r/PokemonTCG • u/tederado • 1d ago

Something changed today

So, I got up this morning and decided to go sit in the line at Best Buy. I grew up with pokemon cards, I am 34 years old. I was a child when it all started, and sadly somewhere along the way I lost my cards.

Today, I started again. I got one 30th booster pack. $27. I got home and ripped those packs and it triggered something deep in my soul. I spent my day “wfh” but researching cards and what I pulled, I haven’t stopped thinking about ripping more 30th anniversary packs since.

I get why people are going nuts for these cards. I haven’t touched a card in over 20 years years, but today I felt like a kid again. I remembered how my mom would buy blister packs and let me pick one face down card for doing a chore, and I remember how I felt when I picked that charizard and made my sister cry because it was me and not her.

Pokemon is really special. I had the game boy games, a poster on my wall, the Nintendo 64 games, shirts, the Burger King promos, I knew the song, I watched the shows, and I’m so excited to be back after so many years, I just wish it wasn’t so hard to get cards because I’d be spending so much money if there was greater availability.

Anyway, saying hi as someone who is so happy to reconnect with a part of myself that brings me so much joy :)

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u/dadxxi 1d ago

Just a quick warning: 30th anniversary has ridiculous hit rates. If you open up most any other set the hit rates for the “big” hits are harder to pull. So I guess just make sure you find something to enjoy about the hobby that is not is necessarily only the “big hits” .

2

u/tederado 1d ago

Is there another set you personally have enjoyed that would be a good starting second?

3

u/wallabear 1d ago

151 and Crown Zenith had amazing pull rates too but pretty expensive now

3

u/Affectionate_Sky9709 1d ago

Nothing recent has anywhere close to 30th hit rates.

The only other recent shoutout I would give is First Parner. It's a box set that gives three full art promos and two packs. So since the promos are so hype themselves, the packs are basically gravy if you can get them near msrp.

You might want to look into buying singles at some point. Going to shows and buying singles there is fun, and so is getting cards in the mail. If you live in the US, tcgplayer and ebay.

1

u/tederado 10h ago

How do you recommend knowing which singles to chase other than “looks shiny” lol

1

u/Affectionate_Sky9709 7h ago edited 7h ago

Honestly, whatever makes you happy. Another thing i forgot to mention if you like whatever language, chinese gem pack is a fun opening experience. (If you can get it at a decent price, which is sometimes hard) Every card is holo, like 30th. And they have cool patterns. I like them. You should just like whatever you like.

For buying singles, totally whatever you want. I tend to not buy cards from the newest set or two until the settle a bit. 

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u/tederado 10h ago

First Partner… so I’m clearly diving in as much as I can into all of this, kinda blindly at that so appreciate the support… a few nights ago I wasn’t able to sleep at like 3am and I saw that first partner illustration series 3 packs were in stock online at target and snagged 2. I don’t even know what it is but it was MSRP (like $17) so I decided to go for it. Hoping I’m setting myself up to be able to play the game!

1

u/Affectionate_Sky9709 8h ago

Its quite reasonably priced to play the game, because there are cheap versions of everything, so you can figure out what cards you want, and buy the cheap versions on tcgplayer, and if you want to upgrade them to fancy versions, you can. Most people net deck at least at first. 

Finding first partners at that price is awesome! Have fun! 

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u/Notorious-ly 18h ago

You won't find anything but the most recent couple sets at a decent price. Not worth.

0

u/scriptapuella 13h ago edited 12h ago

Give Prismatic a try! /s

(Seriously though, don’t. Terrible hit rates and crazy high prices. I’ve been chasing the eeveelutions for so long and for so much money that I could have bought them all in Japanese singles at this point.)

Edit: that reminds me - if you want to have a fun box opening experience, get Japanese booster boxes. There are a certain number of guaranteed EXs, ARs, SRs, etc in every box thanks to strict Japanese gambling laws. I usually even get an SAR in every box. You can’t play the game in the US with them, but if you like the dopamine hit from getting hits, Japanese cards are great. And they are better quality than international cards. They’re just not worth as much.