Why trade EX and GX cards for booster packs?

[AyanamiSkye]

Hi everyone. I'm new to the TCG online, though I've been playing the video games for 20 years and use to collect the cards physically. Bought some codes online, figured I've already spent dozens of hours having fun with the game that it justifies spending some money. The public trade section is now showing me results. I'm wondering why people trade booster packs for EX and GX cards? I would've thought it would be more common to be trading one EX card for another. Are booster packs popular because many people already have the cards they want and they're looking to complete a specific set or are they simply considered in-game currency of sorts? For example, one booster pack might be worth 50 cents and a card worth $2 so trading 4 booster packs makes sense but I don't really see why people want booster packs when they could potentially trade that $2 card they don't want for a $2 card they do? Any help elaborating would be appreciated, thanks! 

[Felidae_]

Booster packs are the common currency in-game.

 

Think of the real world: Trying to find someone who has a card you need and who's also interested in one of your cards is hard.

Simply buying the card for money (aka the common trade currency) is much easier.

 

Since the value of GX / EX cards is also quite inconsistent across the board, a simply “GX for GX” could potentially lose you a lot of “money” in the process.

 

You also have to remember that once you have the common trade currency (i.e. packs) is much easier to get anything else you need via trading.

Imagine you own a card that is worth 10 packs and someone offers you 10 cards who are worth 1 pack each. While on paper this is a fair trade, remember that you'd need to turn those 10 cards into packs on your own, before you can use them to get stuff you really want. If the same person simply offered you 10 packs, you'd be able to skip this process entirely.

 

Last but not least I should point out that not all of the packs have the same value. Currently Guardians Rising is the “standard pack”, so if a card is worth 10 packs we are always referring to the “standard pack”. A less desirable expansion might only be worth 0.33 Standard packs, so you'd need 30 of them to get the same card you'd buy with 10 Guardians packs.

[AyanamiSkye]

Booster packs are the common currency in-game.

 

Think of the real world: Trying to find someone who has a card you need and who's also interested in one of your cards is hard.

Simply buying the card for money (aka the common trade currency) is much easier.

 

Since the value of GX / EX cards is also quite inconsistent across the board, a simply “GX for GX” could potentially lose you a lot of “money” in the process.

 

You also have to remember that once you have the common trade currency (i.e. packs) is much easier to get anything else you need via trading.

Imagine you own a card that is worth 10 packs and someone offers you 10 cards who are worth 1 pack each. While on paper this is a fair trade, remember that you'd need to turn those 10 cards into packs on your own, before you can use them to get stuff you really want. If the same person simply offered you 10 packs, you'd be able to skip this process entirely.

 

Last but not least I should point out that not all of the packs have the same value. Currently Guardians Rising is the “standard pack”, so if a card is worth 10 packs we are always referring to the “standard pack”. A less desirable expansion might only be worth 0.33 Standard packs, so you'd need 30 of them to get the same card you'd buy with 10 Guardians packs.

Gotcha, that makes sense! Thank you very much. That's pretty much what I sort of gathered but you worded it perfectly. Didn't know about the last part regarding current standard packs. My follow up questions are:

 

I've been looking on ou7c4st, is it a reliable source for card values? What do RA, FA and RR/SR stand for? I have a Zeraora GX for example which seems to be fairly valuable. Do valuable cards tend to go up in value, in which case I should hold on to them? 

 

Are there any instances where it's worth opening packs? Let's say I have 20 of Guardians Rising. Is it a good idea to open 2 on the chance I get a card that is worth 7 more standard packs?

 

It's a lot to wrap ones head around but I'm sure it gets easier with practice 

Edited December 23, 2018 by AyanamiSkye

[Chasista]

The guide you mentioned is a good reference, but you must always cross check with Public trades in game knowing that, most people lowball to get the card, and "alley oop" when trying to sell. You'll see a lot of those one over the other, same person offering 2 packs for a card, and next trade, same person wanting 4 packs offering that same card. At the end, this would mean a fair value of the card is at 3 which wouldn't be paying the high value, but either lowball no one. Although you can try that 2 packs  to start, or 2'33, 2'5, 2'75... with two 1 value pack and one older one valued 0'5 or whatever.

 

In addition, a lot of the referenced values in the guide are high itself. Other are ridiculously outdated. But at the end it's something to get kind of reference and a ton of people use it. It's useful but values are not even close to be set in stone.

 

Market itself moves. A card today is 2 packs can be 7 "tomorrow". Of course is not that fast and variations use to happen slow, This movements come together with the IRL tournaments played worldwide. If a deck does TOP8 and includes something that was not played since then, that cards will rise price. Maximum example of this is when new sets are released (next is February). New cards can make some older ones not played, become strong. A reinforce of Dark type or Grass type in GX or trainers form, can make new decks so non used cards since then become relevant to the format and rise price. Good is to have a complete playset of everything before the new release. At the beginning prices are crazy, then tend to go down and stand long term, decreasing little by little.

 

RA means Regular art, FA means Full art, RR means Rainbow Rare, SR means Secret rare. And the rarer, higher the price.

 

About opening packs, the smart is never open unlocked packs. But it's so funny. However, you must open every locked pack you get (what else can you do with'em if not?) and soon or later, you'll be able to release an unlocked copy you own of a card because you got a locked one. Opening is always up to each one but nothing guarantees any good card or card you're looking for, opening packs. Make the test with locked packs and long term you'll see the results are poor.

[SandaledOtter]

It's currently the best value listing resource we have.

 

When I started playing, there were maybe as half a dozen or so (I never counted) player-run dealerships tracking values and trading on the Item Exchange forum. It's a lot of work compiling, comparing, rating, so of course they shut down as people couldn't keep up with that. A few have reopened briefly, but no one makes any actual money at it, so it all breaks down into individuals making trades when they can.

 

That web site seems to be what's left. You can see missing sections if you look long enough, so you know everything can't be up-to-date, but a person can only do so much, and every person you might bring in to help is as much risk as benefit, if not more. You never know who you can trust to be accurate, thorough, and honest all at the same time, and that could end up being more work for you.

 

(I used to dread when temporary employees were bused in from agencies where I used to work, for just that reason.)

 

On the RA/FA/RR/SR thing, note that the GX Regular Art cards may look to people unfamiliar with them like Full Art cards. The Full Art Pokemon GX cards are the ones with solid color backgrounds, while the Regulars are the more detailed scenes. Rainbows are the Full Art picture with rainbow coloring, of course, and there are just a few GXs that have Gold variants.

 

Looking at Ultra Necrozma as an example of these:

• SM126 is a "black star" promo, and a regular art.
• (FLi) 95/131 is the standard regular art card, RA.
• (FLi) 127/131 is the full art variant, FA.
• (FLi) 140/131 is the rainbow rare, RR, and the number marks it as a "secret rare."
• (DrM) 78/70 is a gold secret rare, SR, and probably the most sought-after of these.

All these cards are functionally identical, with Forbidden Light 95/131 being the standard card, and all you need if you're not a virtual collector.

[OrigBitmancer]

When there is already a price reference, like TCGplayer, why not use it? And just translate packs to dollars/rubles/whatever? Did someone try that long ago?

[SuperStone]

 

 

When there is already a price reference, like TCGplayer, why not use it? And just translate packs to dollars/rubles/whatever? Did someone try that long ago?

In-game prices are different from real-world prices, for a couple of reasons.

 

• Having a less intense atmosphere than tournaments, the game has far more rogue decks, and thus non-meta cards are more likely to have increased values.
• The availability of cards, especially promos, varies greatly because they are obtained differently. Older cards have much greater value than newer cards, whereas IRL, it takes more than a few years to increase prices.
• There is never any point in having over four of a card online. This is probably not too big a factor, bit it can be relevant for some cards- such as Lele and ultra ball. (opposite ends of the spectrum)
• Trade-locking changes the values of some cards.

I feel like I'm missing an important one, but I don't know what it is.   

Edited December 24, 2018 by SuperStone

[AyanamiSkye]

The guide you mentioned is a good reference, but you must always cross check with Public trades in game knowing that, most people lowball to get the card, and "alley oop" when trying to sell. You'll see a lot of those one over the other, same person offering 2 packs for a card, and next trade, same person wanting 4 packs offering that same card. At the end, this would mean a fair value of the card is at 3 which wouldn't be paying the high value, but either lowball no one. Although you can try that 2 packs  to start, or 2'33, 2'5, 2'75... with two 1 value pack and one older one valued 0'5 or whatever.

 

In addition, a lot of the referenced values in the guide are high itself. Other are ridiculously outdated. But at the end it's something to get kind of reference and a ton of people use it. It's useful but values are not even close to be set in stone.

 

Market itself moves. A card today is 2 packs can be 7 "tomorrow". Of course is not that fast and variations use to happen slow, This movements come together with the IRL tournaments played worldwide. If a deck does TOP8 and includes something that was not played since then, that cards will rise price. Maximum example of this is when new sets are released (next is February). New cards can make some older ones not played, become strong. A reinforce of Dark type or Grass type in GX or trainers form, can make new decks so non used cards since then become relevant to the format and rise price. Good is to have a complete playset of everything before the new release. At the beginning prices are crazy, then tend to go down and stand long term, decreasing little by little.

 

RA means Regular art, FA means Full art, RR means Rainbow Rare, SR means Secret rare. And the rarer, higher the price.

 

About opening packs, the smart is never open unlocked packs. But it's so funny. However, you must open every locked pack you get (what else can you do with'em if not?) and soon or later, you'll be able to release an unlocked copy you own of a card because you got a locked one. Opening is always up to each one but nothing guarantees any good card or card you're looking for, opening packs. Make the test with locked packs and long term you'll see the results are poor.

Thank you for the detailed reply! I've been trying to cross check with public trades but because I have a limited amount of cards and packs to offer I often don't get results but it has worked on a few occasions. For example, today I listed my Tapu Koko Promo SM30. The guide says 2.5 but most people were offering around 1 so I ended up asking for 2.4 to start with. Does that sound reasonable? Then I can lower it if I get no takers. I'm trying to be conservative until I learn more and can access the public trades better but I think I understand the gist of it now.

 

Thank you for the explanation of prices and how/when they change. So when a new set is due to come out, it pays to research what that set will contain and if it will make any of the current best cards become inferior? That's a bit beyond me at this stage but it's good to know.

 

That makes sense re not opening packs but it's funny how no one wants to open them and yet they're considered valuable but there does have to be an in-game currency so in that sense it makes perfect sense   Haha I can totally see how this is all very overwhelming for newcomers or those not wanting to put in too much effort.

It's currently the best value listing resource we have.

 

When I started playing, there were maybe as half a dozen or so (I never counted) player-run dealerships tracking values and trading on the Item Exchange forum. It's a lot of work compiling, comparing, rating, so of course they shut down as people couldn't keep up with that. A few have reopened briefly, but no one makes any actual money at it, so it all breaks down into individuals making trades when they can.

 

That web site seems to be what's left. You can see missing sections if you look long enough, so you know everything can't be up-to-date, but a person can only do so much, and every person you might bring in to help is as much risk as benefit, if not more. You never know who you can trust to be accurate, thorough, and honest all at the same time, and that could end up being more work for you.

 

(I used to dread when temporary employees were bused in from agencies where I used to work, for just that reason.)

 

On the RA/FA/RR/SR thing, note that the GX Regular Art cards may look to people unfamiliar with them like Full Art cards. The Full Art Pokemon GX cards are the ones with solid color backgrounds, while the Regulars are the more detailed scenes. Rainbows are the Full Art picture with rainbow coloring, of course, and there are just a few GXs that have Gold variants.

 

Looking at Ultra Necrozma as an example of these:

• SM126 is a "black star" promo, and a regular art.
• (FLi) 95/131 is the standard regular art card, RA.
• (FLi) 127/131 is the full art variant, FA.
• (FLi) 140/131 is the rainbow rare, RR, and the number marks it as a "secret rare."
• (DrM) 78/70 is a gold secret rare, SR, and probably the most sought-after of these.

All these cards are functionally identical, with Forbidden Light 95/131 being the standard card, and all you need if you're not a virtual collector.

Yes, I can imagine how hard it would be to run a site like that, especially making no money from it. It's hard enough just researching as a consumer let alone being the ones compiling the information. Absolutely, some employees could make things more difficult. In my job I tend to be the one who picks up slack as well.

 

Thank you very much for that explanation of card rarities, I was about to ask that. I've spent the last day trying to wrap my head around it and realised I'd confused GX RA and FA cards. Personally, I like the style of the RA cards more which is good since it will make it easier for me to collect them. Like you said, since they have the same move-set I'll just go with whichever version appeals to me. Using the term Full Art is a bit misleading, whilst googling people were saying they're the ones that go over the borders which is not helpful. Now I know that FA have the same art as RR and RA are the same card but with different art and style. This makes things so much easier.

 

Will say that it's a lot more complicated now than when I collected several years ago, in the HeartGold and SoulSilver era and it was just Holo, Reverse Holo and Promo. This new era is interesting from a strategic standpoint although it's a little sad to see old cards becoming defunct because of how OP EX and GX are. Is it worth even bothering with EX compared to GX? One last question, how should I value my uncommon cards that I don't want or is it best to trade them for uncommons that I do want? 

Edited December 24, 2018 by AyanamiSkye

[SandaledOtter]

Will say that it's a lot more complicated now than when I collected several years ago, in the HeartGold and SoulSilver era and it was just Holo, Reverse Holo and Promo. This new era is interesting from a strategic standpoint although it's a little sad to see old cards becoming defunct because of how OP EX and GX are. Is it worth even bothering with EX compared to GX? One last question, how should I value my uncommon cards that I don't want or is it best to trade them for uncommons that I do want? 

 

If you stick to Standard, there's no sense touching the EX cards, as they're all Expanded at this point. Within Expanded though, there are some very good EXs to look for. I... can't say what they are any more, but others might.

 

I wish uncommons and commons had the attention paid to them that rares do with regard to pricing, as some are very much better than others. The people who do a lot of trading maybe just have so many of them all that they're blind to them, I don't know.

 

The best way to deal with them might be to look for the ones with abilities or unique attacks, as well as the pre-evolutions of the higher value rares. Mine tend to pile up until I trade a few of them for a variant art card.

[Chasista]

(1) Thank you for the detailed reply! I've been trying to cross check with public trades but because I have a limited amount of cards and packs to offer I often don't get results but it has worked on a few occasions. For example, today I listed my Tapu Koko Promo SM30. The guide says 2.5 but most people were offering around 1 so I ended up asking for 2.4 to start with. Does that sound reasonable? Then I can lower it if I get no takers. I'm trying to be conservative until I learn more and can access the public trades better but I think I understand the gist of it now.

 

(2) Thank you for the explanation of prices and how/when they change. So when a new set is due to come out, it pays to research what that set will contain and if it will make any of the current best cards become inferior? That's a bit beyond me at this stage but it's good to know.

 

That makes sense re not opening packs but it's funny how no one wants to open them and yet they're considered valuable but there does have to be an in-game currency so in that sense it makes perfect sense   Haha I can totally see how this is all very overwhelming for newcomers or those not wanting to put in too much effort.

__

 

Yes, I can imagine how hard it would be to run a site like that, especially making no money from it. It's hard enough just researching as a consumer let alone being the ones compiling the information. Absolutely, some employees could make things more difficult. In my job I tend to be the one who picks up slack as well.

 

(3) Thank you very much for that explanation of card rarities, I was about to ask that. I've spent the last day trying to wrap my head around it and realised I'd confused GX RA and FA cards. Personally, I like the style of the RA cards more which is good since it will make it easier for me to collect them. Like you said, since they have the same move-set I'll just go with whichever version appeals to me. Using the term Full Art is a bit misleading, whilst googling people were saying they're the ones that go over the borders which is not helpful. Now I know that FA have the same art as RR and RA are the same card but with different art and style. This makes things so much easier.

 

Will say that it's a lot more complicated now than when I collected several years ago, in the HeartGold and SoulSilver era and it was just Holo, Reverse Holo and Promo. This new era is interesting from a strategic standpoint although it's a little sad to see old cards becoming defunct because of how OP EX and GX are. Is it worth even bothering with EX compared to GX? One last question, how should I value my uncommon cards that I don't want or is it best to trade them for uncommons that I do want? 

 

(1) More than check what people offers, check what people wants for the card. I mean, yes, if people was looking for 2,5, then try to get 2, or 2'33. I do that a lot. People wants 3 LoT for a card, I sell mine at 2 LoT+1 FLi or 2 LoT+1CEL or 2 LoT+1CRi. Or 2 LoT. At the end the important is, can you get the card for 1'5? If selling at 2 still making business. Is not same as 3 but you'll make more trades than the 3 ones with time, so you'll win more packs if you keep doing trades once and again. Sort of.

 

(2) Yes. And you can check internet for new decks and explanation of the best cards of upcoming sets, once is close to happen.

 

(3) Indeed, RAs are cheaper, and the important thing of a new deck or a Meta deck, is to play and win. If you spend in cheaper arts, you'll have the copies soon and at lower packs. And then you can use that "poor" arts to win a lot of games and tournaments with a good and complete deck. If you aim to FAs and RRs, you'll have to spend a lot more packs at the beginning and play with incomplete decks since you get all the arts you want so at the end, you could have won several Events and you probably didn't because of a Half deck pasted with patch cards to supply the RRs you wanted.

 

A deck with plane copies wins the same as one full of RRs and SRs if the same cards. Having beautiful or cool arts is fashion-ism    Of course we all like, that's the collector's part of the game   

[bropro29]

Also a new player and I was just wondering what packs to spend coins on. Are the ones worth a lot more on the market worth more mostly because they are rarer? In that case, should you spend coins on packs where there are cards that you need or cards that are harder to obtain?

[Chasista]

Spend coins in Theme decks. You'll get a lot of Staple trainers and a pool of Pokémon to build custom decks, knowing for sure what are you going to get in advance.

 

No pack guarantees you're going to get the card you look for. You can try and try but it's random. In addition any pack bought with ingame coins is trade locked.

 

Value of the packs depends on the cards they contain. More good cards for Meta decks means the pack value is higher. By now the more valued is Lost thunder > Guardians Rising > Other S&M packs.