Opinions on older EX cards

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With the recent spike in many WOTC PSA 10’s, does anyone have an opinion on the ex era? For example, more popular sets like TRR? Does anyone have the stance that the ex cards from sets like that have more room for growth in the future? I’m seeing more people collect them as of late.

Personally, looking at the POP and artwork for the ex cards in sets like TRR, they are at very reasonable prices still. For instance, enter ex, suicune ex, moltres ex, etc and etc.

Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts!

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I see them going in the same direction as the hobby. It was also a low point for the hobby so the scarcity factor makes them somewhat more collectible. Gen 3 also has a strong and diverse identiy, from ex’s, to gold stars, to stamped reverse holo’s and delta species, it is my favorite generation by far.

However, Gen 3 had more sets printed than any other generation, so I think we will see the chase cards outpace the average significantly, and this has already been happening. Like you mentioned TRR is very popular and pricey compared to other ex’s which sit just above the cost of grading in PSA 9.

I think we will see prices rise as kids like myself who grew up in Gen 3 get back into the hobby with more disposable income from careers, but WOTC will always be king over later generations.

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I am more of a WOTC collector, but I grew up with both WOTC and ex-cards (I am 25). The ex-cards were highly sought after at my primary school, with Wailord-ex being the holy grail due to 200hp (lol). Personally, I have the best memories opening ex-series packs, because they came out during a time that me and all my friends collected Pokémon cards. I definitely think these cards have room for growth the coming years, if people around my age continue to enter the market. For example, I have some cards from the ex-era I would like to buy because of the nostalgia.

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i think that as soon as the majority of us 25-30 finish their WOTC collection and move onto EX prices will rise significantly

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Hey; during 2018 i started these and completed them all (Binder collection).
After July; 2019 i made the choice of selling most of my binder (graded around 25 candidates); and moved onto PSA10 Ex’s.

Price wise, most of them have been raising; but not astronomically like some WOTC 1st. Ed cards did; plus, the pop of most Ex’s in PSA10 is insanely low; we are talking about most of them being Pop50 or less; with a huge amount of pop20 or less.

There are certain cards that will achieve a solid price if they happen to go on sale through eBay; most expensive Ex’s at this time are:

Milotic Ex (Ex Emerald) - Factor: Pop6 from a short prin run set; plus gorgeous card. Estimated Price: U$S2000
Charizard Ex - Ex Fire Red Leaf Green - Factor: Being Charizard. Pretty much that - Estimated Price: U$S900
Every Single Ex Team Rockets Returns - Gorgeous cards, low pop; hard to grade; most of them go for over U$S300 in gem mint; Snorlax, Mewtwo and soon, probably the rest, can achieve a premium.
Raichu Ex - Ex Emerald - Factor: Low pop plus being Raichu (pop13) - Estimated Price: U$S550
Lugia Ex - Ex Unseen Forces
Suicune, Entei and Raikou from TMVSAqua. (Suicune went from 190’s to 400 in less than a year); raikou went from 3 copies available on eBay to 0.
Umbreon and Espeon Ex - Factor: Being eevelutions, cards are gorgeous and hard to get due to low pop -

Facts:
Ex power keepers Ex’s are way cheaper, hence longer print run plus higher pops.
Ex Emerald Ex’s are one of the most expensive, hence short print run and lower pops.
Ex Ruby Sapphire went from being available in most of the cards to dry in a couple of months (eBay): Nostalgic factor probably?
Ex Sandstorm Wailord is iconic for a lot of people.
Ex Delta Species Ex’s are painful to grade 10.
Slight scratches on the front border usually knock the card down to a 9.

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Ex sets had low print runs relative to wotc.

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I think they will rise in price, I just really hate the artwork. Same with a lot of newer EX/GX/V cards aswell.

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Aside from gold stars they are usually the most common thing I see old school WOTC collectors go after next aside from Japanese promos, etc.

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I don’t really like them either. Aside from a few exceptions (Lugia ex, Milotic ex, Suicune ex) they all look kinda dull und uninspired to me. Which is a shame, because many of the regular Holos and Non-Holos from this era are quite beautiful!

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I agree, I have never been a fan of the animated pokemoncards, give me handdrawn artwork any day of the week

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I really like them. I may go after a PSA 10 set one day. I just got a Groudon ex PSA 10 from Hidden Legends for $80. That’s crazy to me. These sets had low print runs and people forget ex cards from most sets had low pull rates. Usually 2-3 per box. That means several boxes to go through to get a chase card like Charizard ex.

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Couldn’t disagree more with those who think the artwork is bad. These are some of the most beautiful cards in the hobby, in my opinion.

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Older ex cards are beautiful. They will certainly continue to rise in price over time.

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My focus for the past decade has been WOTC WOTC WOTC…

But over the past couple months by eyes have turned toward Gen 3/the original EX era. These cards are beautiful. And scarce. I’m all aboard the EX train now.

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I’m a HUGE ex-era fan. This was my prime-time for getting cards as a kid, and it’s the golden age of competitive play. The ex’s look so clean yet exciting to me compared to today’s ultra rares, and I’m a huge fan of Ryo Ueda’s CG work. Even Arita did quite a few old ex’s in CG!

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Grew up collecting EX-era cards, they were my life.

However, the majority of the cards are ugly and will never be the same as WOTC.

Boxes will rise like a SpaceX rocket to Mars.

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Thanks everyone for the replies so far, it’s been very engaging!

All of this settles my thoughts about diving into completing some EX sets.

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I’ve noticed this with Ex Ruby & Sapphire for sure. I recently decided to go for a set of 9’s on all the holos and EX cards in the set, but this past month or so of browsing Ebay has been slim pickings (been searching for raw copies to grade myself cause I think it’s more fun.)

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Nice cards, but not wotc so nono for me

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If you ask the right audience, you can always have your beliefs confirmed. I would buy these cards only if you value them.

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