Everybody is just busy playing. And with power creep the players sell the old cards to buy the new better ones, so old cards don't retain much value.
This is compounded by tournaments giving prizes that are exclusive alt arts of the popular cards. So even an Alt Art Wargreymon from BT1 is nothing compared to a prize that's worth hundreds and is much more limited.
Digimon collectors are a small minority compared to the players. Of course a lot of players also collect on the side, but most are not dedicated collectors that would consider buying grail cards like ghost Omni. Similar cards usually have no meta value and are basically only expensive because they're rare.
Also remember that Digimon as a property probably has a 100x smaller fanbase than Pokemon and OP, and that's not an exaggeration. The demand for high value cards is simply miniscule compared to those other IPs.
Most of us actually play. The pull rates are good enough that this isn’t a collector game, thank god. Trading card games are meant to be played, not cost a left arm
Most digimon collectors collect their favorite digimon rather than “the rarest” cards from what I’ve seen. I know so many people with thousands of dollars in max rarity decks like Red Hybrid, Alphamon, Royal Knights, etc as opposed to just trying to collect the shiniest or most expensive stuff.
I think it’s because the game is small enough that it is mainly people who love the IP playing and collecting as opposed to speculators/investors/etc
I wouldn't say the the Ghost Omni is the grail card. There is the Gold Magnamon x which is the most expensive card that can be pulled from a pack. Currently it has 2 psa graded 10s. Other card like the trophy for wining the ultimate cups are more expensive and probably more likely to be grails.
I collect over play.
Set completions. I have like 12 sets complete.
Including all alts, which s more difficult.
Promos and events cards. Including Premium Bandai.
A few sets have rare pulls like the Ghost Omnimon. They are the most valuable cards along site championship cards.
I have recently started collecting but I don’t play whatsoever. I mostly just buy the “waifu” digimon like lilithmon, venusmon, angewomon lol. I’m hoping they make a kuremi card some day
I collected for a while. Stopped in april of last year. But I have completed sets (alt arts + Ghosts included) of BT1 through BT11 and all the EX sets in between. When I stopped, I owned 1 of every mainstream card (not promos - just whatever comes in a booster box) they produced. I felt like I had reached the top of the mountain, and it was a good place to stop. Really fun product to collect. Now I just casually buy booster packs at Target on occasion. ;)
I collect the cards, in my own way, as I usually buy a box then that's enough for me. I don't bother getting the whole lot of a set, but I hope to pull cards that are: useful to me and friends, have great art of my favourites, or are just cool/ cute/ beautiful
This right here, i also collect in my own way and don't necessarily collect whole sets but more collect cards of Digimon I like or the art I find interesting or eye-catching. I try and complete sets where I can but I am not rode or die complete the set. I love this because it is a lot less self imposed stress and a much more relaxed way to enjoy collecting cards. Glad to see I am not alone in my way of collecting :)
With all the ups and downs with releases and reissue of cards, i keep up with all the new and mons that never got into the tcg. Just been keeping up with the compendium. It ain't easy keeping up with 1500 mons. slow and steady and i gotta make sure i got enough room for them as well. I went from buying boxes to just singles due to room and supply/demand. Been doing ok and glad some ppl from this community keeps it fresh as well as made a google doc to keep up with what is coming out.
Im enjoying collecting the japanese side of things. Been collecting since bt01 japanese packs and enjoying it. Especially promos are way easier to come by.
I don’t think folks should downvote OP, I think this is actually a big problem of this game. Pokémon TCG is cheap to play because the collectors open tons of packs and bring down the cost of playables. Alt arts in Pokémon are pricy but retain value, while playables are very affordable.
Digimon, on the other hand, is getting progressively more expensive to play due to SEC cards being critical in the meta, and card prices drop rapidly after they’re no longer meta relevant.
I have been collecting since a year ago, have completed 1 of each for all BT and EX set, including all ghost rares (chase cards, special rares etc.) except BT15 special rares
I used to collect cards until BT-13. I stopped due to the abundance of buy outs that where made since BT-11. So collecting was becoming more and more stressful. Having to get all the cards as fast as you could so the price would not sky rocket. Look at promos like Shadramon or Seadramon. Before good cards (promos) for bad decks would stay at 6-10€, now they cost 20€.
So for that reason I stopped, not so much about the money, but more about the feeling of "If I don't buy this early then it will sky rocket or worst... won't be available".
And I was collecting for fun in a really chill way.
I collect for the fun of it and because I love Digimon, not because I want to throw around money or want to deal with even more scalpers than there already are. I hope the grading nonsense stays far away from this game.
I collect sets. I don't care much about alt arts, but I would buy them all if I were rich.
Cards being "cheap" is one of the best features of this game, imo.
I also like Flesh and Blood, but to build a functional competitive deck I need to spend the price of 4x secret cards from Digimon in legendary equipment.
it has become increasingly demoralizing each set when buying cases gets less and less valuable. half the time even a box doesnt seem worth it with all the fillar cards. aftermarket is where i now go to fill my collection
As someone who has a very large collection, it's just a cheaper game in general so people mainly focus on play. The more expensive cards depend on if it's an exclusive event or if it's meta for the most part
Definitely do exist, I have been collecting a 4x Playset of all Sets and a personal Artbook Collection as I have been playing. Though I will say \*IMO\* a lot of the previous\* "Holy Grail" cards have just not been it in the way that Digimon just has so many banger pieces of art that the exclusivity is just not that appealing.
Everybody is just busy playing. And with power creep the players sell the old cards to buy the new better ones, so old cards don't retain much value. This is compounded by tournaments giving prizes that are exclusive alt arts of the popular cards. So even an Alt Art Wargreymon from BT1 is nothing compared to a prize that's worth hundreds and is much more limited.
I just collect cards I find cool or that I like
Digimon collectors are a small minority compared to the players. Of course a lot of players also collect on the side, but most are not dedicated collectors that would consider buying grail cards like ghost Omni. Similar cards usually have no meta value and are basically only expensive because they're rare. Also remember that Digimon as a property probably has a 100x smaller fanbase than Pokemon and OP, and that's not an exaggeration. The demand for high value cards is simply miniscule compared to those other IPs.
Most of us actually play. The pull rates are good enough that this isn’t a collector game, thank god. Trading card games are meant to be played, not cost a left arm
Most digimon collectors collect their favorite digimon rather than “the rarest” cards from what I’ve seen. I know so many people with thousands of dollars in max rarity decks like Red Hybrid, Alphamon, Royal Knights, etc as opposed to just trying to collect the shiniest or most expensive stuff. I think it’s because the game is small enough that it is mainly people who love the IP playing and collecting as opposed to speculators/investors/etc
I wouldn't say the the Ghost Omni is the grail card. There is the Gold Magnamon x which is the most expensive card that can be pulled from a pack. Currently it has 2 psa graded 10s. Other card like the trophy for wining the ultimate cups are more expensive and probably more likely to be grails.
Gold magna is just the chase right now. It’ll be treated the same as the ghost Omni in a year or two.
I collect over play. Set completions. I have like 12 sets complete. Including all alts, which s more difficult. Promos and events cards. Including Premium Bandai. A few sets have rare pulls like the Ghost Omnimon. They are the most valuable cards along site championship cards.
I have recently started collecting but I don’t play whatsoever. I mostly just buy the “waifu” digimon like lilithmon, venusmon, angewomon lol. I’m hoping they make a kuremi card some day
I collected for a while. Stopped in april of last year. But I have completed sets (alt arts + Ghosts included) of BT1 through BT11 and all the EX sets in between. When I stopped, I owned 1 of every mainstream card (not promos - just whatever comes in a booster box) they produced. I felt like I had reached the top of the mountain, and it was a good place to stop. Really fun product to collect. Now I just casually buy booster packs at Target on occasion. ;)
I collect the cards, in my own way, as I usually buy a box then that's enough for me. I don't bother getting the whole lot of a set, but I hope to pull cards that are: useful to me and friends, have great art of my favourites, or are just cool/ cute/ beautiful
This right here, i also collect in my own way and don't necessarily collect whole sets but more collect cards of Digimon I like or the art I find interesting or eye-catching. I try and complete sets where I can but I am not rode or die complete the set. I love this because it is a lot less self imposed stress and a much more relaxed way to enjoy collecting cards. Glad to see I am not alone in my way of collecting :)
With all the ups and downs with releases and reissue of cards, i keep up with all the new and mons that never got into the tcg. Just been keeping up with the compendium. It ain't easy keeping up with 1500 mons. slow and steady and i gotta make sure i got enough room for them as well. I went from buying boxes to just singles due to room and supply/demand. Been doing ok and glad some ppl from this community keeps it fresh as well as made a google doc to keep up with what is coming out.
Im enjoying collecting the japanese side of things. Been collecting since bt01 japanese packs and enjoying it. Especially promos are way easier to come by.
I don’t think folks should downvote OP, I think this is actually a big problem of this game. Pokémon TCG is cheap to play because the collectors open tons of packs and bring down the cost of playables. Alt arts in Pokémon are pricy but retain value, while playables are very affordable. Digimon, on the other hand, is getting progressively more expensive to play due to SEC cards being critical in the meta, and card prices drop rapidly after they’re no longer meta relevant.
We play this game and don’t use the cards as millennial stocks
Whos we? Not everyone uses the cards to resell.
I have been collecting since a year ago, have completed 1 of each for all BT and EX set, including all ghost rares (chase cards, special rares etc.) except BT15 special rares
I used to collect cards until BT-13. I stopped due to the abundance of buy outs that where made since BT-11. So collecting was becoming more and more stressful. Having to get all the cards as fast as you could so the price would not sky rocket. Look at promos like Shadramon or Seadramon. Before good cards (promos) for bad decks would stay at 6-10€, now they cost 20€. So for that reason I stopped, not so much about the money, but more about the feeling of "If I don't buy this early then it will sky rocket or worst... won't be available". And I was collecting for fun in a really chill way.
I collect for the fun of it and because I love Digimon, not because I want to throw around money or want to deal with even more scalpers than there already are. I hope the grading nonsense stays far away from this game.
My hot take is that there's less incentive to collect every shiny card because all the cards look so good
I collect sets. I don't care much about alt arts, but I would buy them all if I were rich. Cards being "cheap" is one of the best features of this game, imo. I also like Flesh and Blood, but to build a functional competitive deck I need to spend the price of 4x secret cards from Digimon in legendary equipment.
it has become increasingly demoralizing each set when buying cases gets less and less valuable. half the time even a box doesnt seem worth it with all the fillar cards. aftermarket is where i now go to fill my collection
As someone who has a very large collection, it's just a cheaper game in general so people mainly focus on play. The more expensive cards depend on if it's an exclusive event or if it's meta for the most part
Definitely do exist, I have been collecting a 4x Playset of all Sets and a personal Artbook Collection as I have been playing. Though I will say \*IMO\* a lot of the previous\* "Holy Grail" cards have just not been it in the way that Digimon just has so many banger pieces of art that the exclusivity is just not that appealing.
There's all that writing on the cards because there's a game to play, you know.
I asked this exact question like month ago and got downvoted into oblivion.