I guess you could say I “yearn for the mines” now.
I’m absolutely terrified of roller coasters. The lack of control you have, the speed, high heights, twists and turns – all this makes for something I’ve never been able to convince myself is worth the thrill.
It was easy to get over my fear of flying in aeroplanes as there’s always something exciting and extraordinarily worthwhile waiting for me on the other side of the flight. Some things in life I would just never be able to do without flying far away in a plane. However, with roller coasters I couldn’t say the same, until now.
It’s amazing how quickly the Pokémon TCG collectors market changes. We’re seeing a ridiculous rise in value for three X and Y era promo cards, which is valid because they’ve always looked amazing. The thing is, Venusaur EX, Blastoise EX, and Charizard EX box promos have never been a highly-priced card. Looking at TCG Player, the market is flooded with lightly played and damaged condition cards, so perhaps the rarer near mint copies of these cards are worth the higher price tag?
In last week’s Crashers and Climbers, we saw signs of Prismatic Evolutions chase cards crashing hard, and for the most part, I was spot on. We’re seeing massive drops on Glaceon ex and Sylveon ex by 28% over the last few days, which is insane. Let’s get into it:
Pokémon Card Crashers
Eevee ex SIR has dropped by 36% since mid-April, which would also mark around the time Prismatic Evolutions reprints started rolling onto store shelves. This alongside the community refusing to pay astronomical prices on Scarlet and Violet chase cards seems to be driving down prices across the board.
Glaceon ex SIR has always been one of the cheaper eeveelutions in Prismatic Evolutions, but seeing a cool 28% drop from $338.69 to $240.98 feels like a half decent plateau, although I would personally put my money on this becoming a sub-$200 card before the year is out.
Sylveon ex SIR is in a more popular-yet similar boat, going down from 28% to just shy of $400 from $562.60. Sylveon isn’t one of my favorites, but the artwork on this card is incredibly detailed. Pair that with Sylveons dedcated fan base and you’re looking at a stable $400 card in my opinion.
Espeon ex SIR is suprisingly cheaper than Sylveon. In my mind, the top two eeveelutions is Espeon and Umbreon. Whilst the latter half of that statement is ridiculously true, it’s a good time to start looking at adding this card to your collection. It’s only dropped by 5%, but 5% off a card that’s pretty much floated around the $350 – $400 mark since launch (after the hype) is pretty good.
If you don’t think Ceruledge is a cool Pokémon, then we can’t be friends. That dark knight energy and purple flames is just epic, and the artwork on Ceruledge ex SIR reflects everything i’ve just said. A Pokémon that can still look this ruthless with a crown of jewels floating on it’s head is worth shelling out $151 for. Expecially once you consider the 27% price drop from $206.71 from the start of May.
Pokémon Card Climbers
Venusaur EX promo was a peak card for me in the X and Y era. My first ever starter was Bulbasaur in Pokémon Blue, and this is the best artwork I’ve seen for its final evolution. Apparantrly i’m not alone, seeing as this card has seen a massive climb of 263% in the space of a week. A near mint conditioned version of this card has climbed from $49.53 to $180 in a matter of days. Blastoise EX promo is doing the same, although it’s quite a bit cheaper. It’s up 88% in the past week, that’s from $68.94 and currently has listings for $130. That’s currently the cheapest price for it.
In a rare occorance for Charizard collectors, Charizard EX Promo is cheaper than a Venusaur equivalent. It’s a wonderful time to be alive and a fan of grass-types. Zard is still flying high like the other Kanto starters though, a 183% climb in a week. That’s a jump to $129 from $45.58.
Another favorite deck inclusion for me in the X and Y days was Shaymin EX. I bloody love this card. Providing you had double colorless energies to hand, you could use it’s Set Up ability in tandem with it’s Sky Return attack to draw 6 cards from your deck, do 30 damage and heal it by returning Shaymin EX to your hand. Oh, and it’s also raised in value by 44% in a week.
Another card to rise by 41% is Togepi & Cleffa & Igglybuff GX from Pokémon TCG’s Sun and Moon era. The Team Up cards were such a good gimmick and would love to see it come back. It’s also had a crazy climb in the last week, springing from $127.61 to a lofty $180.
Pokémon TCG Stock Update
Long story short; things are looking bleak at retail for Pokémon TCG right now. Almost everything is way above MSRP and seems to becoming the new normal for big box retailers. I could write a whole article and why this is and what should be done to stop this practice, but here we are. If you have your heart set on opening booster packs, have at it, but you might want to check out the sections below to save money.
TCG Player Has The Same Products For Less
TCG Player and the Pokémon TCG secondary collectors market is significantly cheaper than big box retailers at the time of writing. This will likely be the case unless you can secure preorders on new sets such as Destined Rivals, Black Bolt and White Flare. Make no mistake products are still over MSRP, but If small businesses can undercut large retailers on TCG Player, there’s something fundamentally broken in the supplier-distributor-retail chain.
Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of “Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior”. Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.
Sega has posted a video showcasing its brand-new London office in Chiswick Business Park, and cor blimey, it looks really nice.
The roughly one-minute long video takes us through the reception area (with a lovely-looking main desk, we might add) before swooping through what looks like a recreation/dining area, a few meeting rooms, the main boardroom, and a digital gallery area.
Polish developer 7Levels has announced that it’s bringing its 2018 platformer, Castle of Heart, back to your Switch screens this summer (plus other platforms – and Switch 2, at some TBA time), with a revamped version of its Slavic mythology-inspired dark fantasy adventure.
We reviewed the original back in March of 2018, calling it “a stern challenge to those who don’t mind repeatedly playing the same level over and over before finally beating it and moving on.” That sounds like this writer, alright.
You may or may not be aware that Bricks Cascade 2025, a celebration of all things LEGO, took place recently over in Portland’s Oregon Convention Center. Of course, these days, LEGO goes hand in hand with iconic Nintendo characters and game franchises, such as Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
In fact, the two go so well together that this year’s winner of Brick Cascade’s’ People’s Choice Runner Up’ award was the creator of a huge -. and incredibly detailed — LEGO 42 Acre Isle. Constructed by master builder extraordinaire Becky Clapshaw, this enormous model features tons of hidden details to get lost in for fans of the franchise (which, thanks to a certain pandemic, means everyone).
With Nintendo Switch 2 bringing a selection of GameCube classics to Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack subscribers very soon, we looked into our back catalogue of retro reviews and found we didn’t have one for one of the best fighting games ever created…until now. Enjoy!
Soulcalibur II, of all the games in this mighty series, was the one that really cemented it in our minds as a franchise to have sat alongside the likes of Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken and the very best fighters of its era. And any other era, let’s face it.
Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week – our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! I am still cross-referencing my way through Blood Meridian, both incredibly vivid prose-poetic alchemy of the profound and harrowingly mundane, and also a bit like if a bible ate a pulp paperback then shat out a second, stupider bible with at least twice the people getting severed dicks shoved in their mouths. I love literature so much.
Warning: This article delves into spoiler territory for The Hundred Line – Last Defense Academy. If you’ve yet to play the game and want to go in blind, we recommend you come back at another time…
I’m not a fan of tactical RPGs… is what I would have told you before I played The Hundred Line – Last Defense Academy. Heck, I’m still not sure I would call myself a ‘fan’ of the genre, necessarily; one game perhaps isn’t enough to sway me that much. The Hundred Line, though..? Yeah, I’m a fan of The Hundred Line.
We are back, back, back with another edition of Box Art Brawl!
It was a biggie last time, with a pair of F-Zero X covers facing off against each other. That’s not to say it was a close-fought competition, mind you. The character-focused Japanese cover walked away with a comfortable win, taking 84% of the vote and leaving Europe/North America in the dust with the remaining 16%. Yikes.
Switch 2 is going to be packing a lot more horsepower under the hood and it’s already attracted certain third-party franchises from Electronic Arts that have been skipping Nintendo platforms for years. With this in mind, Codemasters is considering if the new hybrid system could be a “good fit” for its Formula One series.
Speaking to the sim racing website Traxion recently, F1 25‘s creative director Gavin Cooper mentioned how his team needs “some smart people” to look at the new Nintendo system and see what it can “actually do” and whether it’s “actually a good fit” for the F1 video game experience.
