The Wonderful World of TCG
“Fire is weak against water… but my Charizard is a high level. He’ll win.”
Squirtle has no sympathy as he bubbles my already weakened Charizard. -10 HP. Charizard loses the coin toss and goes down hard.
Ninetales looks on in pure horror as I lock eyes with him and say, “Go, Ninetales! Use Fire Blast.”
Summoning the last of his strength, he begins to glow red. Fire Blast, if harnessed correctly, can be fatal. Direct hit. Squirtle goes down — it does not look good. The battle is over.
Then the trainer runs to the couch, digs his face into the pillow, and begins to cry — yelling to his mom about the unfairness of the game.
While she consoles him, I point at him and say, “I win.”
Nine-year-olds have no business trying to be Pokémon masters. He didn’t even add Blastoise to his deck. Just Squirtles.
TCG card games are ruthless. Sure, there’s the “play with your friends and have fun” version… but the competitive side? It’s brutal. And expensive.
Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering were some of the earliest pay-to-win games. The more money you can invest, the more variety you get — and the more dangerous your deck becomes. Try playing someone who wins on turn three. It happens.
You can’t call yourself a true collector without having Pokémon or Magic: The Gathering (MTG) cards.
Growing up in the ’90s, every trip to my local comic book store (Bill’s Bullpen) ended with a few booster packs. Usually, it was a choice between another pack of Tempest, or maybe Team Rocket. Fossil, maybe Gym Challenge? No, not Base Set 1st Edition. Those were “boring” (LOL).
That’s when I made my first collector mistake. So young. So naïve. If only I had bought more Pokémon cards back then... I might be rich today.
But Magic was my game of choice. Everyone I knew played Magic. No one really played Pokémon. Still — I do have a Charizard. Shadow Charizard, to be exact.
Sadly, I lost some of my cards during a move — mostly vintage Pokémon. It still stings. I looked everywhere. Most of my foil rares were in that binder.
Twenty-five years later, I’ve built up a pretty big collection of Pokémon and MTG cards. Some of them are worth a decent amount, depending on condition.
And in the collector world, condition is everything. The better the shape, the higher the value. Sealed items? They’ll cost you a kidney.
Back in the day, a Shivan Dragon was a fair trade for a Black Lotus. Now? Might need to offer your firstborn.
Owning rare cards is satisfying — whether you keep them locked away or battle with them to show them off at locals.
No matter how you enjoy them, your cards need protection. From penny sleeves to top loaders to full acrylic display cases, I’ll cover them all here.
And don’t forget about UV rays — if your collection sits near a window, line it with UV-blocking film or risk fading your foil grails.
Most of us want to pass on our collectibles. We want the next generation to feel what we felt when we pulled that holo, or played that perfect combo.
It’s on us now — to protect, preserve, and educate.
I don’t even have everything in my own collection properly stored yet. But I’m working on it. And that’s what this space is for — a place to document my journey, and hopefully yours, in keeping these modern artifacts alive.
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