Help The "What Should I Buy?" Thread

MountainDrew

Wishes Mega Umbreon would exist
Member
Okeanos said:
I'm looking to buy a booster box from Black and White. Which which set within the Black and White series is best?
Where can I buy the cheapest booster boxes?
Price Range: $120 or less.

I would recommend plasma storm, dark explorers, or plasma freeze. They have many valuable and playable cards. As for buying boxes i would recommend pokemonforever.net. They have boxes for around $90 or less.
 

PokePhD

PokéBeach Verified Seller
Member
Okeanos said:
I'm looking to buy a booster box from Black and White. Which which set within the Black and White series is best?
Where can I buy the cheapest booster boxes?
Price Range: $120 or less.

Either Plasma Freeze or wait until Plasma Blast comes out.

Both sets contain highly sought after cards.
 

bagoly14

Collecting is expensive -_-
Member
Jungletoad said:
Price range: 2000-3000$
What are you thinking of buying: Box
Any options to choose from and why: none

2 VS Japanese Booster Boxes, Japanese Neo Genesis Booster Box, Japanese Fossil Booster Box. hehe :cool:
 

hoody37

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I decided I wanted to jump back into the TCG. Ultimately my goal is to own as many complete sets as I can.
Which set would be a good starting point?
Price range: $110 and below
Buying: Box
Options: I originally wanted an older set for nostalgic reasons. Anything will do though.

Tips on collecting would be appreciated as well.
 

raymond25962

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I have 50$ and a, thinking on buying a japnese booster box. Which one should i get? Im leaning towards shiny collection.
 

PokePhD

PokéBeach Verified Seller
Member
raymond25962 said:
I have 50$ and a, thinking on buying a japnese booster box. Which one should i get? Im leaning towards shiny collection.

If you don't mind waiting a few weeks, EX Battle Boost has some beautiful artwork.
 

Athena

The Cooler Danchou
Advanced Member
Member
I think both Shiny Collection and EX Battle Boost would both be awesome choices from an artwork perspective. SC would give you a full set (minus SRs) and more FAs than Battle Boost would, but Battle Boost would give you more different cards, more cards in total, and a chance at one of the real Japanese FAs. I love the SC FAs, but they're not the full textured job that the regular BW sets have, so that might be something to keep in mind.
 

raymond25962

Aspiring Trainer
Member
SoulWind said:
raymond25962 said:
I have 50$ and a, thinking on buying a japnese booster box. Which one should i get? Im leaning towards shiny collection.

If you don't mind waiting a few weeks, EX Battle Boost has some beautiful artwork.

I thought ex battle boost was all reprints?
 

Athena

The Cooler Danchou
Advanced Member
Member
Not all reprints, just some. We don't exactly know how many reprints there are compared to new cards, though.
 

dragonxx21

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Japanese VS English Booster Box

Hi there! I've recently been wanting to get into the Pokemon TCG. I collected a bit when I was younger, and had people buy me theme decks and stuff like that, but I never got really serious when it came to collecting. So after finally deciding to try getting into the TCG seriously, I made the decision to buy a box. I am looking to start playing competitively once my collection gets a little bit bigger. I'm having a hard time deciding whether I want to get Japanese or English boxes though. On the one hand, JP boxes are incredibly cheaper, and the cards are arguably nicer, quality wise, but are not legal in tournaments, whereas English cards are. Because of this, I am really conflicted, and need some help deciding. Feel free to ask me any questions, if that'll help you give me advice.
 

raymond25962

Aspiring Trainer
Member
RE: Japanese VS English Booster Box

dragonxx21 said:
Hi there! I've recently been wanting to get into the Pokemon TCG. I collected a bit when I was younger, and had people buy me theme decks and stuff like that, but I never got really serious when it came to collecting. So after finally deciding to try getting into the TCG seriously, I made the decision to buy a box. I am looking to start playing competitively once my collection gets a little bit bigger. I'm having a hard time deciding whether I want to get Japanese or English boxes though. On the one hand, JP boxes are incredibly cheaper, and the cards are arguably nicer, quality wise, but are not legal in tournaments, whereas English cards are. Because of this, I am really conflicted, and need some help deciding. Feel free to ask me any questions, if that'll help you give me advice.

If you want to play competitively, buy a English Plasma Blast box. You should get most of the staples, and if you're lucky, you might get Genesect EX or Virizion EX which you can trade/sell for a hefty sum.
 

dragonxx21

Aspiring Trainer
Member
RE: Japanese VS English Booster Box

raymond25962 said:
If you want to play competitively, buy a English Plasma Blast box. You should get most of the staples, and if you're lucky, you might get Genesect EX or Virizion EX which you can trade/sell for a hefty sum.

Is it hard to trade Japanese cards, or are they valued less than the english version?
 

ChiefLittleFish

Given Up on Collecting the TCG
Member
If you live in the U.S. or really anywhere other than japan, the native-language cards generally are worth more because you can only use native-language cards in competitive play. However, there are also people who would rather collect foreign cards than their own due to better quality, better pull rates, etc. and as such, they ususally only collect those ones.
 

dragonxx21

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Bob The Magical Penguin said:
If you live in the U.S. or really anywhere other than japan, the native-language cards generally are worth more because you can only use native-language cards in competitive play. However, there are also people who would rather collect foreign cards than their own due to better quality, better pull rates, etc. and as such, they ususally only collect those ones.

Yeah, those are the reasons I'm really tempted to get Japanese boxes over an English one. I personally think their quality is better AND they are cheaper to purchase. But if only native-language is allowed in competitive play, I think English boxes are probably my best bet, but why is it so hard to find a store that sells boxes at a reasonable price (below $95) AND has cheap shipping to Canada. It's pretty ridiculous that stores are charging $30 shipping when I can get 3 Japanese boxes for like $25 shipping. @_@
 

ChiefLittleFish

Given Up on Collecting the TCG
Member
I'm pretty sure that only your native-language is allowed, but I may be wrong, all I do for that is the Prereleases.
 

Athena

The Cooler Danchou
Advanced Member
Member
Yeah, Japanese boxes are only good for collecting outside of Japan, sadly, even though they are much cheaper and nicer.

If you want to play competitively, you're going to have to get English cards. In that case, I do agree with the above that Plasma Blast is probably your best bet if you want to buy a booster box to start helping you play. To help with costs, you can also buy singles to help flesh out your chosen deck once you start playing.

As far as the relative cost values between English and Japanese cards, English prices tend to vary more wildly based on the cards value competitively. Cards may raise or lower drastically based on new sets or decks or when the modified format changes. Japanese cards tend to me more stable (outside of Japan, that is) because their value isn't based on their use in the game, but more on the rarity/quality of the card. Some Japanese cards are much more expensive than their English counterparts; for example, BW Shinies since their competitive value is rather low (anyone who wants to use one of the Shinies in their deck could use a non-Shiny version for much cheaper). On the other hand, some regular EX cards are more expensive than their Japanese counterparts because of how useful they are in decks.
 

dragonxx21

Aspiring Trainer
Member
If I already had a deck in mind that I wished to build, would it be more cost effective to just buy the singles, or are cards from PB easy enough to trade that it is still easy to get value out of the cards you pull. I'm mostly looking to get a box to get more of a collection, and then trade what I don't need for what I do need.
 
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