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I was a junior, I think, in High School when I first discovered Magic: The Gathering. It was 1995. I remember on my way home from school, I would stop at the local baseball card shop and pick up some packs of Revised, or The Dark and excitedly opening them. The owner absolutely hated Magic, and I don't blame him per say. He got in the business as a sports nut, the last thing he wanted to really deal with was these geeky kids coming in and ignoring is main source of income and heading straight for this weird game. But he was the only source of cards in town without having to go to the city nearby so I'm sure he made money. There were a couple other spots in that city, one near the mall that had packs for cheaper, and they were more tolerant of players, but also didn't particularly care for us. And if we went further into town, there was actually a specialty shop that specifically sold Magic cards and singles. It was the only place in the area that you could find a good selection of singles. There was one other gaming store even further away that had some, but they mostly sold board games and D&D, but they understood Magic was related so they had some.
I think about those times a lot when I think about this current ferver of Pokemon that is happening today thanks to Prismatic Evolutions. The times felt really different now compared to then. Back then, we bought cards by the pack because singles weren't that great of an option, and because when we built a deck, we would see what cards those packs got us and see what we had in our collection and try to come up with an interesting way to play them. We knew of other cards that were out there, but what good does it do me to know that if I had a Sengir Vampire, I could make this deck, if I didn't have a Sengir Vampire? Individual cards themselves were more expensive back then than they are now. Most uncommons were priced around $5-10, most Rares went from $10-$20. If I wanted a Sengir, I could either pay the $7.50 or buy 2 packs and hope for the best. But if I bought those 2 packs I could find something else really cool and make a deck I wasn't even thinking of before. It was a more innocent time.
Something changed, and not a good way. This surge of Pokemond doesn't make any sense to me, largely because nobody plays Pokemon TCG. Sure there are players, but the grand majority (and I'm guessing it's in the 90% range), of people buying boxes of Pokemon do not play. Have no interest in 95% of the cards that they open and are only interested in the 20-25 cards that are full art in a set. And yet, they aren't buying the cards they want. They are buying packs and packs and packs and packs. And then they record videos of other people buysing packs and packs and packs and complaining about "scalpers." As if everyone involved is not equally to blame.
When I suggest people who may be looking to buy cards, I tend to tell them... "For each new set, buy a Bundle/ETB to get a feel of a set. It's a pretty good deal per pack, and you get some bonuses in it. So you get some general cards, you get an idea of what it is, with Pokemon it even gives you a booklet with all the card sin the set so you know what to expect for a set. Once you get that base feel for the game, go online (or in the booklet) and go look at what other cards there are. Figure out if there are any you want. Buy those cards. Buy no more packs." The reason for this advice is pretty simple. Cards are super cheap now. Unlike 30 years ago, almost all uncommons are less than a buck, many rares are too, and even a few mythics. There's usually maybe 10-15 cards in any set of MTG worth more than $10.
Now it's a little more complicated for Pokemon, but it's not that different. Generally speaking, most the cards are affordable. It only gets expensive once you get into full art cards. All normal cards are generally worth less than a buck. Full art cards have a range. Now this set clearly has had a low print run, the low end of illustration is currently going at $25 per card which is really high. Although I do think that prices are getting driven up largely due to ferver of people trying to get the packs. A single pack of cards is currently going for around $12 which si silly, that'sa 150=200% increase (I personally won't buy pokemon more than $5 a pack, $4 is usually attainable).
The problem here is this desire that everyone is a collector in Pokemon land. Collectors look at the price of singles and are like "I need to get in on this, lemme go buy a pack!" And then they go out looking for packs, and they go buying whatever they get their hands on. This causes prices to increase, so scalpers go "holy crap look packs are going for double the price they normally do! I need to get in on this, lemme go buy a pack!" And this how we get to triple the price. The problem isn't the scalpers. The scalpers are a symptom of the problem. THe problem isn't even Pokemon Company for "underprinting." I suspect their printing numbers were based off demand of the last 5 sets and Pokemon hasn't had a ton of demand of late. I am sure the new Pokemon Pocket app played into it, but that's oversimplistic too. The problem is people keep on buying packs and they absolutely should not. Scalpers have no interest in cracking packs and listing individual cards, that's a lot of work and high risk. They are flipping packs that's it. If you didn't buy a pack, it wouldn't be a problem. But then you say "but I want that sway $1500 Umbreon!" I don't wanna pay that much for it!" I hear you. You are going to be paying that much for it. The current average cost of buying a Sunbreon via pack opening is $17,280. $1,500 is a steal. You are playing the lottery and hoping to get rich, you aren't in it for the card if you are opening the pack. And I'd wager a lot of folks who are considering themselves "not scalpers" and opening packs, if they luck out on a Sunbreon turn around and sell that card for $1,500 cause that's a lot of money! And if you aren't, you are kind of a fool. I think it'll go up still given current demand and lack of supply. But with the way Game Freak keeps on putting out duds in the Video Game Sector... do you really think this franchise is going to last another 10 years if they don't get their crap figured out? They haven't made a good pokemon game since the DS. People are getting tired of it. If you are collecting Pokemon stuff get out while the getting is good!
But honestly... mostly. What are you doing collecting for a game you do not have any interest in playing? That is the problem with pokemon right now. People are being stupid with it. *YOU* are driving up the price. Not scalpers. Scalpers are surely taken advantage of it. But without you, they wouldn't be going after pokemon cards. Please stop collecting things you have no interest in. I know you are sitting there like "but I love pokemon!" There are so many ways to get pokemon! Hell if you like the picture. Open up the image in your browser and Ctrl+P. It costs a nickle, spend $10 get a frame. What are you doing? If you are a player, stop buying packs!
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