Hey! You must be new here!
Welcome! We love new collectors!
Good news! There are only 40 billion things to learn when starting your collection, lol. We will go over a few of them on this post. Be on the lookout for more later on! So, diving right in! I divided this up between TCG and Funko Pops, look for the Funko blog post coming out soon. This one is for TCG's.
TCG's or Trading Card Games, were started by Magic the Gathering in 1993. Between 2008 - 2016 Magic sold over 20 billion cards.
The other giant Yu-Gi-Oh is actually a magna series written and illustrated by Kazuki Takahashi. Yu-Gi-Oh is about a boy named Yugi Mutou who solves the ancient Millenium Puzzle. Yugi awakens a gambling alter-ego or spirit within his body that solves his conflicts using various games. Since then, the franchise has an anime series, TCG, and even video games. The TCG was launched in 1999 in Japan and then in 2002 in North America. It was named the top selling TCG in the world in 2009 selling over 22 billion cards worldwide. As of 2021 the game is estimated to have sold about 35 billion cards worldwide and grossed over 9 billion dollars. Here are the top Yu-Gi-Oh cards according to dicebreaker: The 10 Best Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards | Dicebreaker and the 20 best by Fandom 20 Best Cards in Yugi’s Deck: The Ultimate Ranking – FandomSpot
The next giant is the well-known Pokémon franchise. Managed by the Pokémon Company and owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures. The phenomenon was created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Pokémon are fictional creatures, who live among humans known as Pokémon trainers. Pokémon trainers catch and train these amazing creatures to evolve and become the best versions of themselves to battle against other Pokémon and Pokémon trainers. Status for Pokémon trainers is recognized by your ability to catch, train and battle other trainers. The more you have the more you can evolve and ultimately become a master. The franchise has video games, tv shows, magna comics, music, merchandise, TCG and even a theme park! Not to mention they are used in tons of other media. Pokémon is the highest selling trading card game of all time with over 43 billion cards sold. With the top cards being these - Top 15 Most Rare and Expensive Pokémon Cards | Dicebreaker
These 3 giants have paved the way for tons of TCG companies. Including franchises trying their hand at the trading card world like Star Wars, DC, Marvel, etc. Even more recently NFT's have become popular as trading cards. You can actually get a NFT trading card with a QR code for your NFT. Not to mention more recent actual TCG's like MetaZoo, Akora, Hearthstone, The Elder Scrolls, Flesh and Blood, and many more! TCG has been huge for a very long time. It seems that since the worldwide lock in (better known as Covid 19) TCG and trading cards in general have exploded with popularity. Even celebrities have come out and expressed their interest. More recently stars like Logan Paul and his WrestleMania debut walking out with the Guiness World Record $5,275,000 Pikachu Illustrator card. Which is a PSA 10 that's said to be one of the rarest cards in the world. Tons of athletes like the NY Giants middle linebacker Blake Martinez has made a huge name for himself in the Pokémon world. Blake has a massive collection and even streams on the whatnot app. Blake has even started Blakes Breaks which is also on the whatnot app that other streamers stream under his name. Be sure to follow, like, and bookmark their upcoming shows!
What should you be aware of when starting your collection?
The TCG world is very complex. From rainbow rares, to amazing rares, holo's, full and reverse, etc. etc. etc. How are you even supposed to know what you should collect? Short answer? You aren't. No one really has what you should be collecting or not collecting. It's all a personal preference. At the end of the day, I say collect what you enjoy. It's kind of like the stock market. There will be ups and downs and no one really knows for sure what the market will do. With that being said, vintage cards are becoming very valuable. Cards like 1st editions, shadowless, holos, are among the topmost valuable cards in circulation. Problem is most collectors back in the 90's weren't thinking about 20-30 years in the future and the value that cards could bring. So, obtaining these cards and even getting the booster boxes are kind of hard to come by. Unless you're surfing sites like Ebay, TCG player, whatnot, and others you aren't finding these anywhere else. It almost seems like some are even searching their childhood memories box to uncover booster boxes worth somewhere around $10,000+ currently. Not to mention the cards themselves being worth way more. For me personally I do like the vintage arts very much, but the modern sets with their arts are quickly becoming a favorite of mine. Plus, having more characters now adays is pretty cool to chase. The artwork for the modern age is crazy detailed and visually stunning. With so many streamers like MintlyCollectibles, GoingTwice, PMWCollectibles and YouTubers like PokeRev, Leonhart and others there is a pretty high standard for TCG's going forward. The TCG world has blown up and are held to a standard like never before. I suggest watching these streams and YouTube videos to find out what you enjoy the most. There will definitely be some cards you get you may not enjoy or want. You may even lose money when you're collecting. Good news, every collector goes through it. Don't let it get you down, it happens to us all! If you continue to collect for your pleasure, then you'll be fine. I'm a Blastoise fan and love the water type Pokémon in general. Recently just got a $300 Blastoise slab from MintlyCollects on the whatnot app! Can't wait for it to arrive so I can add it to my personal collection!
At the end of the day collecting TCG's should be fun! Keep it fun and don't stress.
What are your favorite cards currently? Let me know in the comments!
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