When did you get your first trophy card?

Since so many UPCCC members own trophy cards, I thought this would be a fun topic :blush:

So, when did you buy (or actually win) your first Pokemon trophy card? Is there an interesting story behind the acquisition?

1 Like

Cool topic… I was interested in trophy cards since I first saw a victory mew for sale on ebay in 2005/6. The seller was promo_sen. I loved looking through his/her auctions as the starting prices were 0.01 GBP at each auction. I wasnt able to buy trophy cards at that time but I just enjoyed looking at them and was excited when they hit high prices.

In 2007/8 I bought my first trophy cards, victory ring pika and miracle diamond (both with case) from a seller in Hong Kong. It was amazing to own these cards. But then I lost interest in pokemon cards a bit :confused: I got back into buying trophy cards in March 2012 when I had the chance to grab a victory mew (the card that made me want trophy cards long time ago). Since then my collection grew and here I am :blush:

1 Like

Believe it or not, I purchased my first trophy card on April 1st, 2011. The aforementioned card is my 2002 Battle Road No. 1 Trainer in its original folder. I submitted an offer to the seller out of genuine intrigue; I never intended to actually win the item (especially with my proposal). Nevertheless, my bid was accepted. Naturally, I was scrupulous of the response due to the tomfoolery of this particular date. Yet lo and behold – my first trophy card.

3 Likes

Two great stories so far! Anyone else?

In Autumn of 2011, my local competitive team went to a Battle Road that was about 45 minutes away from us. I was extremely excited, despite having completely lost the last two we had gone to. I was playing a Six Corners variant that I had built myself and really loved. I won the first few rounds and was feeling really great. My teammates were all doing about the same, so we were starting to get excited that one of us might actually make top cut. Then, the worst thing happened. I played my teammate with the matching highest record. We played slow and had a good time while watching the table next to us, which had the only other two people with relevant records. When we saw what won, we realized that my deck had the best chances against it and my teammate conceded to me.

Top Cut: There were four people (small cut). The first round I played a guy who was running ZekEels, which was huge at the time. Two people in my playtesting group played it regularly, so I was prepared. But then it didn’t matter because he started lone Tynamo to get Donked game one and game two, he prized all his Tynamos. Easy win!

Finals: I was playing a kid that ran Darkrai. He was on Team Hovercats (Whose member Dustin Zimmerman placed 4th at Worlds this last year). I wasn’t really scared though, because this kid clearly sucked worse than everyone else. He bragged a lot about having a Worlds invite already (which was not even true) and I knew his deck backwards and forwards. Heck, I had sold him the darkrais in it at the beginning of the tournament. We played and it actually took three games and got a touch on the close side towards the end. But I won and I was super excited and my team was really happy because it was a group effort.

So my first trophy card:

A 1st Place Autumn 2011 Victory Cup.

2 Likes

In 1999 I traded 8 jpn Birthday Pikachus (3 PSA 10s, 4 PSA 9s with one in the sticker pack) for a silver and bronze 1997 trophy pikachu. Unfortunately I sold them soon after:(
Keep in mind, the PSA 10 bday pikas were bringing 1000.00 back then with the 9s and sticker packs at appx 500.00.

4 Likes

And people were buying those Birthday Pikachus from me for about $20 each. Little did I know. At least I can laugh about it now :grin:

1 Like

Nice DJ :blush:

A pic of all 4 together would be amazing :blush:

This takes me back Geri! I remember you were one of the first guys I knew on the gym back then. :blush:

I think you are the only person outside of persin who has a complete 1-4 english set. I wonder if they will eventually change the english trophies as its been 10 years.

I’d rather have them not make VGC cards than have them make varying prints that say “TCG” and “VGC” D:

Gary I still can’t get over this. Such a cool story, and such esteemed cards involved. I feel bad for all those who spent hundreds upon hundreds on cards like the Lucky Stadiums and Birthday Pikachu’s. Although I presume at one time the Lucky Stadium cards were possibly quite rare (unlike the Birthday Pikachu). They were a participation card for so many tournaments in that era, over time they became more and more common as more and more were handed out.

1 Like

I recently picked up a Master’s Scroll :blush: so shiny!

1 Like

Do Victory Medals or Victory Cups Count?
I used to buy em for $5 a piece until I realized that I didn’t like them that much LOL!
So then I sold em.

Only if you won them. :wink:

Does Pokemon Cards from @pokemontrader count?

1 Like

I got my first Trophy Card off of Ebay. It was the 2014 NO. 4 World Championship Full Art Pikachu Card. Later, I got it graded and it received a PSA 9. Recently I got the NO. 1, NO. 2, and NO. 3 Battle Festa all graded PSA 10. Soon after, I bought the 2014 NO. 2 World Championship Full Art Pikachu Card. Recently I bought a 2005 Champion’s League Trophy Card.

1 Like

Saw the title of this and I just had to chime in…

I have zero interest whatsoever in trophy cards. I think they’re way overpriced and not really all that interesting. Yeah, they’re rare, but there’s really nothing beyond that. They aren’t nostalgic, they don’t have the best of artwork, and they don’t even look that special. The new ones make an improvement, but they’re still just glorified full arts.

I don’t like the idea of buying something just because its expensive/hard to find.

This is of course just my opinion, and I know a lot of people are seriously into collecting trophy cards, so nothing against them! I just personally don’t like them very much.

@apark you have an awesome collection of trophy cards. I do appreciate trophy cards and would love to see pictures of them. Maybe you should consider posting them in the collection thread. Cheers! :blush:

2 Likes

I have one question in my mind: do play promo Espeon+Umbreon count as trophy card, or just very rare card ? Would love to hear opinions from high-end collectors.

I would class them more as prize cards rather than trophy cards. Trophy cards are something you were given for winning a tournament wheras the PLAY promo were a prize for obtaining a certain level of point.