I'm Outdated...What Should I Collect?

monchikunx

Aspiring Trainer
Member
General question after a long break - I'm extremely outdated as to what cards I should collect. Again, I know, general, but I'm a collector, so I'm primarily looking for cards that will sustain (for the most part) it's value, if not appreciate. I will probably post up my collection soon and trade with whoever may be interested, but without a general idea of what I would want.. that would be slightly difficult.

I've stockpiled a lot of early Ex's and Lvl X's, but missed the FA portion of collection. I've noticed the majority of early Ex's and Lvl X's have fallen in price compared to the past, but hopefully I have a couple of high value ones that retained it's value. I'm glad I've kept a couple of my original Shining cards as well - I'm thinking of attempting to collect more of those as well. So, I guess to wrap up this rant, what do you consider a card worth collecting and pursuing in the current market?
 
RE: I'm Outdated.. What Should I Collect?

If you are going to stick to the normal English sets, collect Ultra Rares from PRE-D&P. Those will pretty much always hold their value, if not rise in value, as their numbers were very limited compared to the Lv. X and EX and FA cards of today.

Also, any of the Base Set cards that aren't of the unlimited print run (so 1st edition, Shadowless, and 1999-2000) are a good thing to find in mint condition and keep.

You can also move into the promo realm. There are both English and Japanese promos that fetch extremely high prices, and a lot that fetch generally high prices. Collecting valuable promos requires more research and knowledge than normal set cards, but can prove more worth it (i.e. there are cards already worth $5,000 that will only go up in value).
 
RE: I'm Outdated.. What Should I Collect?

Daelum said:
If you are going to stick to the normal English sets, collect Ultra Rares from PRE-D&P. Those will pretty much always hold their value, if not rise in value, as their numbers were very limited compared to the Lv. X and EX and FA cards of today.

Also, any of the Base Set cards that aren't of the unlimited print run (so 1st edition, Shadowless, and 1999-2000) are a good thing to find in mint condition and keep.

You can also move into the promo realm. There are both English and Japanese promos that fetch extremely high prices, and a lot that fetch generally high prices. Collecting valuable promos requires more research and knowledge than normal set cards, but can prove more worth it (i.e. there are cards already worth $5,000 that will only go up in value).

Thanks for the debrief! In terms of Ultra Rares.. what do you mean? Is that a new type of rarity, or do you mean I should try to collect the rarer cards from those sets?
 
RE: I'm outdated.. What should I collect?

Ultra Rares are the highest level of rares in each set. It includes cards such as Shining, ex, Gold Star, Lv. X, etc.
 
RE: I'm outdated.. What should I collect?

Daelum said:
Ultra Rares are the highest level of rares in each set. It includes cards such as Shining, ex, Gold Star, Lv. X, etc.

Thanks! I think I may have a hard time telling which is the "rarer" of the ex and Lvl. X's, but Shining and gold should be easy. I actually go enjoy the Shining cards, so I may pursue them.. never had any Gold Star ones, so I'll have to look into that. :)

Anyone have any recommendations as to what Exs and Lvl X's I should try and collect? Lugia ex / Wailord ex was one of the more staple cards when I used to be really into the game a few years ago.
 
Basically, all shiny/shining/*/crystal/EX/LV X/Prime/legend/FA cards are ultra rares. There are the easily obtained promos of some LV X/EX/shiny, these are usually worth less then pack ultra rares but after about 5 years the value increases as the old promos get near impossible to find in stores/tins/etc.I still consider those promos (such as promo Keldeo EX) ultra rares, but ultra rare promos. There are Japanese exclusive promos which never got released in English and those are usually worth more then pack ultra rares (example- Japanese exclusive Jirachi EX steel type). There are secret rare ultra rares, which started in Team Rocket with dark raichu and continues today (shinies from plasma storm are also secret rare ultra rares). Secret rare ultra rares are numbered like 101/99. Wailord EX and unseen forces Lugia EX are still high end cards. Finding a mint UF lugia EX is harder and more costly then finding a plasma storm FA lugia EX.
 
Are Primes really considered Ultra Rares? I figured Legends were the standard Ultra Rare cards of the HGSS block because they came 1-3 per box like ex, LV. X and EX cards do. Primes were 1 in 6 packs. >_>
 
Binx345 said:
Basically, all shiny/shining/*/crystal/EX/LV X/Prime/legend/FA cards are ultra rares. There are the easily obtained promos of some LV X/EX/shiny, these are usually worth less then pack ultra rares but after about 5 years the value increases as the old promos get near impossible to find in stores/tins/etc.I still consider those promos (such as promo Keldeo EX) ultra rares, but ultra rare promos. There are Japanese exclusive promos which never got released in English and those are usually worth more then pack ultra rares (example- Japanese exclusive Jirachi EX steel type). There are secret rare ultra rares, which started in Team Rocket with dark raichu and continues today (shinies from plasma storm are also secret rare ultra rares). Secret rare ultra rares are numbered like 101/99. Wailord EX and unseen forces Lugia EX are still high end cards. Finding a mint UF lugia EX is harder and more costly then finding a plasma storm FA lugia EX.

Thanks for that debrief!! Extremely helpful to see how values of cards are nowadays - thank you!!

Frost said:
Are Primes really considered Ultra Rares? I figured Legends were the standard Ultra Rare cards of the HGSS block because they came 1-3 per box like ex, LV. X and EX cards do. Primes were 1 in 6 packs. >_>

I'd agree - I have a couple of primes, and out of all the specialized cards, those seem to be worth the least amount. They do look snazzy though. :)
 
Yes, I consider primes ultra rares. I saw some boxes being opened, and they had 2-5 UR in each box including primes, legends and some shinies (gyarados for example). I would say EX and prime about same rarity (most sets), and Legend/ FA EX more of the same rarity.
 
Primes are a lot more common than Gen V-era EX cards are. It's not even close. You get maybe 2-3 regular EXs in a box and most HGSS boxes had twice as many Primes.
 
I remeber my ex opening at least 3 boxes of various HGSS sets, and I saw my friends open boxes also. I never saw more then 7 total UR in 1 box. That was 1 box with 7, most had 4-6. Yes it may be 4 or 5 primes in a box, but there was only 1 set with a shiny and all there was was primes and legends. Now there are several shinies in each set, EX, FA EX, FA, and Ace spec. There are more types of ultra rares currently. That could mean primes are more common then current EX only because there are more types of ultra rares currently.
 
Well, either way, current market value explains everything - primes are definitely not in as high of demand as other specialized holographics. I'd agree with Frost on this one, but thanks for giving me further details about the other types :)
 
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