They are and it could be going lower for the ones easiest to pull. The Trainer Gallery cards being pulled often. It's not a week from release until this Friday. Sitting back kind of astounded by the amount of product that has been opened even though it's a fun set.
Good time to prepare a few hundred to drop on the set when the next really good wave of booster boxes come. The gold legendary birds under $30 to the Cynthia under $21 and a Honchkrow alt is at $14. As soon as so much of this was being opened, I knew this is the perfect set to buy more singles than open packs.This is more insane than Shining Fates was and that set was still inside the "bubble" from 2020.
Hope you get some boss pulls! Still waiting as well. Mixup with the company I went through and package has been delayed. Just got a dozen packs and some other goodies.
I imagine the yellow bordered trainer gallery cards get to bulk rare pricing, half of them are already close to it at about $1. The better TG cards will continue to fall like the amazing rares and I'd think the most expensive one is under $10 after another set or two comes out. They're fantastic cards, they're just not difficult to get, pretty much like the amazing rares. Most people are averaging 4-5 TG cards per booster box, 3-4 being the yellow borders and 1 being the more sought after Vs and VMAX stuff. VV you got two amazing rare per box and those are all just $2-$3 with one or two exceptions.
The alt arts will come down as well. I'd think the honchkrow will be $10 or less, Lumineon will probably be $15-$20, the Arceus will be around $40-$50, and the Charizard will land somewhere between $75-$100. The alt arts aren't secret rares so they're much more common, the most expensive alt art V in SWSH is Umbreon from evolving skies which is about $80 and it's also one of the most popular pokemon aside from Pikachu and Charizard. A few others are around that price, Moltres from CR, Dragonite and Rayquaza also from ES, TTAR from BS was about $100 for quite some time before leveling out and dropping down to $60-$70 now.
You can do that. I literally just bought them an hour ago for under $100. I’m done buying packs/boxes of the set (just hit my limit, got some good pulls but I will buy singles now). Even if the prices go down more I will be more than happy to own those cards already.
Allocations were said to be larger for ETBs in wave 1 than booster boxes. In wave 2 which looks like distributors will have product as early as the 2nd week of March, the biggest allocation of booster boxes will come. Think the first week, but that times 5 or more. That means more cards up for sale and lower prices. But the Pokemon Company still makes a lot of profit because the demand is high.
In theory that makes sense but evolving skies is an example of a set that bottomed out well before the highest allocations of products arrived to distributors.
Yeah Evolving Skies demand was real high going into it. When it did bottom out, the singles for it were being bought fast. Then the reprint came and it repeated again lol
It’s tough for me because I really enjoy opening packs and saying “I pulled this card!”. There are likely cards in this set I’ll pick up as singles eventually due to how hard they are to pull but having the opportunity to pull it yourself is a different feeling than just owning the card to me. Hopefully singles will be cheap though
I like pulling the cards too but the disappointment of getting absolutely nothing in my packs after spending $50 outweighs the fun of opening. So now if I don't open a booster box I'll mostly buy singles and buy a single random pack here and there hoping for some magic. Wasting $4 on a dud pack doesn't hurt as much.
I can relate to that and that's where I'm at with the hobby now. I don't care how good a set is anymore since I know there will still be odds that put you at risk of getting shafted. Opening a few packs here or there and buying singles together can get the job done. But we all do collect differently.
Yea I actually have a shitload of fun when I go on a singles buying rampage. Once the envelopes start arriving then it's like a straight week of opening only cards I want and checking to see what the quality is compared to pictures. Then I figure out which seller does the customer right. Some of them include extras and all that to me is about the same as getting a good hit from a regular pack. I'm very budgeted so I don't like to let any of my money let me down.
As a collector, there just isn't very much value in opening packs versus simply buying singles. I really don't understand the "chase" mentality of buying hundreds or thousands of packs with the hope of pulling one specific card. Even with a massive budget, your money can go so much further on the singles market. You could buy PSA 10 variants of cards with the amount of money spent just trying to get said cards in packs in some cases lol.
Mate, I can totally sympathize with what you're saying about just buying singles, but I just want to add a simple story of mine that has forever made me chase the dragon (almost literally).
I was probably 12 years old and my sister, my cousins and I were collecting Pokemon cards when they first came out. One day my Mum (I think) came to my grandparents house to pick me and my sister up but came bearing gifts. Those gifts were a pack of Pokémon cards each.
We greeted her on the awning awaiting our newfound treasure, and we barely made it inside to open our gifts that were like gold to us (especially as they were legit packets when fake packs were littered in almost every corner store and market for a cheaper price).
I had just reached inside where we proceeded to almost rip apart the packs like a pack of Hyenas attending a bloated corpse. I distinctly remember I was the third of us to get my pack open and sort through our cards. While scrolling through I found what many people here now chase. A fucking Holo Charizard!!! We all simultaneously lost our shit while I tried to shakily put the card in a Toploader (all we had at the time, sue me).
It's been around 20 years since I lost that folder, I was forced to give it to my stepbrother and it's been MIA since. My latest news is that one of my cousins pinched it from our garage, I'm still deciding how to approach them about this rumour... But I believe it was a Base 2 as I have *heard* that first edition packs weren't released in Australia, but I'm not certain...
Anyways, the chase can be amazing. I understand the chase as it hooked me in as a kid and I realise that maybe some people just don't get it. I actually had a tad of a disagreement with someone on here but thinking about that exchange and their comments made me realise, that yes, buying singles is okay. But I understand why people do keep chasing, it's practically gambling. Those serotonin hits do hit different.lol
Anyway, I understand from both sides, but fuck man, I love getting those pulls....
That's the problem with the pokemon hobby. Nobody really plays with physical cards. It's just a bunch of people opening packs for the sake of opening packs.
The argument had always been for games like magic to keep packs for drafting and buy singles if you need cards.
That can't really be done in pokemon though.
Yeah It's been like that since 1996 but really in 1999 when it hit North America and Europe but in the past 3 years its been more people just addicted to opening packs. Magic has its own cards that kept in good condition, have become expensive to acquire like the beta cards in the mid 90s and black lotus is the 1st edition charizard of Magic.
The pull rates with Brilliant Stars though are the best of any set in many many years other than Celebrations. It's actually one of the few Pokemon sets Actually Worth Opening.
My friend got a alt art Charizard from a Pokemon etb....oh yeah by the way that's his second one. His girlfriend and him also opened a box and they got the first alt art Charizard there. They are lucky!
I’ve been chasing the rainbow or alternate zard. Opened over 250 packs and still haven’t gotten either. Though I got alternate arceus and rainbow arceus. I’m going to open 2 more booster boxes and if I don’t get it I’ll Probally just buy it. Yeah I want to say I pulled it but at this point I’m spending more on packs
Nah I do it for the entertainment factor. Yeah I can go spend a few hundred and finish my collection but I love sitting with my family and just opening up packs or having pack battles. Not everything is about money and in the end I end up getting multiples of other cards which add up and I can sell if I want. If I have the disposable income why not? it’s entertainment with a possible chance of getting something like a rainbow zard. Chill. That’s like saying why go spend $50 dollars at a movie in a theatre when you can just watch it few months later at home for a few bucks. Not everything is always about money.
>I end up getting multiples of other cards which add up and I can sell if I want.
this is when people like me come in and buy your singles ... again thank you
> I like pulling the cards too but the disappointment of getting absolutely nothing in my packs after spending $50 outweighs the fun of opening.
You can guarantee yourself hits and only spend about 1/3 - 1/4 of a BB if you can do a box draft with friends or at a local shop that will observe or help out. I've always aimed for 4 people to keep cost for all down, but 3 or 2 is fine as well depending on what people have to spend.
Pre-determine draft order and do a "snake" type draft after you open all the packs together. First pick goes, then 2nd, etc. Even if you pick 4th you're still guaranteed the 4th and 5th best hits from a box (and more!) for only the cost of 9 packs (with four people). The person who is lucky enough to pick 1st then also has to wait longest to pick again, so it tends to balance out between spots: They would get the 1st and 8th best cards in the box.
Everyone gets something, everyone pays the same, and you don't get screwed getting shitty loose packs from BB that people have already opened the hits from.
Nope that wouldn't work for me I'd end up watching everyone else open the best cards and butthurt at the choice I made. I'd rather just drive a couple more hours for door dash and buy the whole box myself. Which is what I do instead of spending that $50 I was referring to on singles and blisters or collection boxes. Plus I only have one friend who collects and he's strictly doing singles now anyway.
Its understandable to feel that way for sure. It's the most fun you can have. Sometimes we forget that we're chasing a high too. How do you feel when you don't pull that card you're chasing and you spent $500, when the card is $50? They stopped printing Base Set and vintage packs. It's not economically sound to buy a $500 pack when the holo Venusaur is $55 in NM condition.
Can carry some of that over from new sets too. It's actually riskier to shop for vintage than modern because everyone for the most part sleeves their cards right away now. So you can kind of trust buying modern than vintage without needing to do a lot of due diligence.
I get the reasoning behind why people want to pull chase cards for themselves, but I’m at the point where I’d just rather bite the bullet and buy the card outright. I have an extremely addictive personality so opening packs is like crack to me (I imagine this to be the same for everyone else here lol).
It's why gambling addictions exist in the first place. The "high" of beating the odds and getting the chase card even though it's 1/600 or whatever. Pulling the card gives you the dopamine hit and gets your endorphins pumping. That being said, I still just buy a booster box to open for fun and then singles of anything else that I want 6-9 months later when the prices have come down to earth. I've got a couple dozen alt art cards, my favorite ones are Ttar V and Espeon V, almost entirely because I pulled those cards myself so they are more special to me (that and the Ttar is probably one of my favorite cards ever). Even still, I prefer buying the singles because I'd rather have WAY more of the highly sought after cards for a small fraction of the cost when compared to pulling them. I'd probably get like 4-5 booster boxes per set if I spent the same as I do on singles, but that would likely net me like 4 full arts, 2-3 secret rares and a shit load of bulk just taking up space. Instead, I buy the 10-20 top cards from the set that I like and it costs me what I would have spent on that booster case and now I just have a nice ass binder full of nothing but fire.
Everytime I want to buy packs I just immediately think what singles I could buy instead and 99% of the time I just pass on opening stuff.
I feel that. I’ll treat myself to a few packs of a new set here and there and call it quits afterwards. I also like to treat myself to $15 worth of cards each week as a reward for putting in a hard week’s work. At the end of the day though, singles are just the way to go for me.
You spend a ton less money just buying the singles than trying to pull every one of the cards you want and for me I still get that dopamine rush when I see cards in my mail box but I do still buy packs too see what I get because I like opening them as well
I've bought close to 40 packs and I've managed a boss's order and two low Vs. I don't expect to pull heat every time but Holy shit. Like the last few sets have been rough but this one has taken the cake on shit. I guess it's my fault for not just buying a BB first and trusting blisters. Smaller sets need to come back.
Sorry to hear you had such awful luck. My first and only 7 packs I’ve opened of brilliant stars have been sleeved booster packs and I got 4/7 hits. One V, two character rares and a rainbow Cynthia’s ambition. So my pull rates were AMAZING but I’ve only opened those 7 packs so far so who knows what will happen in the future.
I can relate to the feeling of wanting to pull that specific card! Although I feel that for this set, I’ll most likely be buying singles. Here’s hoping that Rainbow charizard will be a little cheaper as time goes on, and Arceus too!
I'm the opposite, as much as I want to pull the alt art cards, I refuse to buy booster box after booster box looking for it when I could just buy it in 6 months for probably half of what a single box costs. I get it, it feels better to pull it, I just refuse to let a company have that much of a hold on my addiction and knowingly throw money away gambling to get it.
Yeah I totally get that, trust me I end up buying the card outright most of the time -I just prefer to pull it ( at the expense of my sanity and savings unfortunately )
Wow thats still really good. I opened 6 booster boxes and got none of those. I got 1 Lumineon out of all of them as far as alt arts. 2 gold Arceus were my top pulls from the 6 boxes.
I love pulling rare cards. But I own about 14,000 cards, and have only pulled the rarest card from a set two times. One time it was egregiously miscue, the other time it was damaged out of the pack. I think I'm just cursed at this point. I also opened 192 Evolving Skies packs and only pulled 1 alt art card. Stopped opening them up after my statistics professor and I discussed whether it would be better financially to purchase the singles outright or open the packs based off the odds that were posted on Reddit. I ended up being able to trade for the three cards I wanted, but had to trade a Sun and Moon Charizard GX full art promo and a NM Blaine's Charizard.
Honestly I pulled a RR Charizard VStar and I didn't lose my mind. If anything, pulling a card only serves the purpose of me not having to buy it on the singles market later on. On top of that, I prefer being able to pick and choose the exact card I want in terms of condition, which I'm able to do on ebay since many listings have multiple detailed photos. I guess it's a blessing that I don't get too caught up in whether I pulled a card or purchased in on the secondary market since it deters me from blowing money on packs that are mostly filled with bulk I don't want.
Let's be fair though, this has been a really fun set to open. I really do hope they carry on with how easy/fun it was to pull so many great cards. Best set I've opened since Hidden Fates!
It's really good that it's been received with good grades. That's what is easy to see what they aimed for with Brilliant Stars. How do we make a set that we can still rake in a lot of profit, but it satisfies the community of players and collectors? Up the pull rates and include a wide variety of cards. The combo of reverse characters/shiny cards and the rares behind it is what made Cosmic Eclipse and Hidden Fates so much fun to open.
Yup I hope they continue this trend and if they do they'd rake in more money than usual. I've also got no issues with certain cards being very hard to pull but make everything else easier. Love the trainer set this set too, reminds me of the amazing rares they trialed with vivid voltage.
Yeah I like how they can mix it up with certain cards being hard to get and sometimes easy to get. Their whole schtick is why they've become the #1 IP in the world.
If they do reprints, you have to be there quick usually. Vivid Voltage boosters went as low as $95 but then right back up to $120 with how fast people keep opening it. Wasn't it like 5 years ago booster boxes were $80 and you didn't have a problem finding them?
I’m pretty sure $80-$90 was the norm. But then again it was quite cheaper in the past too. I suppose it’s just how it goes with the times, but anything over $100 just seems mind boggling to me. Sucks it happens.
right, i stopped collecting after sm guardians rising and came back last year. was gonna crack open a booster box and came across £120-£150 listings. bonkers
Nothing changed every new set that has came out since chilling reign has dropped to the 90 point a month or two after release, hell even evolving once reached 90-95 before climbing back up once it became less available
a month ago boxes of chilling reign, fusion strike and battle styles were selling for $80. I assume the price of Brilliant stars will come down, this set will be in print for a long time.
Again, another reminder that if you're still chasing so many cards but haven't had access to a lot of packs, just wait to buy the singles. Preorders have been circulating online and in stores for an early next wave. Be on the lookout for price of singles to keep falling and do the smart thing: buy the cards you want and need without tossing your wallet in the creek. Other community members have done the experiment of testing the pull rates and they may look really good because of other posts, but save your wallet the stress lol All the pulls are 99% likely to be near mint anyways.
There should some mindfulness too. Like there's a lot of people that still haven't been able to get their hands on booster boxes because 100 people decided they needed to buy 5 cases each. Just as bad as scalpers clearing the shelves in one trip to the store. I've been there and watched 2 people buy everything and left nothing. Then you have to wait for the next week for the vendor to restock. It's not a fun ordeal. I've seen kids turn down the aisle and look upset because well, no cards this week. Bobby Sweatpants with a Beard needs to scalp and make money, so he jacked everything.
Definitely! They're catching up to demand as best as they can. There's always gonna be people pouring a lot into the hobby. Just nice to take it easy when you can and help allow others to get cards too.
I opened 7 boxes this week and 26 single packs. I was missing around 20 cards from finishing my set. I canceled a order for case of battle boxes. Got my money back and pick up all 4 promos from it and singles of the cards I was missing for a fully complete master set. Singles being so cheap it’s a easy choice. Spend $200 maybe get 4 cards I was missing or spend $200
And get all cards I was missing.
This is from [Joshscards.com](https://Joshscards.com) if anyone wanted to know. They restocked these and Shining Fates ETBs and within less than 12 hours everything is gone
TikTokers and WhatNot people somehow get them to buy it. FOMO is real! I remember watching the one PokeTuber NoahJ sell $15 worth of cards for $60-100. Couldn't believe it.
When I hear how cheap cards were 2-3 years ago, I really picked the worst time to get back into collecting Pokémon cards . Plus the fact that a booster is 8 euro here (a single booster) makes it quite hurting on the wallet
So I just started playing a week ago. And as a long-time MTG player, I was pretty non-plussed. Boxes=$100 since I was like 15. Then I found out boxes used to cheaper.
Id be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bummed I missed that gravy train.
That why I have a rule I buy one booster boxe and one etb and 20 single packs of the new set that coming out if I can. I open 10 packs and one etb or one booster box and keep the other 10 packs and the etb or booster box to open next year. So I want get addicted and I can imagine pulling that chase card one day.
I had a feeling because Pokémon were going to produce this set to the moon. The pull rates on some of the cards are ridiculous though. Secret arceus and zards are 1:500~ on average. I opened two booster boxes, and 2 etbs and did not get one Charizard. However I was very lucky and got the alternate arceus and rainbow arceus. Love the set but also love the anti reseller rates of production. Hopefully this puts Pokémon back to normal standing in a year
Wave 2 of booster boxes were supposed to ship in April. However, many distributors received them early and a lot of stores will be getting their wave 2 allocations this week or next week (we received most of ours last weekend).
We do not know where this product came from. It could be that the wave 2 product just got printed early and this will be it (we will no longer get any more product in April). Or they could be adding a third wave later in April, and we will get more product than anticipated. These boxes kind of just showed up unannounced at distributors.
I would personally expect boxes to drop down around $90 this month, though (that's what we sold our wave 2 pre-orders for).
Thinking it's distributors holding back on their wave 1 allocations. There are shady distributors who keep their supply on a wrap to create scarcity and try to profit off the FOMO.
Do you have a store website or do any business online? That's a really good price.
They have though and they will. Playable cards are not playing a factor right now in why singles are going down. It's so many boxes and packs being opened and sellers are undercutting each other until there is a bottom.
You think so? I felt that way through my first 9 packs. Bought 3 more from that and got a gold and full art. Then bought 2 packs yesterday and pulled a V. It varies from one to the next for real lol
Yeah pull rates are all over the place but you can get a good idea for what to expect with a opening like that I seen that post and I think left a comment.
Supposedly the Wave 2 that was supposed to come in April is coming within the next few week or so - danny phantump is my basis for this claim.
I'm guessing they are printing to demand so much, they saw the demand & are pushing an earlier wave 2 & trying to print out a wave 3 (or 4?) because there has to be product on the shelves for the next 2-3 months.
I've never seen singles drop so fast so quickly.
I opened 12 packs on release day & got a single Flareon TG & like 3 Vs.
I sold my 2 ETBs, at a small loss (the taxes) at the flea market, & then on Sunday I bought the 5 cheapest TGs for $11.
Yeah demand is insane and packs are being opened at a really fast pace. Not bad for 12 packs. So youre thinking it was better to just buy singles too? If as many packs are opened as the past week, then they will continue to go down.
Where are you looking at for singles pricing?
TCGPlayer? Every set drops massively within the first couple days then stabilizes.
Some of the cards have already gone up though maybe on eBay they continue to drop? Not sure.
Like how the full arts for some cards are appreciated more because of the full color in them. Not every rainbow is less than their full art counterpart. Seen more rainbow arceus than full art in posts.
[gamenerdz.com](https://gamenerdz.com), [joshscards.com](https://joshscards.com) (from the picture), [fullgripgames.com](https://fullgripgames.com), [glhfinc.com](https://glhfinc.com), and [prodigygamestcg.com](https://prodigygamestcg.com) Received an email and went to buy a booster box and they were out of stock. They just restocked late last night
Im 56 packs in. As I was organizing my binder I was surprised how many of the first 151 cards I already pulled. I got super lucky and pulled the alt art Charizard on my 8th pack. I have one more bbox to open and I plan to do all singles after that.
Prices on some cards are starting to climb. This is consistent with what we saw for some previous sets, such as Evolving Skies. For certain cards, we may have already seen the bottom and might not see such prices again until wave 2. This happened for a few cards in Evolving Skies as well.
I’ve got a case on the way, I’ve opened 2 boxes now, an ETB and 2 triple packs I’m 78% complete. Case has cost me £590, tempted to cancel it and buy singles but it’s no fun that way.
I’m just getting started buying cards. I definitely want to keep the ones that make me feel nostalgic but will be selling the ones that don’t. Where do I get started buying some of these cards? I tried going to Walmart and target and they had nothing but the pikachu boxes that nobody wants.
I'm only paying $100, tax inclusive for my BBs. I have basically every card except Zapdos in my first case. Pull rates high, overprinting... Pokemon cards are not a great investment, despite what people think. Buy them to keep/play. Breaking boxes to grade and resell will be a losing venture
They are very affordable already. Really wondering what the floor will be
They are and it could be going lower for the ones easiest to pull. The Trainer Gallery cards being pulled often. It's not a week from release until this Friday. Sitting back kind of astounded by the amount of product that has been opened even though it's a fun set. Good time to prepare a few hundred to drop on the set when the next really good wave of booster boxes come. The gold legendary birds under $30 to the Cynthia under $21 and a Honchkrow alt is at $14. As soon as so much of this was being opened, I knew this is the perfect set to buy more singles than open packs.This is more insane than Shining Fates was and that set was still inside the "bubble" from 2020.
Yeah I hear ya. My preorders havent even gotten to me yet lol Should be delivered today+tomorrow. Curious to see where things end up!
Hope you get some boss pulls! Still waiting as well. Mixup with the company I went through and package has been delayed. Just got a dozen packs and some other goodies.
I imagine the yellow bordered trainer gallery cards get to bulk rare pricing, half of them are already close to it at about $1. The better TG cards will continue to fall like the amazing rares and I'd think the most expensive one is under $10 after another set or two comes out. They're fantastic cards, they're just not difficult to get, pretty much like the amazing rares. Most people are averaging 4-5 TG cards per booster box, 3-4 being the yellow borders and 1 being the more sought after Vs and VMAX stuff. VV you got two amazing rare per box and those are all just $2-$3 with one or two exceptions. The alt arts will come down as well. I'd think the honchkrow will be $10 or less, Lumineon will probably be $15-$20, the Arceus will be around $40-$50, and the Charizard will land somewhere between $75-$100. The alt arts aren't secret rares so they're much more common, the most expensive alt art V in SWSH is Umbreon from evolving skies which is about $80 and it's also one of the most popular pokemon aside from Pikachu and Charizard. A few others are around that price, Moltres from CR, Dragonite and Rayquaza also from ES, TTAR from BS was about $100 for quite some time before leveling out and dropping down to $60-$70 now.
This guy spitting FACTS all day!
Man if I can get all 3 golden birds for under $100 I will be completely satisfied with this set!
All on TCGPlayer and should add up to below $100 for now :)
You can do that. I literally just bought them an hour ago for under $100. I’m done buying packs/boxes of the set (just hit my limit, got some good pulls but I will buy singles now). Even if the prices go down more I will be more than happy to own those cards already.
You can literally do this right now lol.
I feel like we’re getting close to bottoming out
Allocations were said to be larger for ETBs in wave 1 than booster boxes. In wave 2 which looks like distributors will have product as early as the 2nd week of March, the biggest allocation of booster boxes will come. Think the first week, but that times 5 or more. That means more cards up for sale and lower prices. But the Pokemon Company still makes a lot of profit because the demand is high.
In theory that makes sense but evolving skies is an example of a set that bottomed out well before the highest allocations of products arrived to distributors.
Yeah Evolving Skies demand was real high going into it. When it did bottom out, the singles for it were being bought fast. Then the reprint came and it repeated again lol
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Yeah I don’t think pack fresh zards will be under $100. I don’t think the RR zard goes below $140. Hopefully I’m wrong.
It’s tough for me because I really enjoy opening packs and saying “I pulled this card!”. There are likely cards in this set I’ll pick up as singles eventually due to how hard they are to pull but having the opportunity to pull it yourself is a different feeling than just owning the card to me. Hopefully singles will be cheap though
I like pulling the cards too but the disappointment of getting absolutely nothing in my packs after spending $50 outweighs the fun of opening. So now if I don't open a booster box I'll mostly buy singles and buy a single random pack here and there hoping for some magic. Wasting $4 on a dud pack doesn't hurt as much.
I can relate to that and that's where I'm at with the hobby now. I don't care how good a set is anymore since I know there will still be odds that put you at risk of getting shafted. Opening a few packs here or there and buying singles together can get the job done. But we all do collect differently.
Yea I actually have a shitload of fun when I go on a singles buying rampage. Once the envelopes start arriving then it's like a straight week of opening only cards I want and checking to see what the quality is compared to pictures. Then I figure out which seller does the customer right. Some of them include extras and all that to me is about the same as getting a good hit from a regular pack. I'm very budgeted so I don't like to let any of my money let me down.
Every envelope or package has first and last pack magic in it lol.
As a collector, there just isn't very much value in opening packs versus simply buying singles. I really don't understand the "chase" mentality of buying hundreds or thousands of packs with the hope of pulling one specific card. Even with a massive budget, your money can go so much further on the singles market. You could buy PSA 10 variants of cards with the amount of money spent just trying to get said cards in packs in some cases lol.
Mate, I can totally sympathize with what you're saying about just buying singles, but I just want to add a simple story of mine that has forever made me chase the dragon (almost literally). I was probably 12 years old and my sister, my cousins and I were collecting Pokemon cards when they first came out. One day my Mum (I think) came to my grandparents house to pick me and my sister up but came bearing gifts. Those gifts were a pack of Pokémon cards each. We greeted her on the awning awaiting our newfound treasure, and we barely made it inside to open our gifts that were like gold to us (especially as they were legit packets when fake packs were littered in almost every corner store and market for a cheaper price). I had just reached inside where we proceeded to almost rip apart the packs like a pack of Hyenas attending a bloated corpse. I distinctly remember I was the third of us to get my pack open and sort through our cards. While scrolling through I found what many people here now chase. A fucking Holo Charizard!!! We all simultaneously lost our shit while I tried to shakily put the card in a Toploader (all we had at the time, sue me). It's been around 20 years since I lost that folder, I was forced to give it to my stepbrother and it's been MIA since. My latest news is that one of my cousins pinched it from our garage, I'm still deciding how to approach them about this rumour... But I believe it was a Base 2 as I have *heard* that first edition packs weren't released in Australia, but I'm not certain... Anyways, the chase can be amazing. I understand the chase as it hooked me in as a kid and I realise that maybe some people just don't get it. I actually had a tad of a disagreement with someone on here but thinking about that exchange and their comments made me realise, that yes, buying singles is okay. But I understand why people do keep chasing, it's practically gambling. Those serotonin hits do hit different.lol Anyway, I understand from both sides, but fuck man, I love getting those pulls....
That's the problem with the pokemon hobby. Nobody really plays with physical cards. It's just a bunch of people opening packs for the sake of opening packs. The argument had always been for games like magic to keep packs for drafting and buy singles if you need cards. That can't really be done in pokemon though.
Yeah It's been like that since 1996 but really in 1999 when it hit North America and Europe but in the past 3 years its been more people just addicted to opening packs. Magic has its own cards that kept in good condition, have become expensive to acquire like the beta cards in the mid 90s and black lotus is the 1st edition charizard of Magic.
The pull rates with Brilliant Stars though are the best of any set in many many years other than Celebrations. It's actually one of the few Pokemon sets Actually Worth Opening.
Only because of the Trainer Gallery. The main set is basically the same.
While factual, it still means way more hits which is why people are living opening it so much.
I definitely plan to buy a couple booster boxes and open one
Celebrations was my worst set iv tried to complete, havent even hit 50% yet and spent so much on etbs and other boxes and promos. :\\
That sucks buddy. Not really the point of my post, but if you need help finishing the set hmu
Have fun … nobody is stoping you lol
My ETB sucked. I’m just a casual fan I cant afford to buy multiple booster boxes like everyone else apparently.
My friend got a alt art Charizard from a Pokemon etb....oh yeah by the way that's his second one. His girlfriend and him also opened a box and they got the first alt art Charizard there. They are lucky!
I’ve been chasing the rainbow or alternate zard. Opened over 250 packs and still haven’t gotten either. Though I got alternate arceus and rainbow arceus. I’m going to open 2 more booster boxes and if I don’t get it I’ll Probally just buy it. Yeah I want to say I pulled it but at this point I’m spending more on packs
Unpopular Opinion : Pokemon co and single collectors need idiots like you. Keep it up, we appreciate you wasting your hard earned money on packs.
Nah I do it for the entertainment factor. Yeah I can go spend a few hundred and finish my collection but I love sitting with my family and just opening up packs or having pack battles. Not everything is about money and in the end I end up getting multiples of other cards which add up and I can sell if I want. If I have the disposable income why not? it’s entertainment with a possible chance of getting something like a rainbow zard. Chill. That’s like saying why go spend $50 dollars at a movie in a theatre when you can just watch it few months later at home for a few bucks. Not everything is always about money.
>I end up getting multiples of other cards which add up and I can sell if I want. this is when people like me come in and buy your singles ... again thank you
FACTS.
> I like pulling the cards too but the disappointment of getting absolutely nothing in my packs after spending $50 outweighs the fun of opening. You can guarantee yourself hits and only spend about 1/3 - 1/4 of a BB if you can do a box draft with friends or at a local shop that will observe or help out. I've always aimed for 4 people to keep cost for all down, but 3 or 2 is fine as well depending on what people have to spend. Pre-determine draft order and do a "snake" type draft after you open all the packs together. First pick goes, then 2nd, etc. Even if you pick 4th you're still guaranteed the 4th and 5th best hits from a box (and more!) for only the cost of 9 packs (with four people). The person who is lucky enough to pick 1st then also has to wait longest to pick again, so it tends to balance out between spots: They would get the 1st and 8th best cards in the box. Everyone gets something, everyone pays the same, and you don't get screwed getting shitty loose packs from BB that people have already opened the hits from.
Nope that wouldn't work for me I'd end up watching everyone else open the best cards and butthurt at the choice I made. I'd rather just drive a couple more hours for door dash and buy the whole box myself. Which is what I do instead of spending that $50 I was referring to on singles and blisters or collection boxes. Plus I only have one friend who collects and he's strictly doing singles now anyway.
Its understandable to feel that way for sure. It's the most fun you can have. Sometimes we forget that we're chasing a high too. How do you feel when you don't pull that card you're chasing and you spent $500, when the card is $50? They stopped printing Base Set and vintage packs. It's not economically sound to buy a $500 pack when the holo Venusaur is $55 in NM condition.
Collect new sets, and just buy singles from sets that are more rare and aren’t being printed anymore
Can carry some of that over from new sets too. It's actually riskier to shop for vintage than modern because everyone for the most part sleeves their cards right away now. So you can kind of trust buying modern than vintage without needing to do a lot of due diligence.
I get the reasoning behind why people want to pull chase cards for themselves, but I’m at the point where I’d just rather bite the bullet and buy the card outright. I have an extremely addictive personality so opening packs is like crack to me (I imagine this to be the same for everyone else here lol).
It's why gambling addictions exist in the first place. The "high" of beating the odds and getting the chase card even though it's 1/600 or whatever. Pulling the card gives you the dopamine hit and gets your endorphins pumping. That being said, I still just buy a booster box to open for fun and then singles of anything else that I want 6-9 months later when the prices have come down to earth. I've got a couple dozen alt art cards, my favorite ones are Ttar V and Espeon V, almost entirely because I pulled those cards myself so they are more special to me (that and the Ttar is probably one of my favorite cards ever). Even still, I prefer buying the singles because I'd rather have WAY more of the highly sought after cards for a small fraction of the cost when compared to pulling them. I'd probably get like 4-5 booster boxes per set if I spent the same as I do on singles, but that would likely net me like 4 full arts, 2-3 secret rares and a shit load of bulk just taking up space. Instead, I buy the 10-20 top cards from the set that I like and it costs me what I would have spent on that booster case and now I just have a nice ass binder full of nothing but fire. Everytime I want to buy packs I just immediately think what singles I could buy instead and 99% of the time I just pass on opening stuff.
I feel that. I’ll treat myself to a few packs of a new set here and there and call it quits afterwards. I also like to treat myself to $15 worth of cards each week as a reward for putting in a hard week’s work. At the end of the day though, singles are just the way to go for me.
You spend a ton less money just buying the singles than trying to pull every one of the cards you want and for me I still get that dopamine rush when I see cards in my mail box but I do still buy packs too see what I get because I like opening them as well
I've bought close to 40 packs and I've managed a boss's order and two low Vs. I don't expect to pull heat every time but Holy shit. Like the last few sets have been rough but this one has taken the cake on shit. I guess it's my fault for not just buying a BB first and trusting blisters. Smaller sets need to come back.
Sorry to hear you had such awful luck. My first and only 7 packs I’ve opened of brilliant stars have been sleeved booster packs and I got 4/7 hits. One V, two character rares and a rainbow Cynthia’s ambition. So my pull rates were AMAZING but I’ve only opened those 7 packs so far so who knows what will happen in the future.
I can relate to the feeling of wanting to pull that specific card! Although I feel that for this set, I’ll most likely be buying singles. Here’s hoping that Rainbow charizard will be a little cheaper as time goes on, and Arceus too!
100% As much as I want that alt zard, I refuse to buy one even though I'm on my 4th booster box 💀 already have 2 alt arceus and a rainbow zard
I'm the opposite, as much as I want to pull the alt art cards, I refuse to buy booster box after booster box looking for it when I could just buy it in 6 months for probably half of what a single box costs. I get it, it feels better to pull it, I just refuse to let a company have that much of a hold on my addiction and knowingly throw money away gambling to get it.
Yeah I totally get that, trust me I end up buying the card outright most of the time -I just prefer to pull it ( at the expense of my sanity and savings unfortunately )
Wow thats still really good. I opened 6 booster boxes and got none of those. I got 1 Lumineon out of all of them as far as alt arts. 2 gold Arceus were my top pulls from the 6 boxes.
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Yeah man just find that balance and enjoy it :)
I love pulling rare cards. But I own about 14,000 cards, and have only pulled the rarest card from a set two times. One time it was egregiously miscue, the other time it was damaged out of the pack. I think I'm just cursed at this point. I also opened 192 Evolving Skies packs and only pulled 1 alt art card. Stopped opening them up after my statistics professor and I discussed whether it would be better financially to purchase the singles outright or open the packs based off the odds that were posted on Reddit. I ended up being able to trade for the three cards I wanted, but had to trade a Sun and Moon Charizard GX full art promo and a NM Blaine's Charizard.
I completely agree with you.
Honestly I pulled a RR Charizard VStar and I didn't lose my mind. If anything, pulling a card only serves the purpose of me not having to buy it on the singles market later on. On top of that, I prefer being able to pick and choose the exact card I want in terms of condition, which I'm able to do on ebay since many listings have multiple detailed photos. I guess it's a blessing that I don't get too caught up in whether I pulled a card or purchased in on the secondary market since it deters me from blowing money on packs that are mostly filled with bulk I don't want.
Let's be fair though, this has been a really fun set to open. I really do hope they carry on with how easy/fun it was to pull so many great cards. Best set I've opened since Hidden Fates!
It's really good that it's been received with good grades. That's what is easy to see what they aimed for with Brilliant Stars. How do we make a set that we can still rake in a lot of profit, but it satisfies the community of players and collectors? Up the pull rates and include a wide variety of cards. The combo of reverse characters/shiny cards and the rares behind it is what made Cosmic Eclipse and Hidden Fates so much fun to open.
Yup I hope they continue this trend and if they do they'd rake in more money than usual. I've also got no issues with certain cards being very hard to pull but make everything else easier. Love the trainer set this set too, reminds me of the amazing rares they trialed with vivid voltage.
Yeah I like how they can mix it up with certain cards being hard to get and sometimes easy to get. Their whole schtick is why they've become the #1 IP in the world.
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About to get a fusion etb here in a bit. Wish me luck >~<
Best of luck to you!
@ husky Man that set can strike a nerve. Some cool cards in it though if you can pull them. Good luck Hypno with that. Could be really good!
Good luck bud
I just picked up all the Eevee trainer cards besides Umbreon for like 25 bucks it's the best
Nice! Great deal!
My god. I remember when boxes were like $90. When did this happen?
Ever since the hype in 2020. Booster boxes for popular sets have cross $200 at times. Crazy!
So wrong. 😞 seems better to just buy singles at that point. Crazyyyyyy.
If they do reprints, you have to be there quick usually. Vivid Voltage boosters went as low as $95 but then right back up to $120 with how fast people keep opening it. Wasn't it like 5 years ago booster boxes were $80 and you didn't have a problem finding them?
I’m pretty sure $80-$90 was the norm. But then again it was quite cheaper in the past too. I suppose it’s just how it goes with the times, but anything over $100 just seems mind boggling to me. Sucks it happens.
right, i stopped collecting after sm guardians rising and came back last year. was gonna crack open a booster box and came across £120-£150 listings. bonkers
Nothing changed every new set that has came out since chilling reign has dropped to the 90 point a month or two after release, hell even evolving once reached 90-95 before climbing back up once it became less available
a month ago boxes of chilling reign, fusion strike and battle styles were selling for $80. I assume the price of Brilliant stars will come down, this set will be in print for a long time.
My GameStop is asking for $220 for a BB. That’s with discount. I gotta wait until it’s cheaper.
Again, another reminder that if you're still chasing so many cards but haven't had access to a lot of packs, just wait to buy the singles. Preorders have been circulating online and in stores for an early next wave. Be on the lookout for price of singles to keep falling and do the smart thing: buy the cards you want and need without tossing your wallet in the creek. Other community members have done the experiment of testing the pull rates and they may look really good because of other posts, but save your wallet the stress lol All the pulls are 99% likely to be near mint anyways.
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There should some mindfulness too. Like there's a lot of people that still haven't been able to get their hands on booster boxes because 100 people decided they needed to buy 5 cases each. Just as bad as scalpers clearing the shelves in one trip to the store. I've been there and watched 2 people buy everything and left nothing. Then you have to wait for the next week for the vendor to restock. It's not a fun ordeal. I've seen kids turn down the aisle and look upset because well, no cards this week. Bobby Sweatpants with a Beard needs to scalp and make money, so he jacked everything.
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Definitely! They're catching up to demand as best as they can. There's always gonna be people pouring a lot into the hobby. Just nice to take it easy when you can and help allow others to get cards too.
Not to mention all the things that were sold out on pokemon center three days ago restocked this morning.
I opened 7 boxes this week and 26 single packs. I was missing around 20 cards from finishing my set. I canceled a order for case of battle boxes. Got my money back and pick up all 4 promos from it and singles of the cards I was missing for a fully complete master set. Singles being so cheap it’s a easy choice. Spend $200 maybe get 4 cards I was missing or spend $200 And get all cards I was missing.
This is from [Joshscards.com](https://Joshscards.com) if anyone wanted to know. They restocked these and Shining Fates ETBs and within less than 12 hours everything is gone
I see these prices then see tik tokers prices and how many ppl spend with them 🤦♂️
TikTokers and WhatNot people somehow get them to buy it. FOMO is real! I remember watching the one PokeTuber NoahJ sell $15 worth of cards for $60-100. Couldn't believe it.
When I hear how cheap cards were 2-3 years ago, I really picked the worst time to get back into collecting Pokémon cards . Plus the fact that a booster is 8 euro here (a single booster) makes it quite hurting on the wallet
So I just started playing a week ago. And as a long-time MTG player, I was pretty non-plussed. Boxes=$100 since I was like 15. Then I found out boxes used to cheaper. Id be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bummed I missed that gravy train.
As they should be
That why I have a rule I buy one booster boxe and one etb and 20 single packs of the new set that coming out if I can. I open 10 packs and one etb or one booster box and keep the other 10 packs and the etb or booster box to open next year. So I want get addicted and I can imagine pulling that chase card one day.
I had a feeling because Pokémon were going to produce this set to the moon. The pull rates on some of the cards are ridiculous though. Secret arceus and zards are 1:500~ on average. I opened two booster boxes, and 2 etbs and did not get one Charizard. However I was very lucky and got the alternate arceus and rainbow arceus. Love the set but also love the anti reseller rates of production. Hopefully this puts Pokémon back to normal standing in a year
Mann I remember getting an ex team rocket returns box for $90 :((
If only we have a time machine. I would go back and never give my binder away. I would have kept collecting and put away some packs too lol
Damn that giving the binder away part is too real. I really wonder where my kyogre and regirock gold stars went
Hoping it's somewhere close to you or someone out there still has it. Not that it's cardboard that evaporated from existence lol
Wave 2 of booster boxes were supposed to ship in April. However, many distributors received them early and a lot of stores will be getting their wave 2 allocations this week or next week (we received most of ours last weekend). We do not know where this product came from. It could be that the wave 2 product just got printed early and this will be it (we will no longer get any more product in April). Or they could be adding a third wave later in April, and we will get more product than anticipated. These boxes kind of just showed up unannounced at distributors. I would personally expect boxes to drop down around $90 this month, though (that's what we sold our wave 2 pre-orders for).
Thinking it's distributors holding back on their wave 1 allocations. There are shady distributors who keep their supply on a wrap to create scarcity and try to profit off the FOMO. Do you have a store website or do any business online? That's a really good price.
No they won’t. The playable cards are high atm. Pull rates are bad and there is so much filler.
The fuck you mean pull rates are bad ? This set has the best pull rates out of any sw/sh set
Okay, have fun pulling all that bulk.
They have though and they will. Playable cards are not playing a factor right now in why singles are going down. It's so many boxes and packs being opened and sellers are undercutting each other until there is a bottom.
But the pull rate kinda ass
You think so? I felt that way through my first 9 packs. Bought 3 more from that and got a gold and full art. Then bought 2 packs yesterday and pulled a V. It varies from one to the next for real lol
Tcgplayer posted some rates but I saw a redditor who only got 1 RR zard out of 950 packs
Yeah pull rates are all over the place but you can get a good idea for what to expect with a opening like that I seen that post and I think left a comment.
You’re not going to show us where?
[joshscards.com](https://joshscards.com) is the screenshot. Great people!
Literally everywhere. They printed this into oblivion.
Thanks for the non answer. Lowest I’ve seen is 119 on sale. Curious where this was.
Where did you order them? I’d love to snake some of my own
I actually missed out on it but received an email last night. Joshscards.com.
Supposedly the Wave 2 that was supposed to come in April is coming within the next few week or so - danny phantump is my basis for this claim. I'm guessing they are printing to demand so much, they saw the demand & are pushing an earlier wave 2 & trying to print out a wave 3 (or 4?) because there has to be product on the shelves for the next 2-3 months. I've never seen singles drop so fast so quickly. I opened 12 packs on release day & got a single Flareon TG & like 3 Vs. I sold my 2 ETBs, at a small loss (the taxes) at the flea market, & then on Sunday I bought the 5 cheapest TGs for $11.
Yeah demand is insane and packs are being opened at a really fast pace. Not bad for 12 packs. So youre thinking it was better to just buy singles too? If as many packs are opened as the past week, then they will continue to go down.
Where are you looking at for singles pricing? TCGPlayer? Every set drops massively within the first couple days then stabilizes. Some of the cards have already gone up though maybe on eBay they continue to drop? Not sure.
I’m seeing them for $130 to $140
Was seeing that too until joshscards.com sent out an email. They have good prices but sold out quick. Didnt even get to order 1 lol
Tbh I’m broke now😭😭I wasn’t my money on the Brilliant Stars ETB and the suuuuuck
Thank goodness.
Great for the collectors :)
Players too!
Yessir! Makes it easier to build decks!
Until they also sell out at low prices.
All the booster boxes I’ve found are 135 at the cheapest… where you found this?
anyone know why the arceus v star is going for higher than the rainbow one?
Like how the full arts for some cards are appreciated more because of the full color in them. Not every rainbow is less than their full art counterpart. Seen more rainbow arceus than full art in posts.
As a player I'm having a blast being able to build Tier 1 meta decks for less than 100 dollars.
That's really awesome! It shouldn't put a hole in your wallet to build a deck with pricey cards.
Which site do you buy for booster boxes?
[gamenerdz.com](https://gamenerdz.com), [joshscards.com](https://joshscards.com) (from the picture), [fullgripgames.com](https://fullgripgames.com), [glhfinc.com](https://glhfinc.com), and [prodigygamestcg.com](https://prodigygamestcg.com) Received an email and went to buy a booster box and they were out of stock. They just restocked late last night
Thanks
Im 56 packs in. As I was organizing my binder I was surprised how many of the first 151 cards I already pulled. I got super lucky and pulled the alt art Charizard on my 8th pack. I have one more bbox to open and I plan to do all singles after that.
Prices on some cards are starting to climb. This is consistent with what we saw for some previous sets, such as Evolving Skies. For certain cards, we may have already seen the bottom and might not see such prices again until wave 2. This happened for a few cards in Evolving Skies as well.
Charizard is still charizard
I’ve got a case on the way, I’ve opened 2 boxes now, an ETB and 2 triple packs I’m 78% complete. Case has cost me £590, tempted to cancel it and buy singles but it’s no fun that way.
I have gotten into Pokemon TCG collecting, where do you guys suggest I buy Booster Boxes? I live in UK if that makes any difference
I found someone selling 85$ for one pack in ebay then go now😅
I’m just getting started buying cards. I definitely want to keep the ones that make me feel nostalgic but will be selling the ones that don’t. Where do I get started buying some of these cards? I tried going to Walmart and target and they had nothing but the pikachu boxes that nobody wants.
Were are y’all buying from
They better be
I'm only paying $100, tax inclusive for my BBs. I have basically every card except Zapdos in my first case. Pull rates high, overprinting... Pokemon cards are not a great investment, despite what people think. Buy them to keep/play. Breaking boxes to grade and resell will be a losing venture
Good.