If you collect Pokémon cards long enough, you eventually run into the same question:
Should I buy packs, or should I just buy the card I want?
Financially, the answer is pretty obvious.
Buy the single.
But if that was all that mattered, opening Pokémon cards wouldn’t be nearly as fun.
Buying Singles Just Makes Sense
If there’s a specific card you want, buying it directly is almost always the smarter move.
You could spend $100 opening packs trying to pull a $30 card… or you could just spend $30 and have it.
There’s no bad pull. No pile of duplicate commons. No ripping through an entire ETB wondering how you somehow managed to pull absolutely nothing you wanted.
You pick the card, pay for it, and add it to your collection.
Simple.
And honestly, I’ve started buying more singles because of that. There are way too many awesome Illustration Rares and Special Illustration Rares now to realistically pull everything I want.
But Opening Packs Is Just More Fun
Here’s the problem.
Buying a single doesn’t have the same feeling as pulling it yourself.
There’s something about opening a pack and slowly going through the cards knowing that maybe something ridiculous is sitting in the back.
Most of the time?
Nope.
But every once in a while you see that little bit of shine or a different border and immediately know you’ve got something.
That’s the part you’re paying for when you buy packs.
It’s entertainment.
Especially When You’re Opening With Someone Else
This is probably the biggest reason I still love opening packs.
My wife and I open Pokémon cards together, and we’ll turn it into little pack battles to see who gets the better pulls.
At that point, I don’t really care if buying the cards individually would have been cheaper.
We’re having fun.
We’ve also had some absolutely insane luck opening packs together, which obviously doesn’t help convince us to stop.
When you’ve experienced one of those ridiculous pulls firsthand, it’s hard not to think:
“Okay… maybe just one more pack.”
The Best Answer Is Probably Both
That’s basically where I’ve landed.
I buy singles when there’s a specific card I really want.
But I still buy packs because opening Pokémon cards is part of what makes the hobby fun for me.
If you’re trying to build a specific collection or complete a set, singles make way more sense.
If you want the excitement of potentially pulling something awesome, buy some packs.
Just don’t convince yourself that ripping packs is the cheaper option.
It probably isn’t.
And that’s okay.
Not every part of a hobby needs to be optimized.
Sometimes you just want to tear open a Pokémon pack and see what’s inside.
What about you? Do you mostly buy singles, rip packs, or do a little bit of both?
