Now that we are 8 months past the updated CGC label and grading scale, let’s see how e4 feels about it all.
These were my original thoughts:
I respect companies that try to innovate, but this feels incredibly late to the party. CGC is going on 3 years, why didn’t this happen earlier?
Updated Opinion: Still annoyed that it happened so late.
I liked the blue label a lot. The original label was meh, but the updated blue/white label was pretty cool. This new one looks like a basement grading company.
Updated Opinion: I was too quick to judge the change in appearance. I think they look pretty good.
I hate when companies change their grading criteria. It only serves to increase uncertainty in the validity and reliability of their grades. CGC has now done this twice in three years.
Updated Opinion: Still unhappy about this, but I think they have been pretty fair with the new grading scale.
I have even less trust in the CGC 10. Congratulations to all of the PSA 9 crack-and-resubmitters who upgraded to CGC 9.5, as you now have CGC 10s.
Updated Opinion: The big-brain CGC 9.5 buyers made a killing in the first few months. In 2024, I don’t think the premium associated with CGC Gem Mint 10s is justified as the cards often look like strong PSA 9s.
Without the “CGC Perfect” grade, why would people prefer a CGC 10 to a PSA 10? This “Black Label” equivalent was attractive to a lot of collectors.
Updated Opinion: I still don’t have an answer to this question. Most continue to prefer PSA 10, though there have been some notable sales in both the vintage and modern markets.
Sub-grades were helpful as they differentiated CGC from PSA. Why would a sub-grade obsessed TCG like Magic the Gathering want to grade with them? I thought that CGC was going to reign supreme for MTG, but now all of the early adapters are bound to go back to BGS for their sub-grades.
Updated Opinion: I do miss subgrades and I think that it was a mistake to get rid of them. The back of the new CGC slab is largely bare.
I respect any company’s path to innovate and evolve with time. It’s how they got there that bothers me. I must admit however I do really like their new slabs.
From a design approach, it looks really nice. It’s sleek, classy, gives you the vibe they know what they’re doing.
In the past 8 months, it did not change my opinion sending in slabs. In fact, the Eeveelution VMAX trio are the only CGC slabs I own under the new label.
CGC will never be taken seriously due to their approach with cutting corners, being too controversial, rules not applying to everyone, giving influencers a heads up about the 9.5 upgrade boost to 10’s. Sure they may get business, but when it comes to a round table discussion, we all just know how they do things.
I’m not saying PSA is perfect, they’re currently under their own turmoil and not getting things right.
I felt i would never support cgc again due to their changes… 8 months later i have bought a few cgc cards vastly under psa equivalent grade pricing.
I try to stick to blue label since i still think that the black label looks generic. I was a big fan of the blue label and how it matched their comic grading and stood out with some cards. I also really liked the subgrades and feel they are missing out by not having it. Wish they would grade packs and jumbos.
Their grading consistency seems better than their original grading scale but since I dont actively seek cgc and now focus more on the card meeting my standards than the grade, I dont actually bother to check how accurate their grade scale currently is.
I dont plan on subscribing to them again but will continue to pick up cards for cheap if i can find them. Oddly enough, cgc sellers usually think they are worth a premium even at lower grades so this has slowed me down considerably.
I still like their clear cases and like the feel of them better than psa.
Their brand feels cheaper to me now that they have expanded to include so many types. Feels like they are missing research on spots and focused on expanding too quickly.
Here were my thoughts when the label and scale update changed:
Now, I think there are three main reasons why one would submit to CGC:
You have a card with questionable or unverifiable provenance which other grading companies won’t touch
You’re a “CGC insider” and receive certain “benefits” for submitting to CGC
You have a pathological hatred for other grading companies due to negative experiences, tribalism, or a desire to be contrarian
I don’t think anyone is weighing the pros and cons of major grading companies and deciding to go with CGC on objective, market-based merits for the majority of their card grading. In the past, they had some significant objective upsides (subgrades, harsher standards, turnaround time, prices) but all of those have either disappeared or been killed off by CGC themselves.
My reaction to the pristine was to this, it’s much better with the embossed numbers.
I still think it was the classic CGC move of ostracizing their earliest supporters to make a net improvement to the company. Overall the right move though.
The blue label… it just feels like a synonym for junk slab/obsolete grading company to me today. Trying to clear nearly all of them out of my possession. I’ve probably bought maybe 7 CGC slabs total since this announcement. Really the brand is in a not great place for me but I think for every person like me there are 50 others who just don’t care and just want their favorite alt art in a slab that says 10.
The fact that CGC engaged in the equivalent of insider trading by letting people in on the secret early was troubling. More troubling is that it was basically a non-story and they suffered no meaningful reputational cost for that move.
No one still knows what each grade is supposed to represent. Maybe it’s my hill to die on but I prefer a comprehensive scale rather than just anything below a 9 is a indeterminant.
The new design has grown in me a bit for the regular labels.
I still think the pristine labels are very ugly.
I may use them in the future for error cards as they still have the best case, but I have not bought any CGC gem mints as they all have too much back whitening in vintage. I feel the scale is all over the place in vintage.
I think the change was for the worse. The only reason why you’d grade with CGC is the sub grades and the speed compared to PSA and Beckett.
CGC has lost both these fronts
Without subgrades it’s really guess in what a CGC grader might grade with 9.5 turning into tens, the whole scale has shifted and it really creates a lot of variance not only in their grades but the different graders perception of the cards. Furthermore, CGC has been taking the piss with turn around times. PSA has been doing 30 day turnaround at Bulk specials and often times they come out in less. My latest CGC economy sub is currently on 40 days before (suggested 20 day turn around). The reason is up for grabs but they seem to favor some customers and people over the general public. This is just speculation but it’s just what I’ve felt.
Finally CGC has no accountability.
The grades don’t matter whether the scale changes or not. There is no grade guarantee or double check just a label regardless of how bad a card looks.
Furthermore, they don’t have a reputation to uphold. Dealing with mystery box vendors, grading questionable cards with questionable backgrounds I think CGC is valuing the short term over the long term.
As a result, my even though I prefer the new label, my time purchasing and grading CGC is over, the only company I will go with from now on for my collection is PSA. They’re not perfect but they’re miles ahead.
I prefer the black label over the blue label - I think it looks cleaner. I don’t like the look of the gold label but I don’t collect 10s anyway so it doesn’t affect me.
Showing the error on the front of slabs instead of the back is 100% better for error collectors and it’s my favorite change with the new labels.
As far as removing subgrades, I’m still not happy about it and I’ve switched my entire non-error collection over to PSA.
