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Which TCGs Will Last? + Major Channel Update (One Piece, Pokemon, Riftbound, Lorcana and More) — Transcript

by One Piece of Insight · 6,271 words · 887 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Hello and welcome to One Piece of
0:01Insight. In today's video, we're going
0:04to be looking at a bunch of different
0:06TCGs to ask the question, which ones are
0:08likely to stand the test of time, and
0:10which ones are likely to remain sort of
0:12niche collector's markets. But before we
0:14jump into that, there's some
0:15administrative things that I need to
0:16cover. So the first is, if you've
0:19commented on the last couple videos and
0:20I haven't gotten back to you, I'm very
0:22sorry. I've been traveling for the last
0:242 weeks, and so I haven't forgotten
0:26about you, but I apologize for not
0:28getting to you sooner. But the big thing
0:30that I have to tell you all about is
0:31that
0:32there are going to be some changes
0:33coming to the channel, and I apologize
0:35in advance, but I'm going to try to do
0:37the best that I can. So for those who
0:39don't know, the reason I started this
0:40channel was because I suddenly found
0:43myself without gainful employment. So I
0:46had lots of time, and I wanted to take
0:48on an interesting project, and I wanted
0:50to do a bunch of this analysis related
0:52to the One Piece TCG, and I figured, if
0:54I'm going to do it anyway, why not share
0:56with you all and hope you get some value
0:57out of it.
0:59As of the time that you're seeing this,
1:00I will have started a new job, which
1:02means that I will no longer have the
1:04same amount of time to commit to this
1:06channel that I have previously. You
1:08know, when I first started the channel,
1:10I expected that there would be like a
1:12handful of people that would
1:14>> [laughter]
1:14>> watch and be interested in what I had to
1:16say. Obviously, we've done far better
1:18than we ever could have imagined, and
1:20more importantly, like you all have been
1:22absolutely incredible. Everyone is so
1:23amazing. I couldn't possibly let go of
1:25it. And so over the next few weeks, I'm
1:27going to be experimenting with what's
1:29the best way to balance this. I'm not
1:31planning on giving up the channel. I'm
1:32still going to continue to make content.
1:34I think the question for me is
1:37what's the best way to move forward
1:38where I can spend a little bit less
1:40time, but also still deliver content
1:42that you're interested in. So I'm going
1:44to ask you to drop some of your thoughts
1:47and comments about what the best way for
1:48me to do this is. You know, for the time
1:50being, instead of posting twice a week,
1:53I'm going to go down to one video a
1:54week, but I am open to exploring some
1:56other avenues to post more frequently,
1:59so that may be, you know, having two
2:01shorter videos, that may be, you know,
2:03using one video to respond to questions
2:06that I get in the comments that I don't
2:08have the ability to write responses to.
2:10So, this channel is really supposed to
2:12be about you all, so I'm really
2:13interested in hearing your thoughts of
2:15what you would like to see me continue
2:17doing, and you know, obviously it's
2:19going to be hard to change, definitely
2:21hard for me,
2:22but I'm going to do the best I can to
2:24keep bringing you the best content I can
2:26with the time that I have available. So,
2:28with that, as always, you know, this is
2:30intended to be interesting and
2:31informative, but not financial advice.
2:34Let's jump right in.
2:37So, I wanted to look at what I thought
2:38are like characteristics of successful
2:40TCGs. So, the first is that they have
2:42global IP, right? So, like there may be
2:45some TCGs that are able to do reasonably
2:47well because they have a good game, they
2:50have a strong player base, you know,
2:51looking at you, Flesh and Blood, but at
2:53the same time, I think their growth is
2:54going to be fundamentally limited
2:56compared to the games that have massive
2:58global IPs, right? Pokémon is the
3:00largest IP
3:02in the world, probably the largest IP
3:04ever. One Piece is absolutely enormous.
3:07Riftbound is really big. Obviously,
3:09Disney is enormous and has a ton of
3:11fans. Star Wars is enormous, and then
3:13you also have other IPs that are growing
3:15in popularity as well. So, like these
3:17big global IPs are a huge asset when it
3:19comes to the long-term success of a TCG.
3:22You know, do you have an affluent
3:23collector base? Right? These TCGs have
3:26to be able to strike a balance between
3:27like appealing to young people so that
3:30they grow up and become nostalgic for
3:32it, but also appealing to people who
3:34have enough money that they're able to
3:36buy up all the product, they're willing
3:38to pay higher prices, they're willing to
3:40pay for chase cards, right? You know, I
3:42think this is what's really set One
3:44Piece apart from a lot of other TCGs,
3:47right? Is that there are a lot of
3:49affluent collectors for whom this is
3:51like the thing that they want to have
3:53and that's part of the reason why I
3:54think we've seen prices rise so much.
3:57And so it's not just how much demand is
3:59there, but it's also like where is that
4:01demand coming from, right? So recently I
4:03was on the Straw Hat Speculator mega
4:05stream. Shout out to him for putting
4:06that together. It was so much fun.
4:07Uh and another friend of the channel,
4:09TCG Buds, who are also awesome. You
4:10should check them out as well. Um had an
4:13excellent question about the sort of age
4:15and affluence of One Piece TCG
4:17collectors. And I thought it was a
4:19really really important point because
4:21you know, compared to Pokémon where like
4:23every kid at school knows Pokémon and
4:25was buying Pokémon packs. If you bring
4:27any random kid a Pokémon pack for their
4:29birthday, like that's probably an
4:31acceptable birthday present, right? Like
4:33if if I brought a kid a box of OP13,
4:35like they would have no idea what that
4:37is, right? And I think it's clear that
4:38like at this point at least One Piece is
4:40really targeted towards an older
4:43audience.
4:44Um and while I think that has helped to
4:46bring up the value of the cards a lot
4:47because there's really affluent
4:49collectors involved, it also means that
4:51it's a risk long-term if they can't
4:53bring more kids into the fold. I do
4:54think they'll get there, uh but I think
4:56it's something that they need to be
4:57thinking about. But I do think having an
4:59affluent collector base is important to
5:02bringing the value of cards up and
5:04making sure that they're actually able
5:05to be held long-term um because you
5:08know, people who already have a lot of
5:09money can choose to keep them forever,
5:12pass them down to their kids, whatever,
5:14and that will make it harder for them to
5:15just move to other hands in the market
5:17at a lower price. You know, do they have
5:19high-quality cards, right? Nobody wants
5:20to collect boring, ugly-looking cards.
5:23And this is where I think TCGs have done
5:25really really well. One Piece in
5:26particular, I personally am biased and
5:28think has by far the best art I've ever
5:30seen on TCG cards, but I know some
5:32people really really love Rift Bound.
5:34Obviously, Japanese Pokémon cards are
5:35really really high quality. So I think
5:37all of these uh are sort of
5:39characteristics of successful TCGs.
5:42Um do they have high-end chase cards,
5:44right? Each game does this a little bit
5:45differently. One Piece, they have their
5:47high-end chase cards in their regular
5:48boxes. Pokémon, a lot of their
5:50highest-end chase cards are like, you
5:52know, rarer language exclusive promo
5:54cards, right? Their chase cards in
5:55general tend to be more accessible and
5:57tend to be less expensive, but they tend
6:00to be lower quality, right? From like a
6:03gradeability perspective. And so, the
6:05ultimate chase cards in Pokémon are like
6:06really high grades. Whereas, like
6:10One Piece, all the cards are really high
6:11quality. So, the card themselves is
6:14almost more of a chase than the graded
6:15version. And then you have things like
6:17Magic collector boxes where you have
6:19serialized cards. You have prize cards
6:21across lots of different games. So, as
6:23long as there are these high-end chase
6:25cards for people to really covet, like
6:27that will keep a lot of the more
6:28affluent collectors interested. And then
6:31finally, you need to have careful
6:32management. I think we've seen some very
6:34effective management recently and we've
6:35seen some ineffective management
6:37recently. You know, I think that
6:38probably like the biggest lesson learned
6:40actually came from Magic early in its
6:42history who had like a boom in prices
6:46and they realized that if they didn't
6:47get the prices under control, they were
6:48going to lose their collector base and
6:50the entire game could die, right? And
6:51they were very effective at doing that.
6:53And I think a lot of other trading card
6:55games have learned from that and been
6:57able to manage this effectively with a
6:59couple exceptions. So, like on the good
7:01side, I think Bandai has done a really
7:04good job of recognizing that like
7:07having insufficient supply for their
7:09demand is a real asset as long as they
7:12can get cards in the hands of players.
7:13So, they've been selling most of their
7:15product, it seems, at least to me, to
7:18LGSs to get it in the hands of players.
7:21You know, you get a bigger allocation if
7:22you have more people who play at your
7:23store. Like that seems like a smart
7:25strategy to me, right? As opposed to
7:27Pokémon who is just offering Pokémon
7:29product to literally anyone who sells
7:31anything so that they can scalp it to
7:33you. Like that seems less effective to
7:35me, right? Examples of ineffective
7:37management recently are Lorcana who
7:39started out pretty hot, pretty in
7:41demand,
7:42uh and there was scarcity, and then they
7:44like massively overestimated how much of
7:46that demand was genuine. Also, you know,
7:48Star Wars rolled out these collector
7:50boxes the same way Magic did. Those have
7:52hurt the value of all the cards in Star
7:54Wars rather than helping them. Lorcana
7:56is about to do the same thing. I don't
7:57know if that's going to happen in
7:58Lorcana, but
8:00I probably wouldn't be trying it. So,
8:02you know, whether a game is going to
8:03last is not just about the IP or the
8:05card quality, right? And that's
8:07something that unfortunately we have to
8:08be worried about with some of these
8:09games. So, because I love data, I wanted
8:11to look at some data about which TCGs
8:12are doing the best. So, I pulled the
8:15TCGplayer sales data, and you'll see a
8:17pretty common picture here, right? So,
8:20the top three have basically been the
8:22same with one exception. You know, in Q3
8:25we had Magic, Pokémon, and Yu-Gi-Oh.
8:27That was like the consensus big three,
8:29but One Piece really, really was
8:31starting to grow. They were in fourth.
8:33And then since Q3 we have seen One Piece
8:36take over the place from Yu-Gi-Oh, now
8:39being in its place in the top three.
8:40This makes a ton of sense to me. And
8:42then in the fifth spot we had Gundam,
8:44which released in Q3 of 2025. So, you
8:47typically expect there to be a lot of
8:48hype for a new game when it comes out.
8:50You know, both Star Wars Unlimited and
8:51Lorcana were very high on these lists
8:53when they came out, for example. And
8:55then Riftbound released in Q4 of 2025.
8:58Also was very, very hot uh since it was
9:00a new product and very exciting.
9:01TCGplayer gives us data all the way down
9:03to the top 10. We can't see below that,
9:05but you know, there's an ebb and flow.
9:07Other ones that have been on the list in
9:09addition to like Lorcana, Star Wars
9:11Unlimited, there's Digimon, there's
9:14Flesh and Blood. The Japanese Pokémon
9:16product is treated separately for some
9:18reason. Um and so those are sort of like
9:20your biggest games. Okay, so now I want
9:22to talk about how I see sort of like the
9:24tiers of trading card games. Now, I want
9:26to be up front, I am not an expert in
9:27all of these trading card games at all.
9:29I'll try to explain to you like
9:31which ones I think I know pretty well,
9:32which ones I feel like I don't know very
9:34well at all. Um so, by all means, please
9:36hit me up in the comments and let me
9:37know where you disagree with any of
9:38this. So, the first in the S tier, I'm
9:41going to say that Pokémon and Magic have
9:44an existing market advantage, right?
9:45They're consensus top two, and that's
9:48just English Pokémon is still in the top
9:50two without even consideration of
9:51Japanese, which is also in the top 10 as
9:54well. Pokémon is the world's largest IP,
9:56and it's just the most well-known of the
9:58trading card games. Magic has a huge
10:00collector base and a huge player base.
10:02Now, granted, like they're pretty
10:04casual, but more people who collect
10:06Magic cards actually play Magic
10:08sometimes. Magic also has like the
10:10Universes Beyond, right? so they have
10:12the ability to expand their IP into
10:14other areas. You know, I'll be honest,
10:16as somebody who's a fan of Final
10:17Fantasy, I had played Magic like one
10:19time, but I still wanted Magic Final
10:21Fantasy cards, right? So, I think
10:23they've done a good job of appealing to
10:24like a wide variety of audience. Um,
10:27but at the same time, like I think both
10:30these companies have the same potential
10:32risk, which is massive overprinting and
10:35hoarding of sealed product, right? So,
10:37you know, both of these companies want
10:38to make money. Pokémon is adding another
10:40manufacturing facility in the near
10:42future to increase supply. I'll be
10:44honest, I am not convinced that there is
10:46too little supply out there. I am
10:48convinced that there is a lack of supply
10:51getting through to collectors because
10:52the sealed product is being hoarded by
10:54people who know how to create bots, by
10:56people who have warehouses of sealed
10:58product. And if all that product ever
10:59hits the market, uh, prices could fall a
11:02ton. So, like I do think that these are
11:04like the gold standard of trading card
11:06games, uh, in terms of longevity. I
11:09can't take that away from them, but I
11:10also do think that like being these
11:12massive companies that have shown
11:14they're willing to like massively
11:16overprint their product, uh, is
11:18something to be concerned about. And
11:19then in the A tier, I think One Piece is
11:21like the upstart that's crushing it. So,
11:23like I can't put it in the same tier as
11:25Magic and Pokémon. Magic and Pokémon
11:27just have too much history, and they
11:28have like too much of an established
11:29player base. We have too much
11:31information about what they're willing
11:33to do and not willing to do. That said,
11:35like I think One Piece has an amazing
11:36profile. Obviously, like we know that
11:38it's a major global IP. We know that
11:40it's popular all over the world. We know
11:42that it has an affluent collector base
11:44who's willing to spend oodles on cards.
11:47Uh we also know that so far, despite
11:48their track record, Bandai has done a
11:50really good job of managing the game.
11:52They haven't overprinted to demand. Um
11:54and you know, the card quality is
11:56amazing. Now, many people who've been
11:58involved with Bandai for a long time
11:59will tell you that like they don't
12:01inherently trust the company to continue
12:03to do a good job managing.
12:05I have not been involved in any of those
12:07games, so I can't speak to it, but so
12:09far at least, it seems like they have
12:10been doing a good job. Uh so, I feel
12:12like this has all everything that it
12:15needs to challenge the top two. Um I do
12:18think that the audience for One Piece,
12:20at least right now, is a little bit more
12:22niche than it is for Pokémon, because
12:24Pokémon is so family-friendly and
12:25appeals so much to kids. You know, as
12:27long as the top chase cards in One Piece
12:29are like waifus, it's like hard to
12:31imagine how like I'm going to show up to
12:32a kids birthday party
12:34uh with One Piece cards. But, you know,
12:37hopefully, as this becomes more popular
12:39with kids, they have a better way to
12:41target that audience. So, also in the A
12:43tier, and I don't know a lot about
12:45Yu-Gi-Oh, but my sense is that it's like
12:46still popular, but it's less hype,
12:48right? You know, it's still third or
12:50fourth on TCG Player sales. I don't see
12:52nearly as many people playing it, but
12:53you can still buy it in all the big box
12:55stores. It hasn't really gone away. I
12:57still see it in card shops, so I'm
12:59assuming that it's still doing
13:00reasonably well. It's another legacy
13:02game that has proven a really, really
13:04long track record, so I'm going to give
13:05it credit for that, but right now, it
13:07doesn't seem to be growing in the way
13:08that like One Piece is. So, then we have
13:10the B tier, and I consider these to be
13:12games that are like starting to make
13:14moves, but they're so young that they're
13:16still really unproven. Like Riftbound, I
13:17think is the big standout here. It came
13:19out of the gate incredibly hot. It's
13:21sort of like rivaling One Piece in terms
13:22of card price, at least, in terms of
13:24having affluent collectors. Lorcana has
13:27finally started to make a move as well.
13:29It's a little bit older than Riftbound,
13:31so it's like a little bit more
13:32established. Um but I think both of
13:34these are like a little bit unknown.
13:35Same thing with Gundam. Gundam also is
13:37like just uh a fraction older than
13:40Riftbound. Also came out pretty hot, but
13:43it's still doing reasonably well. You
13:45know, the typical life cycle of these
13:46card games is like there's a big spike
13:49in demand as soon as they come out,
13:50right? Cuz there's limited product and
13:52everybody's hyped wondering how the game
13:54is going to do. And then it looks like
13:55it's doing really well and then the
13:56company prints more to meet the demand
13:58and then it turns out the demand is not
13:59what they thought it was and so prices
14:01go down and so the hype generally goes
14:03away, right? I think we've seen that
14:04across all of these games. You know,
14:06Dragon Ball is interesting because
14:08Dragon Ball was not that popular when it
14:10came out. Um but given the hype
14:13associated with One Piece, a lot of
14:15people saw this as like the next logical
14:16extension of where they might choose to
14:18be able to find value. And so we saw
14:20people starting to invest in Dragon
14:22Ball. I don't know how real that is.
14:24Like this is a game I don't know a lot
14:25about. It's an IP that I don't know a
14:27lot about. But some people seem to
14:28genuinely care about it. And then
14:30finally we have our C tier and I call
14:31these the wild cards. So these are games
14:34that I think have potential to break out
14:36but have not actually broken out yet.
14:38And these two games represent like two
14:40different categories of C tier games. So
14:42Star Wars Unlimited has been around
14:44since like 2024. It came out a little
14:46bit after Lorcana. Um it was very hot
14:49when it first came out. It's like a big
14:50global IP, very popular. It's a very
14:53good game. A lot of people are playing
14:54it. Uh they have their Worlds. Again,
14:56there's probably between two and 5,000
14:58people traveling to play at Worlds,
15:00right? So it's like a thriving card
15:01game, but it just doesn't really have
15:03much of a collector base. So like I
15:05consider it to be a wild card because I
15:07think the game could get to a point
15:09where it demonstrates enough longevity
15:10that people like start to look at it and
15:12ask like should we be collecting this
15:14game more? And then on the complete
15:16opposite end of the spectrum, you have
15:17the Cyberpunk TCG which had like the
15:19largest Kickstarter campaign for a game
15:21ever. You know, there seems to be a
15:22decent amount of hype going into it.
15:24Like I expect it to do pretty well when
15:26it comes out, but the question is like
15:28does it have legs to survive long term?
15:30Is it going to be a flash in the pan or
15:32is it going to last like 3 years? You
15:34know, I think part of the reason that
15:35like Lorcana has started to do a little
15:36bit better is because, you know, it's
15:39been around for that like, you know, 2
15:41to 3 year period where it has survived
15:44long enough that people are starting to
15:45think, "Okay, well, there's enough of a
15:48player base, there's enough genuine
15:49demand.
15:50Even if there's not a huge collector
15:51market yet, like could we make a huge
15:53collector market for it if we're pretty
15:55confident the game is going to stick
15:56around, right? So, I would be careful
15:58with some of these new games
16:00because until they've proven that they
16:02can last that long, any collector's
16:04market is going to be like really,
16:05really sketchy at best, I think. Okay,
16:07so I wanted to ask a question. I wanted
16:09to present three similar cards from
16:11three different games and ask you to
16:13guess what you think these cards should
16:16be worth. Now, I don't need like an
16:17exact dollar amount, but I am curious
16:20like relative to one another, like how
16:22you think these things should be worth.
16:23So, if you're interested in playing
16:24along, please, you know, write in the
16:26comments what you think they're worth or
16:28how different the prices will be from
16:29one another.
16:31Uh but I will go through and give the
16:32specific prices. So, in order to do this
16:34little game, I wanted to pick three
16:35cards that I think have a lot in common.
16:37So, all of these cards are serialized,
16:39number one, so we know what the
16:41population is. Number two, uh they have
16:44like really, really iconic characters,
16:46right? So, Luffy is like the main
16:48character in One Piece. Darth Vader is
16:50like the most iconic villain, uh at
16:52least in the United States, of any
16:53property, uh and I think is very well
16:56known worldwide. And then you have
16:57Chocobo, which is like a, you know, very
17:00popular and nostalgic thing for fans of
17:03Final Fantasy. Um these are obviously
17:05serialized to different numbers. So,
17:06Luffy is serialized to 700, the Chocobo
17:08is serialized to 77, and the Darth Vader
17:11is serialized to 250. Okay. So, first
17:14the Luffy, right? So, this is like one
17:15of the most iconic cards in One Piece.
17:17This card has seen a ton of demand and
17:20has shot up a ton in price because for
17:23the standards of a One Piece card, 700
17:26is very, very small. It's serialized, so
17:28people know that it's rare and it's
17:30really iconic. So, in a PSA 10, the most
17:33recent sale I could find for this was
17:34$65,000.
17:36And then you have the gold Chocobo,
17:38which has a much smaller population,
17:39right? So, population of only 77.
17:41Because it's specific to Final Fantasy,
17:43it's like probably a smaller collector's
17:46universe within Magic than like Luffy is
17:48within One Piece, right? So, like I
17:50think Luffy is a more desirable
17:52character for One Piece collectors than
17:54like a Chocobo is for Magic collectors.
17:56But because it's so much scarcer, like
17:58that could add to its value as well. So,
18:00the most recent sale I found for this
18:02one was a BGS 9 at $83,000.
18:06And then finally, we have Darth Vader
18:07from Star Wars Unlimited. This is
18:09serialized to 250 out of their carbonite
18:11boxes. The set just came out. The first
18:14sale on TCGPlayer was for
18:18$350,
18:20right? And so, like
18:22my point in making this slide is not to
18:24say that like Star Wars Unlimited is so
18:26underrated, you should go buy Star Wars
18:27Unlimited, that's the ticket to like
18:29being profitable, blah.
18:30Like, no, not at all. My point here is
18:32if we just look objectively, logically
18:36at these cards, right? How popular are
18:38they? What's their population?
18:41Like, is the art good? That's of course
18:43not objective. But like, you know, those
18:45sorts of things. These are like pretty
18:46similar cards. But like, the thing that
18:48I didn't talk about in those things is
18:51what I call the impact of investability.
18:53Like, there's only a certain amount of
18:54money that people are willing to spend
18:57if they don't think that it's an asset
18:58that they can then resell and get most
19:00of their money back or see an
19:02appreciation, right? And so, for me,
19:04this is the biggest difference here,
19:05right? Because there isn't much of a
19:07collector's market for Star Wars
19:09Unlimited, like at $350, the person
19:12who's buying this is probably not
19:14expecting to be able to resell it and
19:16get their money back. Whereas, you know,
19:18for Magic and for One Piece, because
19:21there is like a really strong
19:23collector's market for it, people feel
19:26comfortable paying these really, really
19:28high prices because they feel confident
19:30that someone else is going to want it
19:32and somebody else with the same sort of
19:33means will be willing to pay the same
19:35amount of money, at least, that they
19:37paid for it, right? And so, I wanted to
19:40include this just highlight that like
19:42when we talk about cards and what
19:44they're worth and why they should be
19:46expensive, like we often use it to
19:48justify the price.
19:51And like I think that those things
19:53affect the desirability of the card, but
19:55I think we need to recognize sometimes
19:56the price, while related to desirability
19:58of the card, is also kind of
20:00independent. It has to do with how
20:02strong the collector base is for the
20:04game and how much confidence you have
20:07that the collector base is going to
20:08continue to exist. So, I just wanted to
20:10highlight these because I thought they
20:11were interesting. Okay, so what's my
20:13conclusion? Well, the first thing is is
20:15that, you know, success is going to
20:17exist on a spectrum, right? I think that
20:19there are going to be some major global
20:21successes
20:22that stand out above the others. You
20:23know, I think the three most likely to
20:25fall into that category are, of course,
20:27Pokémon, which is already there, and
20:29Magic, which is already there also, and
20:31then One Piece, which is very much
20:33trending in that direction and has sort
20:34of all the hallmarks uh of a successful
20:37TCG long-term. You know, I don't think
20:40those are going to be the only three. I
20:41do think there will probably be a couple
20:43more that, you know, can compete in that
20:45space. Um but I think there are a lot of
20:47questions about which ones those are
20:49going to be. And so, for me, in terms of
20:51the highest upside, so these are the
20:52games most likely to make the jump from
20:55sort of like solid player base, you
20:57know, decent collector base, but like
21:00fundamentally limited to like that like
21:03global pop culture status. And the
21:06reason I like these games is because to
21:08me these are the intersection of like
21:10there's really really strong IP, they
21:13fit some type of niche that's currently
21:15missing in the market, you know, they
21:16have like you know good card quality,
21:18collectibility, all the things that we
21:20talked about in the beginning. So, for
21:21me the number one most likely to make
21:23the jump here is actually Riftbound.
21:25Now, I'm a little bit cautious uh
21:27talking about Riftbound because
21:28Riftbound is so new compared to a lot of
21:30other card games, but I do think if you
21:32look at the you know the strength of the
21:34IP if you look at the card quality,
21:36Riftbound cards are the only ones that
21:38I've looked at that I think like
21:39seriously compete uh with the highest
21:42quality Bandai cards. So, you know, I
21:43think that if you're a fan of of that
21:45property, I understand the passion for
21:47the cards in the same way that One Piece
21:49fans are passionate about their cards. I
21:51think they're doing some really cool
21:52things with the prize cards in terms of
21:53the metal cards and things. Um I think
21:55we've seen like really strong high-end
21:57demand as well as player base.
21:59And I've also heard really good things
22:00about playing the game. So, for all
22:02those reasons, I think this is the one
22:03that's most likely to make the jump, but
22:05of course it's still very new, so
22:06there's lots of opportunity for it to
22:08get messed up. You know, my number two
22:10spot here is actually going to go to
22:11Lorcana. There's a few reasons behind
22:13this. Number one, I think we've started
22:14to see a collector's market form for
22:15Lorcana, which is good. It already has a
22:17pretty solid player base. Obviously, the
22:19IP is really really global. Disney has
22:22shown a commitment to the card game
22:23doing well, you know, selling cards in
22:25the park, hosting worlds at Disneyland,
22:28those sorts of things. I also think that
22:29Lorcana fills sort of like a niche in
22:32the trading card game space
22:34um that other games don't necessarily.
22:36When I used to play Lorcana, you know,
22:38it was about half male, half female,
22:39which is pretty unique in the TCG space.
22:41Um also, the cards are very
22:43kid-friendly, which I think a lot of
22:45these other card games are not. And so,
22:47I think like if you had to pick
22:48something that could potentially rival
22:50Pokémon in terms of like you show up to
22:52a kid's birthday party like and what
22:54would be an acceptable gift, like I
22:55think Lorcana sort of fits that, right?
22:57So, I like its potential there as well.
23:00You know, Naruto obviously is sort of
23:01like the elephant in the room because
23:03it's coming out in 2027 and there's a
23:05ton of hype for it. You know, how big is
23:07it actually going to be? I don't think
23:08the IP is as big as One Piece. I think
23:11you could argue the IP is, you know, as
23:13big or in the same ballpark as, you
23:15know, Gundam and Dragon Ball. I think
23:17what's different about this is that it's
23:19coming out in an environment where like
23:21One Piece cards have gotten so expensive
23:23and there's probably going to be a lot
23:24of overlap of these
23:26card games and the consumers for these
23:28cards. There's going to be a lot of hype
23:29when it comes out. And so, the question
23:30is, will it be able to sustain the hype
23:32by continuing to put out like banger
23:34cards that people really, really want?
23:35So, I think this is a huge wild card. I
23:37don't think it has the upside of One
23:39Piece, but I do think it has the
23:40potential to take away from the One
23:42Piece collector's market, which is
23:43something that we'll want to watch
23:44moving forward.
23:45And then finally, my like ultimate wild
23:47card here
23:49is Star Wars Unlimited. Star Wars
23:50Unlimited has demonstrated sort of the
23:52least collectibility of any of these
23:54games, but at the same time, it's a
23:56Disney game. Disney recently just
23:57announced that they're going to be
23:59hosting worlds at Disneyland as well.
24:01So, it's possible that Disney may start
24:02pushing this a little bit more. And so,
24:04for me, like this is like the big global
24:07IP that hasn't really seen success yet.
24:10So, I think that like this is the type
24:12of thing where if collectors start to
24:14give it a look, I could see it
24:15snowballing pretty quickly because we
24:17know there is so much demand for Star
24:19Wars collectibles. But at the same time,
24:21there's also a lot of things you can
24:22spend your money on if you're into
24:24collecting Star Wars, right? Or if
24:26you're into repping Star Wars in
24:27general. So, you know, far from a
24:28guarantee that it ever gets there, but I
24:30think it has the potential even if it's
24:32a little bit of a long shot to be able
24:33to compete against like the biggest card
24:35games. And then the last thing I wanted
24:36to talk about here are a bunch of games
24:38that I think have a strong base, but I
24:39think have lower upside. And really, I
24:41think in order for these card games to
24:43be able to join in the top tier, the IP
24:45would need to grow.
24:47You know, all of the card games that I
24:49talked about on the previous slide have
24:50like big global IP that's really, really
24:53well established. And so, for varying
24:55reasons for each of these different card
24:56games, like I think they're somewhat
24:58limited. So, Yu-Gi-Oh! obviously has
25:00been incredibly popular as a card game.
25:02People have demonstrated that they're
25:03willing to buy Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, but I
25:05just haven't seen Yu-Gi-Oh! grow and
25:07expand into new audiences in the way
25:09that these other card games have, right?
25:11So, I'm not saying that I think that
25:12Yu-Gi-Oh! is going to die. I just think
25:14that the collector base for Yu-Gi-Oh!
25:16hasn't really been expanding, right? You
25:17know, Dragon Ball's a little bit tough.
25:18I think Dragon Ball's IP is one of the
25:20bigger ones here as well, but like
25:22again, you know, it hasn't been super
25:24relevant
25:26at least in US pop culture
25:28recently in the same way that like, you
25:30know, One Piece or even Naruto has,
25:32right? So, you know, if the IP ever
25:34became more popular here, I could see
25:35the card game doing better, but at least
25:37for now in the English market, you know,
25:39I think it's somewhat limited. You know,
25:41same thing here with Gundam and Digimon,
25:44you know, I think Digimon is a game that
25:45has been pretty well established and has
25:47never really boomed. I think it's going
25:49to continue to have its base of
25:50supporters, but I don't see them
25:52bringing a lot of new people in. Flesh
25:53and Blood I think is interesting because
25:55you have a really, really strong
25:56collector base. It's one of the few
25:58games that the IP is specific to the
25:59game as opposed to it, you know, being
26:02sort of outside of the game. And so,
26:04while that can be an advantage in some
26:06senses, I think in terms of bringing new
26:07players in, it's really not an
26:09advantage. You know, Flesh and Blood
26:11also is really, really difficult to
26:12learn. I remember somebody telling me
26:14that if I wanted to get into Flesh and
26:15Blood, I should be prepared to lose
26:17every game I play for the first 6
26:18months. Like, that's not a very
26:20appealing proposition for people who are
26:21searching for a game to play in a
26:23competitive market unless you're very
26:25specific type of person. So, while I
26:27think their collectors may be very
26:28serious about it, I think that
26:30fundamentally limits its upside. And
26:31then finally, we have the Cyberpunk TCG,
26:33which of course is not out yet, but has
26:36been pretty hyped about its release. You
26:38know, I think the big question with most
26:39of these TCGs is like how much longevity
26:42can they sustain? How much product can
26:44they put out and have it still be good?
26:46Like, I have no doubt that there are
26:47people who are really interested in
26:49Cyberpunk and I think it will do well
26:51early on. You know, I've heard the game
26:52is pretty good. I think the question
26:53really is just like how many good sets
26:55can they put out before they start
26:56running out of IP to use, right? And
26:59like how strong is the demand for this
27:01property as opposed to all of these
27:02other properties. You know, I think the
27:04important thing to understand here is
27:05that all of these games are now coming
27:07in into a very competitive market.
27:10Whereas, you know, like One Piece,
27:12Lorcana, you know, Star Wars came out in
27:14a time when like people were starting to
27:18get more into card games, but there
27:20wasn't nearly as much competition,
27:21right? So, if you're a game that's
27:22coming out now, it's going to be much,
27:24much more difficult to make serious
27:26inroads. You're going to really have to
27:27do something that stands out. That's all
27:29I have for today. I hope you found this
27:30helpful. You know, as I mentioned in the
27:32intro, I'm really interested in your
27:33thoughts on what's the best way for me
27:35to move forward with the channel. You
27:36know, if you found this helpful, please
27:38give us a like. You know, if you want to
27:39see more content like this, please
27:40subscribe. If you are interested in
27:42picking up any cards, we have our
27:43TCGplayer affiliate link and our eBay
27:45affiliate link. We'll get a small
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27:48Obviously, no pressure, but it helps us
27:50out a ton. Um so, with that, as always,
27:53I really appreciate your time and I will
27:55see you in the next one.

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