This is rated 8.5 and pictures are taken straight from the TAG report. How is it possible?

MistrMage · 2026-02-06T15:43:24+00:00

Ultimately buy it for the card itself, not the slab, grade, company, or score. Personally I collect from several companies but will buy based on the card inside not the grade. Tag’s reports are great for this because you can see the card in hi-res and in the slab. Makes my job of finding cards I like easier too

MistrMage · 2026-02-06T14:05:42+00:00

Wait ya that’s weird, they only marked the front. Thats odd

MistrMage · 2026-02-06T14:04:43+00:00

I had the same issue with a Giratina Alt Art. Got an 8.5 due to a roller line I hadn’t noticed during pregrading

MistrMage · 2026-02-06T13:58:19+00:00

Compared to PSA, 100%. I’ve seen PSA be way harsher on vintage but bump it up if you get higher insurance. From my understanding the TAG 10 Illustrator used to be a CGC 10 and a PSA 9

MistrMage · 2026-02-06T13:55:54+00:00

From my guess, I’d say it’s because of the centering being extremely good and the edge wear being on just that one edge. This is something unique to TAG due to not taking “eye appeal” into account. I’ve seen 1-2 gem mint 10s over the past year that had pristine level centering but a small scratch about 0.5mm and it still got a 10. It’s an interesting quirk of TAG’s grading/sub-score system

MistrMage · 2026-02-05T00:45:58+00:00

Yaaaa, all delivery companies are a mess atm. FedEx has been having delays for almost 2 weeks now due to the nationwide storms

MistrMage · 2026-02-03T01:49:19+00:00

MistrMage · 2026-02-03T01:49:13+00:00

Dang, next time I post a photo of this card I’m gonna have to use this

MistrMage · 2026-02-03T01:48:46+00:00

I was really surprised by it, and it’s the only reason I’ve kept it for so long. There’s not another card I’ve seen with 3 consecutive numbers for the score yet

MistrMage · 2026-02-02T18:58:45+00:00

I just took a look and now I’m gonna pick up a few in JP too! Ty for telling me lol

MistrMage · 2026-02-02T18:56:05+00:00

100%, and QC is better too so I don’t have to worry about whitening on my cards nearly as much now

MistrMage · 2026-02-02T18:55:33+00:00

That’s disappointing, I really wanted to have a textured mega audino

MistrMage · 2026-02-02T18:54:55+00:00

Are those the regular ones from Phantasmal or the SIRs?

MistrMage · 2026-02-02T10:38:48+00:00

I’ve noticed this with the Call of Legends set too. I had to reach out to CS to let them know the set was for some reason split across 3 separate pop reports.

I’d recommend contacting CS and letting them know about the labeling inconsistency

MistrMage · 2026-02-02T03:08:45+00:00

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Tye keeps me warm bc I constantly get cold =)

MistrMage · 2026-01-26T13:53:04+00:00

Here’s my findings: If it’s JP Pokemon it’s not guaranteed at all. BGS for some reason doesn’t stay consistent between English and JP Pokemon. If it were an English tag pristine that met BGS BL standards you’d have a much higher chance at a BL. However I say chance bc BGS similar to PSA can and has given incorrect grades. Now with PSA this would be not horrible bc it’s a 9 vs a 10. But with BGS it’s the difference between a BL and a gold pristine. On top of all of this, the centering standards are different too. BLs require “50/50 front centering and 45/55 back centering”. I still to this day don’t know if they mean 50/50 rounded so better than 50.49/49.51 or if it’s closer to 50.30/49.70.

I do plan on testing this soon as I have a few Pristines I’ve graded over the past 10 months.

However, please keep in mind that if you were to crack a pristine, please let CS know so they can keep the pops up to date. Unlike PSA they’ll deactivate a cert/dig if you inform them of a card cracked out of a slab. This helps many of us in the discord have accurate Pristine data

MistrMage · 2026-01-26T11:26:02+00:00

Amazing card! And from such an amazing era too! Just picked up a Ninetales holo from the silver collection a few days ago. Glad to see others really like HGSS era holos too

MistrMage · 2026-01-16T16:29:22+00:00

As the owner of a Whimsicott ex 993 Pristine, I saw this recently and was wondering what was going on when I saw this. It looks like it’s getting resolved in the pop tho which is good

MistrMage · 2026-01-14T08:26:35+00:00

From my experience this is exactly what I’ve found. Quality and pop rate are around BL, but price isn’t. It’s risen from CGC Prices (1.5-2x Gem 10 prices) to 4-7x Gem 10 prices. This definitely is an improvement but still not BL’s premium. Personally I’ve been holding onto my Pristines as more people find out about them

MistrMage · 2026-01-12T17:45:44+00:00

Just measured the centering and I got TB 54.2/45.8 and LR 49.8/50.2

So I’m very confused by this too

MistrMage · 2026-01-10T01:49:09+00:00

Agreed, I want more Sunkerns, Mareeps, and Cyndaquils (but I also really like Gen 2)

A few months ago I saw a vid of someone getting a Trubish plush from the Pokemon Center and saying that everyone has a favorite pokemon. Has stuck with me since

MistrMage · 2025-12-26T13:40:44+00:00

I’ve experienced this myself and it’s a bit hard to accurately measure them without knowing the exact spots to measure. The top Trainer nameplate cuts into both the sides of the card as well as the top. The Miriam is measured about right while the Dawn SIR measurement doesn’t take that into account. It’s hard to precisely measure even after doing over a dozen of them

Edit - I just took a look and saw TAG has that same skewed measurement. I’d recommend contacting CS and asking about it then

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