Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Anyone getting PS packs with no reverses?

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chrataxe

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See, I ran to Walmart to grab a few things. I picked up a few packs for funsies...three, to be exact, and none of them had reverse holos in them. Anyone having this problem?

Really, really irks me since there was an extra common in there and Pokemon cards have such horrible value to them as is, taking away a chance to get a good card with some value (reverse laser) just seems wrong....:nonono:
 
Player at league today opened a pack. There was a Scramble Switch (Ace Spec) in it but no reverse. There was a normal rare in the pack. Based on that, we guessed the Ace Spec replaced the reverse holo. Is that what happened?
 
ShadowCard said:
Player at league today opened a pack. There was a Scramble Switch (Ace Spec) in it but no reverse. There was a normal rare in the pack. Based on that, we guessed the Ace Spec replaced the reverse holo. Is that what happened?
Click to expand...

Ace Specs are in the RH spot, yes.

Sounds like DRX all over again...
 
ShadowCard said:
Player at league today opened a pack. There was a Scramble Switch (Ace Spec) in it but no reverse. There was a normal rare in the pack. Based on that, we guessed the Ace Spec replaced the reverse holo. Is that what happened?
Click to expand...

ACE SPECs are meant to be in the reverse holo slot. OP's problem is that he got neither a reverse holo or an ACE SPEC in any of his three packs. In which case, I would just say that it's another packaging error, and there's not much you can do about it.
 
chrataxe said:
See, I ran to Walmart to grab a few things. I picked up a few packs for funsies...three, to be exact, and none of them had reverse holos in them. Anyone having this problem?

Really, really irks me since there was an extra common in there and Pokemon cards have such horrible value to them as is, taking away a chance to get a good card with some value (reverse laser) just seems wrong....:nonono:
Click to expand...

I remember when even if it was only "trade value" (because few players ever paid cash for cards), the equivalent monetary value of the cards in a booster were rarely below the MSRP of the booster. Even a "bad" Rare or reverse holo was worth $1 (USD) to collectors, so the other seven cards (I think this was at a time with 9 card packs) just had to total up to about a $1.50.

I know the TCG is an industry, but this is why adding a "Parallel holographic card" or whatever you want to call it was so revolutionary: it was an increased production expense, but it created something fun for normal collectors and "bling" (does anyone still use that term?) collectors or players that only wanted the shiny stuff. :wink: This is turn helped anyone not collecting them with easy trade bait, and at the same time gave packs the potential to have a major pay out since it could be a card of any rarity.

This whole business of replacing it with something of a higher rarity ignores the entire point; a reverse holo should be in every pack. Making sure this doesn't become an entirely off topic rant, I am building to how when they make the rarity scheme overcomplicated? This happens. If this isn't an isolated incident, now there is a powerful incentive to skip the boosters. What is worse, this set was good in that the starter decks actually contained some useful cards. I hope that fear of "bad boosters" isn't mistaken for "Well, putting good cards in starter decks drastically dropped our sales - we'd better not do that again!". :frown:
 
If you haven't already, send TPCI an email about it. They will want pictures of the packaging, proof of purchase, and that sort of thing, but they will replace the cards in an error like this. This happened with a couple of my Mewtwo tins, where my packs didn't have rares at all.
 
I got a couple of weird packs in my first box.

I had 1 pack with no rare, just an extra common.

Then I had a pack with 2 rares, replacing a common.

Another pack with no rare.

I had a few packs with Full Arts upside down too.
 
To reiterate, if you get a messed up pack, PLEASE contact Pokemon! First off, they'll replace the product, and second off, they need to know! I got an entire box of DRX with no reverses, and after I sent them pictures and info they sent me a sealed box free of charge.
 
AyameHikaru said:
To reiterate, if you get a messed up pack, PLEASE contact Pokemon! First off, they'll replace the product, and second off, they need to know! I got an entire box of DRX with no reverses, and after I sent them pictures and info they sent me a sealed box free of charge.
Click to expand...

Good on them; they get valuable information about avoiding manufacturing defective product, and the "solution" at worst costs them manufacturing plus shipping plus the lost "potential sale" of that product. This kind of response, if standard, means even with the hiccups I wouldn't worry about buying official product.
 
secretsof2113 said:
If you haven't already, send TPCI an email about it. They will want pictures of the packaging, proof of purchase, and that sort of thing, but they will replace the cards in an error like this. This happened with a couple of my Mewtwo tins, where my packs didn't have rares at all.
Click to expand...

AyameHikaru said:
To reiterate, if you get a messed up pack, PLEASE contact Pokemon! First off, they'll replace the product, and second off, they need to know! I got an entire box of DRX with no reverses, and after I sent them pictures and info they sent me a sealed box free of charge.
Click to expand...

Just curious, contact them by submitting a ticket? I think I have the packs still sitting off to the side since I've been horrible about sorting lately...but, they aren't in order or anything, is that still acceptable?

Don't know if its worth the hassle for 3 packs.

@Otaku: That is kind of my main concern. Compared to other TCG's, Pokemon cards in general are worthless. You get 130ish cards in a set with 1-2 good rares and 1-2 (sometimes more) good ultrarares....which means, 99% of everything you open has zero value, ESPECIALLY when the RH is gone. SCG's wrote about the financial value of RtR and the general gist was that you would pay $100 a box and get well over that in card value. Another thing that irks me about Pokemon right now is their pack prices. They are charging $4.18 at retail stores for 10 card packs with an online code and a reverse while other tcg's are charging $4.00/pack at retail stores for 15 card packs. MtG packs have one land (an idea I like), and one filler card that is either a foil, a token, or an insert (just a random card). Foils are much more rare in MtG and have a LOT higher value. Additionally, they don't have online code cards, much MtG has a HUGE online playerbase and organization. You have to pay to play online in MtG, but I actually prefer that since it means that the only people that are paying for magic online are people intentionally wanting to play. I don't play PTCGO and don't really care fore the added expense of the online game. I'm sure their overall marketing scheme is great, charge an extra .20 (hey, its 20 cents, right? Who cares!) to fund the online game AND advertise it and push people to play. People play BECAUSE they have the codes and those that never heard of it check it out BECAUSE they have the code. But, still, you are making customers that don't play online pay to play online either way...though, I will admit, I doubt many people would play PTCGO if they had to pay a fee of sorts. But, lets put it into perspective of the real world. Lets say my neighbor has a beautiful lawn and waters everyday and I do not. Lets say I live in a town of 1000 people and we use 1,000,000 gallons of water a day. The way Pokemon pays for its online game is to just say, let EVERYONE pay for 1,000 gallons per person, regardless of how much each person is actually using. In the real world, this would NEVER fly. My single neighbor who waters their yard may used 1500 gallons a day and I might only use, say, 500 for my family of 5, but my water bill would be five times higher than my neighbor's, despite the fact that I use a third of the water. Like I said, I'm not so ignorant that I can't see TPCI's logic, I'm just saying that as a long time loyal customer, I just have to throw my hands up and say "Really?"

Now that I'm on this rant (thanks Otaku...), I think this is a huge problem with the game of Pokemon as a whole: there is ZERO incentive to play Pokemon and to continue to play Pokemon. Ironically, Pokemon is doing to the TCG what Wizards tried to do (push older players out), but when they (TPCI, P!P) do it, it's ok...but, I digress...for now...
 
Packs have had extreme errors since back in the WotC days. I opened a Team Rocket booster with only 10 cards one time when I was 10 years old, and you got it, the missing one was the rare. Given my young age and given that that $3 was what I had been doing chores for all week, you can imagine my extreme disappointment.
 
chrataxe said:
Just curious, contact them by submitting a ticket? I think I have the packs still sitting off to the side since I've been horrible about sorting lately...but, they aren't in order or anything, is that still acceptable?

Don't know if its worth the hassle for 3 packs.

@Otaku: That is kind of my main concern. Compared to other TCG's, Pokemon cards in general are worthless. You get 130ish cards in a set with 1-2 good rares and 1-2 (sometimes more) good ultrarares....which means, 99% of everything you open has zero value, ESPECIALLY when the RH is gone. SCG's wrote about the financial value of RtR and the general gist was that you would pay $100 a box and get well over that in card value. Another thing that irks me about Pokemon right now is their pack prices. They are charging $4.18 at retail stores for 10 card packs with an online code and a reverse while other tcg's are charging $4.00/pack at retail stores for 15 card packs. MtG packs have one land (an idea I like), and one filler card that is either a foil, a token, or an insert (just a random card). Foils are much more rare in MtG and have a LOT higher value. Additionally, they don't have online code cards, much MtG has a HUGE online playerbase and organization. You have to pay to play online in MtG, but I actually prefer that since it means that the only people that are paying for magic online are people intentionally wanting to play. I don't play PTCGO and don't really care fore the added expense of the online game. I'm sure their overall marketing scheme is great, charge an extra .20 (hey, its 20 cents, right? Who cares!) to fund the online game AND advertise it and push people to play. People play BECAUSE they have the codes and those that never heard of it check it out BECAUSE they have the code. But, still, you are making customers that don't play online pay to play online either way...though, I will admit, I doubt many people would play PTCGO if they had to pay a fee of sorts. But, lets put it into perspective of the real world. Lets say my neighbor has a beautiful lawn and waters everyday and I do not. Lets say I live in a town of 1000 people and we use 1,000,000 gallons of water a day. The way Pokemon pays for its online game is to just say, let EVERYONE pay for 1,000 gallons per person, regardless of how much each person is actually using. In the real world, this would NEVER fly. My single neighbor who waters their yard may used 1500 gallons a day and I might only use, say, 500 for my family of 5, but my water bill would be five times higher than my neighbor's, despite the fact that I use a third of the water. Like I said, I'm not so ignorant that I can't see TPCI's logic, I'm just saying that as a long time loyal customer, I just have to throw my hands up and say "Really?"

Now that I'm on this rant (thanks Otaku...), I think this is a huge problem with the game of Pokemon as a whole: there is ZERO incentive to play Pokemon and to continue to play Pokemon. Ironically, Pokemon is doing to the TCG what Wizards tried to do (push older players out), but when they (TPCI, P!P) do it, it's ok...but, I digress...for now...
Click to expand...

I used to play MtG but now I play Pokemon instead because Pokemon is more enjoyable, in my opinoin, less expensive and has more of a friendly player feel to it unlike MtG which isn't really enjoyable as everyone else just wants to punch you in the face and run off with the cards they don't have and the game is never really for fun. You also now get Gym Badges and the Badge Case which makes Pokemon more enjoyable. I just love playing Pokemon instead of MtG because I find MtG a lot less fun to play.
 
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I agree, hands down, Pokemon has the friendliest player base. I've found the MtG player base much friendlier than I ever would have expected. Its not as cut throat as I would have thought, but then again, there is a lot more riding on the line, you have to expect it.
 
I disagree, I think MTG was a very cheap card game. You can spend 20 and be semi competitive.

On point, a non holo Scramble Switch has to be worth something, right?
 
Yes, submit a customer support ticket. Give them what information you can, from the cards you pulled to the store you bought it from.

As far as Magic vs. Pokemon, my current league shares an evening with Magic tournaments almost every week. The players aren't extremely unfriendly, but they aren't very aware of when there are kids around. I've heard so much bad language from them...
 
AyameHikaru said:
Yes, submit a customer support ticket. Give them what information you can, from the cards you pulled to the store you bought it from.

As far as Magic vs. Pokemon, my current league shares an evening with Magic tournaments almost every week. The players aren't extremely unfriendly, but they aren't very aware of when there are kids around. I've heard so much bad language from them...
Click to expand...

...how bad is it my first thought reading that was "Just be glad it is coming from them. Anymore "The worse the language, the younger the speaker" fits my experience a lot. There is a cut off point, of course, but seems like every year it gets pushed to a bit younger. :frown:
 
The Pokemon events that I have gone to have been VERY mixed age. Like literally, the youngest player I've had there was 4 and the oldest in his 60's, and everything in between. But the one thing that everyone has done has kept very mindful that there were children around. At one point at my Plasma pre-release I had a Koffing that I had been building up for 5+ turns knocked out, and then the very next card I drew was Weezing, and I accidentally let out a "son of a _____," but immediately caught my mistake and apologized.
 
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