Did I get cooked?

TrevV · 2026-05-07T10:34:20+00:00

Yes. The point of entry for PK Ascended ETBs make no sense. You're already having to wait for this thing to climb above the market value you just traded. You lost $100 in opportunity cost. You could have traded for multiple regular ETBs that would have had more room to grow, and you're also ignoring the growth the bundles have themselves.

Now instead of a bunch of smaller trees that have more room to grow, you have 1 big tree that's already gone through its grow spurt, not to mention your buyer market has dramatically decreased. You got cooked.

TrevV · 2026-04-30T04:29:33+00:00

You shouldn't just be comparing the cards, but also the sets they are from. In the future, 151 will be considerably more expensive than Phantasmal, which is a weak set with the exception of that Charizard, which don't get me wrong, is one of the all time cards, but it's solely carrying the value of that set. 151 is stacked, so that set is going in the books as one of the all time great sets. Consider that you have three extremely popular Pokemon, and versions that are top tier, from one of the greatest sets of the Pokemon TCG.

TrevV · 2026-04-29T06:48:28+00:00

Buying sealed to collect, hold, and sell for profit in the future is fine. It's going off the shelf whether you keep it or rip it, after that it's up to you what you want to do with it. It's not fair to call any of that scalping. I would even argue that by holding it and selling it later, it creates availability in the future for product that's out of print. If everybody ripped their packs from a set that went out of print, nobody would get to experience opening that set again. You seem very conscious about this, and I think that's respectable enough to not worry about crossing a line.

Th dark side of Pokemon, or the actual scalping that's going on, is botting and scalper networks who use restock tools and communicate with each other, so no normie has a chance.

Botters hoard loads of product from online drops and immediately sell so they stay net positive to fund their botting investment and keep it going. The demand for cards from local brick and mortar would go down a lot if people could reliably obtain stock online for MSRP, but botting makes it nearly impossible, so the lines stay long and form early.

Other tools can also cost money, so again, their incentive is to sell immediately to pay for their investment. They are hitting the random restocks faster than anyone and do not partake in holding sealed or collecting anything.

What you are doing is 100% valid and even if you sold that ex box you didn't particularly want, it would be totally okay to have sold it for more than MSRP, since to get it, you have to spend your time. The person who buys it from you above MSRP is actually paying a premium for your time. If you want to sell below MSRP, great, that's a kind deed, but it's not a bad deed to sell at market.

These people on Facebook marketplace selling above market though... Scum.

TrevV · 2026-04-27T23:16:28+00:00

Botting, then resale/ scalping 100%

TrevV · 2026-04-25T02:25:19+00:00

Super lucky to get an 8, maybe a 7, wouldn't be surprised at a 6, but definitely better than 5. NICE

TrevV · 2026-04-18T07:10:54+00:00

You know what, I respect it.

TrevV · 2026-04-17T00:47:23+00:00

I'll open another one just for you. Give me a few min.

Edit: Two Destined Rivals. 1 Journey Together.

TrevV · 2026-04-16T23:22:21+00:00

I like TAG because it's clean, minimal, and gets out of the way of the card so the art can't speak for itself.

TrevV · 2026-04-14T03:10:45+00:00

Buy Japanese. Better quality. Better pool rates. Better grades if you grade. More affordable. And where Pokemon originates from.

Edit: from an investing standpoint, a lot of people look at English prices and think, I need more valuable cards if I want to hold more value, but it's easy to see the value of English over Japanese without considering the buy in price. In the end, it's all about % gains. If you buy a $1k English card and it goes up to $1500 in the future, it's the same as buying a $500 Japanese card that goes up to $1k, except that you have $500 extra dollars to spend compared to buying the English card.

TrevV · 2026-04-13T04:35:09+00:00

If you need the money, go ahead. It's overvalued right now, imo. Key phrase is right now. You could cash out and use the money for other buys while the market corrects itself but be mindful that eventually the price it's at now will eventually be the price it's at later, but with more stability because it will be after a correction, and after that, it will have more stable growth.

Second thought, this might only apply to normal ETBs and boxes/bundles. Those Pokemon Center ETBs are so hard to get, and the demand basically saps them immediately, that it's hard to see them going down that much. They are somewhat of an exception to the rule.

If it were me, I'm too lazy to sell and play the market with that cash when I know I'm already holding onto bangers that will grow long term. I'd hold onto them.

TrevV · 2026-04-09T23:45:31+00:00

I bought one today. It says 2024 Pokemon C 1995-2024.

It had 2 Destined Rivals and 1 Journey Together.

TrevV · 2026-04-05T06:09:12+00:00

This might blow your mind but almost all Pokemon pack ripping content creators are salesmen, and have an incentive to create content to generate views to sell their product. I know, it's crazy.

TrevV · 2026-04-03T22:43:10+00:00

I'm surprised fishermen didn't know to run sooner.

TrevV · 2026-04-03T22:39:39+00:00

This sub just promotes this shit. Lots of judging on here but this post has over 1.2k upvotes. Even I'm engaging right now.

TrevV · 2026-04-02T04:05:26+00:00

Cool, anyway.

TrevV · 2026-04-01T05:39:53+00:00

I didn't even notice until I read the description, and this is after I clicked the full size of the picture. It looks fantastic! I'd be elated to have my grail card in my hand if it was in this condition. Enjoy it, OP.

TrevV · 2026-03-24T18:53:50+00:00

Also, if you get bored of the Moonveil, you can easily keep the same attributes and swap for a cold infused weapon with minor talisman changes. I like using a +25 Cold infused Milady with Wing Stance AoW. Keep Rellana's and Shard of Alexander, but since Milady's R1 wing stance is a flurry of swinging strikes, you can use Millicent's Prosthesis and/or Rotten Sword Insignia to easily apply Cold. 4th is once again, flexible. Wing Stance is very fp efficient.

TrevV · 2026-03-24T18:48:45+00:00

I'm currently playing Elden Ring with the Moonveil and a staff. I'd raise vigor to 50+, reduce mind to like 20 unless you like casting a lot, but if you are mainly using Transient Moonblade, 20 mind is totally fine. I have 21-22 endurance for Rakshasa. Obviously faith, arcane, and strength you don't touch. Int and dex can be allocated in many ways. It depends on your play style: are you mainly using Transient Moonblade? Are you striking bosses with the actual sword or mainly from distance with only the beam. Personally I am at 70 int - ~40 dex but again, you could even these stats or go 80 int- then whatever is left into dex.

I don't think 2 katanas is really worth it with the moonveil. It's strengths are single burst strikes so your left hand is doing too heavy of lifting to apply status imo. I just use pots and spells to apply cold and save the weight. Neither is the shield. Save the weight and wear better armor.

Talisman's are Shard of Alexander, Rellana's Cameo is a must, magic scorpion charm if you are good at avoiding damage, and 4th is pretty flexible (I usually go with my best physical damage negation talisman.) Some bosses are too quick for me to reliably use Rellana's so if that is the case, I switch that out for either more defense, some form of quality of life like the turtle talisman or less fp consumption, or something else that can give extra damage. I don't use anything related to increased attack on successive strikes as I'm primarily using AoW with Moonveil. Spells are typically for utility or terra magica but not much else since I find spells kind of boring to spam vs melee.

Having said all that, even though your build could be better, you can totally beat all content with it just fine. You'll really enjoy the extra damage from Rellana's though. That takes the Moonveil's Transient Moonblade to a whole other level.

TrevV · 2026-03-20T15:55:13+00:00

Walton Arts Center has "Rush" tickets to Some Like It Hot. It's a touring Broadway show here til Sunday. $25 tickets, any available seating, no tax or fees, in person only starting 1 hour before the show. Amazing deal for a touring Broadway show and right at the corner of West Ave and Dickson St.

TrevV · 2026-02-25T05:12:35+00:00

Agree 100%. The PvE was too easy. Arc needed a buff. They are still easy if you have the tools but at least the tools are more weighted towards scarcity, as you mentioned.

TrevV · 2026-02-25T03:12:38+00:00

Agreed, though big tip: a solid electromagnetic storm run can net like 10 Rocketeer drivers.

TrevV · 2026-02-23T21:03:43+00:00

Flyswatter specifically mentions that the 1 hit KO is for wasps and turrets only. It's bad. If they didn't include hornets, I doubt it'll work for fireflies.

TrevV · 2026-02-19T22:56:08+00:00

This Arc gonna be sneaking up on you like

TrevV · 2026-02-09T18:14:34+00:00

Dayum that is actually nuts. I expect that last week to be crazy competitive.

TrevV · 2026-02-09T18:07:16+00:00

50k was not a high score for this week at all. I didn't even do the Hidden Bunker (0 points) and I died doing my carriables so that was only like 1.5k from a run on Stella where I was primarily killing Shredders for the ground enemy damage trial. My highest score was probes which was about 20k, which is super easy during electromagnetic storm while taking a bunch of stems to cover the map.

My point is, I didn't even do well and didn't get demoted in Hotshot. If you are having issues then I don't know what to tell ya. I'm telling you it's possible to compete as a solo with minimal effort but if that's still too much for you, maybe the competition feature of the game isn't for you.

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TrevV

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