Hi all, one thing I’ve really been struggling with since I got back into the honby was do I collect sets or go for cards I like. Inbetween goals has slowed me down quite a bit, the biggest strain being financial. One example being the 2002 e series McDonald’s promos I’ve just started to collect in psa 10. Only a few of the cards I really like but the urge to finish the set is too strong to resist, even when I know the money I’m putting into cards that I’ll never look at could go into cards I enjoy that doesn’t necessarily follow a certain goal.
My question is, which is it do you find most appealing and once you’ve chosen how do you fend off temptation to do the other?
I tried going for sets at first, but something just didn’t feel right about buying cards I didn’t care for just to complete a set. Collecting has been less stressful since I stopped worrying about completing sets lol.
Pretty early on I found that I can’t afford (financially/time/value wise) to collect many sets.
I don’t own any complete expansion sets - when I try to complete something it’s usually mini sets within certain releases. I have all German base holos in PSA 9, but I don’t have any non-holos. I obviously can’t afford/acquire the 2001 tropical wind, but I collect each copy afterwards. Maybe I’ll collect all the Mew cards from Sword and Shield.
I bought Ho-oh ex PLAY PSA 10 for 50$, wanted to go for the Lugia next - but the price jumped from 60 to 400$ the next days. I had to decide if owning the “set” of two is worth it to me and it wasn’t, since I own both raw in good condition, too.
I find that with learning to be ok with not being able to finish certain sets, you develop a tendency to go for individual cards you like. Maybe that’s also because I gravitate towards promos anyway.
buy what makes you happy or what you will enjoy. Some people enjoy the chase of completing a whole set while some just want their favorite cards. I had to move to favorite cards due to graded sets beings so much. I’m still having fun vs wanting to get all 10’s in 2016 of a set when I started back up.
I don’t ever worry about completing sets. Makes my binders a bit difficult to organize but at least they’re filled with cards I really enjoy. If there’s one I really really enjoy, I buy multiple.
As a kid, it was always a goal to complete the WOTC sets I was collecting at the time. So when I got a job, I started to slowly buy the cards I needed to complete my collection. It’s so nice to go through my binders and look at all the cards in a set.
I’m rarely a full set collector since I don’t enjoy buying cards I don’t like and it doesn’t make financial sense either haha. I do have a collecting goal of completing certain minisets i.e. the Hidden Fates Shiny Vault, all the Crystals, all the holos from Skyridge, etc. I personally enjoy and want to own those cards.
Otherwise, I’m all about buying what you like. At the end of the day, it’s your collection, you know? If you want to have a full set but don’t want to splurge on cards you don’t really want, buy lower grades/raw cards? That’s always an option if you don’t want to do 10s. Personally, I go for 10s on cards I love and 9s on cards I like but I don’t want to splurge on for a 10. Cheers!
Mix for me based on what I’m passionate about! These are my binder collection goals currently work in progress:
WOTC Era : full sets with crystals and shinings psa 10
EX through Diamond and Pearl: All holos, ex cards, and lv x, with a few of my favorite gold star and ex in psa 10. Currently not aiming for gold star binder set but may in the future.
HGSS: All primes
Japanese old and new back: VS series, vending set, individual cards I like in PSA 10
Black and White onwards : individual cards I like in PSA 10
Depends how much I like the set. If I like 90% of a set I will just complete it. If I only like 1 or 2 cards I will just get the 1 or 2 cards. Some sets like skyridge I like all the cards but there are just so many cards and it takes up so much space so I just focus on the holos.
As most will say, whatever you like is perfectly ok and fine to go for!
For me though, im a mixed bag of both depending on the set. My main set i always wanted to complete was neo gen, so i finished that and shortly after did discovery since i had most of it done already. But as for future ones, its still all up in the air as to what ill do but in the end that just all part of the great collecting journey
I collect sets but only what I like from the sets. If there is styles or certain cards I don’t like I don’t get them. For example I collect every Wotc era holo except energy’s. I don’t collect Commons uncommons rares for now at least. Ex era I collect just ex’s. Possibly the regular holo’s and gold stars later. Diamond and pearl era thru heart gold I collect primes and level X’s nothing else. Modern i collect full arts until rainbow rares start then I collect only those and complete Hidden fates set because I happen to love the set. I also like gold Pokemon cards. I skip items and trainers. I also don’t bother opening packs because it would take a ton of packs to find everything I want and all the bulk packs don’t help. So basically I just collect what I personally enjoy and also complete sets. If there is things I can’t afford (base 1st edition, or gold stars for example) I skip it and possibly go back later. I originally skipped Aquapolis holo’s besides crystals but I love the art so I went ahead and completed all the Expedition and Aquapolis holo’s. At the end of the day collect what makes you happy. Forget about the money aspect or you will constantly be thinking about selling. Once you do sell replacing what you sold is always going to be way more expensive then what you originally sold it for
Individual! You can always make your own set hahah. For example, I collect Blastoise, Gardevoir (and their evolution lines), Misty, Skyla, and Suicune cards. It’s less stressful to hunt also.
I’m trying to get all the ex-es from the original-ex era, but it’s okay since most of them are pretty affordable and im just looking for ‘binder condition’ stuff
