Hello everyone and welcome back to ChannelFireball! I am back with another collecting article, though this one is going to be a bit different than my usual piece. I have been trying out a lot of different topics lately and have had some awesome things to cover in the form of a Chilling Reign set review and Eevee Heroes set review, along with an in-depth review of Target deciding not to sell Pokemon cards anymore. If you happen to have missed any of those, I recommend checking them out!

Anyways, in a lot of my articles it feels like there is going to be more to discuss in the future, I said in a lot of my recent ones that I would be back with an update at some point. Not only do I feel the need to provide some major updates on these topics, but there have been some serious occurrences in the hobby over the past week that need addressing. This has led me to compile a hodgepodge of topics to touch on today, which is why article is going to be different!

I usually only cover one or two things at a time, two is even pushing it for the most part, so today should be interesting. I will start with an update on one of my favorite cards in years, Tyranitar V alternate full art, followed by an update on the Target article I wrote and then I will end with some updates on the different grading companies. It will be a wild ride, but there isn’t a ton to say about each topic, so I should be quite informative and concise for you all today. With that being said, let’s get started with a look at my favorite Tyranitar!

I wanted to touch on this because I don’t have much of a reason to cover the entirety of Battle Styles again, but Tyranitar V alternate art is something I have fought for since its release.

If you read my articles, you know I love this card. If you don’t read them, you do now. I was confidently declaring this Tyranitar as the best collectible option in the set and my opinion will never change on that. I laid out my price estimation based on comparison to other cards and explained exactly why I thought Tyranitar V alternate full art was the perfect recipe for success. If you want to check out my Battle Styles articles, you will get to read all about it there, but otherwise I will provide an updated description here.

In the past week or so, this card increased from $75 to $100. While that might not seem like a lot, that is a 33.33% increase – gigantic! While I do not expect the card to continuously skyrocket, I do expect it to naturally raise in price while time goes on. This jump tells me other people are interested in the card as well and that the price point of $75 was the small dip period we see for cards after release. I do not expect it to drop that low again, nor do I expect it to raise in price much further for the time being. In the long run, though, I expect it to perform similarly to Latias & Latios-GX alternate full art. Here’s why:

Tyranitar checks all the boxes for success. It is a rare card with incredible artwork that features a fan favorite Pokemon. I really did just describe why I am so confident in this card in one sentence, but it really is just that simple. I expect this card to age very well because that is what comparable cards have done in the past.

Before I move on, I wanted to mention that you should be paying to alternate full arts as a whole. The previously released ones have performed very well. Additionally, I expect Empoleon V to perform well for what it is. Do not sleep on these cards.

Okay, this happened fast. I published an article on the effects that Target shutting down their Pokemon sales would have on the hobby a day before they reversed their decision. While that article is less significant now, it still contains a ton of information about where sealed product is at right now and I recommend checking it out.

Anyways, as I said in my article discussing Target shutting down their sales, I did not think it was nearly as big of a deal as people thought. The fact of the matter is that scalpers were scooping up what little supply these stores had in stock for the most part, leading to confrontations in parking lots and anger in the general community, which led to them getting shut down. If you can’t buy cards in the store to begin with, it seems unlikely that the removal of sales from Target would have much of an effect overall. I did talk about some ways it might affect things, though, so go check that out if you are interested in a very detailed response.

As for them reversing their decision, I think it is more of a mental improvement than an actual one. It is good for cards to be on the shelves for sure, but that responsibility lies in the hands of Pokemon, Target cannot control the distribution chain. I am sure Target’s original decision added fuel to the fire in Pokemon’s eyes, but I am very confident they were already highly motivated to fix supply issues. Let’s be real, they issued a statement about the situation and said they were going to do better. Anyways, I do think those fixes are on the way, but I am not sure when they will come. It seems unlikely that they will be here promptly, but if they are that would be fantastic, and this decision becomes an even better one. In the world where Target continues to have minimal product on shelves, though, I don’t think much will change. A lot of disappointed customers will walk out of the store empty handed, scalping will continue, and hobbyists will wish for a better future. The bright side here is that a lot of people in the community will not visit Target regardless and the announcement of their decision reversal probably improved some people’s outlook on the future of Pokemon.

Honestly, not a whole lot of immediate gratification here, but there are a lot of upsides, and I don’t expect any harm to come from the decision. I believe it will make people happy, though.

This should not come as a surprise to anyone. Beckett may not be very popular in Pokemon, but they are for sports cards and Magic: The Gathering. PSA shutting down probably added a ton of orders to their already lengthy backlog, thus resulting in the shutdown.

I have not had much to say about BGS in the past and that is sort of going to remain the case here as well. It is clear why they shut down, I do not blame them for doing it and I expect them to get caught up before they open things up again. This is seemingly working great for PSA, and I expect it to play out similarly for BGS.

The major effects of this shut down are interesting, though, as it seems people will be left without a grading company in some cases. As far as I know, BGS and PSA are the only companies that people use for sports cards, which would mean that submitting cards right now is not really an option. In a similar fashion, MTG is certainly going to be impacted as well. For them, however, I could see some graders trying out CGC and I have seen popular youtubers in the hobby saying that was the case for them. Overall, though, I expect this shut down to lead to some very prepared and excited graders for PSA’s reopening.

Now that I have covered Beckett closing their doors for the time being, I wanted to mention the only grading company still open: CGC. Not only are they the only grading company still open, they have been doing a fantastic job as of late as well. They have great customer service, have been hiring as much as possible, they are churning through orders, and they consistently update their turn around times to express accurate estimates as well. These are all great things and I applaud them for doing such.

As for the demand they are receiving, I expect for it to remain strong as time goes on. PSA opening again soon will certainly taker back some of that market share, but that means an easier time for both companies in terms of staying on top of things. They have been catching up relatively quickly from what I have experienced with my orders with them as well, which shows me they should be able to continue to handle it. Hiring more employees is a great sign as well because it means they are being proactive with the issue and do not want to shut down like the other companies have done.

For grading, I expect things to pick back up for PSA when they open and for things to run smoothly from there. It might be optimistic, but I think CGC is doing a great job and that PSA will be back on track as well.

That is, it for this one, everyone! I know it was a different article style than usual, but all this information popped up at once and I really wanted to cover it all right away. There are a lot of happenings in the Pokemon world, but it is rare that so many things happen at once. Whether you’re excited about grading companies getting on top of things, the reopening of Target stores or a Tyranitar truther like me, I hope you got something great out of this article. I will be back every Tuesday for the rest of June with more content and I hope you all will be back with me as well. If you have anything you want to read about, feel free to leave a comment down below! Otherwise, I will see you next week. Enjoy the world of Pokemon while I am gone.

Peace!