Starting out a collection

I want to start collecting sets for the fun of it and maybe make some coin, However there are so many different sets like:
Pokemon Evolutions XY
Pokemon TCG Sun & Moon
Pokemon TCG Sun & Moon Guardians
etc...
so My question is where to start, what's the differance between S&M and S&M Guardians, is there a guide that explains everything for beginners?

kulyuly said:

I want to start collecting sets for the fun of it and maybe make some coin, However there are so many different sets like:
Pokemon Evolutions XY
Pokemon TCG Sun & Moon
Pokemon TCG Sun & Moon Guardians
etc...
so My question is where to start, what's the differance between S&M and S&M Guardians, is there a guide that explains everything for beginners?

Click to expand...

I can make a guide for Daily if that's what you really want :P

Pokemon TCG releases are called "Sets". Each contains somewhere between 100 and 200 different cards. The most recent three sets, as you mentioned, are Evolutions (abbreviated EVO), Sun and Moon (SUM), and Guardians Rising (GRI), with Burning Shadows (BSH) releasing on Friday. Each set has different cards, so almost no card from SUM can also be found in GRI, and even so they have a different collectors number.

Generally except for the base set of each generation (In this case, Sun and Moon), we leave out the game title when saying the name.

If you want to collect by sets, start by picking a set you like. Burning Shadows is probably a good start, as it is new and really good looking. Just don't start buying single super rare card to complete the set for a while though, as their prices will drop as the set becomes less new. Feel free to look at my set reviews of each set (linked the first time I mentioned each) to get a good feel for what you are looking for.

kulyuly said:

I want to start collecting sets for the fun of it and maybe make some coin, However there are so many different sets like:
Pokemon Evolutions XY
Pokemon TCG Sun & Moon
Pokemon TCG Sun & Moon Guardians
etc...
so My question is where to start, what's the differance between S&M and S&M Guardians, is there a guide that explains everything for beginners?

Click to expand...

So basically, the difference is that each set has a different set of cards you have a chance of getting in each booster pack. That's pretty much it.

Also, fair warning, you're getting into the wrong hobby to try to make a profit on it. You will lose money on Pokemon as very few of the rare cards are easily flipped for more cash and the odds of pulling the ones that are is pretty low to the point where you might end up spending more in packs than you do on finding that card you can flip.

Here's the official site's list of TCG sets (it only lists the sets since The Pokemon Company took over publishing the cards): http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-tcg/trading-card-expansions/

Wikipedia article on all sets: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pokémon_Trading_Card_Game_sets

And the Bulbapedia page that lists all sets: https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/List_of_Pokémon_Trading_Card_Game_expansions

The first and last link have it so you click on the set name to go view a list of cards from the set.

To my knowledge, no one's ever really written a beginner's guide for collectors. Plenty of guides about learning to play, though.

Just don't start buying single super rare card to complete the set for a while though, as their prices will drop as the set becomes less new.

Click to expand...

I was planing on getting the booster boxes as a start, Any recommendation on legit sites that ship worldwide with not so much shipping fee? (Besides Ebay and Amazon).

you're getting into the wrong hobby to try to make a profit on it. You will lose money on Pokemon as very few of the rare cards are easily flipped for more cash and the odds of pulling the ones that are is pretty low to the point where you might end up spending more in packs than you do on finding that card you can flip.

Click to expand...

Probably, I want to do it mainly because my little sister and I are pokemon fans and I remember when the first cards were out (I'm talking about the 1st gen) it was a lot of fun to collect but it wasn't that popular in my country and I was very yound so I dropped the idea.
Later I started collecting Magic The Gathering cards but didn't feel like I was enjoying it very much because I didn't know the full lore behind the cards (If there was one) So I decided to go back to what I like.

kulyuly said:

I was planing on getting the booster boxes as a start, Any recommendation on legit sites that ship worldwide with not so much shipping fee? (Besides Ebay and Amazon).



Probably, I want to do it mainly because my little sister and I are pokemon fans and I remember when the first cards were out (I'm talking about the 1st gen) it was a lot of fun to collect but it wasn't that popular in my country and I was very yound so I dropped the idea.
Later I started collecting Magic The Gathering cards but didn't feel like I was enjoying it very much because I didn't know the full lore behind the cards (If there was one) So I decided to go back to what I like.

Click to expand...

Depends on what country you're in. Some countries it's impossible to not have shipping fees. Especially if you're not in a country with sanctioned league play.