I’ve heard other people say this before so I know it’s not an original opinion, but to me the Trophy Pikachu cards should absolutely be the crown jewel of the hobby, not the Illustrator. For the following reasons:
1 - They were the very first trophies to be awarded.
2 - They are *truest* of trophies, being awarded for victory in the trading card game tournament
The counterargument in favor of the Illustrator is:
1 - Singularity (it’s only 1 card as opposed to a 3-card set)
Whether the trophies or the Illustrator has the better art is debatable; IMO all 4 cards have amazing art (but my personal favorite is the No. 1 Trophy Pikachu).
And to be clear, I include the 2nd and 3rd Tournament trophy Pikachus in this - while the 1st tournament takes top honors, I wouldn’t call the 2nd and 3rd tournament far behind. They all have the same art and even when combining all 3 tournaments each card had a distribution of just 32 - lower than the Illustrator.
I can see the argument from both sides… but to me, the Pikachu Trophies are the holiest of the grails, not the Illustrator.
@hyruleguardian , I made a thread that went into detail about this discussion. People on both sides made many good arguments and in the end it was just not possible to determine the true holy grail. In terms of most valuable card it’s probably the illustrator, because it sold for more than the trophies.
As for my totally professional unpopular opinion, I think that almost all non-Japanese vintage cards up to Skyridge are overvalued and overhyped simply because of the fact that they are wotc cards. I do not think that early/vintage cards are overrated because they came first, but I do think that people are hyping up these cards way too much just because wotc produced them and not Nintendo. Just as I believe that you should buy the card and not the grade, I also believe that you should buy the card and not the publisher (if you catch my drift).
1st Ed Base Set Charizard is overrated, as the print runs are the main reason for it’s rarity.
Secret Wonders Charizard is objectively best.
The HF Charizard GX has low pulls but plain Charizard cards have a better chance at increasing in value due to not being associated with TCG-specific gimmicks.
Evolutions is an amazing set and undervalued for what it is.
Mega Charizard Y looks like a natural evolution instead of being an edgy fanmon like Mega Charizard X.
5b. M Charizard Y is the best Charizard form period.
Early EX, DP and XY series are undervalued also.
Flashfire is shaping up to be the next set to be $100 a pack, which is insane for a (relatively) modern set.
Gen 6 in general has aged better than it had any right to.
5ban art isn’t bad but is far too overused and too smooth.
A SwSh shiny Charizard secret rare would eclipse the Hidden Fates one instantly.
This is like one of my biggest pet peeves. Puts me in a lose-lose scenario. If there was a “lowest” I’m willing to go, I wouldn’t be accepting offers and I’d just put it up to buy now for x price.
Pokemon cards are overrated. I don’t like them, the game lost everything I loved about it when I used to play back in the early 2000s. Ex and full arts are just graphic spam to me, I yearn for a simpler time. I own very few cards and I care very little about them. The only reason I have them is that when I buy collections some tend to have a few cards and I haven’t gotten around to selling them. That’s why you only see me posting about pins, coins, figures, etc. Almost never cards.
Maybe scarcity is what you mean.