Gen Con Indy will have two retro tournaments: Base-Fossil & Base-Gym Prop 15/3. Both of these events sold out fairly quickly (about a month ago). This is partly due to some great yt videos that have come out this year highlighting the retro formats which has reinvigorated the scene. Today I want to talk about the possibility of vintage formats becoming more mainstream and the impact something that could have on the market.
The most important thing to understand is how these players are collecting. The difference between most vintage collectors and players is how they accumulate their cards. Many collectors piece together sets, requiring 1 or each card. Players however, need playsets (4x of each card). Now there’s some cards that see play in many meta decks. If a player wants to have multiple base-fossil decks for example, they could obtain up to 8-12 copies of a single card.
Most of these cards are widely available and somewhat easy to obtain. However, let’s say 50 spectators at gen con get excited and nostalgic from watching the tournaments. Maybe it’s a Blastoise rain-dancing on their opponent, or a Wigglytuff doing the wave. If these 50 players decide to all build decks, well I think you all know where I’m going with this.
The question is, will something like this ever be mainstream? In MTG, vintage formats are quite popular. Yet the scene in Pokemon is relatively small. How many of you would have interest in playing vintage? Why or why not? I think the best way to determine if this were to ever happen is to understand the sentiment from communities such as this.
I like this!! I’ve always had a vintage binder filled with duplicate playable trainers and pokemon. Never got a chance to use them though.
As for prices, I’m sure you’ll see prices for played copies go up slightly but not quite sure if we will ever see a fraction of MTG vintage playable prices.
It would be hilarious if played blastoises overtook charizard though
Old formats, GOAT and Edison in particular, have become extremely popular in Yugioh. For a while now, card prices have been greatly affected by this. I think it’s healthy for the game as it brings old players back, brings new ones in who want to play but don’t like where modern is at. The only thing is that I think that these formats will not have as long of a lifespan since at least in GOAT, there is no longer much rethinking of the format. Eventually players will get tired of the same thing but old format support in general is a good idea.
Would be nice to see old formats become more popular. Unfortunately it seems like it’ll only be a physical thing, which will limit it, since the new online game removed a lot of the older sets that the previous game supported.
I’m skeptical about price changes. Blastoise has the most potential since it’s inherently popular already. But there’s over 100 copies of the Blastoise under $50 on tcgplayer alone. There are 1,100 listings on ebay for “blastoise base set unlimited”. Nevermind the supply out there that’s not on the market.
For playing, condition doesn’t really matter. I also think the number of people that are truly interested in playing vintage decks is pretty limited and most have already built those decks. These are the things that have to be overcome to really see price movement
I wouldn’t expect much of an increase in price as I think most vintage decks of that era only utilize a few specific holos. If anything I think the rares would see the most of an increase since they are essentially the same pull rate as a holo and played as staples in most decks.
Additionally, jungle and fossil have non holo rare versions of the holos which are what I would choose to play with, instead of beating up a vintage holo.
It also just occurred to me that Base Set 2 exists.
I play several retro formats including Base - Fossil. Jason Klaczynski is owed a lot of praise for documenting these formats and posting sample lists. I can’t see playables being effected from wotc era due to the sheer number printed. That’s not counting the base set 2 and legendary collection. Blastoise is also printed in celebrations which i personally have in my rain dance deck.
The popular rspk format is more likely to affect prices. Rockets admin thankfully got reprinted in celebrations. Some of the other trainers and exs are scarce.
I notice the same thing. Was watching the retro format events for a bit and was hoping they’d fire some more, but it doesn’t look like they will. Hopefully everyone has fun playing in those tournaments.
Yeah there is a bunch of base on the market. The ones that would be more affected are the gym-Neo sets.
I do think base can appreciate. I mean it already has since pre Covid. Even if there is a bunch of listings on the market. Not every listing needs to sell for a card to increase in price. If there’s a $60 card we’re looking at… only the copies listed under $70 would need to sell.
