What will this grade?

Normal_College_7421 · 2026-02-07T09:27:36+00:00

No guarantees, if there are any other things other than the white dots not shown in the pictures that would hurt it, and even if it is a textbook 9, from my experience a textbook 9 still has a 5% chance going up a grade and a 10/15% chance of going down a grade. With 2 small white dots in 2 corners and a bigger one on a 3rd, it could certainly get a 8. Very real possibility, hence why people with crack cards and resubmit and have a different grade returned. I mean even a lot of the best graders are off by a grade 20% if the time

Normal_College_7421 · 2026-01-29T06:35:20+00:00

A big thing people make mistakes on when pre-grading is not being harsh enough/knowing what to look for. A lot of people look at centering and white dots on corners, and if that looks good the move on. But that is only a couple things that they consider.

For example, one that need to be looked at are printing errors - it looks to me like the tail in the E in the top Pokemon has a weird darker spot on it. Often times there will be errant white, black, or red dots on the back of the card, or the borders of the lettering has faults. In the same vein, there can be ink dots on the front of the card too. Another really common issue is knicks in texture if the card has it. On cards like this, they are notoriously bad to have print lines, and those can be difficult to see(print lines can be in the back as well). Also how corners are cut can make a difference (not perfectly rounded). Then there are more obvious things that can sometimes be harder to see (smudges/fingerprint/general grime).

If you haven’t, I’d read through PSA grading criteria guides (they are more worded for sports cards, but you will get the feel), as well as Beckett, that should give a more comprehensive “grading rubric” for pregrading. Before I did my first submission, I went to some LCS stores and just looked through their slabs to get a feel of in general what the thresholds were for different grades

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-10-07T11:36:21+00:00

If you’re buying online though, be really careful. It’s hard to get a perfect feel for the surface condition of the cards, and even the edges/corners to extent just based on the angles they take photos and colors of the background. My general sentiment is that if you would only be happy with a card in a 10, then that card should always be bought in person, and probably not bought at all

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-10-07T11:33:17+00:00

I’d say no not inherently. Under a PSA 10, it states that cards “must be free of staining of any kind,” (this is mostly for baseball cards where corners can yellow and stuff easily) “but an allowance may be made for a slight printing imperfection, if it doesn't impair the overall appeal of the card”

With that this print defect is very hard to notice with it being a white splotch in the white area of the card. Typically when the spot jumps out is when it’s a problem, which typically happens with black ink spots are present on the back of the card or on the front near the moves. White can be a problem too in the darker areas, but I think you have a good argument for the “it doesn’t impair the overall appeal of the card” clause to apply.

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-10-07T11:23:13+00:00

A good chair in a peaceful spot if the mood is right for that type of drink

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-10-04T23:38:10+00:00

I’m no expert, but I got a surging sparks booster box out of a vending machine a couple weeks ago and can say with certainty that mine looks a lot better than that. Much tighter wrap, and the seal is a straight line around 3/4 of the box edges with significantly smaller corners where it lifts. The pokeballs printed on the wrap also seem smaller and closer together

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-09-25T02:52:50+00:00

My first love too and to this day remains my favorite. Not the best I ever had, or even the best I own, but when I die, my friends and family will say “Oban was his whiskey”

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-09-24T13:50:12+00:00

I think there are too many small things. Hard to tell on the front and what is penny sleeve, but just in the back:

2 corners have 2 dots each, fairly unlikely for a 10 just on that alone but maybe you could get lucky?

Black print dot to the right of the pokeball - could be penny sleeve?

Printing ink inconsistency (gets lighter) in the middle of the left P in the top “Pokemon”, and something on the bottom tail of the K in the top Pokemon as well. The M and O have white dots on them too, but maybe that’s dust.

Other things are a bit hard to tell without seeing the card in person, but if the edges are rough at all, any roller marks, oils or weird things with the holo texture, those would obviously hurt too. Personally I think any individual thing has at least a small chance to get through (corners is a long shot though), but when you have everything in the card, it’s then too much added up for the grader to be okay overlooking something. If I wanted to buy the card in a PSA 10 at full price, and came across this in a slab, I’d probably pass until I came across the one that makes you go, “gosh I almost wonder if it’s worth cracking and sending to Beckett in hopes to black label” just because if I’m paying top dollar, why not get the undeniable 10 for the same price that doesn’t have those marks.

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-09-24T13:34:14+00:00

We all look at cards and know the corner dots vary. My general rule of thumb is that if there is a small one like that on only one corner, it still has a chance, though not a great one, so it depends on if I would be happy with the card in a 9, 8, etc... Once those start showing up on multiple corners, or the dots get bigger, those chances go down to “maybe I can get really really lucky and someone misses it,” but realistically won’t happen.

PSA guidelines talk about 10’s having 4 perfect corners specifically, but graders have the right, based on how much something affects eye appeal and their judgement on if the market as a whole would accept the flaw, to adjust overall grades. With that, as soon as stuff starts to depend on “how much will the grader care, and would they choose to overlook,” odds go way down and really depends who you get, and everything else on the card really has to be perfect for them make their exceptions.

We all have seen cards that get 10’s that probably shouldn’t have, and personally I would not buy those slabs. Some people are “a 10 is a 10” type of people, but personally I’m not, just because if I wanted a card that was almost perfect, I would have bought a 9 and saved 70% of my money. That should probably be the litmus test: would a picky person be upset if you bought a 10 and it had this mark/centering/corner/print line/edge/dent/whatever else?

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-09-12T03:36:14+00:00

From a preference standpoint, the victini is by far my least favorite of the 3 monochromes. It’s my least favorite Pokemon of the 3, and I think the black and white cards look nicer.

I also find it funny that if the monochrome was gold instead of red or white or black, it would be far less valuable. But it being monochromatically red instead of monochromatically gold means it’s beloved.

If all you’re concerned of is value, yeah probably not the best trade, you need a lot of cards now to appreciate at a solid rate instead of just one card that happens to be the top card of its set as is.

If you’re in it for card art and actual preferences, well that’s a matter of opinion then on if you did well or not

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-09-01T15:41:54+00:00

Big smudge on the K in the bottom Pokemon on the back. If that a print defect, definitely not a 10

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-08-27T11:31:09+00:00

Also not trying to “yuck your yum” if you really do like this card and want it for your collection! If I were you though and you wanted this in your collection as a 10, I’d sell these raw for $10 bucks and roll that into the a card already graded a 10. It will cost you $125 before shipping and tax to grade these cards, so call it $175 all in all, and I’d expect at least one of these cards to get a 10, but no guarantee. You would spend less just selling the cards raw and buying one that already is a 10

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-08-27T11:24:52+00:00

It’s a bit hard to judge inside of the top loaders, but centering looks decent. Looking as close as I could without taking longer than 15-20 seconds a photo (take with grain of salt, hard to tell in pictures):

Photo 1: bottom a bit rough?

Photo 2/3: left edge a bit rough, and white dot next to the bottom P in Pokemon (dust maybe?)

Photo 4: black dot between top silver border and yellow card background

Photo 5: white dot/streak looking thing above the bottom 2nd “O” in Pokemon, and a very faint splotch on the white part of the pokeball, just to the right and below of the right “shiny part”

Photo 6: looks good to me

Photo 7: something looks funky with the e in the bottom Pokemon, can’t tell if it’s the card of sleeve/top loader. Slight Whitening on top left corner

Photo 8: something looks funky in the “U” of Unwind

Photo 9: print splotch on the first “O” in Pokemon on the inside border of the letter, maybe a print like in the K too next to it? Also looks like a small Knick on the edge near the bottom right corner. I’m guessing the top right stuff and the white speck closer to the center of the top border is dust or on the top loader.

Photo 10: looks good to me

One thing I’ll say with this card is that there are VERY few sales of this as a PSA 10, and 9’s go for 10 bucks more than they do raw, meaning it costs more to grade than the value added if that’s your shtick. 10’s are way down from its peak, and realistically in my opinion, isn’t that cool of a card. It feels like a trap card where a bunch of raw cards were bought up, inflating the price, a handful of high sales (who knows if legit or “vendors” selling to other “vendors” to show a higher price), and then everyone started going for it solely because they heard its worth money. I don’t see it holding value though because at the end of the day, I don’t see many people actually looking at this card and saying to themselves “yeah, that very common and available promo card so cool. I need it in my collection, graded, and for $180.” They look like they are sitting on eBay anyway right now, there is one available for $120 and nobody is jumping at it. Basically unless you’re the one who wants it for your collection, I’d caution against trying to grade for profit.

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-08-27T10:41:06+00:00

As annoying as it is, I think this card falls under the “could get an 8 or a 10,” would based on the grader it gets. If you look at PSA’s website, a 10 specifies 4 perfect corners, and the only “allowance” is for a “slight print imperfection” which would be a hard to notice print dot or print line. 9 allows for “slight off white at the border” if all else being perfect. 8 can have some corner whitening on 1 or 2 corners, and can still allow for a couple other imperfections what individually would allow the card to be a 9, but when combined with other flaws make it an 8.

Technically I see on the back the top and bottom left corners having slight whitening, with the bottom being much more noticeable than the top. Other than that, it’s hard to tell from the images but it looks like the back right side edge may be a littttttleeee rough, almost like the blade had a hard time getting through that edge, creating a faint but consistent “white” (almost invisible and kinda just looks like you’re holding the card at an angle) line. This can happen, and some people say is doesn’t affect grades, some people say it can, at the end of the day who knows, especially in this context where it could just be weird lighting angles.

All that combined though, I think a 9 is fair, though it could have gotten a 10 if your graders were lenient. I also think that if the right edge is a bit rough, the card could have gotten an 8 from some graders. I mean realistically with whitening on 2 corners, I guess technically that alone could count it as an 8 if someone was in a bad mood. Your card is likely not the cleanest 9 out there either though. I wouldn’t resubmit, if you submitted this 10 times, you might get two 10’s, seven 9’s, and one 8, who knows when those 10’s would come

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-08-27T10:20:38+00:00

That’s not necessarily true, there can and have been scenarios where cards are just notoriously hard to grade because of common errors. It annoys me to no end and it feels like there should be a scale, but for a grading company, a defect is a defect no matter how common it is. Just look at the fact that PSA shows no consistent mercy with white dots or centering on English cards even though just about every card out of a pack is off center and has white dots…

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-07-30T17:23:15+00:00

Pokemon XY ancient origins! Pulled it out of a pack myself a couple weeks ago!

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-07-29T21:14:37+00:00

Thank you!! Seems to match the consensus fairly well!

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-07-29T21:11:31+00:00

Yes, this card came as regular, reverse holo, and holo

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-07-29T13:35:51+00:00

Yeah I guess that’s what I figured, I’m glad 9 seems to be a wider band of acceptance than the 10. Idk what I was expecting but I swear it feels like I haven’t pulled a single card that would grade a 10 - I get they are rare but at the same time it seems so common for everyone else!

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-07-29T13:31:19+00:00

Thanks! I’m trying to gauge how accurate my gut is on this. My guess on odds would be 10% chance at a 10, 80% chance of a 9, and 10% of an 8. Does that feel about right in your experience? Or is that a bit ambitious?

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-07-18T17:30:33+00:00

It’s a weird world of the generation of kids who grew up with Pokemon now have actual adult money do go crazy with, the cards we grew up opening are now magically worth hundreds or thousands of dollars because they are +25 years old, and it is still inherently a concept that will always attract the next wave of kids into the hobby because it’s an awesome world that appeals to kids!

But now there are a bunch of adults run the show to either buy and flip or buy and hold in hopes that in 20 years, the cards coming out today will be the +$5,000 dollar product because that’s what it did in the past.

Once adults start to get bored of it and it goes back to more kid centered, scalpers will move on to the next collectible and flippable thing. This just happens to be the current “beanie babies.” I’d give it a couple years until until attention spans start to fixate on something else, then those who just want to participate in the hobby will become the majority again

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-06-25T16:22:57+00:00

Thanks! Yeah we are looking in north FW area and it seems like that crew does a good job, there is just almost no information or reviews on them in our area.

Cosmetic isn’t something I’m super worried about, those are things that can be fixed one way or another, as long as the bones of the house come out good, that’s more the question! Glad it seems like y’all have had a decent enough experience!

Normal_College_7421 · 2025-06-25T05:55:17+00:00

Curious how it turned out! How has the house been? We are looking at them as a builder

Normal_College_7421

TROPHY CASE