I go for specific species and art that I really like. I learn toward certain artists as well. Since I started too late and don’t really collect modern unless it’s a specific card that strikes me, WOTC and ex era are where I’m usually spending my money. Not a cheap way to go since finding loose ungraded is so unusual now, but I love looking through my cards since I hand picked only cards I like. I’m missing out on a lot by not having binders of sets to look through, or certain subsets, but couldn’t do it all so chose this route. No regrets since many of the cards I bought, I would have a hard time buying and paying up for now. So, while there’s a lot I missed out on owning and will probably never own, there’s the cards I did get that I’m very grateful to own!
I tend to have 2 goals running simultaneously. I have a main collection goal which is usually a higher end psa card, but because this can take some time to either find one for sale or save up the cash for it, I also have a fairly extensive binder collection. I like choosing a set and then just picking up one or two cheap cards for it when I feel that urge to buy while I’m waiting for my higher end stuff.
It’s working so far, but there are many more new shiny things that I like the look of every day. I love being a part of e4, but I must admit that I have bought more than a few cards because someone here posted a picture and I fell in love with it. Oh well.
My “personal collection” (meaning stuff I plan to never sell) is pretty small. I have my Politoed collection, consisting of several copies of every “rare” Politoed (Claire’s, Misty’s, Skyridge, ex, etc.). Then I have 15-20 cards that have strong sentimental value to me, but that doesn’t really ever get added to.
More broadly, I have a really strong affinity for E-Series stuff… I probably buy E-Series holos most and am most reluctant to get rid of them. Aquapolis and Skyridge, in particular, are very nostalgic sets for me and have the most beautiful artwork in the hobby IMO.
Awesome dude, I saw you PSA submission thread today too great cards!
Can I ask what you main wants are currently?
I focus on wotc Base - Fossil unlimited, ALL old-back Japanese cards (holo/promo/nolo-holo/set cards) ALL OF THEM. Japanese gigantamax (besides the rainbow rares).
But for other modern I just buy cards I like and every now and then I like to buy cards in other languages. Usually I buy Japanese modern for the quality of the card stock.
Unlimited Rage of the Broken Heavens Gyarados cards (Japanese Breakpoint), New Year Present Card, and (by some incredible stroke of luck and whatever effort I can afford) Snap Gyarados. Right now focusing more on the former two than the latter since I have to remain realistic. It means having to be more aggressive with what I have to save. I just bought two CD Promos and wanted to get the other two while getting the last few cards I needed to complete my English Volcarona cards, but realized after getting them that it took me farther away from my goals. So now I’ve done away with other side things to focus solely on completing my collection.
But I digress - It was a nice to take my focus away for a moment though - my search for the last few cards I need tends to be exhaustive so it was nice to have something tangible and different.
My main collection goals are all sets from base to power keepers. I jump around a lot and get in a mood for certain eras for a few months before getting proeccupied on another era. So a few months or weeks Ill be collecting neo cards, then ex cards, then e series cards. But I think I mostly get geared towards whichever sets I have the least amount of holos from to catch it up to the rest. So I’ll end up completing all my binder sets close to each other, 10 years from now 
@azulryu, Gotcha good luck with all your goals man, you got this!
Since I’m mostly a psa collector, I set my focus on 1 or 2 cards and then slowly save up for them. I just bought two cards off my list and will be focusing on 1 mon now so until I can save up quite a bit for a trophy, i’ll stick with my normal collection. If anything in modern comes up that piques my interest like Kanazawa boxes/s and s leggy collectors box, then ill buy those for the promos to grade. Basically just stay on 1 card.
Focusing on Kadabra psa 10 goal. Almost there…
What card are you after atm?
Good luck👍
I am a Japanese card binder collector. When I picked up collecting again, I wanted to get everything from beginning to the end of E-Series 3. This resulted in about 7 full binders worth of cards. Having done that, I have no personal ties to the EX series and was not sure I wanted to pick them up, but I have started slowly picking them up to fill out the end of binder 7 and start binders 8 and 9. I am not as passionate about the EX cards I am getting, but because I have never really seen them before it is like being a kid again seeing the art for the first time when I get them in the mail or look them up which has been a pretty cool experience.
I actually collect less than a year ago. Due to the current market I can’t keep up with all my collections at the same time (what a surprise haha 
). I’m glad to say I’ve been able to finish some of my collection goals, so I can focus more on one of my main collections.
My main collection is of course Pikachu in all languages and variations. When I came back collecting in 2015, this was the collection goal I had set my eyes upon, and right now I own 1474 unique Pikachu cards, with 42 more incoming, and (apart from the upcoming Vivid Voltage set) just 22 more officially released Pikachu cards left to find, and about 25-30 more unofficial ones I’d like to add as well. So not too shabby, if I say so myself. It’s hard to keep up sometimes, especially with releases like the upcoming Vivid Voltage set which contains four Ultra/Secret/Hyper Rare Pikachu cards, multiplied by 11 languages, which cost A LOT of money in total unfortunately… In addition, there are quite a few country specific releases every now and then. I for example have two Spanish Pikachu cards incoming; one exclusively released in Argentina and one exclusively released in Mexico. And I’m also still looking for a Spanish Pikachu exclusively released in Chile… All pretty tough to find if you live in The Netherlands (Europe) and don’t speak a single word Spanish. 
Another goal of mine is also all languages and variations, for my favorite Pokémon Seviper. I’ve started this collection 3.5 years ago, and I’m happy to say I’ve 100% completed it since this part Monday, when the last two Indonesian Seviper cards arrived from my Indonesian contact. The Japanese unlimited edition World Championship Pack Seviper and Battle Frontier cards were the main bottleneck for this collection, though. But I’m happy to say this collection is now complete. 
Here some pictures, excluding the Japanese unlimited WCP and two Indonesian Seviper cards, for which I still have to update the scans.
My third collection goal, which is currently 100% complete as well, are all English and Japanese exclusive Full Art Supporter cards. This collection is amazing to browse through in the binders, and I’m so glad I started this collection two years ago. Right now it’s primarily just keeping up with new releases, and hoping there won’t be any more expensive Japanese exclusive releases in the near future. Here some pictures of my completed collection.
My fourth collection goal, which is almost complete, are all raw, sealed, and graded Moltres WotC #21 artwork variations in all languages. This is my favorite artwork of all existing Pokémon cards, so I have this little subcollection dedicated to it. A few months back I’ve been able to find the Australian sealed variant with Game Boy Color insert as well as a sealed unlimited edition Japanese Pokémon Web booster pack containing the Moltres, so all I’m still missing is a 1st edition Japanese Pokémon Web booster pack, and perhaps a CGC-10 graded English Moltres, to finish this collection goal. Here some pictures of my collection thus far.
My fifth collection goal, which was finished, but with the latest release not anymore, are all Ancient Mew cards as PSA-10. There are right now six different Ancient Mew variations. Here are the four oldest ones from pre-2001 in PSA-10. And here is the Japanese ©2019 version which I graded a bunch myself. So all that’s missing now is the Korean ©2020 version, assuming PSA will grade them that is. If not, I’ll go with a CGC-10 instead once they offer grading of foreign cards. I currently have two Korean Ancient Mew cards incoming to try and complete this sextet in the future.
My sixth and seventh collection goals are both put on a hold for now. I collect the entire National Index, including all Pokémon forms, gender differences, and shiny Pokémon. Here my collection thus far. I have yet to add the entire gen 8, and all forms/shiny Pokémon released during the Sword & Shield era, but I won’t do this anytime soon. Another collection of mine are all Yu-Gi-Oh rarities for the Japanese OCG, Korean OCG, and English TCG, including misprints. Here my collection thus far. I did recently add three very rare misprints, and I’m still on the lookout for a fourth. But apart from that I haven’t keep up with new releases after the TCG 10,000 Secret Rare was released, which just like Charizard cards was 1000+ USD from day 1 of the release… 
So both of these collections are on a hold for now, and no idea when I pick them up again. Given today’s market, this Vivid Voltage set, and the upcoming 25th anniversary which will be packed with Pikachu releases as well, I doubt it will be anytime soon or at all…
So yeah, as I’ve said, I collect too much at once, haha. I’m glad many of these goals are now finished though, so I can focus everything on Pikachu (and keeping up with new releases for the FA Supporter and Seviper collections).
All these collections can be found as lists in my signature below.
Greetz,
Quuador
So what is the End of E-series 3 exactly? is that the Skyridge equivalent or is VS the last Japanese E-Series set? Or maybe something completely different?
@quuador, Great to hear from you. I love seeing how in depth your collections and posts are! Good luck with VV Pikachus and keeping up with the rest of your collecting goals
It would be Skyridge, yes!
Got it, thanks!
I like to collect specifically; so a certain few Pokémon or a set. Right now I’m super into collecting and completing sets… just feels awesome to be able to come closer to finishing a set as you buy more and more of those cards. I love the feeling of ticking off goals so every purchase to that goal feels extra special!