So in terms of cards that can be pulled from packs. Not including trophies or promos. It’s assumed 1st edition base set charizard is the top one. But what other cards would you put behind it?
Neo lugia? Gold star ray? Crystal zard? T-17 Typhlosion? Want to hear your thoughts!
Gold Stars and 1st Edition Neos (Lugia/Typhlosion) I think would be next in line, aside from the other 1st Edition Base Set starters of course.
Edit: The older Shining cards as well would be on that list since they’re pack cards!
I think GS Rayquaza is the pretty clear runner-up to 1st Ed Base Charizard (and the secondary market value bears this out). Crystal Charizard, GS Charizard, and Crystal Lugia are also pretty high up there. Probably also 1st Ed Base Venusaur/Blastoise.
I was thinking gold star ray but wasn’t sure if maybe neo lugia would take that spot
Shadowless zard
The thing with Neo Gen Lugia is that it feels like it’s been sort of inflated as an “investment” card. When Base Zard spiked in late 2020, speculators targeted Lugia as the “next big thing.” I mean, just look at this:
Whereas PSA 10 GS Ray was worth >$7k at the same time as the $1800 Lugia sale (and they’ve had nearly identical PSA 10 pops for years).
#rookiecard #grindset whatnot #1stappearance #$$$$$
lugia is a card that can still be bought raw or psa 8 for not crazy amounts of money. Its just the 10 that gets nuts, whereas with base 1st charizard you cant get a raw one cheap ever. Same with GS ray
Seems like the overall opinion is gold star ray
Facebook and instagram basically summed up
I’d just put it at any card where a NM raw copy is several thousand dollars. When price is only there for graded cards you sorta have to step back and think a bit more
What do you mean?
Anyone could go out and buy a raw NM 1st ed lugia for less than 1k any day of the week. The attention is only brought to this particular card when its a psa 10.
You cant go out and get a raw NM GS ray or base 1st ed zard for sub 2k
Or a crystal charizard too. Even raw isn’t cheap
absolutely, I didn’t mean to exclude anything besides GS ray and base zard. I am sure there are dozens of cards that fit my opinionated criteria
Very true
I don’t doubt that the gold star rayquaza is viewed that way by the majority, and of course the market. Though, it feels strange in some way to me because I literally didn’t even know that card existed until 2 years ago, whereas I knew all of WOTC the last 20 years.
I also would venture a guess and say that gold star rayquaza probably didn’t dominate as much 5 years ago, relative to where it is at today. That is probably true for the ex era as a whole.
Maybe the takeaway here is sentiments and desires can change over time as people grow in their knowledge of the hobby. Rayquaza was from a low point when the fewest people were collecting, but it demonstrates that a lack of nostalgia (for most people) doesn’t really matter. It can still become a pillar in the hobby, as it has.
I would say this is not true. Gold stars have been popular for a really long time, arguably since their release. Maybe even some if the first instagram-style hype cards as there was once a time many years ago where people were racing to collect the first complete PSA 10 set
And Rayquaza has always been on top of the GS pile for as long as I can remember
Haven’t their prices gone up higher, percentage-wise in the last 5 years, compared to some other WOTC set cards? I was under the impression that ex was slept on (relatively speaking) for a long time.
I still think it is fair to assume that the average 90s-early 2000s mania boom collector like myself would have not grown up with Rayquaza. The majority had to learn about it in adulthood. So the number of people interested in that card on some level has surely grown considerably over the last 20 years, compared to Base Charizard.
No, not at all. At least since 2019, WotC and EX have gone up by remarkably similar percentages. They just experienced different patterns of growth. WotC (particularly pre-Neo) went to the moon and then crashed, whereas EX never went to the moon but also never crashed.
If we’re comparing, for instance, PSA 9 exs and PSA 1st Ed WotC holos, the % growth is very similar (this is a generalization, of course – the specifics depends on the specific cards in question).
