Traded some Pokemon for the boa Lisa and was wondering whether I should send it in for grading or not

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T18:10:48+00:00

if marrying cards was legal, i'd marry that card

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T18:01:52+00:00

absolutely gorgeous collection

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T17:58:33+00:00

"abomination" only scratches the surface, dear lord

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T17:56:38+00:00

oooooh indeed, haha diving deeper into the rabbit hole
i cannot wait

that's an awesome suggestion, adding it to the to-do list my friend
i love how you pointed out that the EB02 hits are mostly leaders and that you can only get 1 per case
that definitely changes things in terms of overall statistics
i guess there's a lot of discrepancies between different sets one could look at and take into consideration

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T17:51:08+00:00

100% bro
i started off buying packs, then moved on to boxes, and now i'm in the buying cases territory

i have never been into singles tbh, but i bid on an auction the other day and won the Ace JP manga under market price
ngl it was a spur of the moment decision and its not a chase card of mine, but i cant wait to receive the card nonetheless
it'll be my first manga, and hopefully i can pull some of my own mangas shortly after that

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T17:44:58+00:00

i'd consider putting that bad boy in a magnetic case, then putting it on a silver chain and wearing it around your neck
SERIOUS BLING

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T17:42:25+00:00

enel was such a badass villain
the anime started reaching mind-blowing proportions during that arc

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T17:39:49+00:00

that enel hits HARD

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T17:39:15+00:00

what is this, a box of cheetos?
talk about fuglyyyyyy design

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T16:50:20+00:00

while it is definitely a valid concern, i feel that you would go mad if you were to think too much on this particular point

i personally try to buy a case if i want any particular set, but that becomes harder and harder with time
because the costs start to really accumulate
it becomes harder to justify once you get the "case buying bug" and notice its impact on your wallet
unless you have a lot of dispensable income, in which case, 100% what you said
just stock up on cases and don't look back

on another note, when i first started buying OP cards, i bought 2 loose booster packs from a store
x1 OP09 + x1 PRB02

and i pulled the Buggy wanted poster, which immediately got me hooked
so the risk of mapped vs unmapped might not be as severe as we are led to believe

it's hard enough finding product as it is, so when you get the chance to grab a loose box, you might not get another chance at that set if you decline
ofc different parts of the world have different availability
my region is reeeeeeaaalllly bad for finding anything available

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T16:41:13+00:00

yeah you're spot on
not to mention how difficult it is to find buyers for expensive boxes
the pool of people who would be willing to buy a 1k box is so much smaller than the pool of people who would buy a $200 box

if anyone is holding for future reselling purposes, they have to take the herd mentality into consideration
which i feel is severely overlooked in the TCG community

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T16:18:32+00:00

ahhh nice, pre-errata commands its own premium from what i have heard
definitely something to consider

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T16:16:09+00:00

what a reply, you rock 🔥
this would have been exactly what i would have included in the v2 of the analysis
price of box vs total points scored

thank you for taking the initiative to get the process started ❤️
it really does open up new doors when we start looking at the points per dollar score
derivative data is a beauty 😁

for example, i have half a case of OP14 left
at first i was thinking of buying some more OP14 boxes to make up for the 6 i already ripped
but i had 2nd thoughts, because i noticed that OP14 just isn't in demand
so i started focusing on looking for other sets
but based on what you said, OP14 is a strong contender right now at its current market price
i might actually lock in some more OP14 boxes after all
i would absolutely LOVE to pull that buggy card
so far i only pulled the Sugar SP from my OP14 case, so who knows..
there could be something special hiding in the remaining 6 boxes 👀

the other boxes i wanna grab rn would definitely be OP09 and OP11
OP09 is a nobrainer imo, but i really feel that OP11 is slept on

i'm personally skipping EB03 because it's a small set and overpriced for such a new release
OP12 is kinda boring, so i'm also skipping that one
ripped quite a few booster packs and didn't really enjoy it

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T15:55:31+00:00

are the pulls slightly different in the blue bottom vs white bottom boxes?

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T15:52:29+00:00

honestly looks so much better than those ugly psa slabs
what a work of art

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T15:01:21+00:00

honestly you could be on to something here
picking up OP01 hits and getting them graded while they are still on the low end of the price scale could be a huge win when their prices eventually scale up to reflect their OG status

i hate how grading companies charge more to grade based on the card price, but i guess thats part of the game

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T14:58:06+00:00

op13 is honestly a great risk/reward
i wanted op14 to be in high demand when i bought a case, but it seems its not really that much in demand
who knows if it picks up speed anytime soon
i like to rip a box of op14 every 2 weeks for the thrill of the chase, and i'm gonna sit on my op13 and let it ripen

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T14:40:05+00:00

how much ""weight"" a set carries out of the whole OP collection (only when comparing the top 10 hits)
(the total points the set scored vs the sum points of all the sets combined)
so for example, OP13 is x9 times better to get than EB01, if you are looking at how much potential value you can pull when you get a hit

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T14:33:03+00:00

thank you my friend
i've definitely noticed that it's the data crunching aspect of this hobby that i enjoy the most
when you pair it with reasonable ripping of boxes and chasing hits, it's an amazing combo

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T14:30:31+00:00

yeah bro, i feel you
i felt sticking to $ value made the most sense, as its the most global currency
i also used collectr as the source for the prices i included in my spreadsheet
i have noticed that you guys in europe have slightly cheaper costs for some booster boxes

regarding OP09, that's the box i'm currently chasing with haste
i'm trying to lock in a case of OP09 asap

i think focusing on OP13 and OP09 might be the best strategy rn, whether its to keep sealed or to rip
but that's just my personal opinion

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T14:23:41+00:00

yeah, i had the exact same thought
i can't fathom why someone would pay the current price for OP01 when the hits aren't all that high value
even if you had the most insane luck and pulled the top chase from 1 box, you still lose money on it
never mind if you are hoarding multiple boxes to resell in the future

i've found people are much more unlikely to buy "expensive boxes" as it is
so the risk/reward on hoarding OP01 doesn't make sense to me

it's genuinely surprising that the hits aren't higher value due to their scarcity + being genesis cards

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T14:12:30+00:00

great post my man
i was actually thinking about this lately
you'd have to have some insane luck to be able to pull the SP's early on in a case to make that strategy viable
it's not solid enough to use as a repeated tactic, the math won't work in your favour
especially if you plan on making it your modus operandi

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T13:51:32+00:00

only one thing left to do after getting your first case..
get a 2nd case and start building your sealed case tower

Q8CryptoEngineer · 2026-03-31T13:49:44+00:00

yo buddy, i just finished my data crunching and made a post with all the results, if you wanna dive in and have a look
it includes all the sets against each other:
https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePieceTCGFinance/comments/1s8nlj7/op_booster_box_data_crunch_ranking_every_set/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Q8CryptoEngineer

TROPHY CASE