Japanese 1Ed vs. Unlimited

CuriousCleffa

CuriousCleffa

Aspiring Trainer
Member
So, I'm new to collecting Japanese cards (started with Wild Blaze), and I am thinking of just trying to collect the actual set (not SR or UR) in 1Ed. And SR and UR's are okay with being unlimited (because I'm not looking to resell my set collection at all, I wanna keep them forever! xP ). If I were to trade my 1 Ed SRs and URs that I pull myself, for their unlimited counterparts, what is the average price difference between the 1 Ed card and its unlimited counterpart?
And when is the transition from 1 Ed to unlimited made? (for Japanese TCG)
For example, if I were to trade away my 1 Ed UR M Kanga for the unlimited UR M Kanga, what else would make the trade fair on the unlimited Kanga side?
Do people really care about the 1 Ed vs unlimited? Or is that just like for hard-core collectors?
Thanks for answering my questions! I'm sure I'll end up having more x)
 
Hey there!

My experience with Japanese cards is that though there's a price difference between the 1st edition and unlimited, the low availability of either version of the SR/URs makes any trading with them difficult. I personally do care about the 1st edition vs. unlimited, but I've somewhat resigned myself to the fact that I may have to settle with what I can get.

You can generally find people willing to trade the C/U/R/EXs, but since most people collecting Japanese cards want to complete the sets themselves (and there are only about 1 SR/UR per box, it's hard to get them to part with them. After trying to find people who have and are willing to trade the cards I'm missing for my Japanese sets (Spiral Force, Thunder Knuckle, Megalo Cannon, EX Battle Boost), I've kinda accepted my fate that I'll probably have to buy the cards as singles when I go to Korea this summer if I want to finish the sets >_<
 
FreePandas said:
Hey there!

My experience with Japanese cards is that though there's a price difference between the 1st edition and unlimited, the low availability of either version of the SR/URs makes any trading with them difficult. I personally do care about the 1st edition vs. unlimited, but I've somewhat resigned myself to the fact that I may have to settle with what I can get.

You can generally find people willing to trade the C/U/R/EXs, but since most people collecting Japanese cards want to complete the sets themselves (and there are only about 1 SR/UR per box, it's hard to get them to part with them. After trying to find people who have and are willing to trade the cards I'm missing for my Japanese sets (Spiral Force, Thunder Knuckle, Megalo Cannon, EX Battle Boost), I've kinda accepted my fate that I'll probably have to buy the cards as singles when I go to Korea this summer if I want to finish the sets >_<
Click to expand...

That's true, I feel like it's super hard to part with my cards, I feel like they're my little bundles of treasure aha x) But people wouldn't want to trade their unlimited counterpart and a card or two more, for my 1 Ed of the same SR/UR?
 
I believe most collectors get 1st edition and they try to avoid unlimited. Of the Japanese collectors on-site, I think they are all 1st edition collectors. It will be difficult for you trade to your 1st edition for unlimited.
 
I, myself, am one of the few trades that don't care about 1st Edition vs. Unlimited printings. However, since I tend to get my cards as preordered booster boxes, >99% of my collection is 1st Edition anyway. I only have a smattering of unlimited cards, primarily from a couple loose packs of certain sets here and there from promo sets (for example, the Lizardon Mega Battle Packs that I recently received from Japan had Unlimited packs of X Collection).

From what I can tell, the Japanese card makers simply make X amounts of booster boxes that are first edition which encompasses their first print run and additional print runs are Unlimited. The more popular a set is, the sooner the 1st Edition boxes will sell out and unlimited versions will become available.

To be honest, I don't think I've seen anyone do 1st Edition vs. Unlimited trades for the same card for any recent sets; mostly I see those for older cards where the 1st Edition status seems to have more merit. As such, there's no specific advice I can give you. The 1st Editions will, of course, be worth more, but how much more is kind of discretionary and hard to pinpoint because there's not a lot of data.
 
I don't really care. I pre-order my boxes so they're always 1st edition. But (like Athena said) in the Lizardon Mega Battle pack there were unlimited X and Y Collection packs. They've just started printing those I guess, because I've heard other people talk about them being sold as well.

Some sets don't get unlimited at all (I think either Thunder Knuckle or Spiral Force didn't have one).
 
I think unlimited cards get pushed into obscurity because few people collect them, and few end up popping up for sale. In my (limited) experience, unlimited cards are cheaper, but a whole lot harder to find. Clash at the Summit (Triumphant) reverse holo's in unlimited,for example, seem to be impossible to find.

If you are not partial, go with what you can find, but otherwise, 1st edition is the best choice all around. Though I've grown to appreciate unlimited more, 1st edition is definitely more popular and readily available for most sets.
 
Like others have said - most JPN collectors prefer 1st ED.

I have noticed that new cards do not differ so much in price between Unlimited and 1st ED. On some older cards is makes a huge difference.
 
SoulWind said:
Like others have said - most JPN collectors prefer 1st ED.

I have noticed that new cards do not differ so much in price between Unlimited and 1st ED. On some older cards is makes a huge difference.
Click to expand...

Yea, I think the biggest problem in trading 1ED for UNL would be most people who are interested in 1ED would never have UNL cards to trade with you.
 
SoulWind said:
Like others have said - most JPN collectors prefer 1st ED.

I have noticed that new cards do not differ so much in price between Unlimited and 1st ED. On some older cards is makes a huge difference.
Click to expand...

Dang it. /: Well, doesn't hurt to try and put them up in my trades thread. Who knows. But thanks! That really makes sense :)

NarcoticHobo said:
SoulWind said:
Like others have said - most JPN collectors prefer 1st ED.

I have noticed that new cards do not differ so much in price between Unlimited and 1st ED. On some older cards is makes a huge difference.
Click to expand...

Yea, I think the biggest problem in trading 1ED for UNL would be most people who are interested in 1ED would never have UNL cards to trade with you.
Click to expand...

True /: That makes a whole lot of sense. Thanks!
 
whats the difference on the cards between JPN 1ED and UNL?

and what set did they start doing that?

Did they ever do Reverse Foil ones?
 
Japanese 1st Edition cards have a stamp in the lower left corner whereas Unlimited cards do not have the stamp. I'm not sure when it started or how long it's been going on for.
 
Dark Rush doesn't have unlimited cards either. So it's really hard to get a Gardevoir shiny for cheap. I tried to find an unlimited version because I do not care for a "1st" stamp but I could not. I had to pay 80$ for that card. It was either that or gamble 120$ on several boxes and not get it but deal with lots of leftovers...

The price difference from I've seen so far isn't that big like Soulwind said... for example...

Bianca SR 1st Edition can sell from 45$-60$ depending on the seller. 60$ would be someone crazy who overpriced it, 45$-50$ is more reasonable. While the unlimited version can sell for roughly 35$-40$.

The shiny Charizard from Plasma Gale unlimited sells for 40-50$ while 1st edition can range from 60-80$, again depending on the seller and how fast they want to sell it.

Strangely enough, for certain sets, 1st edition cards are easier to find on ebay than unlimited... I don't think people mind trading unlimited's away for 1st ed but most of them probably won't care enough to look in the first place. I think at the most though, you'll probably be able to trade a 1st ed for the unlimited version plus 1-3 holos depending on the cards.

Personally I don't care about 1st but... it bothers me to hell if I have a set that is 1st and with some that are unlimited. I don't collect sets but I do collect full arts and I JUST noticed the Keldeo EX SR is unlimited and it bugs me cause 17 other cards are 1st ed. It just seems out of place! Then there was also the Gold Zekrom I won. Guy didn't mention if it was 1st ed or not and I didn't really check what I was bidding on. Turns out it was 1st ed. So now I had an unlimited Gold Reshiram and 1st Ed Zekrom. They just looked incomplete next to each other you know. I ended up selling the unlimited version to get a 1st ed because I couldn't find an unlimited Gold Zekrom.
 
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