1999 Pokemon Game 42 Wartortle 1st Edition | Card |
| 29 | 1 | 68646872 | MINT 9 | 1999 Pokemon Game 46 Charmander 1st Edition | Card |
| 30 | 1 | 68646873 | NEAR MINT-MINT 8 | 1999 Pokemon Game 46 Charmander 1st Edition | Card |
| 31 | 1 | 68646874 | NEAR MINT-MINT 8 | 1999 Pokemon Game 46 Charmander 1st Edition | Card |
| 32 | 1 | 68646875 | NEAR MINT-MINT 8 | 1999 Pokemon Game 46 Charmander 1st Edition | Card |
| 33 | 1 | 68646876 | NEAR MINT 7 | 1999 Pokemon Game 46 Charmander 1st Edition | Card |
| 34 | 1 | 68646877 | MINT 9 | 1999 Pokemon Game 46 Charmander 1st Edition | Card |
| 35 | 1 | 68646878 | NEAR MINT-MINT 8 | 1999 Pokemon Game 46 Charmander 1st Edition | Card |
| 36 | 1 | 68646879 | NEAR MINT 7 | 1999 Pokemon Game 46 Charmander 1st Edition | Card |
| 37 | 1 | 68646880 | NEAR MINT 7 | 1999 Pokemon Game 44 Bulbasaur 1st Edition | Card |
| 38 | 1 | 68646881 | MINT 9 | 1999 Pokemon Game 19 Dugtrio 1st Edition | Card |
| 39 | 1 | 68646882 | MINT 9 | 1999 Pokemon Game 49 Drowzee 1st Edition | Card |
Craziest sub ever, long story short I was super lucky to find a lady who had an open 1st ed base box this summer and I bought the entire contents. They were stored with no sleeves but also not played. Everything looked PSA 8ish to me. I expected all 8s and basically did better than I could have ever dreamed. Somehow, some way the grader gave a chameleon a 10. I need to see that thing when its back because I did not expect any 10s here. Dont even care about the 5s, that charmeleon made it all worth it. In my past sub of all pack fresh ex reverses I got no 10s and these base 1st eds were stored for 23 years with no sleeves and a 10 snuck in. No up-charges yet, though I used my friend’s PSA account so maybe he got one. Idc if I need to pay it though. Was super sad about my last sub but this one which I thought would be worse was great for what I expected!
10 Likes
I would love to hear the long story. Where did you find this mythical woman with a 1st ed Base Box?
1 Like
I actually found her on ebay. I like buying raw cards and grading myself at BGS and I was working on a base holo set. She had been selling the 12 box holos she had individually. There was a time over the summer/spring this year where you could buy clefairy/chanseys/hitmonchan (lower end holos from base) for like 200$ at auction in psa 7ish quality raw. That felt stupid to me so I told myself I would not let any end below 300$ or so and bid on all I could find (which put me in contact with lots of low feedback sellers).
I ended up winning a good amount. Whenever I won one from a seller who had low feedback I threw the good ol “thanks, if you’ve got anything else lmk” message. One lady did respond. She had I think 8 or 9 holos left (no charizard or blastoise), so I asked if she sold off ebay (yes I know this is frowned upon but I like it better). This is all after only buying one chansey from her so she didn’t really need to trust me but Im glad she did. I did not have enough money to buy everything at once but she didnt seem to mind so over the 2 months I bought 3 or so holos every couple weeks. I was always happy with the conditions so eventually I started paying F&F which she liked. When she had no holos left I said thanks and went on my way.
She then messaged me and said she had other pokemon things. At that point I was ready to buy whatever she had. She sent me an overview pic of a somewhat sorted 300+ non holos including rares and starters. I was so excited I bought the whole lot and asked if she had more. She actually had 800 shadowless non holos too, I assume from 3 or so shadowless boxes. I bought those for a good price since shadowless non holos have fallen off hard. I did have to sell some slabs to afford these things but base 1st ed is special to me so I was happy to do it. I didnt grade any of those though. I just kept asking and she kept pulling out more stuff. I never find collections as I feel they usually go to the big wigs and I just felt so lucky (and still do).
She obviously knew a bit about tcgs and wanted fair prices, but she was not delusional about what they’re worth raw. I was all for it, sometimes I get too excited and overpay for stuff but she was very fair. I kept all 9 holos from her that graded BGS 8.5 for my set and the others got 8s, they probably would have been psa 7-8s and I like BGS. Everything she shipped me was in really cool boxes with hand drawn pokemon on them that looked more “90s kid” than anything ive seen in a long time. It was easily the luckiest and best purchase I have ever made. She was extremely nice too, one time she accidentally sent me the wrong copy of a 1st ed mewtwo, and I pointed out that the one she sent was more damaged than pictured and she apologized and offered to swap it. At that point I was all in and just set up the payment plan for them all. Towards the end, even when I basically had no money left I still wished she would say “hey I found more” because it was so fair each time. It ended up being all base though, she seemed like an old school fan who stopped right at base. Eventually she said that was all and her ebay page is no longer selling so it was right place right time for me. I still go after 0 feedback sellers because theyre the most exciting to me.
She never once called me “bro” or “fam” so I would have paid whatever she asked lol
15 Likes
This is a wild story! You sure got lucky.
I hate this more than anything.
Some people love to gamble 
It was pretty much luck yeah. And yes the gamble on 0 feedback sellers is one I do a lot. I dont open packs ever (even modern) so I let the new sellers be my gamble
1 Like