Pokemon TCG fans buy packs just for the most valuable cards, but one was nearly consigned to the rubbish bin and had to be rescued.
The ridiculous prices some Pokemon TCG cards go for can often make people forget that they’re intended for kids. Indeed, so many Gen 1 cards are valuable because they were mangled by their intended audience, creating rarity among the original run.
A user on the PokemonTCG Reddit named Shadoadra saw this in action as they rescued a rare Iono card that kindergarten students had put in the trash.
As a fabled “Pokemon TCG waifu card,” a full art Iono (called Enigmara in the card from the Reddit post, as that’s her German name) can sell for a lot on the secondhand market. Naturally, Iono’s accidental dumpster dive prompted a negative response from collectors.
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“Detention for them all,” one user joked, while another said, “The literal definition of “One Mans Trash is another Mans Treasure.”
Some people in the thread doubted the post’s veracity, so the OP followed up with a picture of the card in a separate post showing the damage. Unfortunately, the dings on the card will affect its resale price.
Luckily, these kids were too young to fall for Pokemon TCG’s “waifu tax” strategy, even if it meant the person who saved the card missed out on a payday. Hopefully, someone out there needs a slightly damaged German Iono card.