How to Tell if Your Trading Cards are Rare and Expensive

The trading card world is blowing up right now, even surpassing the incredible highs of the 2020 boom. And the craziest part of all is that you could be sitting on thousands of dollars of cardboard in your mom's basement if you know what to look for. Because sure, you could Google every single card from your childhood collection, but realistically, no one has time or patience for that. >> Ain't nobody got time for that. So, in this video, I'm going to show you how to quickly identify and price the cards that matter in your Pokémon, Magic the Gathering, and Yu-Gi-Oh collections. The three games you're most likely to find in that box you haven't opened for years. And trust me, the potential here is very real. About a year ago, I was digging through my old Yu-Gi-Oh cards when something caught my eye. One quick check later, and I realized I was holding on a single card worth nearly $5,000. And the coolest part is, I literally remember pulling it as a kid. So, of course, it's now my prized possession. Now, let me help you figure out if you're also sitting on something insanely valuable in just a few easy steps. Before anything else, we need to talk about rarity, but not in the way most people explain it. Because every trading card game does have a rarity system. They just don't all mean the same thing. And this is where it's super easy to make a mistake that leads to overlooking something truly valuable. Here's the thing. A card can look rare and be worth almost nothing. and a card can look boring and be worth a fortune. So, here's a highle way to think about rarity in each game. Starting with Pokémon, at the most basic level, we have commons with a circle, uncommons with a diamond, and rares with a star. But unfortunately, those naming conventions aren't that helpful because in the modern sets, almost everything shiny is also common and easy to find. What really matters are the secret rares. Cards whose set number exceeds the total number of cards in the set. In particular, you're looking for alternate arts from a few years ago or special illustration rares more recently. In vintage Pokémon, it's much simpler. You're mainly looking at holo versus non-holo, more so than the rarity symbol at the bottom of the card. The oldest and often rarest hollowos are easily identifiable by their holo pattern, coming in either the galaxy star or cosmos foiling. Next, we have Yu-Gi-Oh, which couldn't be more different. Here, the card's actual rarity matters a lot, but only when combined with a few things that we'll talk about in a minute. In terms of vintage, you have commons, rares with silver foil text, super rares with hollow artwork, ultra rares with hollow artwork and gold foil text, and secret rares with a diagonal foil pattern and rainbow foil text. Then, moving forward a bit chronologically, we have two more very important rarities. First, the ultimate rare with a textured foil pattern literally stamped onto the cardboard itself. Then my personal favorite, the ghost rare, which can look like blank silver foil from one angle and show gorgeous 3D rainbow artwork from another. Modern Yu-Gi-Oh, on the other hand, has more rarities than you have fangers and toes. But unfortunately, most of them just aren't worth very much. So thankfully, you don't really need to learn about that. And finally, Magic the Gathering, which has the simplest, but also least useful rarity system of the bunch. Once again, we have common, uncommon, and rare. this time denoted by differing colors in the card set symbol. Later, we would also get mythic rares, but similar to Yu-Gi-Oh, none of those are worth very much today. All of which brings us to the first major takeaway of the video. A card's rarity is not the answer. It's just the starting point. Because what actually matters is how rarity and scarcity interact with age, demand, and legacy. There's a lot to unpack here, but I promise once you wrap your head around it, identifying valuable cards become second nature. So now, let's put this into practice. Nobody has time to manually check hundreds or thousands of cards from their childhood. So instead, you want a system, a way to quickly separate your cards into two piles. The ones that need a closer look and the ones that are probably bulk. Here's exactly how to do that. Starting with Pokémon, the first thing you want to pull aside are the hollowos from older sets and the secret rares from more modern sets. For older cards, this could be traditional hollowos where the artwork is foil or reverse hollows where everything but the artwork is foil. Next, you're going to look for iconic Pokemon. And this is one of the biggest shortcuts in the entire TCG. Cards featuring Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, Gengar, Rayquaza, Dragonite, Mewtwo, and other legendary or iconic Pokémon should always be set aside. A Pokémon's popularity is often the driving force behind value with low-end Charizards routinely outperforming high rarity cards of other more obscure Pokémon. Once you've done that, the next step is checking for first edition stamps. These only exist in Pokémon's earliest English expansions. And if you see one, that card automatically goes into the closer look pile. Because as an exception to our previous rule, even commons and uncommons can be valuable if they're first edition. Then you'll want to take a moment to examine the card borders. If you see strangel looking ones with line and dot patterns on the edge, then you have yourself an e-reader era card. These were printed during a low point in Pokémon's popularity, which means lower print runs and higher collector demand today. Again, even non-hols from this era are worth checking. As for mid-a Pokémon, this is where things can get a little tricky. During this time, full arts with the Pokémon front and center and abstract backgrounds were the chase cards. Thing is though, a full art from 2012 can be genuinely valuable. While a card that looks almost identical from a newer set might be worth just a dollar or two. So, here are two shortcuts you can use. The best but slightly more tedious shortcut is the copyright year. If a full art was printed roughly between 2011 and 2017, it's much more likely to be worth checking. A slightly easier shortcut is to look at the rarity symbol. If it's two white stars, that means it's from a more recent set and can likely go into the not worth much pile. And if you're still unsure, don't overthink it. Just put it into the check later pile and move on. We'll price it all out later. Thankfully for modern Pokémon, you can simplify things even more. What you're really looking for here are the alt arts. Cards that show Pokemon in natural environments or interacting with other Pokémon, often with an additional textured layer on top of the card. In the Scarlet and Violet era, which has the cards printed most recently, you want to keep an eye out for illustration rares with one gold star and special illustration rares with two gold stars. Those are the modern cards collectors tend to chase, and they're the ones worth your time during an initial sort. So, to summarize Pokemon identification quickly, if it's old and shiny, an iconic Pokemon, first edition, e-reader era, a mid- era full art, or a modern altar, or a secret rare, it gets set aside. If it's none of those things, it's more than likely not worth very much. This single pass will reduce your workload in the next step by at least 90%. And will help make sure you don't accidentally overlook something valuable. Okay, up next is Yu-Gi-Oh, which again follows a very different set of rules. Because unlike Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh has always had a very liberal reprint policy. That means the same monster can be printed over and over again across decades in dozens of different sets, even with the same exact artwork. So, yes, one Blue Eyes White Dragon can be worth thousands of dollars, while another that looks almost identical might be worth almost nothing. That sounds rough, but thankfully, Yu-Gi-Oh gives us the one thing we need to make identification much easier, and that is the set code. The set code is printed directly underneath the artwork and tells you exactly what you're looking at, when the card was printed, what set it came from, and whether it's worth slowing down. Once you learn to read set codes, Yu-Gi-Oh becomes much less of a guessing game. I know this part isn't the most exciting, but it is important. So, here are some Yu-Gi-Oh set codes from the game's first few years that can carry significant value. Among these, you might recognize LOB, or The Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon, which was the game's first ever international expansion. From there, you're looking for a three-part combination. First, the set code from an early era, which you just saw. Second, a holographic foil treatment like ultra rare, secret rare, ultimate rare, or ghost rare. And third, a first edition stamp. When all three of those line up, that's something worth taking a closer look at. Even if a card from these early sets isn't first edition, don't automatically dismiss it. Unlimited printings from the very earliest Yu-Gi-Oh sets can still be valuable, namely something like Blue-Eyed White Dragon or a Dark Magician Girl. Also, given the scarcity of ultimate rares and ghost rares, those can be quite valuable even in their unlimited prints. So, that said, the Yu-Gi-Oh shortcut is pretty simple. If a card has an early set code, is hollow, and ideally has a first edition stamp, set it aside. And if it's an iconic monster or an ultimate or ghost rare, set it aside anyway, even if it's not first edition. Because once again, in Yu-Gi-Oh, the difference between bulk and a grail often comes down to the few tiny letters under the artwork. Then we have Magic the Gathering, which is the oddest of the bunch because unlike the other games, there is no single symbol or code on a Magic card that tells you whether it's going to be rare or expensive. And that's largely because of something called the reserve list, a group of cards that Wizards of the Coast has publicly promised to never reprint in any capacity. Because of this, there are some of the most collectible cards in the game today. But unfortunately, there's no label on the card that tells you whether or not it's on the reserve list. So instead, we have to rely on a few shortcuts. The first thing to look for is the old border style. If a Magic card has the classic pre203 border, darker colors, more handdrawn looking artwork, and the text box feels like you're reading a scroll of parchment, then take a closer look. Most reserve list cards come from Magic's earliest years. And this border style is the first tell. Next, check the set symbol. And in particular, check if there even is one at all. Because just like Pokemon, Magic's original base set lacked set symbols altogether. It came in three printings: Alpha, Beta, and Unlimited. So, if you see a Magic card with no set symbol, that card automatically gets sorted into the research later pile. It could just be a card from Revised, a fourth and less valuable print run. But, I wouldn't take the chance because here's the thing, cards from Magic Space Set are valuable regardless of whether or not they're on the reserve list. The scarcity alone here matters more than anything else. Beyond these, many cards from early expansions, roughly alpha through the Öza's block, can be on the reserved list. Here are the set symbols to look out for, but unfortunately, this is where magic gets even a little bit more annoying. Older Magic sets technically use the same rarity system as modern ones, but they don't always display that information on the card, meaning you can't always easily identify the rares. So, unlike Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh, your potential value pile for Magic is probably going to be a bit larger. There's really no helping it. As a quick reference, here are a few cards that you realistically might find that are definitely worth separating. Next, starting in 1999, Magic the Gathering started printing its first foils. And these first iterations of foils from 1999 to around 2002 can be quite valuable, especially the rares. And lastly, I don't think I have to mention, but just in case I do, if you run into any of these cards called the power nine or these, the dual lands, sleeve them up immediately. They are all very valuable. So, the magic shortcut looks like this. Old border, no set symbol, especially the power nands, early expansions with reserve list potential, and the game's first foils. Magic is the world's first trading card game and therefore has some of the oldest and rarest cards on this list. So, while it might be more tedious to sort through, it's absolutely worthwhile. Now that we've sorted everything into piles, it's finally time to answer the big question. How much is this stuff actually worth? And stick around because once I show you the manual way, I'm going to share my personal shortcut that I use to save a ton of time. For most cards, the first place you're going to want to look is TCG Player or Card Market if you're in the EU. But since I'm in North America, we'll focus on TCG Player. And thankfully, Pokémon cards are extremely easy to look up. All you have to do is type in the name of the Pokémon followed by the set number, which you'll find at the bottom corner of the card. That step is super important because it makes sure you're looking at the exact version you actually own. Once you're on the correct listing, the next step is to sort by condition, which for Pokemon in particular, matters a lot. The price difference between nearman and lightly played can be dramatic. And if a card is moderately played or damaged, the value can drop off a cliff. After that, look at either the market value or recently sold listings. That number gives you a realistic idea of what the card is selling for currently. And for most Pokémon cards, that's all you need to do. Magic and Yu-Gi-Oh are a little bit trickier, but still totally manageable. The issue is that TCG Player search functionality isn't quite as robust for those games. You can't always just type in the card name and set number and expect it to work every time. So instead, here's the workaround I personally use. I go to Google and I type in TCG player followed by the card name and its set number. About 99% of the time, the very first result will be the exact TCG player listing you're looking for. Once you're there, do the same thing as before. Verify the image matches your card, sort by condition, and check the market value. That's it. Now, all of this works great for readily available carts, but if you found something truly rare, you might notice a problem. Sometimes TCG Player only has a handful of listings or none at all. When that happens, we move to the next best option, eBay. And when using eBay to determine value, there is one rule everyone should follow. Look at sold listings only. Here, people can technically list cards for any price they want and still have them show up early in search. That means active listings are basically meaningless. What actually matters is what buyers have already paid. So, type in the card name and set number, run the search, then filter on sold items. From there, you may need to refine your results, adjusting for condition, addition, or even language. But this will give you the most accurate valuation possible for your rarest cards. Okay, now for the shortcut I promised earlier, which also happens to be today's video sponsor, the collector app. You can do everything we just talked about manually, and that's totally fine. or you can use a collection tracker that makes the whole process so much easier and is completely free to download and use. My personal favorite feature is card scanning. You can quickly scan your rare or expensive cards and see their exact market value in seconds. Instead of googling cards and forgetting their value 3 seconds later, which I definitely don't do. Instead, everything stays neatly organized in one place. So, if you want an easier way to track your collection or put a value on specific cards, it's absolutely worth checking out. You can use the QR code on screen if you're watching on TV or the link in the description if you're on your phone. And thank you again to Collector for sponsoring today's video. Before you go off on your own, I want to mention something super important. If you come across a really valuable card, take a moment to really examine its condition. Look closely at the surface. Are there any scratches, any dents or creases? How do the corners look? And just as important, is the card well centered? Because if the card looks genuinely pristine, no obvious wear, clean edges, and sharp corners, you should seriously consider grading it. That might sound intimidating, but the good news is grading cards has never been easier. It takes some patience, but it's super simple. You can submit directly through a grading company's website, or you can now even drop off your cards at a local GameStop to have them graded through PSA. the barrier to entry has basically disappeared. And this step can make an enormous difference in the value of your cards because if your card comes back in gem in condition, its value can explode. And that's exactly what happened to me. When I found my first edition Exodia, I knew it was rare. But I also noticed that it was immaculate. Childhood me must really have taken good care of this card for whatever reason. So, I sent it out for grading. And a few months later, it arrived back in my hands at over 10x the value. All of that to say, don't take this step lightly. It can make all the difference in the value of your childhood collection. Okay, if you've made it through this entire video, I'll bet you're pretty exhausted. The good news is, if you're into Pokémon, I've already done a lot of the heavy lifting for you. Check out this video next where I go through every chase card of every era of the Pokemon Trading Card Game. Thanks for watching.

Check out my FAVORITE way to price my TCG collection with the Collectr app today! Use the link https://link-to.app/amMGkitMif to let them know I sent you! Become a channel member: https://www.youtube.com/@CollectorsCorner-TCG/membership Like the sleeves I use? Check them out at https://strictlysealed.com/?ref=Corner5 with code "CORNER5" for 5% off! Support the channel with affiliate links! - TCGPlayer Favorite Product: https://partner.tcgplayer.com/OegnXA - Amazon Favorite Binders: https://amzn.to/4ra38de 👉 If you LIKED this video, you will LOVE this one (How to Display Your Cards): https://youtu.be/jJWesSOPrO4?si=MHMNe7djL2e1-CII ✏️ Video edited by tollis.business@gmail.com ✉️ Reach out to me directly at CollectorsCornerTCG@Yahoo.com! Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:00 Rarity 3:35 Identification: Pokémon 6:40 Identification: Yu-Gi-Oh! 8:40 Identification: Magic the Gathering 11:36 How Much is it Worth? 13:43 Sponsored by Collectr 14:30 Grading 15:42 But Wait! #PokemonTCG #mtg #yugioh