Collector Nation - The $3,500 Prismatic 'God Pack' That Blew Our Minds (You Won't Believe It)

Episode Date: October 21, 2025

SUMMARY In this episode of the Trading Cards and Collectibles podcast, host Ryan Alford interviews Phill Faust, known as Beard Dad Cards, a well-known figure in the Pokémon card community. Phill  shares his mission to make collecting accessible and scam-free for kids and families, focusing on education and community over personal collecting. He discusses the current Pokémon market, the impact of scalpers, and offers practical advice for newcomers. Phill  also explains how he funds his business through content creation and live streaming at shows, emphasizing the importance of positive interactions and responsible collecting. TAKEAWAYS Phill Faust's approach to making Pokémon card collecting accessible for kids and families. Discussion on avoiding scams in the Pokémon card market. Insights into the current state of the Pokémon card market, including scalpers and product value. Phill Faust's focus on content creation and live streaming rather than personal card collecting. The importance of community support in the Pokémon collecting space. Strategies for newcomers on how to start collecting responsibly. The distinction between sealed and opened products in terms of value. Phill's business model, including funding through content and live events. The balance between online presence and in-person interactions at shows. Recommendations for where to buy Pokémon cards and how to navigate the market.  

I personally don't collect Pokemon cards right now. The good thing about my videos is like it's Pokemon related, but it's not Pokemon only. You don't have to like Pokemon to like the videos. Welcome to the Trading Cards and Collectibles podcast on the Radcast Network. From Chasing Grails to Colin Bluffs and going inside the hobby. Are you ready to collect? Let's get at it. Here is your host, Ryan Alford.

What's up guys? Welcome to Trading Cards. and collectibles here on the Radcast Network. We're bringing you all things collecting. I'm always surrounded by some of my favorite collectibles. And, you know, the boys and I are into Pokemon. We've talked about that. And we think we know some things.

But here's what I know. We don't know as much as this guy. He is the Beard Dad. Beer Dad Cards. What's up, Phil? What's up, man? How you doing? I'm great.

I appreciate you coming on the show. Again, the boys and I, I pretend to know enough on Pokemon. So I am, I'm coming to the show not only as the host, but also making some mental notes of, you know, what I don't know. I know a lot. What's happening, man? We're in Virginia, right? Yeah, we're in Virginia today, dude.

We're in Virginia. Yeah. Good old Virginia. How does a beard dad get into Pokemon? By having kids, by being a dad, right? Definitely by being a dad. Yeah. How long have we been doing this? I've been into Pokemon my whole life.

Okay. But deep into this hobby to where I'm at now for about, I want to say about, it's going to be a year in November. Okay. All right. That's cool, man. And I like what you're doing. You're making it really accessible for kids, for people. I mean, that's definitely what you're known for.

And watching your content. You're doing a good job. And I think at least when I grew up, you know, I tell people this story all the time. So you're going to hear it on the show. But the local card store guy. and, God, they were jerks. It was like, you almost, you know, they had so much control because you didn't have the college and availability,

but everybody was a dick. You know, it's like, yeah. And now, you know, it's refreshing seeing guys like you that are, you know, opening things up, sharing knowledge, sharing information, and making accessible. Yeah, that was the whole plan. That was the plan from the beginning,

just watching my own kids at shows when I would walk around with them, you know, being told no. Like, no, I'm not taking that card. Or, you know, I'll give you 50% because that card's really not that great and yada yada it's all the scamming all the you know you learn about it over time and as much as you try and try to help others not let that happen it's there's no way around it so i'm trying to find a way to where that doesn't happen to kids anymore you know yeah that was one of the main things yeah and that's kind of how i felt when i was i mean something changed but now you've

got to having been back into the hobby here a little over year myself it's like yeah it's almost data overload. There's a lot of the acquisition. Yeah, it's much nowadays it just it just takes you wanting to know. If you want to know, you'll find out. It's that simple. It's as simple as asking nowadays with the internet, there's so many groups and the, the Pokemon community itself, the community itself outside of the people that just ended to make money. They're great. The community's great. Everybody's willing to help everybody, man. I mean, I've learned it firsthand, you know, so. What's in the collection? If you're going to get, let's hit, let's say you're going to be, all right.

So in the collection, there are no Pokemon cards in my collection. Oh, okay. Yeah. I have sold away and traded and gotten rid of all my collection to be able to further and further, you know, my, myself, you know, and being able to buy more, more stuff and, you know, have more inventory to do these shows. so I personally don't collect Pokemon cards right now. What I do collect are custom things. Everybody that comes to my table, they will bring me, they know that Nido King is my favorite Pokemon,

or they'll bring me their favorite Pokemon as a gift, and they sign it, and I have a binder full of that stuff. Or I have, you know, custom art that people give me, and then Jordans. That's about what I collect. I've tried to collect Pokemon cards for, yeah, I've tried to collect Pokemon cards for myself, but I look at it and I'm like, man,

I know this card's worth $1,200. I can't just let it sit there. Like, I can go sell it, you know, or I can go trade it, or I can go use it for this or that. So I never keep it, unfortunately. I'm not at that point yet. There might be a day that it comes where I can finally do that, and I will. But right now it's just, you know, right now I'm thinking about other things and other ways to help people, help my kids, help myself, help our future, and spending money on Pokemon cards for me right

now isn't something that I can do. No, hey, that's responsible knowledge. That's what, it's good knowledge or, you know, any of our younger listeners or watchers, you know, who is out there or collecting, you know, that's responsibility. And, you know, you're, you're using your knowledge and what you've built, you know, as a business. I mean, it is a business for you. And it's now.

Yeah, it's become one now. And you can separate it, right? It seems like you can separate the two. And it's responsible. I think, I mean, what is the core? I mean, doing live breaks, doing show. What are the facets of the business? For me, my main thing is I just do, I just travel and do vendor shows where I live stream.

And when I live stream during these shows, that brings an audience to be able to watch the interactions, because that's what everybody's favorite thing is, is watching the interactions. And within those interactions, people can, you know, immerse themselves and help from their home, you know. They can help these kids. They're like, oh, I, you know, oh, my God, that guy's wearing a, you know, wearing a Beatles t-shirt. I love the Beatles. Let's hook that guy up, you know, and then they get happy because they made that person happy. And, you know, they want to, you know, donate some money via YouTube live stream or they want to send it, you know, through my PayPal or something like that. And then I tell that person, hey, you know, so-and-so just wanted to let you know they love your shirt and, you know, they want to be able to get you something. Or, you know, a little kid will come up and, you know, they'll want to buy something and their parents are like, hey, we,

really can't spend the money for that regardless i'm going to take care of it but a lot of times they jump ahead and already go ahead and take care of it that's awesome man yeah and so you're using the live feature within you know a physical you know show that's happening and then leveraging that sort of these experiences both online and offline yeah that's cool it's smart use the technology I mean, it works great. I mean, it's the best way to be able to give back. I'm not rich. I don't ever plan on being rich.

So that's the only way that I can constantly give back to everybody that deserves it. So when you're set up, you're selling like wax, cars, individual cars. I mean, you know, it's just individual cards. So it's just merchandise for you. So it's not necessarily a collection, everything is merchandise that you're selling. Yeah, just cards that I am selling. I don't sell anything graded. I only sell raw.

copies of cards. How do you get your inventory? Unfortunately for me, a lot of times people can buy, you know, they'll buy large lots from people. Sometimes people will come to my table and bring a bunch stuff, hey, you want to buy this? You want to buy this? And unfortunately, it's come to a point where I used to buy it, right? I used to buy 75, 80% of market value and that 20% is what makes up my margins, right? Sometimes I get lucky in the card jumps and I get more. You know, sometimes I don't get lucky in the card drops and I lose money. But it's all part of the hobby. I've gotten to a point where I have a line of people waiting to meet, do interactions, say hi, you know, get something signed, stuff like that. So I don't have time to buy these cards at the shows anymore.

I can't spend 30 minutes buying out a collection like I used to at the shows. And during the week, I just, I don't have time during the week to go meet people to buy stuff. So right now for me, I don't make any money selling Pokemon cards at all. I don't make any money. I mean, maybe a little bit. I'm not going to say it all. Maybe a little bit, but not that 20% anymore because now I partner up with a couple shops and I just pay them. they put together, you know, a bunch of cards and I just pay them what the cards are worth

because at the end of the day I'm just going to sell them for what they're worth. And, you know, the content is what makes up the money for me. Cool. So you're funded like through the content channels themselves. Yeah, YouTube, TikTok, a lot of the shows that people charge for tickets to enter, they pay me for going to their shows. That gets some more ticket sales. So in a sense they pay me and that that's how I make my living.

Yeah. And that makes sense. At the time. You've reached that. point where you've built your following up and your persona and so now you're a you know page celebrity in the polka in a sense people say that i don't i don't ever agree with them but in a sense that's kind of what it is and you know what like for someone listening it's like people go oh that's the dream man i mean i'm collecting and everybody knows who i am and i watch it i mean and maybe it is i mean

you're blessed to do it but you've worked i'm blessed to get there but how is it i mean Like I tell people, it's a blessing and a curse in a sense. I mean, the only curse part is the, you know, the, how tired I am at the end of the shows. It doesn't seem like about how much work it is. It's a lot of work to give full attention to the person in front of you at the same time, be able to give attention to the live stream so that you're not missing anything. And then at the end of the show to be able to get more inventory to be able to supply these people with these cards and, you know, this interaction and what they're there for, you know.

They're there for an interaction. They're there to meet somebody that they watch online, that they have respect. for and I want to give them respect back and I want to give them exactly what they came for. That's a good point. It's a lot of, it's a lot of work. It is. But it's worth it. My kids love it. My kids love watching me. All you did was do podcasting. I'm like, but to be dialed in, if I do like five

shows in a day, which I don't do that many anymore, but I would, I would come home and like melt into the ground. Like, because you're paying, again, you're giving attention and it's different, but it's the same time. It's your brain. It's your brain. You're working the whole time, man.

You're working the whole time. You're not just sitting there in your own world, even if you're kind of typing on something or doing whatever your job is. It's different when you're truly on. Right. My main thing, like these live streams, like the last one this weekend was about a 10 hour long live stream where I did not leave the table for the whole 10 hours.

So I don't take breaks. I have a line of people. And if the place closes down, they want us to pack up and leave. But if I have a line and there's still 20 people, people in that line. I'm going to stay and make sure I'd see all 20 of those people. So if I take a break, that's more time at the end of the show. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. So I try my best not to take breaks and that stuff does, you know, wear out on me.

I'll, you know, I'll eat while I'm talking to somebody. And it's all natural, man. I'm, you know, do what you got to do to make sure I see everybody. So where's out at the end of the show. You get recognized like just in general public. It's not very, very often. It has happened a little bit more lately. The other day, I don't know if you, where you guys are in South Carolina, if you guys have a Wawa. No, but I'm familiar with what it is. All right, so Wawa's just a really big gas station that also has like a store inside, kind of like a Bucky's, uh, sheets in a sense.

I was at Wawa getting coffee and somebody, hey, I know you. And I'm like, you do? Like, yeah. Yeah, you're the beard guy. And I'm like, I am the guy with a beard for sure, you know? And then this last weekend coming back at the airport while I was waiting on my luggage, two people recognized me and were like, oh my God, I watch your videos. I love your videos.

You're awesome. The good thing about my videos is. is like it's Pokemon related, but it's not Pokemon only. You don't have to like Pokemon to like the videos. Yeah. Very approachable. Yeah, and I can't go into local card stores, obviously. If I go into one of the card stores, there's going to be people that are like,

oh my gosh, I know you. You know, I mean, I am at, you know, over a million followers throughout the three platforms, you know, almost two million throughout the three platforms. So talk to me. If someone's listening, they're wanting to get into Pokemon. I know, it's a hard thing. And, you know, we probably spend two hours or, two days. Oh, we could spend days talking about, you know, talking about like different strategies,

different things. But you got all the different sets and versions. Maybe start with where and how you guide someone coming into it, you know, fresh or relatively new. What I tell most people, you want to get back into Pokemon or get into Pokemon. There's millions of ways. Yes, you can just go to your local card shop and buy singles that you like to build a collection. That local card shop will also have sealed product for you to open. You can try your hand at going to retailers and trying to buy, you know, Target Walmart. Unfortunately, nowadays, it's, you know, it's all set up already by scalper as to where you walk in.

It's already gone. They already know when the drop is coming. I mean, these guys are, you know, from what I know, they're paying the people that work for MJ holding and when they drop off these things. Like, they're paying them, hey, let me know what time you're dropping it off here and, you know, this and that. And so it's a little harder. But if you're getting in the hobby, your best bet is to go to Facebook, go to your

events on Facebook and look. for a card event in your area for a week, you know, on a weekend. They have small card shows everywhere. Buy your cards. Watch a lot of videos on YouTube and stuff about it so you can learn a little bit about how you find the value of these cards so that you're not overpaying. And kind of just, you know, see what you like. Once you get in and you, you know, you'll, within a week, you'll figure it all out.

I mean, you'll figure out what you want within a couple days, honestly. What about like some of the newer sets, like versus older, that sort of thing? you know what's um if you're collecting uh you know you see if and and now speaking more probably someone that's like started to get in another you know you see these price variations like prismatic and 151 and then yeah the current release is you know if you can find it you know five or six dollars a pack versus you know 10 12 15 yeah scarcity rarity what's driving all that yeah it's i mean a lot of it's supply and demand um a lot of it's a supply and demand um a Rarity as well. Prismatic was a smaller set. It's full of EVLutions. Everybody loves

EVLutions. The cards are in it are expensive. So when you pull that expensive card, you get a lot of money, right? So you end up paying more money to try to make more money in a sense, right? Same with 151. It's a set that everybody loves. So that set will always be worth some money. Then you have smaller sets like, you know, Paradox. Sorry, Paradox Rift or temporal forces that have some good cards, but not really, oh, you know, the chase is a raging bolt, which people don't really like, or the chase might be, you know, something people don't really like. So the packs are cheaper because people don't care as much about what's in them. That's how I've realized it, how I've noticed it.

What I can't figure out, Phil is like open or keep sealed? Open or keep it sealed? Yeah. The boys and I, part of our experience is out together open stuff. And I don't over from that part, you know, you do it. And it's, I don't know, that's fine. But then there's always, okay, if you got surplus or you got some extra, it's like, do you just throw it in the closet?

You know, when is, how do you know which one's better? Because, again, you pay less per pack for Pokemon versus like other sports types things and all that. And so I'm always like, is the potential of getting one of those chase cards or a hit card greater than saving the unopened? Right. So, Pokemon does a pretty good job of making the same product in a sense to where you keep it sealed. They make what's called Pokemon Center stamped product, which are the elite trainer boxes. Those are very rare.

When you get one, I recommend not opening it because it's very rare. You just leave it to the side. They'll make the same box without that little stamp and you open those. As far as like, if you get into the hobby and you find some of the older stuff, that older stuff is the stuff that you're not going to want to open up. If you're looking to make money in the future, that older stuff, you probably don't want to open up. The newer stuff, whatever, what just came out, open the crap out of it because there's going to be more, right? But then, you know, stuff from 2018 or before, they're not remaking that. So if you don't have a means of getting a bunch of them, get what you can and, you know, save a couple of them and, you know, open the rest.

Yeah. Because, like, I'll get, you know, like, if we get lucky enough to score some retail, priced, you know, stuff, whether it's Walmart or Samms or like some of that stuff, you know, like we've hit, we've gotten access to, like, some prismatic that'd be, that's way cheaper than what it would ever been. But I'm like, do you throw that sealed in the closet or do you bust that thing open? I mean, I mean, me personally, I'll tell you not to open your prismatic. That one's one of the hardest ones to get hits from. It is hard. Hold on. I'm talking. I'm like 30 packs of that stuff. And that's not

mini, but I'm just saying, 30 facts, you should get a few hits, you know, and it's like, I look at something like, I think I got $4 in cards right there. Yeah.

Yeah. Which is funny because I don't open, I don't do sealed product. I don't buy it. I don't trade it. I don't collect it. Nothing was sealed product. Yeah.

The only sealed product I ever do is when it's, when it's for me to give away throughout the shows. So there was one time where I took a sealed product in from somebody. so that they'd because that's all they had to get a card. And I was like, let's open it. And my son opens it. And he gets the guide pack from Prismatic.

It gets every single evilution. Are you sure? It was like a $3,500 pack, you know? Holy crap. It's just made up. No, I watched it happen in front of me. It's real. It's real.

Yeah, I would love that to happen. I mean, that would be amazing. But they are hard. Yeah. So if we've not as prismatic as hard to get hit, in what's the best bang for the buck crown zenith in my opinion okay i mean they got a gal a galarian gallery a trainer gal they got hits and hits and you open 10 12 packs of crown zenith you're bound to get at least six hits and right now crown zenith prices are going higher and higher and higher i mean the ceiling for crown

zinith is that gyrotina v star at two hundred dollars compared to some sets that have a four six 12 $2,500 ceiling. Their ceiling is only $200, but their range of cards, the range from anywhere between $20 to $40, and there's so many that if you just want to collect stuff and you want full art cards and cool looking cards, Crown Zina is probably your best bet. And it's not too expensive.

No, it's not. That's good knowledge to have actually, because we will sometimes know we're just going to rip something and have Crown Zines. Probably available because it's generally available and not as pricey as some of the other stuff. Right, right. Yeah, Crown Zina tends to have a lot of hits. I mean, they're not

expensive hits, but they're hits. It's that feeling, oh, I got something cool, you know? Let's go look at, just don't look up what it's worth, but just know that you got something cool, you know. The moment you look it up, you're going to be like, what do you think of the new mega evolution? Mega evolution's cool. I mean, it's, they're just bringing back the older stuff, you know? They're trying to bring back the older stuff. I mean, the hobby's so big right now that I feel like anything Pokemon drops is going to be great right now. I do like Meg evolution. I think it's cool. I mean, to me, the specialistration rare is and the mega cards aren't my favorites. It's a smaller illustration rarest.

Those are what that I think are cool. Yeah, I like the vibrancy of it. It has almost like trying to put my finger on it. Like I don't know. Marvel's not the right word, but it's, I don't know, the vibrancy to the colors, it felt different. Right. That's probably the whole part of that selection.

Yeah, they tried something different. I mean, that's what they do. What's coming out? What, I mean, how on the pulse, like, I mean, you're still in singles, you know, you're, how on the pulse, are you with every release? Oh, I don't even pay attention to any of it. I don't.

I see it, but I don't try to buy anything or, you know, I don't, I'm not over here trying to, you know, waiting in line to buy the new set and stuff like that. It's, you know, if it comes to my table, it comes to my table. If not, whatever, you know, I can, I don't like ripping stuff like that like that. I'm not big into ripping cards. My kids, they're, they like it, but they're not like, oh, I got to, you know, they don't have that itch, you know, like some people do. So we don't really, we're not like dying to go by packs.

So yeah, I have that going for. I can't do the standing in line thing. Like if I can, yeah, I won't do it either. Or like if I know somebody says, hey, go over there, there, there, you might land on something and it's in the plan for the trip. Then fine. I don't, I don't get in long, you know, come. Yeah, I'm not.

I'm not sitting in a one hour line for, for a box of cards, which I don't blame people what I do because, you know, if they don't, they're going to have to pay three times as much, which sucks. So I don't blame them for doing it. I just, I don't, I'm not into it. I just wonder what the tipping point is with the scalper thing. And I don't look down, I got no problem. Look, if you go waiting line and you wonder, and it's, you know, it's, we live in, we live in the USA. It's capitalist market, you know, like, I don't, I don't, I'm not hating on you, but I do wonder when there is this tipping point of how much product they put in, like, when does that stop or does it never? I don't because it has it always been that way? No, no,

it wasn't like this always. It used to be, I used to go into Target and buy evolving skies off the shelf like it was no problem. Nowadays, it's just, you know, it's there's so many people in the hobby and there's the hobbies is so many, so much money's being made. So, you know, the people that they're like, hey, instead of working a nine to five job, I can wake up really early and go stand in this line and buy all this stuff here, there, and there, and then resell it and make more than one day than I made all week, and then I can just not do anything. So that's why we have the scalpers right now. I don't know when that tipping point comes, though. I don't know. I don't know. Where's it all ahead, Phil? Like, what's, what, when you look at your crystal ball, like for you,

where do you want to take this thing? I don't know, man. I'm just going day by day, week by week, scheduling shows and meeting new people and just making kinds. It's the same thing over. and over for me. I go to the shows. I meet new people. I make the content. We make people happy. And who knows? I don't know. Who knows? I mean, Pokemon can die out and people not go to shows anymore and not have shows, but I can still find a way to, if I have a audience in a sense, I can still find a way to live stream sports cards if that needs to be, you know, learn about that and do the same thing. I know there's a guy called Talon. He does sports cards and he does a lot of that stuff where he gives back to the community as well, you know, stuff like that.

There's sports cards. There's everything, man. There's everything. Niceness isn't it just in Pokemon. You know, you can be nice and give back to the community in millions of ways. Joy and goodwill can be scaled. I really appreciate what you're doing, man. You're doing good stuff. It's good for the community. It's good for the hobby.

And I really appreciate you for spending some time with us here on the show. Dude, absolutely, Ryan. I'm really glad you guys reached out and had me on here. So that was really nice to y'all. Thank you. If you get to South Carolina at all, I don't know if you do card shows around here, South Carolina. trying to think.

Close is probably North Carolina. But you never know. There's so many shows out there nowadays. Like I get DMs regularly from shows like, hey, would you be interested in coming? You know, I've seen some South Carolina ones. So. I'm building a multimedia store that's going to be my podcast video meets a hobby store, but everything's sort of on. I call it like name, name to be determined, but card house live.

Like literally. It's built for people to come to you, breaks, all the deals are filmed, like everything's sort of multimedia. And as we kind of get that thing rolling, I'd love to maybe invite you or have you down and maybe we could do some fun stuff together. Yeah, of course. I'd love to. Great, man.

Where can everybody keep up with what you're doing, Phil? Main ones, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Those are my three major ones. Live stream on YouTube every weekend, Saturdays, and sometimes Sundays at the shows are two days. Normally 8 a.m., whatever place I am that time. So if I'm in, you know, on the West Coast, you know, or the East Coast, you know, 8 a.m., normally when I start and goes on until 6, sometimes 7 p.m. Unbelievable. I don't know how you do that.

I don't know either, man. I love doing it. That's what it is. It's not a job, you know? I love, I don't sit. I feel like if I sit down that I have sat down on day twos because I'm so warning. out from standing all day, but like, I feel like if I'm, if you're coming to talk to me, I should be respectful enough to stand to talk to. I shouldn't be sitting down and looking

up at you or, you know, maybe if it's a little kid, I'll sit down so I can be more at their level. But, you know, I try to stand throughout the entire show. So yeah, it is. It's a lot. But, you know, I love doing it. When you're having fun, you can be as tired as you want. You're going to keep going. 100%. Well, we appreciate it. Beard Dad cards. You can find him. at all the locations. Really appreciate you for coming on, Phil. And hey, guys, we appreciate it. Collectibles.

Dot show, you'll find the full version of video, audio, links to all the other platforms. And, of course, links to Beard, Dad, Cards. I'm at Ryan Alford on all those social media platforms as well. Had that blue check before you can buy it, baby. We'll see you next time. Thank you so much, dude. I appreciate you.

Have a good one. See you. Collectibles. Show is where you'll find all of the channels and learn more about what we're doing. And ultimately, hey, we want to hear from you. You do case hits at collectibles. Show. We want you to send in your favorite pulls of the week. And here's the difference.

This isn't about just value. Hey, we want to see some $10,000 hits. Had a couple of those myself a few months back. But it's not just about the values, about what you're collecting. What means something to you? Share a story. Share a video of you holding up the card that you hit last week. week that was your favorite player and you nailed it.

So case hits at collectibles. dot show, send in those videos. I want to know the stories. We're going to bring them to life here on the show. We're going to do a segment each week. Once we get rolling and get some videos in, where we share that on the show with us. We'll feature you on Collectibles Show.

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