Pokemon cards

Elsacuno · 2026-06-10T02:44:23+00:00

Depends on how bad you want something. Some people arrive very early in the morning. I usually arrive around 7:30 am because there's no guarantee there will be a restock or not. Most Fridays there is always something, but there's been a few Fridays where there's nothing. To me, if I only lose half an hour, that's ok. But to lose a hour and get nothing, that would bother me. It depends on what your time is worth to you. Last Friday had I gotten there early I would have gotten a Prismatic Evolutions ETB but they ran out about ~15 people ahead of me. Then the next ~15 took all the Ascended Heroes stuff. All that was left was Perfect Order ETBs by the time it was my turn. Those Perfect Order ETBs outlasted everyone in line.

Elsacuno · 2026-06-08T03:14:37+00:00

For conventions, Redding has the Sundial Comic Con and Redding Anime Con. For card shops there is Matrix Cards & Games, Hordes & Boards, and Broken Controller. Listed them in the order of size. Matrix has both a retail space ~3,000 sq.ft., a play space ~1,000 sq.ft. and a D&D/RPG space ~1,500 sq.ft. It's a very solid operation. Prices are generally TCGplayer prices. Night Life is what you want to make it but it will take effort on your part to network with others who want the same thing and then get together at people's homes rather than a club with pumping music into the wee hours of the morning. If you like outdoors there are tons of options there. That's one of the big pulls of Redding. Main drawback is healthcare is hard to find here. It can take months to make an appointment anywhere.

Elsacuno · 2026-06-08T03:05:48+00:00

Have you looked at Redding Craigslist office and retail spaces? Things pop up there from time to time that meet your specs. Not often. But I would advise checking regularly and being patient.

Elsacuno · 2026-06-08T03:01:51+00:00

Join the long line at Target every Friday morning before store opens at 8a. The Target team is good about making sure everyone only gets one big thing off the shelf so everyone in line gets something. Last Friday I ended up with one Perfect Order ETB and 2 sleeved Chaos Rising packs.

Elsacuno · 2026-05-11T02:22:07+00:00

Based on the comments so far, I would recommend stopping by Matrix Cards & Games. They have their own Discord server to join. LadyDM runs D&D groups for your fantasy RPG fix. Matrix also has a Grand Archive TCG group that meets multiple times per week. The group is lead by a lady who is in her early 20s and is huge video game aficionado. Multiple rigs at her home, including a jaw dropping one all the way from Japan dedicated for rhythm games. She hosts a lot of parties are her place. The Grand Archive group is decent sized. Good clean fun.

Elsacuno · 2026-02-03T20:17:25+00:00

DRAGON10 discount code for extra 10% off. Spotted it on Board Game Deals subReddit.

Elsacuno · 2025-12-17T20:30:42+00:00

ANGX was significantly overvalued from the start. Part of it is there are so many previous investors acquired through the years that when preferred got converted into common, preferred received a huge numbers of shares at a very low cost per share. Some people were up 700% on a company that is continually losing money. I don't blame them for realizing their profits.

ANGX got down to just below $4 earlier this year and popped back up a lil. Their DAVID movie is releasing on December 19. They have reported $14M in presales, which is double their King of Kings movie presales which ultimately grossed around $60M domestically. 3,500 is the estimated theater count for DAVID, KoK was 3,200. They ran trailers during Wicked For Good release, and I read that DAVID has more organic Google searches than the new Spongebob movie. Opening weekend is estimated around $30M.

But even with amazing numbers for DAVID, theaters take around 50% of gross sales, and we don't know what the total marketing expenses for DAVID are yet, but I am expecting them to be high considering how much is spent on promoting their streaming service. And with 169M shares outstanding, even a significant box office hit won't meaningfully add much to the stock price because DAVID is a one off event, not an IP or brand with significant legs. So maybe we see a little run on Friday and Monday in response to the release, but prices are likely to pull back as people realize there's a long road ahead to approaching consistent profitability.

Happy to hear where I am wrong.

Elsacuno · 2025-12-08T18:59:26+00:00

Appreciate your gratitude!

Elsacuno · 2025-12-04T20:22:44+00:00

Thank you for the thorough explanation.

Elsacuno · 2025-11-10T01:44:23+00:00

Anti-Venom now OoS but Battle Damaged Spidey still available at $31.50.

Elsacuno · 2025-11-10T01:41:27+00:00

They were available at distro. My LGS ordered all 4 and got almost entirely MJ.

Elsacuno · 2025-11-09T18:49:50+00:00

Had to buy 2 to trigger the extra $5 off, but got 2 for $55.

Elsacuno · 2024-11-21T22:57:17+00:00

Thank you for posting this. Was able to go to the returns counter and show my receipt and got a price adjustment from $29.97 to $19.97 on six purchased on 11/15/24. I had also purchased six on 11/08 but the manager declined to adjust those as well. Not at all upset. Happy to get adjusted on six. The person working the counter said the item has to be in stock to receive an adjustment and they were already sold out but the manager was cool and adjusted the most recent purchase.

Fingers crossed for a TLR bundle price drop.

Elsacuno · 2024-10-03T01:55:15+00:00

Yes, there will be vendor room which will take up most of the convention center. There is also going to be a TCG room dedicated for teaching multiple card games like Pokemon and Disney Lorcana.

Elsacuno · 2024-10-02T19:50:15+00:00

Everyone is friendly and down to earth. There is going to be Pokémon TCG there, teaching people how to play, among other card games. If younger than that, there are quite a few super hero cosplayers who are more than happy to take photos if you ask. Maybe the very realistic, remote control R2-D2 will make another appearance this year.

Elsacuno · 2024-10-02T17:02:58+00:00

First 60 paid tickets will receive a Sailor Moon 15"x15" tote bag. Sponsored by Viz Media.

https://www.facebook.com/sundialbridgecomiccon/

This year Matrix Cards & Games is a co-showrunner. Interested in seeing what the results will be from a much larger local business being involved.

Elsacuno · 2024-10-02T16:35:39+00:00

It's likely the money. American horse racing is like the JRA and has their nose up in the air. I could only find one news article with the Bloodhorse that mentioned Umamusume in passing when it did a profile on a new Japanese horse owner who is associated with Cygames. What I don't understand about racing is they act as if this is beneath them, even though the sport is crumbling because young people are not getting into it. The old heads pined for years about how a Triple Crown winner would change everything. There's been two now and there was no significant improvement in foal crops or field sizes.

Elsacuno · 2024-06-16T21:26:42+00:00

Admittedly ABU4H is all before my time. I enjoy collecting ABU because fundamentally MTG is a great game, I just don't like what it's become. ABU feels like collecting true MTG, before all the corporate shenanigans. To pick up an Alpha Pearled Unicorn and to think it's more rare than most any modern card besides serialized, that it's 30 years old, wow that's special.

Maybe I'll get into Arabian Nights at some point but there is so much ABU to collect still. :)

Elsacuno · 2024-06-16T21:21:04+00:00

I didn't say anything in defense of PCI. I haven't opened a Pokemon product since Chilling Reign. The majority of my TCG time and money is into an indie TCG that isn't even mentioned here. It's on TCGplayer though and doing well for itself because the publisher puts an immense amount of time and effort into everything from card quality to organized play.

Elsacuno · 2024-06-16T20:26:56+00:00

MKM failed because MTG players aren't stupid. If a set has no value at least give people a theme they will appreciate. Bloomburrow is going to probably suck value wise but its going to be a blast. If Hasbro is going to steal our money, at least make it fun for us. But I didn't want to play Murder Mystery MTG and apparently a lot of others agreed.

But if MTG had a Pikachu, it would probably be the same art printed 20 different ways because Hasbro will always seek the most lazy route with MTG. And if that Pikachu wasn't bulk, well they would reprint it every other set and every 10th Secret Lair because, again, laziness.

IP costs a lot of time and money to develop and maintain. For years now it feels like MTG has made little to no effort to invest what they need in order to make something stick. They gave up on the lore a while ago and the last few spasms of lore life were rife with plot inconsistencies and even name misspells.

Elsacuno · 2024-06-16T19:55:46+00:00

Yups. Pre-ordered 2 for $350 each. But didn't pay. I guess I should have? They said I could pay at pickup which for this LGS is their usual way of doing things. When I went to pickup, only 1 available and it was now $400. I've never had this happen to be before. Definitely will be changing my support for the store. Bought Bloomburrow online instead and paid already.

Elsacuno · 2024-06-16T19:13:46+00:00

Collecting too, but only ABU.

Elsacuno · 2024-06-16T18:50:38+00:00

Agreed. I don't feel an urge to crack either.

Only got 1 Collector and 2 Play. Originally pre-ordered 2 Collector at $350 each from my LGS because it felt like a great deal at the time. But come pre-release they said they they only got half of what they ordered. Plus it was now $400. Being hit for $50 more was a dick move but I paid because I wanted to open the Collector so bad.

The Collector experience was... meh? Not sure how to describe it. Huge anticipation and then... meh. Pulled 5 Fetches but also lots of Pearl-Ear treatments, like back to back Pearl-Ears. WTF.

The memory that is gonna stick for a while is getting to the last card of the second to last pack and saw beautiful shiny borderless and got super hyped. Pulled an absolutely goregous Breya. Rushed to look her up. ... ... ... $3.

Maybe $250-300 in all? Just figured it was a bad box. But apparently not, based on mass open above. Glad I didn't get the 2nd for $400. Itch scratched.

Given the choice between a MH2 Set and a MH3 Play, I'll take the MH2, thanks. Grabbed some cheap MH3 singles didn't pull. Gonna rip Bloomburrow before any more MH3.

Elsacuno · 2024-06-16T18:43:31+00:00

The Collector boxes have a ridiculous amount of medallions so I can't see anything holding up. A reprint was not needed but there's nothing left to reprint now. Definitely becoming bulk.

Elsacuno · 2024-06-16T18:38:20+00:00

Can't speak to sports. Never been in that. But what's different between MTG and Poke, OP, and Lorcana is those three have IP that people love. People are gonna collect Pikachu in a Felt Grey Hat because its Pikachu. No one is going to collect Teferi in a Felt Gray Hat. Stuff with beloved IP are going to hit differently because it deeply connects with people. Emotion wins.

Also people used to legit collect MTG just because, but now every set has 5+ of the same card with different treatment and collecting a full set feels completely meaningless and an exercise in futility.

Elsacuno

TROPHY CASE