Trading Card Games

The back of a card names the game:

turn it over and there is no doubt. A blue back with a Poké Ball is Pokémon. A brown back with five coloured circles is Magic: The Gathering. A slightly narrower card with a dark brown swirl is Yu-Gi-Oh!. That width is why accessories do not always swap. Pokémon, Magic and One Piece share the standard card size, so sleeves, binders and deck boxes move freely between them, while Yu-Gi-Oh! takes the smaller sleeves sold as Japanese size: in a standard sleeve the card slides about, and a Magic card will not go into a small one at all. A lot that includes sleeves is only useful if they fit the game you play.

Preconstructed decks first, singles later:

that is the order most new players buy in. A preconstructed deck plays straight out of the box, and singles turn it into one that wins, because buying the few cards it lacks beats opening packs and hoping. New in Panama, a One Piece starter deck is about $20, and a Magic Commander deck, a hundred cards built for the game’s favourite casual format, starts around $60. The shop prices the whole box, but a used precon is really worth the handful of cards that make it work: complete, it is a fair saving on the new price; stripped of its strongest cards, it is a stack of commons in a nice box.

Ban lists, rotation and the Reserved List:

explain why two similar-looking cards can be worth wildly different amounts. A card that is expensive because decks need it moves with the rules: Pokémon drops its oldest cards from the Standard format each year, the Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden and Limited list can take a staple out of play overnight, and a Magic reprint pulls an old card down. A card prized by collectors, such as an alternate-art foil or a Magic card on the Reserved List that will never be reprinted, moves slowly. Before paying a player’s price for a card, find out which format it is played in and whether it is still legal there.

A box of commons someone already searched:

is the usual second-hand disappointment. Anyone who knew the game has normally pulled the good cards out of a bulk box, so assume a lot has been picked over unless the seller says otherwise. Every preconstructed deck has an official decklist, and comparing it with what is in the box takes minutes. For singles, ask for photos out of the sleeve, front and back, tilted under a light. Condition runs from near mint through lightly and moderately played to heavily played, and the steps show as white chips along the back edges, scuffs across the face, creases and bends. Fakes cluster among the expensive cards: set a suspect one beside a common from the same set and compare thickness, back colour and how it flexes. Yu-Gi-Oh! cards printed for the Asian market, including the ones in English, are genuine but are not accepted at events here, so they belong in a binder rather than a tournament deck.

Rare singles listed alone, the rest by the lot:

sort a collection by the back first, then pull out anything foil, full-art or marked rare and list it card by card with the game, set, card number, language and an honest condition. The rest goes in lots, one game per lot, because a Magic player will not pay for Yu-Gi-Oh! commons mixed in with his. Leave built decks in their sleeves and say which deck it is. If the cards belonged to a son or daughter who stopped playing, ask them which ones mattered before you price anything: they will know which few cards outweigh the rest of the box, and so will the player who drives in from Coclé to look through it.