Greninja Phantom Forces Checklane Blister Pack

Hi all!

The Amateur Collector here with just a small adventure for the day.

This time round I have a single Checklane Blister Pack of Greninja to open. It was bought at Card Team for £3.45, which was the cheapest I found it at (at the time anyways, maybe it has dropped/increased in price now?)

This blister was released around the time Phantom Forces was the newest set being sold, so naturally the booster pack you get in the blister is from that set!

You also get a promotional Greninja card and a coin.

Click here to check the video opening of this product or simply scroll down if you just want to see the cards.

So here are the promotional items. You get this really cool Greninja, number XY24 for XY Black Star Promos collection. You also get this (reverse?) reflective Pikachu coin. It looks really cool, but at the same time offputing, and I can't quite put my finger on why I feel that away about this coin haha.

The one and only rare I got from the booster pack was this normal rare Honchkrow.

Meh.

So the pull I got from the booster pack was a double of a card I had already, but the promotional card more than makes up for it. That Greninja looks wonderful! I love that they chose to change its typing to Darkness, maybe this'll start a trend of seeing other starter mons make use of their dual types (I want a Colorless Charizard!). I also really like the ninja motif they went with for the artwork. Plus the style reminds me of the Ken Sugimori artwork you use to get all the way back in Gym Heroes and Gym Challenge. If you haven't seen those artwork I really recommend you go check them out, they're not your typical stock art Ken works!

Anyways, thanks for reading and watching! Stay tuned for more Pokémon TCG Opening Adventures pulls and blog rants!

Smell ya later!

Pikachu Boundaries Crossed Checklane Blister Pack

Hi all!

The Amateur Collector here.
Today I open a hard to come by product. The Raichu Boundaries Crossed Checklane Blister Pack. Ok, it's not the rarest of items, but it's not easy to come-by either. I found only one in stock at Card Team for £6.95 (the only blister pack they had at this price).

The blister pack with two promotional cards, a booster pack and a sample pack (both for Boundaries Crossed)

Lets see what I got in this then!
Click here for the video or scroll down bellow to see what I pulled.

Here are the two promotional cards. The Pikachu is part of the Black & White Black Star Promos collection.

The Raichu is simply a reprint of a card from the Next Destinies set with an alternate holographic pattern (the original is an uncommon that doesn't even have a holo background!)

These are the pulls I got from the booster pack. A rare Keldeo and a reverse-holo rare Whimsicott!

Both are cards I did not possess.

So this blister pack was a little pricy, but at least all the cards I got were ones I did not previously have. I am especially happy with that promo Pikachu, would you believe I've seen it sometimes go for £7 or more??

Thanks for reading/watching. Stay tuned for the next episode of my Pokémon TCG Adventures! Bye!

Pokémon TCG Opening Adventures 2 - The Lost Episodes - Xerneas Collection, Ampharos Triple Blister Pack & the Delphox-EX Tin

Hi all!

Today I bring you an opening of three different TCG merchandise! These openings will be exclusive to my blog... mostly because the video recordings were corrupted =/

Let me list what I opened up:

- The Ampharos Plasma Storm Triple Blister Pack, bought for £6.51 on ebay over a year ago. A VERY good price for a triple blister pack. It comes with a promo card, a coin and three Plasma Storm booster packs.

- The Xerneas Collection Box, bought in combination with the Yveltal Collection box from Card Team for £25.45.

- The Delphox-EX Kalos Power Trio tin from Summer 2014, bought together with the Chesnaught-EX and Greninja-EX tins for £28.75, also bought from Card Team.

Unlike usual - no youtube video this time round sadly! Simply scroll bellow to see what goodies I got in these products!

The Black Star Promo BW67 Ampharos and a coin of what appears to be either Black Kyurem or White Kyurem (I'm really not sure which it is!)

In this blister pack I managed to get two rares and a holo. This Manaphy looks so cute!

Delphox-EX looks really cool. It's not one of my favourite starters design wise, but this image looks really cool. It came in the Delphox-EX tin and is promo XY19

This tin of four booster packs came with five rares. One a normal rare (Azelf) and a reverse-holo rare (Staraptor)

The three other rares were holographics. A Team Plasma Kyurem, a Dusknoir and a Greninja from Plasma Freeze, XY and Flashfire respectively.

The promotional cards in the Xerneas Collection box were this XY05 Xerneas card and a Jumbo card of the exact same card.

The three booster packs in the Xerneas Collection box had these goodies. 

Sadly no holos or ultra rares, but it was four rares out of three packs.

Altogether the pull rate out of ten booster packs was pretty average (4 holos out of ten packs). They were all holographic cards that I needed too so I'm happy. I'm especially happy with the promos of course, the cards I generally aim to have when buying these kind of products. The Ampharos card stock quality isn't great but at least it wasn't damaged. 

I apologise for not having a video of these openings, I try to keep Pokémon TCG Opening Adventures at the bare minimum consistent and hate how many errors and such have already occurred over the span of the adventure so far. But I'll keep trying to to make it entertaining and bring you all fun and suspenseful pack openings. I hope you can bear with the hiccups that have occurred already or may occur in the future and continue enjoying and supporting my contents. 

And with that said, stay tuned for the next adventure and further fun! Thanks for watching =)
Bye!

Chesnaught-EX 2014 Tin

Hi all!

The Amateur Collector here back with another PTCGOpA update!

This time I have opened up a Chesnaught-EX Kalos Power Trio Tin (that is its full official title it seems!) I bought it along with the other two tins that come in the collection (Delphox-EX and Greninja-EX) from Card Team for £28.75 altogether.

The Chesnaught-EX tin.

It came with the promo, a code card for the tin on PTCGO and four different booster packs; Flashfire, XY Base Set, Plasma Blast and Plasma Freeze. A good variety. 

As usual, I'll put up pictures of my pulls down below, but if you don't like spoilers then I suggest checking out my video opening on my youtube channel.

Lets start off first with the promo:

Chesnaught-EX promo card XY18

I don't know why, but it's bald skull like chrome head weirds me out, even though I'm quite fond of this Pokémon!

Three rares: Cofagrigus from Plasma Freeze, Floatzel from Flashfire and Simisage from XY. 

I also got a reverse-holo rare in the form of a mean looking Team Plasma's Chandelure from Plasma Freeze.

But the Awesome Pull Award for this opening must naturally go to this beautiful ultra rare card; Virizion-EX from Plasma Blast.

Overall this was a good opening. I think I needed most the rares and reverse-holoncards that I got. I most defenitly needed the Chesnaught-EX promo card and am happy as hell that I got that Virizion-EX - it is quite possible my first EX card for Plasma Blast!

Thanks for sticking with me for this adventure, please stay tuned for the next one. Lets hope it's as awesome as these past two have been!
Bye for now!

Xerneas-EX 2014 Tin

Hi all!

The Amateur Collector here and today I'll just do a quick update for this adventure, because honestly, it wasn't that great!

This adventure I open up a Xerneas-EX 2014 Spring Tin. Bought from Card Team together with the Yveltal-EX tin for £19.75.

Click here for the video opening or just scroll down below to see what swag I got.

The Xerneas-EX 2014 Spring Tin comes with a promo card, 4 booster packs and a TCGO card for this tin.

The beautiful promo card Xerneas-EX XY07.

All the booster packs yielded were rare cards. 

I did manage to get a reverse-holo rare though, one I still needed.

I usually don't complain about getting rares, but I have hit a dry spell for holos and ultra rare openings for a long while now. It'd be nice to get something shiny =P

Still, 5 rares out of 4 booster packs and a beautiful promo that I still needed ain't too bad. Be thankful for what you get ey?

Stay tuned for more openings. Let's cross our fingers for better luck next adventure!

2 Flashfire Checklane Blister Packs: Honedge & Skiddo

Hi all!

The Amateur Collector here!

Today I have not one but two checklane blister packs to open from the Flashfire series. Both packs come with a booster pack, a coin and an exclusive promo card; a Skiddo and a Honedge.
Individually they cost me £3.45 from Card Team.

If you look at the picture bellow you will see that one of the blister packs (and the promo card within it) got damaged. I am not sure when this occurred. I very much doubt Card Team would send out damaged goods, so I believe it got damaged either during transport (curse you Royal Mail!), by being forcefully shoved through the letter box (curse you again Royal Mail!!) and/or by being badly stored by those to which the package was delivered to (I was abroad when this package was delivered).
Well whatever happened, it means I'm going to have to purchase myself another copy of the damaged card (the Honedge). Thankfully, it does not seem to be expensive to buy individually at all.

Anyways, as usual click here to check out the video or scroll down to view the pulls I got.

It might not be immediately evident, but the blister pack on the right hand side is quite bent on the bottom left. This sadly also affected the promo card inside.

Two awesome coins. My favourite of the two has to be Chespin. Not necessarily just because Chespin is my favourite of the Kalos starters, but also because this green reflective colour goes very well with the coin and image.

Promo card XY11 Skiddo! 

This image does not do justice to just how sparkly that holofoil is!

My damaged Honedge, Black Star Promo XY12

As you can see, this card has been bent quite severely bent at the bottom =(

And these are the rare cards I pulled from both blister packs. A Snorlax and a Durant.

Again, I am disappointed that the promo card was damaged, especially since they are the main reason I purchase these kind of blister packs in the first place, but I am lucky that it does not cost much to buy separately. 

Well, not the most amazing of openings. But I can garantee you that the next adventure will be epic ;)

Stay tuned to see exactly how epic it is! 

Pokémon TCG Opening Adventures 2: Yveltal Collection Box

Hi all!

The Amateur Collector here.

Today I unbox the Yveltal Collection Box.
When I first heard of the Xerneas and Yveltal Collections boxes I was very excited. I loved the idea of getting my hands on some boxes that had both a Black Star promo and a collectable figurine in them. So imagine my surprise/disappointment when I found out that the merchandise released in the UK and the US was not going to be the same. Nope, according to EU regulations the figurines would not have been appropriate for children and so could not be sold here, too many sharp bits you see. Instead we get an alternate Yveltal/Xerneas Collection Box. One that is, in my opinion, not as cool. It comes with only 3 booster packs instead of 4, and worst yet, the figure is replaced with a Jumbo card of the exact same promo card that is available in the box.
It's very disappointing, but oh well. At least I get the promo card... that is the main reason I get these boxes.

I bought both the Yveltal and Xerneas Collection Boxes at the same time from cardteam.co.uk for £25.45. I'll open the Xerneas box at a later date.

And so here are my pulls! What wonderful pulls I get! (To make up for the lack of a figure I bet).
Check the video here or scroll down to see what I got.

The promos first:

Here is the Black Star Promo XY06; Yveltal! And next to it is its not quite identical brother, the Jumbo card.

As rares I got a reverse holo Simisear, looking very relaxed in its picture, and in contrast next to it is a very aggressive looking Arbok.

My first XY holo! Got myself a Gogoat. The sheen holographic goes very well with its pose. It looks as if rays of sun are shining down on an heroic Gogoat (reminds me of Lion King).

But the Gogoat isn't even the best part, oh no. I give you the true hero of this box:

Mega Venusaur-EX!!

Roawr!

So my initial disappointment was soon dissipated with an awesome pull. Mega Venusaur-EX really surprised me. And on top of that I also got a holo rare. I'd say that's not bad for only 3 booster packs =D

This has got me even more excited for this adventure. Lets continue!

See you in the next one, bye!

Pokémon TCG Opening Adventures 2: Luxray - Dark Explorers Triple Blister Pack

Hi all!

The Amateur Collector with an other PTCGOpA s02 update!
This time I've opened up a Luxray blister pack. It is from Dark Explorers; a set from the Black & White series which is actually quite hard to come-by now (individual booster packs go for £4 or more now!)
I bought this blister pack - along with another from the same series - for £8.95 each (the other blister pack will be opened at a later date) from online card game retailer cardteam.co.uk

I'll apologies beforehand, I forgot to take pictures of some of the content. The coin that comes with the blister pack and one of the rare cards from the opening.

If you want to see the opening click here (you'll be able to see all the swag I got from the blister)

First off, the promo:

The exckusive card that comes with the blister is not a BW Black Star Promo but in fact an alternate holographic of a card that is usually found in the Next Destinies set. This one in particular has the "Shard" pattern (you can see the triangles in the background that sparkle like shards of glass, hence the name for the pattern)

[this is a stock picture found online]

The rare I got was an Excadrill.

Out of three booster packs, I managed to get two holos, this is a very good pull!

Volcarona and Klinklang.

Out of the two I prefer Volcarona, but honestly I do find the artwork for both rather static, but I guess these mons are not exactly the most dynamic (they barely have any appendages!) 

I am very happy with these pulls, I have very few cards from the Dark Explorers collection and owned none of these ones, so they're all new to me!

I really look forward to opening up the next blister pack for Dark Explorers, hopefully I get an EX. But who knows when it'll be that I get to open it up, since all these openings are chosen through a raffle.

So tune in next time to see exactly which piece of merchandise I pick from the raffle. Bye!

Emerging Powers Promotional Blister Pack (Minccino) - Calm Before the Storm

Hi all!!

The Amateur Collector here and today I'm just opening up on little checklane blister pack, the third and last one from the three that I bought off of Card Team for £5.95. To check out the other two here: first blister pack and second blister pack.
This blister pack has one Emerging Powers sample pack, an actual Empowers Powers booster pack and a sweet promo card. To check out the opening video click here.

So without further ado:

The promotional card

Minccino BW13, and I have to say probably one of the cutest cards I've ever seen.

The Emerging Powers booster pack swag

A rare Gothitelle and a reverse-holo Thundurus.

I must say I've noticed that I have good luck with rare reverse-holographic cards, I feel like I get them more often than not. Though I must admit in this case I would have liked it if the cards were reverse, since I already have a rare Gothitelle but still need a holographic Thundurus. As for the promo Minccino, I think it has become one of my favourite cards for the B&W Black Star Promotional series, it's so cute, the background is colourful and the artwork is simple and effective. 

Well, I'm happy enough with this blister pack, not the best pulls for £5.95 but the promo card more than makes up for it.

I've titled this post "Calm Before the Storm" because my next post will be my last one for Pokémon TCG Opening Adventures (season 1) and I like to see this single blister pack opening as I kind of "breather" before the last opening.

So see you soon! 

Noble Victories Promotional Blister Pack (Scraggy) - Quick Detour

Hi all!

Amateur Collector here and today we're going to take a quick peak at what I got in a checklane blister pack. This was the second blister pack out of three that I purchased from Card Team (the opening of the first can be found here). It cost me £5.95, a little expensive but that's hardly surprising considering how hard it is to find. Here's the video for those who are interested in seeing the blister pack opening.

In this pack you get one promotional card, a Noble Victories sample pack and one ordinary Noble Victories booster pack.

And without further ado, here is what I got:

The BW25 Scraggy looking very cute though slightly mischievous, and a Reuniclus that I got from the booster pack

I'm pleased with this blister pack, although it was slightly costly I did get a cool promo and a rare card I didn't own. And that's it for today! A really short post indeed.

See you next time for more Pokémon TCG Opening Adventures!

Plasma Storm Promotional Blister Pack (Drifblim) - Back in Action

Hi all!

Amateur Collector here and after a small leave of absence I'm back to continue my Pokémon TCG Opening Adventures. During that time I didn't blog I was having another adventure abroad, one which resulted in some nice little collectable treasures being found of which I'll speak more of in another blog post.
For now the adventure is opening a promotional blister pack! This is one of three promotional blister packs I purchased at Card Team and will be opening at various times throughout the journey. For today's adventure I chose the Plasma Storm Blister Pack with promotional Drifblim card (video here). This pack contained 2 loose cards, a sample pack for Plasma Storm and an actual Plasma Storm booster pack. Here's the swag I got from this blister pack:

The two cards you get loose in the blister pack are a Drifloon from the Dragons Exalted set, it is a non-promotional card. The other is a rather happy looking Drifblim BW64 Black Star Promo. The last card you see on the end there is the rare card I got in the booster pack; a Plasma's Druddigon.

I won't bother showing what I got in the sample pack since, well, they're not worth showing! (though in having said that, I did get cards I needed for the set from it).

Overall not a bad blister pack, I'm happy to have gotten the promo card and quite a few cards I didn't have (rare, uncommons and commons).

Next I'll be uploading old videos I pre-recorded to upload during my time abroad but never got to and I'll be blogging about the stuff I bought during that time too. So look forward to those!

Till next time.