How Many of Each Card Should I Keep in a Personal Collection?

[NinjaRunGood]

Hey guys!
Recently I started playing Pokemon Go and decided to go buy a pack of cards. Once I opened the first pack I became instantly addicted

I bought more packs, then some trainer boxes, followed by a booster box, and have now began buying EVERYthing that I can get my hands on. (Multiple booster boxes of each recent sets, promo sets, etc)

I do plan to begin playing soon, ordered some hyper sleeves because I don't want to ruin my cool artwork
I am buying brand new and selling multiple double EX and rares etc. on eBay.
I decided to organize my cards by set number so that I know which cards I do not have yet.
My rule so far has been this, I keep two of each of the same cards to put in my binder (4 of the same trainer cards) Holo and regular when possible. Then I sell anything extra, but now that I am playing more online and getting ready to battle live foes I'm wondering if I should keep way more of each of my faves to play with.

When buying booster boxes and getting rid of the excess cards, how many do you keep ?

Thanks all!

 

[bbninjas]

Moved from the TCG Competitive to the TCG Help & Advice as the OP is looking for advice on building a collection. ~bbninjas

Welcome to the game! I think you should determine whether you are a collector or a player. Do you want to play with these cards in sanctioned tournaments, or are you collecting them for your binder? That might help you decide on your question.

In theory, if you are a competitive player, you would want to keep 4 copies of the same card, as that means you will always have enough of whatever card you want when you are building a deck. The thing is, if one of these seemingly noncompetitive cards suddenly receives the perfect partner, then you might wish you had that full playset. Nevertheless, if you are concerned about space, then two copies of all those commons should be fine (they should be fairly inexpensive to obtain later anyways). I know a few people who will store all their commons and uncommons in a box, if you're not worried about organisation.

If you're a collector, having two or three copies is nice for trade fodder, but of course you only need one to complete your collection.

 

[TuxedoBlack]

I started collecting cards a long time ago, and I am also a competitive player. My practice has been just to collect 1 card from each set and place it in a binder organized by set and card number. These binders are quite helpful for reviewing purposes (e.g., in preparation for a tournament) and to generate new ideas for decks.

I also keep extra useful cards in hard, plastic boxes. These boxes are essentially organized by card type: energy, Pokémon and Trainers. The remaining excess are typically traded and/or sold.

 

[NinjaRunGood]

Moved from the TCG Competitive to the TCG Help & Advice as the OP is looking for advice on building a collection. ~bbninjas

Welcome to the game! I think you should determine whether you are a collector or a player. Do you want to play with these cards in sanctioned tournaments, or are you collecting them for your binder? That might help you decide on your question.

In theory, if you are a competitive player, you would want to keep 4 copies of the same card, as that means you will always have enough of whatever card you want when you are building a deck. The thing is, if one of these seemingly noncompetitive cards suddenly receives the perfect partner, then you might wish you had that full playset. Nevertheless, if you are concerned about space, then two copies of all those commons should be fine (they should be fairly inexpensive to obtain later anyways). I know a few people who will store all their commons and uncommons in a box, if you're not worried about organisation.

If you're a collector, having two or three copies is nice for trade fodder, but of course you only need one to complete your collection.

Thanks for the great reply. Another question, do you just buy the cards you want outright on eBay or other sites? Or do you buy booster boxes and sell the rest?
What is the best method?

 

[NinjaRunGood]

I started collecting cards a long time ago, and I am also a competitive player. My practice has been just to collect 1 card from each set and place it in a binder organized by set and card number. These binders are quite helpful for reviewing purposes (e.g., in preparation for a tournament) and to generate new ideas for decks.

I also keep extra useful cards in hard, plastic boxes. These boxes are essentially organized by card type: energy, Pokémon and Trainers. The remaining excess are typically traded and/or sold.

Thanks for the great reply. Another question, do you just buy the cards you want outright on eBay or other sites? Or do you buy booster boxes and sell the rest?
What is the best method?

 

[TuxedoBlack]

Thanks for the great reply. Another question, do you just buy the cards you want outright on eBay or other sites? Or do you buy booster boxes and sell the rest?
What is the best method?

Early on I would buy booster boxes, but shifted awhile ago to just mainly buying the cards I wanted and buying some packs (for the "thrill" of opening a new pack...).

 

[Otaku]

Thanks for the great reply. Another question, do you just buy the cards you want outright on eBay or other sites? Or do you buy booster boxes and sell the rest?
What is the best method?

Another option is the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online; if you're buying new booster packs, you should have a bunch of redemption codes for it, each good for one copy of that booster pack. You can do it in addition to the physical TCG or instead of it. Since do not get all the cards just given to you and it is official, you still have the thrill of collecting without the hassles of keeping physical cards... but I know some don't find collecting digital cards very fun at all.

Anyway, sticking to the physical TCG, when I was a collector player my goal was to have at least one of each card that wasn't ridiculously exclusive and thus difficult to obtain. Originally that included also collecting the Reverse Holo cards as a set as well, nearly doubling how much I needed.

Then for playing, I wanted to get four total copies of a given card. Please note that when there were multiple printings of a card I didn't need to get four of each for playing, just four total from among all the various versions. I prioritized what I would use, but the ultimate goal was four (total) of each, excluding odd rules variants like Ace Spec cards (can only use one in a deck).