Like probably very many of you, I watch people get amazing pulls, multiple secret rares, collections of cards worth hundreds or thousands of dollars. Then I go to the store, grab a booster or two, maybe a tin if I’m feeling lucky, and get a few V cards, maybe a VMAX on a good day. When after 30 boosters you don’t get a single rare and maybe only one ultra rare full-art if I get lucky, I start to think: Maybe I need to switch my goal of completing an entire set to something more achievable.
Here’s a few achievable collections you can focus on that aren’t a full series, or expensive sets like every EX, every secret rare in a set, or every Charizard card ever made. These will range from collections you could finish with a few boosters, to collections that could take a while but still not break your bank. If you can’t afford to collect full sets, or secret rares, or $3K cards, this post could be of help to you.
Evolution Lines #
Pick your favorite Pokémon. Mine is Tyranitar. Find a set he’s in, and see if you can get his evolution line. Get a Larvitar, Pupitar, and Tyranitar. You could start with just getting those three in any form, or you could try to get them all from the same set. Maybe try getting the regular, holo, and reverse holo of each (if they exist). Maybe try getting this line in a few other sets too. You could include V, EX, etc. or you could just focus on the common, uncommon, and rare card, excluding the ultra/secret rares.
Favorite Pokémon #
A pretty common collection is to collect your favorite Pokémon. To make this achievable for you, pick a Pokémon that isn’t in the spotlight 24/7. If you pick Charizard or Pikachu then good luck. There’s just too many and they make up most of the pricy/rare cards. Legendaries and starters are also pretty hard since they’re the face of each generation, though some of the less popular ones might work. Some Pokémon have more cards than others, Feraligatr isn’t too bad and only has about 20-30 cards. A few will be pricey but most will be cheaper to get. Maybe I’ll save the pricy few for last. If you pick something less in the spotlight, like Furfrou, you’ll be able to collect him in no-time. TCGPlayer is a great website for searching for an achievable Pokémon, just type a name and see how many results show up. Some have hundreds, some have thirty, and some only have a few. Hell, Budew only has one single card lol.
If you want, you could expand this to an evolution line and collect all cards for Totodile, Croconaw, and Feraligatr, depending on how many cards you’re looking to collect. Again, you could just get the regular versions, or could get the alternate prints like reverse holos and promos.
Trainers & Items #
Trainers are a huge part of the Pokémon TCG. You could collect every trainer from a set, every card featuring your favorite trainer (every Brock card, etc.), or you could collect actual Trainer cards like Switch, Poké Ball, etc. Just pick a trainer you like, or a trainer card you like, and try to get every print of it. Note that some trainer cards like Switch are printed a lot, while some are only printed once or twice since they’re specific to a certain set.
And speaking of pokéballs, maybe get every trainer card for your favorite pokéball (like get every Great Ball card). Or get one of each. Get a pokéball, a greatball, a nestball, etc. You could expand this to other ball-themed cards like Ball Guy too.
Promos #
Speaking of promos, if you want to collect every EX, V, Prime, etc. but can’t afford the expensive ones, you could try for promos. You’ll often notice most EX (V, Prime, etc.) card will have a promo equivalent. These are the cards guaranteed in a pack because they’re shown in a tin or box. They’re often not very cheap since they’re guaranteed and not as rare as the ones you pull in boosters. One collection I’m trying is every Prime (I LOVE the HeartGold SoulSilver era). I noticed the promo versions were the easiest to get so I started with those.
Some promos aren’t even EX, but just regular holo rares, you could go for those if you’re really budgeting. You could try collecting every McDonald’s card from a certain run, or you could try for deck exclusives. If you check Bulbapedia you’ll notice some cards that are normally holo, come in deck boxes as a non-holo (or vice-versa). These are called Deck Exclusives, because their printing is exclusive to a deck box or other pack, and can’t be found in boosters. These could be fun to collect.
Favorite Artist #
One thing I recently noticed, was that I really loved a few cards’ artworks. I noticed they were all by the same guy (the illustrator’s name is listed at the bottom of the cards). You could pick an artist who has a nice style and get every card they made.
One From Every Set #
If you’re feeling bold, you could try to just get a single card from every set. To start small, you could just get one card from every set in a certain generation (one from every Sword/Shield set), then expand to Sun/Moon, and so on.
Depending on how you want to play this, you could get just any card. Even a plain old common. Then you could start switching out to getting a rare from each, maybe a holo from each, or maybe your favorite from each set. You could make this expensive by trying to get the rarest card from each, but it doesn’t have to be that hard. Just get a card you like from each. It’ll take a while because there’s a lot of expansions to the TCG, but I’m willing to bet there’s at least one card from each that is a few cents or a few dollars at most.
Energies #
Just like above, you could try getting an energy from every set. Energies are so common it shouldn’t be hard to do. Plus basic energies usually aren’t reprinted for every expansion, just once or twice per generation. For example, Battle Styles is the 5th Sword/Shield set, but still gives you energies from the Sword/Shield base set.
You could start by picking one energy. Maybe get every water energy printed. You could go for special energies, reverse holo energies, or secret rare energies. But don’t make it more complicated than you need. If you want to start cheap, just focus on a single type, and only basic energies. If that’s too easy, try every type, or go for colorless or special energies. Then if you’re really pushing it, grab those holo and secret energy cards.
Cards With a Theme #
One thing I noticed recently was that there’s quite a few Pokémon cards with a pokéball or trainer in the artwork. I think it’d be a really interesting idea to collect every Pokémon card with a pokéball in the artwork. Or collect every Pokémon card (no trainer cards) with an artwork that has a trainer in it. Maybe the theme doesn’t have to be that detailed.
You might’ve noticed that not every holo pattern is the same. Some are stripes, some are cracked, some are sparkly or wavy. Maybe you could go for every holofoil card with a specific holo type on it (cracked ice, sparkly, vertical lines, etc.). This might be a fun thing to research too since I don’t think the holofoil type is often listed, so you’d have to search the hard way for a full list to collect.
World Championship Cards #
Have you ever looked through a binder of your old cards, or through a box in a game store, and noticed cards with special backs that say World Championship and a year? In case you don’t know, they reprint decks used in the World Championships, but with those special backs on them.
You could try to collect all from a single year, or maybe one from each year. I think it’d be a funny few pages in your binder if the cards were facing backwards so you just saw 2014, 2015, 2016… as you flipped through the pages.
Packs, Boxes, and Tins #
There’s probably a ton more ideas I haven’t listed, but I’ll leave this as the last one. Remember that Pokémon is more than just the cards. You could collect the packages they come in. Depending on what you’re collecting, you could focus on sealed products, or just open packages. I bet you could find some opened tins on eBay for somewhat cheap.
Or maybe it’s not the packages, but the tokens and coins and sleeves that come in various ETBs. What if you tried to collect all the coins they have? If every coin is too much, maybe focus on a specific pokemon for this, like every Kyogre coin or something (or focus on a generation, only starters, a specific color, etc.). Or maybe collect each damage/status token from each ETB. Since they aren’t the cards, they might be sold for cheaper than you’d expect. Sleeves come in most ETBs and often are sold separately as well. Maybe try collecting one of every Pokémon sleeve you can find?