I understand where you are coming from because I have the same feeling towards the word ‘raw’ in context of grading. I would rather prefer the terms graded and ungraded. Raw just reminds me of Gordon Ramsay yelling at some poor chef.
Cheers!
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I enjoy a cards release history more so than it’s artwork. I can learn to appreciate most artwork but you can’t change a cards history.
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“Gem Rate” is a nearly useless metric that people seem to be basing large collecting/financial decisions on.
It necessarily affected by selection bias, and is impact by what people choose to send to PSA for grading.
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99% of slabs are junk.
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I have loathed Landorus Therian since Vert was but an innocent child. Time only deepens this conviction, like a river carving out a chasm ever deeper and more pronounced.
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Grading companies should give you the option to not slab your submission if it doesn’t get the grade you were hoping for. Obviously you still pay the grading fee.
It just saves everyone the charade of anything outside a 10 being desired and anything of value not being cracked and resubmitted.
I disagree. I think at least 70%, if not more, of cards being submitted are for flipping - whether instantly like Burgerchu or sometime in the future. So if the majority of people submitting don’t even want to keep it and are only doing it for monetary gain, then that tells you what they think of it.
I’m speaking generally when I say this, but as nice of a place as e4 is, a lot of the older collector base can have hubris that prevents them seizing opportunity during different market conditions. Or there’s a lot of groupthink/tribalism that causes people to avoid dipping their toes into other segments because a user who received 20 likes said otherwise.
“Modern sealed is junk” > missed out
“Don’t buy PSA 10s” > missed out on millions
“Graded cards are for flippers” > you see the pattern
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing either. Just because the loudest individuals on social media are flipping slabs for beeg money doesn’t mean one should avoid them entirely. Even the purest form of collecting requires money to access, and turning one’s nose up at certain aspects of the market is only shooting yourself in the foot.
You can be a binder collector, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with making a few hundred or thousand on the side to help fund the cards you truly love and will probably follow you to your grave.
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modern sealed is junk objectively coz if u bought in early 2025 and go to sell now u would literally be flat when every other pokey is up 6900-42000% 
I agree with you about the groupthink. In the few short years I’ve been here, I’ve seen that be disproved multiple times as well.
But I don’t mean that people shouldn’t flip or make money out of it when I say that most slabs are junk. I’m referring to the people buying it - that they are buying junk and don’t realize it.
It seems a little ironic that the flippers providing the service are the ones that are most clear-eyed about the value of these slabs in reality. They are just riding the wave because others are still so ignorant.
And by junk I don’t mean their value is $0, but that in the future for the majority of these slabs, there will be no premium compared to the raw copy and may even trade for a discount. The industrial nature that has taken over grading and the ever-growing amount of new cards across the entire TCG industry every year continually dilutes the existing pool.
IMO slab collecting is a mostly unnatural way to collect. It’s meant for high-end, display-worthy pieces. Not every card can be that yet millions of cards are graded every month with each one competing for the same limited display space.
There are a lot of species, niche, high-end collectors here so there may be a certain perspective-bias. I just cannot see a future where tens of millions of people setup display rooms or have briefcases to house all the slabs. It seems like an artificial engagement pushed because of the pervasive investment perspective tied to slabs and I think it will wear off in the future when the scale of it becomes too hard to ignore.
Thanks! They should extend that to bulk since that’s where most of the junk comes from.
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Takumi Akabane designed Victory Ring and Victory Orb. EW.
they are dirty now. they should be 5 dollar card.
This should be in the unpopular opinion thread
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Ngl, i agree with it going to $5, i would buy one.
5ban Graphics is not a single person, but a team of digital artists and designers working for Creatures Inc.
This sounds obvious but a lot of people actually forget this for some reason.
I don’t understand the Gengar premium vs Alakazam… In my mind those two are a pair & Gengar is/should be marginally more popular, not like 10x
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The same is true for the Creatures team behind all the wonderful 3D models featured in the console games.
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I like “crack packs” cause of the description, but at the same time, it doesn’t help the gambling and addiction notion.
Still, cracking packs is for playing draft or retail. Buy what you want as singles. (I hate the term raw, too, @mrbubbles . But I use it cause of convenience, and I hate that.) IMO, retail should not sell booster boxes sealed. Just single packs. One of my LGS does this, and they always have stock. It’s great!
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Made a few charts… Was curious about the premium between Sabrina’s Gengar vs Alakazam, think this trend holds broadly across the two species. The ratios have absolutely blown out in the last ~year…
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Most people are too lazy to spend time looking for good prices and feel like its more productive to just complain or talk about the high prices.
There have never been so many good deals in the history of pokemon compared to now
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