Disappointingly it looks like I didn’t post in the thread last year. After stepping away from Pokémon for the last 6 months of the year while putting my money towards real life adult things, it’s safe to say I didn’t achieve any of the Pokémon goals I would have set myself at the start of the year.
I think it’s interesting to see how much my goals shift in this hobby though, there’s so much going on it’s easy to get side tracked.
I should be able to get back into the hobby more next year, so with that in mind -
2022 Goals
Secret top priority (keep your pesky competition away)
Complete “History of the TCG binder”. Basically just a sample of my favourite cards from each era, including at least one of every kind of card ever printed (eg. one shining, one crystal, one gold star). I’ve been working on this since I first got back into the hobby and may finally be able to complete it next year.
Japanese base holo set in PSA 9
Complete binder sets of all Japanese neo sets
Complete binder pages for English alt art eeveelutions
I’m now on 82/120 PSA 10 and I missed out on what could have been an 83rd earlier in the year because I foolishly assumed I’d not be outbid despite bidding nowhere near my limit. Despite a significant increase in the PSA 10 population of quite a lot of Pichu cards I still need, not very many of them have surfaced publicly for sale yet. I also have a big stack of Pichu cards I want to send in for grading, but there’s no way I’m paying PSA’s current rates for that.
I did however add both the US and Canadian versions of the non-TCG Master Trainer Game Pichu cards (Instagram), so I guess technically I did hit my 8 PSA 10 goal.
The highlights of my 2021 were:
Adding the first print Wizards of the Coast Black Star Pichu uncut sheet to my collection (Instagram) - I never would have guessed last year that one of those even existed, let alone that I’d be fortunate enough to have the opportunity to acquire it.
Adding a practically mint condition Spanish 1st Edition Neo Genesis Pichu card to my collection (Instagram) - this is still the only Spanish 1st edition version of the card I’ve seen;
Adding a square cut Neo Genesis Pichu card to my collection (Instagram) - square cut cards don’t appear often for the Neo Genesis set.
I’m going to repeat my 2021 goal of adding 8 more PSA 10 Pichu cards to my collection. Right now it feels unlikely - I haven’t added a new PSA 10 to my collection since June - but as time goes on I’m sure a lot of those recently-graded PSA 10s will start trickling their way onto the market.
LOL! I promise my thought process was more like “Man it could make Charlie’s whole week if I found this!” I also search for Pichu and Clefairy errors with a similar mindset
Modern Binder Rainbow and Gold Cards: SUCCESS!
However, I’ve switched 95% from English to Japanese modern.
WOTC binder sets: FAILURE!
Regardless of many more valuable cards, I’ve also been missing the Non-Holo 1st Ed Giovanni since I purchased the set with that card randomly missing for $50 in 2009, which speaks to my sense of urgency; not sure why i thought I could complete EVERYTHING in one year.
PSA 10 Gold Star Gyarados: REVISION!
This is interesting because it’s no longer a goal. I stopped collecting nearly all PSA 10s in 2021 with a few exceptions. Now my goal is a PSA 8/9 Gyarados to one day be signed by Fukuda.
Art Academy Pikamania: FAILURE!
Still a big goal.
Espeon Play Promo: FAILURE!
Still a goal, but not as high as Pikamania.
No. 1 Girl Trainer: FAILURE!
LOL.
By these standards 2021 would seem like a bleak collecting year but my overall collecting priorities changed over the course of the year to make it an incredible year of acquiring new cards I love.
Unfortunately in 2022 I am really hoping to buy a house and so my goal should be to stop spending all my money on Pokémon cards. That being said, my irresponsible goals would be:
2021 was a great year for collecting for me, but I didn’t really set out any goals in advance. I did, however, start to think of what cards I most want to add to my collection, and my number 1 card I’ve always wanted is:
Espeon *
I haven’t really seriously considered buying one before but 2022 is going to be the year. I’ll likely be changing jobs and/or getting a raise this year, and should also be getting some PSA returns that I can sell to put towards my purchase.
Not sure exactly how I want to go about the purchase, probably going to look at a graded copy around the PSA 7 range. Planning to attend a few card shows when I can, gonna just stay open to a good opportunity.
One of my collection goals is that I’ve always wanted to catalogue/inventory my entire collection on your standard excel spreadsheet just so I can easily view it on my phone/computer. But I was a lazy bum in 2021, so in 2022 I hope to finally do that haha.
My purchasing really slowed down in 2021, but I think I have a solid list of things I’d like to do in 2022
Complete Sun and Moon booster box set
Hit 100 total packs of Dragon Majesty
Finish the non-holo portions of my 1st Ed Neo binders
Add 1-3 more WOTC clings to my collection
If priced fairly, get a Koga and Giovanni deck in better condition
Start a master set of VS series (Binder)
Start a master set of Ruby/Sapphire (Binder - mostly commons/uncommons this year i imagine)
Continue my master set of E-series (Binder - id imagine no more than 5 holo rares this year)
Japanese Championship Arena and a couple others in that realm
(Hopefully) A couple poncho pikachus - (that’d be awesome)
Overall just keep the momentum ive gained this year, Ive actually sold my car and cleared up a ton of debt recently which will definitely make alot of this possible. Hoping to have a great year ahead!
after buying so much in 2021… actually trying to sell a couple of the more expensive cards and getting experience/learning about the selling side… in order to fund more buying.
Looked back at my 2021 goals and it looks like I never listed them but my goals changed dramatically from binder collections to graded collections. Here’s a recap of 2021 and 2022 goals.
2021 recap:
Sold all binder cards
Collected all 32 Skyridge holos and all the crystals in PSA 9 besides Golem, Crobat and the big bad Zard which I still need all.
Collected all 32 Aquapolis holos and crystals in PSA 9 with Espeon being the only PSA 10.
Completed all Neo Destiny holos and Shinings in 1st edition PSA 9
Slowly Working on Expedition and Neo era favorites. Not doing whole sets for the other ones unless it’s down the line.
2022 Goals: Finish up Expedition, Neo Genesis, Discovery, and Revelation Favorites in 1st edition PSA 9 some I might settle for 8.5s or 8s if the price is roughly a third of PSA 9 price. I might go for the Gym Sets after Neo. I go for everything in reverse order due to scarcity and low pops for E series and Neo Destiny
Also it looks like it’s still hard to find respectable deals on graded cards thru eBay. Everyone is still listing cards well over what they are worth with unrealistic expectations on selling
I have a few larger typhlosion/Quilava/Cyndaquil cards left that I’d like to get. Namely the Kindergarten Pichu Illustration contest winner and the Zorua Pokemon fan winner. I would like to get those in 2022 and also find someone with a lot of mint bulk I can get a large amount of the more common cyndaquil/quilava set cards.
EDIT: This is mostly continuing on from my goals for 2021 yet I had a lot more Typhlosion to collect then and I very ambitiously wanted to get a Champions league 07, PLAY umbreon or a girl trainer. As much as they are still dream cards of mine I am happy to wait as it’s not something I can reasonably get in 2022 or any time soon. One day!!!
I’m probably pretty ambitious but I got a few lined up. I’m mainly going to continue building up as Mint of possible of a 1st Ed Base Set in PSA 9/PSA 10 grades. As the prices have dropped, I’m finally getting some of the best cards in PSA 10 at a somewhat reasonable price (relative to last year and even a few months ago). Got all the starters in 10 now except for Bulbasaur which I’m hoping to acquire next year. I’ve mainly been buying my favourites in PSA 10, the rest PSA 9 as some cards I just don’t really care for getting in a 10 (i.e. Metapod, Raticate, etc). I’m hoping to get at least half of the 16 holos by end of year next year, I got only 2/16 so far in PSA 9 grade which I’m really happy about since I’m pretty much priced out of the 10s at least for my own personal budget/risk tolerance. I just really like everything about 1st Ed Base cards long-term, it just feels like a ‘no brainer’ set to build in every possible sense.
Other than this, I’m also buidling up a 1st Ed Jungle holo set and I got 8/16 so far with 2 PSA 10s and 6 PSA 9s. Again, I’ve only bought my absolute favourites in PSA 10 and if over time I can replace the 9s with 10s I will but my main goal here is to just complete the holo set short-term. Hardest ones to track down so far have been the Eevee stages and the Snorlax but at least there’s a ton of them out there in PSA 9 at any given time usually.
And last thing is, I’m also slowly accumulating the Gym sets and Neo Gen 1st Ed holos. These are probably on the lower end of my priorities because I’m most interested in 1st Ed Base/Jungle era but at some point it would be cool to get these as well.
