Collector Nation - Why This ISN'T 2021: Our Honest Take on the Card Market Right Now

Episode Date: October 9, 2026

Ryan Alford, Brian Ludden and Bella are back as Coinbase joins the growing list of major companies moving into the collectibles space with Pokémon packs backed by real cards. The crew discusses what that much new money means for sourcing, regulation and the future of digital pack ripping. From there, they take on the bubble question head-on, explaining why today's market looks very different from the 2021 surge and why long-term demand is being driven by families, multiple generations and mainstream media attention. They also cover Topps moving EQL drops to a random draw and the nonstop demand for Pokémon at Collector Station and overseas. The back half of the episode turns to the card market itself: vintage football rookies from Jim Brown, Jerry Rice and Walter Payton gaining ground, Tom Brady's market cooling, and hold-or-buy takes on Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy and Cam Ward. Ryan revisits his 2026 Bowman Football review after opening value boxes, and he and Bella close with a 2026 Allen & Ginter pack battle on release day. Sponsors  Get an exclusive 15% discount on Saily eSIM data plans! Download the Saily app and use the code COLLECTORNATION at checkout. Topics Covered Coinbase's Pokémon pack launch Big money entering the hobby Is the card market a bubble? 2021 vs. today Topps EQL random draws Pokémon demand at home and abroad How media coverage moves card values Vintage football rookies on the rise Tom Brady's cooling market Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy and Cam Ward 2026 Bowman Football value boxes 2026 Allen & Ginter pack battle 🔗 Links Mentioned in This Episode Collector Nation Website: https://thecollectornation.com App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/collector-nation/id6795562084 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecollectornation_ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thecollectornation YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thecollectornation Collector Station Website: https://thecollectorstation.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecollectorstation Ryan Alford Website: https://www.ryanalford.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanalford Brian Ludden / Ludex Website: https://www.ludex.com App: https://www.ludex.com/download 🎁 Download the free Collector Nation app through any release page at thecollectornation.com to be entered to win a free hobby box or Pokémon Elite Trainer Box. ⭐ If you enjoyed this episode, follow Collector Nation, leave a 5-star review, and share it with another collector.

Oh, there's a bubble. I sold all my cards. I'm like, don't do that. I'm confused what is making people jump to the conclusion that it is a bubble to begin with. It is fascinating how many players are getting in. Coinbase, what they've recently announced. It's Pokemon Repacts. But, like, Coinbase doesn't do anything small. I'm Ryan Alford. And I'm Bella Schaefer. And this is Collector Nation. We're curating all of the content in the hobby just for you all in one place.

All the videos, all the podcasts, all the reels, all those drops you want right here, right now. What's up, guys? Welcome to Collector Nation here on the Collect Your Nation Network. Ryan, Brian, and Bella, back in the saddle again. R and B plus B. I know. BRB. I kind of want, when I say saddle, I wanted, like, you know, like a, you know, first.

We need the sound effects. I need a soundboard. That's just all there is to. back in the radio days you had soundboards i need a soundboard yeah you should get one of those i'm gonna get you one of those for christmas and we get to hear it so like we hear a you know it's not just theater of the mind it's real theater of the ears and what you need the fake audience the fake audience laughing yeah yeah like every time i tell a bad joe like they're dying and laughing yeah i think that would inflate your ego too much yes everybody everybody

is having a great hobby week here. I just named it hobby week. Every week's a hobby week for us. But it's a big week for the socks. I know. We must have to go there for the standing room only. Brian's headed from this moment right after this. He's fitting this in and then he's headed running to the stadium for game three.

I'm taking my horse. Are you excited? Yeah, I am. This team, like we talked about in beginning the year, I think Ryan probably was like no Stardamus and said they're I think they're any better than you think. But yeah, no, this has been fun. They're a fun team and playoff baseball is fun and I can't believe that I'm going to be going to a game today. So do you like spit on Wrigley as you drive there?

Do you drive by Wrigley on the way? No, I drive by places that they'll try to shoot you. Oh, okay. Don't spit on anything. No, no. I'm very nice driving down the south side. Keep your windows up. Yeah.

Is this your first game of the season or have you gotten to go to other games? No, I've been to a bunch. Yeah. Who's the best player in the series? Who's having a big series? I mean, honestly, they're, they're just like one through nine. Like people just get hits. You know, they're one of those teams that at any time someone could just go four

for four. And it might be the seventh kind of lineup. It might be the, but probably chase my draft. is probably having the best. But, you know, it's one of those teams where they had three guys hit over 30 home runs and they had like three more guys hit over 18 home runs. Wow. Pronounced the last name of the guy that's like kind of the bigger name that's coming or

got a lot of attention. Like it's kind of hard to. Mary comma. You marry comma. Yes. I think that's how you say it. But I'm not. Yeah.

drinking, you know, and he has his interpreter and he says, I'm, how do you feel you know, celebrate? And he's like, I'm so drunk. He had a few too many Miracommis. That needs to be on the tops now, Carl.

He should definitely get a, he's get a sponsor for that. Like, you know, like, I don't know. Yeah. Check it out. Check it out. How would look that one up.

But his, his cards do pretty well. I know that. all that. What's the value bump that, you know, white socks players get, you know, a little value bump. We've been looking, what drives value, like certain performances and things like that. And it's funny, it's less. And so if you're listening, all right, so finally we'll get to some card talk a little bit. But it's not like these individual, obviously, at the long,

and look at the long view. This is not an investment advice. But it's more how mainstream. the news is on a performance. So it's all the other, the surrounding media, like, yeah,

I mean, if they hit five home runs in a game or something like that, it gets so much media attention that, yeah, you see a bump like in their card market. But sometimes just individual badass performances alone aren't having that effect, which probably isn't that big of a surprise.

It's more like how much good or bad coverage in the news and the press and like the social media, Like, it's that broader media that drives card values more. So, like, if the, you know, being a little bit of Cinderella that the White Sox were not predicted to do this other than yours truly that said something about, I think they're going to be better. I don't know what I said. I'll put the receipts here if I can find it. I know. I just think I said, Brian was like, we'll be a little better.

But, you know, we're the White Sox. And we, I pull for them no matter what. I'm going to die hard. But, you know, and I was like, yeah, but what if? I don't know. Nonetheless, being a Cinderella story, so getting some pub and getting a little more, other cards might get a little more juice. That's what the data has been telling us from the collector nation,

crunching we've been doing. Do we have predictions up about who's going to win the World Series? Absolutely not. The Dodgers. Yeah. Exactly. We don't need a prediction. Hey, you know, the White Sox could have their real Cinderella moment.

That would be, I love it. You know, I think 100 hours are standing room only. The whole world would be rooting for the White Sox, except for in L.A. Yeah. Even then they might be, you know, they might be up against it. The whole thing, the machine of it. I don't know. Or they just don't care because they're busy doing L.A. things.

Yep. They're busy showing up late to games. Yeah, influencing something. Okay. Unbiased. Who do you think? will be, I mean, obviously the Dodgers, but who do you think the Dodgers will be

going against in the World Series? I mean, it might be the damn White Sox, and they're playing as good as anybody. Tampa Bay is a really good team too. Yeah, they're leading. It's 2-0 in both series, right? Yeah, American League series are both 2-0. Yeah.

Yep. I think, I will see. I need the Brewers. Brewers will play the Dodgers. I mean, less my, the Braves. How much would MLB hate Milwaukee versus Tampa? Oh, God.

Talk about like no card impact. The media doesn't talk about it. That would be it. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Well, I hope you enjoy the game, Brian. You'll have to report back on any exciting things that happen over there. You mentioned a little bit before we hit the record button about Coinbase and what they've recently announced.

Could you talk a little bit about that? I mean, it's just like it's just more. I mean, these coinbase has more money than, I mean, God. God. If, you know, I haven't seen God's bank account, but I assume he's got a lot. He's, you know. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's Pokemon repacks.

And then you can either vault them with them or, you know, take the physical, just like everyone else. But like, coin base doesn't do anything small. it's again it comes to the sourcing like how are all these people going to feed their machines and the one thing that i want to so there's a lot of regulation in coinbase right coinbase has a lot of regulators and lawyers around it i have no idea why they're getting into this um but the gambling sites getting into it i think that's where this thing can change a little bit because if i a gambling site and all this money and all these lawyers i would just go to capo hill and be like listen this needs to be um regulated this needs to be gambling right and that if you do that you knock off

half your competition and and so this is just so interesting because it keep every time you think okay these are players in this industry then like five other people start over here and they're the gambling companies and now your coinbase. And if Coinbase is doing it, then Cal she's doing it now. And like, it's, I don't know where this stops. Yeah. Repacks. You got to come up with a different name.

What you need to do is you need to, you need to be the person with the infrastructure to get product to these people. That's it. Yes. I was thinking that actually when you were talking, exactly what I was thinking is you were talking about Cornbase. I was going. I think I already have like half this infrastructure built on like a late night thing I did that I stopped.

Of course you know. I went down like a rabbit hole. It wasn't for this specifically, it was for something else. And I'm like, I think I could actually use that code for this exact thing. Yeah, sourcing. Yeah. And because we already have a sourcing product that we use for the store and could actually be it. And I started tweaking it for something else.

Anyway, I'm boring your one with. with co-talk but like it is fascinating how many players are getting in and one more a reason if you think the hobby's like got a fizzle or all

no one makes it and getting in a dead market I mean every major player wouldn't be getting in a dead market and if they didn't see the promise of what's to come and how much innovation is going to be in this space

in the next even year I think it will be a completely different hobby yes there are people though like I I just once in a while we'll comb like the blogs and just kind of looking. I mean, it doesn't matter. There's like 20% of, oh, there's a bubble.

I sold all my cards. I'm like, no, dude. No, don't do that. No, I don't do that at all. Don't do that. So a couple, but, you know, like cash out a couple. That's fine. You know, I've never seen a bigger bubble in my life.

I'm like, what do you, what bubble have you? What are the bubbles? What do you know existed? like your bubble boy yeah bubble boy and NFT one I don't know yeah I'm confused what is making people jump to the conclusion that it is a bubble

to begin with because I feel like everything is pointing in the direction that it's not a bubble minus maybe the expensive parts going for $8 million but I said everybody got burned in 2020 2020 after COVID, all the people that have been in this thing for like eight, nine years or longer, you know, they got burned in 21 when all the money ran out. And that was a bubble.

It was kind of a, I don't know that it was a bubble. It was just such a, a weird time. Like, anomaly. I think this was going to happen. Anomily. I like that word. Yeah. It was an anomaly.

Like the money in the market was an anomaly. I think this was coming no matter what. It just happened. I mean, we had freaking COVID. and like something we've never ever had, but money unnaturally in. And I think these triggers and all this, everything that's

happened was going to happen anyway. If you take COVID out, I think this was, this was coming. Because guys my age and Brian's age have kids, they got into cards, and you've just got all these things that point of this direction with media and everything else, with sports

getting more popular, with people playing more things. Their age groups of the generations combining, and it was going to happen anyway. You think the zeitgeist tells me that was coming no matter what. And the marketing machines. I'm my favorite words in marketing. Zyte guys.

Which is really just like, what does it tell you is the pop culture, the pop trend, the sort of the pulse of media and all these things. Yep. So anyway, there you go. But I think that was an anomaly. but that's why people are, that's why people are fearful of it. And in the right, we should all be, you know, but I think, I think we're just in a period where this is part of,

um, past time culture and I don't know, just you. People are always looking for a boogeyman behind a corner, even if there's not one. Yep. We see some fluctuations in different things. That's, that's no different in any town, stocks, whatever. Yeah. I mean, also, too, it's like, if you look at the similarities, like you said, that's why I like anomaly.

If you look at the similarities between, you know, 20, 21 and today, there's very few. No, very few similarities. I mean, the similarities. The only similarities, prices went off. Yeah, prices. Yeah. Same players.

But this is extending longer. And they were, oh, it's just a longer. Oh, it goes longer. It's got to go. I mean. no, it's going longer because it's not an anomaly. It's the exact opposite of an anomaly. It's the opposite.

Supply and demand, period. Yeah. So we'll see. We'll see. And I'll say this. Like, I mean, some of it's our own doing. I'll take credit for that. But like our own website and page views,

it's a site that's less than 90 days old. and we're driving 60,000 unique visitors organically in the next 30 days, Brian. That's amazing. Congrats, my man. Yeah, we have, we had 2,800 visitors last Friday, single day. Wow. That's great. Yeah, super excited.

No ads. And so what is that to do with what we're talking about? Well, like, that's the popularity of this shit, you know. Yeah. Combined with knowing how to signal people to come. You turn the beacon on, baby. We've got the light. You know, we're a lighthouse.

We're a lighthouse. Yeah. It's been exciting to see. And I feel like it's now finally coming to fruition and everything that's happening. So if you're listening, go check out thecollaration.com, shameless plug. Yeah, exactly. And they got everything you could ever want to know about the hobby all in one place. Moving on a little bit, Tops is expanding their EQLs.

I think that there's pros and cons to both of that. But I think it can also probably prevent some bots from scooping up all of the allocation before it's gone. Oh, man. I know they're fighting those bots, man. You know how I know is because I've been trying to get in on a couple of these. And like I can tell, oh, my God, I filled out 17 captures like for a second time, like just for one. Like I had them in my card. I'm trying to check out.

Do the capture. It's the same one every time, though. The lizard, we know it does eggs. So it's the one that lays eggs. It's not the other birds. It's not these other animals. I know your capture. You got to change it up.

So the bots can get through the same one every time. Just a little amazed listening. However, I don't want to do it 17 times for the same purchase. And I can tell, I feel it fighting me off as if I'm a bot, you know, and I'm not a bot. But it's crazy what they're having to do, man. I mean, what do you think about this part? Yeah, I think it's like Bella said, it's bots. You know, it's bots.

And this is the most equitable, equitable way to do it. Again, like it goes back to why this industry is different today than it was in 2020. I mean, people can't buy enough product. They just can't. And so Walmart and Target are doing the same thing. Walmart's gone to this drawing thing for everything. Yep. I was in the UK and checking out, you know, this is not.

northeast England. And just walking down a town, there are two game shops. And like they can't keep Pokemon on the shelves. And like this guy's like one guy was so happy about it. Another guy was so pissed about it. Because he's like, this is a gaming store and these people buying Pokemon don't play the game.

And I'm like, yeah, but you don't have like, you don't have any left. Yeah. Like they're coming into your shop to buy something. that's why you open a shop. But even in the UK, people are climbing over themselves to get it. It's crudy. It comes in the front door. I mean, comes in the back door, goes out the front fast or about as fast.

That's cool. Can put it in the system. Yeah. I mean, even this Monday. We're liable to have this product here sitting around us like grabbed during the show. Yeah. Yeah, I'm surprised. Cole.

Yeah. Is that for so? I need that. I need that. I need that. Yeah, this weekend or this Monday, I walked in and like it looks like somebody had ransacked the store because all of our product was gone. And I was like, what happened? And I went and checked their sales.

And I was like, oh, that's what happened. That's awesome. It's crazy. But we also are on another week of football. I know you guys were sitting your butts down on Sunday and watching all the games. and I'm so sorry to say that Mr. Josh Allen did not Drake May. You know, and I predict it, but I predicted it. So am I sad as a fan?

Yes. Am I happy as a predictor? Yes. They always play tight. The spread was too much. And the eight, we have now, Brian, we haven't caught up. So you get to hear it when everybody does. You know, we have a predictor now.

driven by all of our data. That's 8 and 0 and 1 against the spread for the NFL start season. That's amazing. Yeah. And we picked. Don't tell people that. They're live. We have them.

They're slabbed picks up on the collector nation.com. We've got Thursday night game already up. You know, this is not gambling advice. It's not betting advice. We're financial advice, by the way. It's just personal opinion. Personal opinion based. on facts of what, you know, a very smart system that's been programmed with a lot of data that

it's very hard for humans to crunch combined with some secret sauces from the days with which this guy bet a lot. So it's got the best of human and AI knowledge. And so far so good. We'll see. It's not going to hold. We know that. But nonetheless, I've felt pretty good about it. And I did not feel good about Josh losing, but I felt, you know, no one's going undefeated in the NFL. I know that happened once, but, and hey, it makes them stronger. It can realize what they did. And you look, and I was kind of, I got a lot of Drake May card. So if somebody was going to do, you know, I was glad it was him.

And I told people and that this, this receipt's out there, Drake May's slump will not last. And it didn't. So we'll see. He's got to do a little more than one. game. But I was a little sad. J.J. McCarthy sighting will be happening soon. His cards, which were bought by this gentleman all summer, have started to turn upwards.

Yep. We're still at 500% up. Yeah, I've already sold. I've bought, I don't know, countless cards of his and tripled my money on every one of them almost already, because I've been bought on eBay. So it's, he's got nothing with upside because he's got nothing with upside because he's, price already for where he's at. And James,

he might hold the spot of the rest of the season, but we'll see. JJ's going to have a chance at some point, I would think. Anyone you're looking at Brian this week? I just at the, I was at the Bears game and I do have it like a,

there's certain games and certain teams that the Bears send these teams home questioning mean everything about their team. Like, like, Carolina's like, holy crap. Like, what the hell was that? Yeah.

Carolina's like, like, backup quarterback just got their ass kicked on all phases. The jets come in here look like a high school team. I mean, the score is very close. Definitely looks like a high school team. But it was like, it's like that train or that bus ride to the flight, like you got to start looking yourself being like, holy crap. that we just got steamrolled in every single aspect of the game the bears are just decimating people they just didn't they they went for it on fourth and one on the go line a couple times

didn't get it a couple turnovers some points but like it was a massive dominance where grown men were playing grown men but it didn't look like it yes in case keenum like destroyed the eagles yeah and and and badgent destroyed the jets which like you know they are the jets but they're still NFL players. All right. They've been thinking that they were better. They were thinking they were better, you know, and they got reminded that they aren't.

Ben Johnson has, you know, I think literally should start, they should, Philly should start calling him daddy because he's got their number. He just schemes them up so well. He schemes up everybody well. So it'd be, but it's fun,

I guess the Eagles, you know, I mean, I pull for the Jackson. Jaguars, the Bears and the bills. And the bills are number one. Jags are number two. The bears are probably like 2B, you know, growing up a fan with Sweetness and Jim McMahon

and Steve McMichael and all the boys. All the boys. Richard Dent. I'm too. Don't know. They'll come to me. That's pretty good for a guy from South Carolina. Brian Wofford.

Are you kidding me? I mean, this is legit. I was all I had was WGN and Chicago Sports and News. I was like, cubbies and, uh, forgive me, Brian. I mean, it was only cubbies on. They didn't know how much cubbies were on. And so in the bears. Uh, but, uh, nonetheless, they are, uh, carving it up.

Uh, it could be a big year for, uh, Chicago. Yeah. They might burn the city down. This episode of collector nation is sponsored by Saley. Between card shows events and traveling with family, one thing I hate is landing somewhere and immediately having to figure out how to get, connected Saly ESIM data plans. And Collector Nation listeners can use code Collector Nation at checkout to get 15% off Saly

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They might. I mean, you never know. Certain parts, maybe. They might do it if they lose. They might do if they win. I might burn it down. I don't know. Let's make sure we move that storage unit first.

Yeah. The second great Chicago fire. Yeah, exactly. Cam Ward's got to get it together. I bought some of his carts too preseason. So I can I can admit where I'm right. And right. I'm wrong. And where I'm wrong. And so far, Cam, I've been way wrong. I don't know what's going on there.

Yeah. He's, he's down 13% over the last 30 days. Yeah. I mean, he's had to almost 3,000 sales in the last 30 days. So people are trying to kind of look at his cards. Which usually means you buy, but he's got enough. I don't know. He's got enough making me question. Hold is what I would say. That's what I'm doing. I'm holding. I'm not see. I will say that. That'll be my. advice on him would be hold. I wouldn't sell a lot cold light. Yeah, they're going down too much. It becomes a whole.

He's still second year guys, young. Like, he's got time to rebound. It's kind of like JJ. I didn't like, you know, fire sell him. I bought more. But, you know, at a certain point, you got to move, but I wouldn't do it now. Yeah.

I wouldn't buy either. I'd wait. Hold. Hold. Hold on him. Drake May. I'd wait one more week. See what happens. And I would be buying. If he looks as good as against Buffalo,

go buy immediately like that. that after me. Go buy while I's still down. Yeah, he's down 10% over the last 30 days and his 24 prism base card is now only $5.00. Look, five and a half dollars. Base card. That's probably where it should be. Take 500 million of those things. Yep. Yeah, I, you know, I found a good use for base cards. We should have a video this up. He didn't even respond to my video. Use the base cards. I'm sorry. I saw it and didn't respond. I know. It bothers me. I thought that was going to get at least like an emoji laugh or something. You know, like my fragile ego.

Thumbs up. But I was painting my wheels like a couple spots that had been shipped and I fixed them. They've shown it to do or shit and I had to do all these things. But I was fixing my wheel that gets curbrass like crazy in my Audi. And what worked really good to not get paint, I used a bunch of base carts. I stuffed them in that keeps the tire from getting paint on it when you brush it and spray it on. That's pretty good. It sounds great.

I took a video of it. I was like, because you know, everybody throws a lot of base cars. Get thrown away. We know this. I found another useful. I'm like,

there could be a video for this. Use is for base cards. It's not in the trash. That's why they're worth a nickel and not zero. Yeah. They're great for that. If you're ever painting your rim, you stuff them in between the tire and the rim,

call me and thank me. I'm telling you this is, I'm going to put the video in here. I hope you know. I want you to see it. I think I You should leave them in when you drive. Yeah, I think I rhymed a little one or even rap or saying something.

Oh my God. I don't know. Immediately we'll be watching this video. Rolling, rolling, rolling. That was what it was. I was blending songs. First I was my pimped ride and then I got into it. I think that's Papa Roach.

Something like that. Anyway. Brian, I know you have to head out here. Any final updates from Lett X-Land? Yeah, Ledxlan. Nope. In the UK was really cool. I think there's going to be some opportunity to go over there with the brand,

which I'm excited about. And then, no, just play. This is the best time of year, by the way, for sports. Yeah, it is. You get play out baseball. Football's in the heat of it. You got college football. You got hockey starting.

It's the best time to be a fan. So I'm just going to enjoy it. I'm just going to enjoy life. I'm going to drink about 12 beers tonight. Good. Cheers to us. At $18 a piece. Yeah.

Soil a kidney and you'll be good. I'll be good. Offer up some free Lodex memberships. I'm sure somebody would take you up on it too. Lox dollars. You're like, just hold on to these. They're going to be worth of something. Exactly.

It is already free. L-U-D-E-X. Go check them out in the app store. The best card-skinning app on the planet. we appreciate Brian. Go root them on, brother. All right, much love, guys. Yep.

Bye, Ryan. See you, ma'am. See it. So this week, since there wasn't a ton of movement in the modern card market, I want to talk about some vintage cards that have moved a little bit that you might want to keep your eyes on. So Jerry Rice's 1986 Ups, number 161 rookie, both the high end and low end market have moved. So PSA 8s are now going for 37% higher and the PSA 9s on the higher end of the market

are going for 41% higher. So definitely some movement happening in that market. Do you got any Jerry Rice cards? I do. I do. I have some of these. I have some Walter Payton's that are going, it looks like that's going up. Yep. So Walter Payton's 1976. Tops rookie cards. I sold one like last week actually. Yeah. The low end of the market. market is up 8% and the high end of the market is up about 10%. We also have Jim Brown's 1958 tops rookie. That lower end is about staying stable, but the higher end is up 83%. Yeah, Jim Brown actually have, we actually have one in a really cool rookie card of his.

I need to go look at that grade after seeing this. Yeah, if you got a PSA 7, Jim Brown, you can get a pretty $11,000. Exactly. And look, everything's hot on me, but Benadge is hot. Yeah. People are coming around to some of these all-time grates and going, wait a second, why is Drake May, $5,000 for this? And how's he worth more than Walter Payton?

Like, yeah, good question. And not every car, but you know what I'm saying. And you're going to see some of these all-time grates, which Jim Brown, Walter Payton, Jerry Rice are. You're going to see some things like this, and I think it's about time. And I think if I was buying, I'd be focused on the all-time grades, vintage cars, rookies, low prints, low pop on the PSAs, grades, Beckett grades, SGC, especially for vintage cars. So, yeah, I mean, I own a few, you know, it's time. Yeah.

It's time for these cars to be going up. I mean, with everything else going up. And I think that it's a testament almost to a shift in market priorities. Yeah. And people are really prioritizing making sure they're authentic, which, you know, comes along with the grades. And they're really prioritizing long-term value instead of, you know, quick decisions. and they're treating it more as an asset.

These are things that you could hold on because they've already shown their market value and their market steadiness. And so people are valuing that more. And I think that that's a big shift from 2020 to now. Yep. All the institutional money coming into because they know the same thing.

They're like, oh, we can't call this crappy cardboard anymore. Yep. And now for the vintage markets that have gone down over the last 30 days, Tom Brady's card market, I guess, has not been, doing too terribly hot. I would call this settling, balancing. He, and I think you'll see this on some stuff,

but a lot of his stuff went so nuclear. And I think Jordan is seeing a little bit of this too. It's not showing up in the data 100% every card, but it's cooling a bit as well. I've seen it on some stuff that I have and noticed, you know, using collection management on the collector nation app. And my little widget has a green air and a red error.

And it tells me which cards I need to be paying attention to. It gives me a little alert and set price alerts, you know, functionality. I would be using it. It's free. But I've been seeing this on a few like random cards with these guys. And Brady's, Brady's market's softening, softening. Is that a word? Soffening.

Softening. Not a T pronounce there. Sorry, I'll stop down to grammar coming through. Yeah. His car markets are down between like 25 and 35%. But I agree. I think that it's kind of... They've like quadrupled.

I got a long way to find medium as a reality. They needed to go down a little bit there. Yeah. Any final words of wisdom and football that you want to share? No, I mean, it's a great time. It's been really fascinating watching all the data that's been coming in, the Collect your Nation. If you're a set collector, we've got all the sets,

but looking at it. And we've been really like analyzing what performance does game to game for card values. And there's some things that definitely move things. It's been interesting to look at the prediction stuff. No, we're not a gambling fight, but we do like to use the data to see what it predicts. And we've got a card angle along with just the prediction of, you know, what player props and what they might do and comparing it.

So it's been a lot of fun. And I think the market's great. I mean, Bowman, you know, I feel a little funky because like 2026 Bowman football, the first taste I had of that was two hobby boxes and they weren't great. and I really panned it and was honest about it in the review. But I've since opened a lot of value boxes. And if I was redoing that review, it would go up significantly on, it's a retail product. Yep.

And so I commend, I would not have thought Topps would do that. You know, I know they do it on some things, but they really did a great job with a retail product, comparatively. Yes. To that end, I think you got it for us. have, I'll pull this up on the screen, a Thai Simpson manga card that we actually bought off. Is that the anime or manga? Anime. Anime, yeah.

Yeah. I guess. Anime, technically. Okay. Yeah. Ty Simpson anime card that we bought off a customer yesterday. I think we're sending this off. Yes.

But it will be for sale at some point. Yeah. About $1,000 to $1,200 card raw depends on if you look at last comp or not. But last comp is about $1,000. So a super cool card. And I think if Matthew Stafford gets injured and follows the QB curse that seems to be on this year. This is one of those cards that I want to send to grading because I kind of want it to go away. Yeah.

I don't want to sell it. Because I would probably personally keep that one. But I'm fine with it. Gaining value and letting the market do it. You know, there's certain things you don't want to send and wait the time to get graded. I actually want this one to go. That's sort of the security. You know, social security box a little, like going in the security box, going away in the vault,

because you can't do anything with it while it's away. And it's only going to get value because it's nine at worst, 10. I think that card with where ratings at nine is way more valuable than raw now, no matter what the data is saying, people need to get with that. That's a whole not, like we a whole other episode. But that's a cool card. Yeah. And then we also got from Brodman Chrome, we pulled this this morning.

Cole's a dad, actually. Cole, if you don't know, Cole is our store manager. His dad came in for the first time into the shop and had not opened any sports product. So he got a Bowman Chrome Out of a value box and got an out of five out of five Malique neighbors.

Wish it was a jersey match. That would have been cool. But, I mean, it's pretty much a color match because it's blue and then red with the, you know. Another thing, retail. There it is. Yeah. So I'm glad that he got it because the first time sports ended up buying another, another value box. Oh yeah,

we got them now. Yeah, he's gonna be hooked. We like to stuff these boxes without a five to get people hooked. No. Exactly what we're saying. Hot retail product. So today is Wednesday,

October 7th that we are recording this episode. And it is the product launch for the Allen and Ginter. It's going wild. It sounded like you're trying to defrost your car. I don't have a car. I don't have a soundboard. I hadn't opened this product until today. And quickly, it has become my personal favorite top product that they have released.

And I wish they release it more. And for all of the sports, because I think it is the best designs and, like, best quality. Very fun. It's a little bit unique. So we're going to do our weekly pack battle. I'm feeling good about this because it is. You're cooked. Okay.

I'm feeling good about this. I'm just looking at the box while you open that one. Yeah. Look for autograph and relic cards. The Allen Ginter. Yeah. 2026 tops. We got the eight packs here.

Eight packs per box, six cards per pack. Start doing voiceovers. Oh. Okay. You can have the top. Oh, he's already handing me the bad ones. I know. Yep.

You plan this. you resealed that thing. Obviously. Clearly. Okay. We got four. Let's see. Ladies first.

Yep. Admiring. Showing my camera for the, and I'm struggling to open the pack. Here we go. Bad start. Great for TV. Yeah.

Struggling. Struggle. Struggle pause, silence. Okay. We're going to goofy sound down. Okay. Let's see. all right

Osteeldo Spade David Spade Okay Smith Ozzy Smith Oh we got a refractor

mini That's awesome Who is it? Raleigh Cal Raleigh Oh yeah So I've noticed that with these minis The centering is terrible

On the backs Yeah But this actually doesn't doesn't look too terribly off-center. How Raleigh's a very good player, catcher. Yeah, so look at me. Yep. Okay.

First pack. It's a 101. It's king. Just seen. That would be crazy. I didn't let it breathe enough. I didn't let it breathe enough. I didn't let it more.

I felt bad when I laughed after I said it. Oh, she's getting so excited. Oh, I guess I got a mini too. Mine doesn't like a surface, though. Okay. All right. These do look cool. I mean,

the base artwork is great. Loving it. Trombone Shorty. I love how they mix pop culture with it. I don't know who that is, Davis. Who's that? Not a clue.

But you can get... Gina Davis. Okay. You can get Survivor. Um, people from Survivor. And I love Survivor. And they have some of the autos in here. And I really want to pull one.

Old school Kurt Gibson. Cool looking card base. So, but it's okay. Okay. Who do we have here? Akamoto rookie. Oh. Is the base?

On the mini. Azuma. All these Asian players have been coming in. They're just kicking ass. Uh, our poo holes on the wicked power. No refraction. All right. My pack number two.

Your staging works so good so far. Yeah. I got the refractor. You're repacking my packs. Let's see. Oh, and here's a five culture. Who is this?

Colin Britain. I don't know. Colin Britain. I know that. No, though. Again. Oh, he's from Lincoln Park.

We got a Murakami insert here. Oh, yeah. White Sox. That's who we were just telling me. Yep. And then another little mini. Okay. Cool.

Okay. All right. What do we got? I mean, for my unfair share of autos and numbers, whatever else. Oh, trying to hand them to you.

Even the way these packs feel, like, it's very intentional. I don't know. I love things that are intentionally done, and this feels in. David Ortiz. Robert Jr.

Up. And there's a mini. We've got a fella. Sedan Rafael. I don't know. I don't know my Red Sox that well. You should know the Red Sox being as the Greenville Drive feeds to them.

Yeah. Well, I know Clayton Kirshaw. He's a Hall of Famer. Going to be. Just retired. looks 249 got pack numero three

yeah all right oh is that petty I don't know who that is either Lori Petty

I don't know who these celebrities are Acuna Jr that's pretty good base Tank girl oh we got a new color on this mini

got a brown oh and then just another insert I have yet to pull a numbered card out of any of these. So that's a little disappointing. Okay. I think I have some color here on the coming. Finally.

Oh, that shoeless Joe Jackson. And he was, he played at the Greenville. He's home was here. Yep. We have a whole apartment complex dedicated to him. And,

oh, Babe Ruth on the Chrome. Okay. got to be worth at least something something one of the greatest players of all time old school that gouty hey ruth was interesting i like that you a good job with those and then a little mini on the scubel tarig scubel very cool and then oh erin judge to close it out he's pretty good at the game of baseball i got the same one earlier you did yeah Aaron judge so you're not special I guess we've got to put Babe Ruth

Of against your player Who do you think's better, Betelah, Babe Ruth or Cal Raleigh? I don't want to hear it. Okay, last pack magic. Let's see. Okay, well, that was as ungraceful as it probably could have been. Yeah, PSA zero at every corner.

Okay. I don't know who this is either. These celebrities. Oh, Pat, Kurt. I'm not a little. Oh. Got another mini insert. Okay.

And then Carol. Corbin Carol? Corbin Carol. I thought you're going to see Carol Burnett for a second. Oh, no. Arizona Diamondbacks. I really love these mini-s. So cute.

Everything's better when it's tiny. Yes. Oh, one of the best players in the game. Price Harper put him over here in the winning stack. Oh, I'll see that out loud. Oh, McLean, Nolan McLean. Pretty good. Oh, Aaron Judge.

Another Aaron Judge. Wow, that looks like a really nice one. Put him in the winning stack, too. You're the worst. Oh, wow. That's a special. card right there. I'm going to tell everyone about that in a second. That's a case hit or something. Rob Sesterina, I have no idea. These semi, we've got now this mix of what, reality TV stars.

Yeah. Are we going to get our own cards and now I can get her? Wait. I feel like we know the right people. We can make that happen. Yeah. Okay. I do, I watch this is something because I, watching Pac-Man last night opened these and he kind of flipped out over one of I have no idea what it means, but maybe it's nothing. But it's like a T. Oh, it looks like a little postcard. Yeah. That's cute.

I think that has some, that. Oh, and one of the greatest players for all the time, Cy Young. Oh. Okay, so yet again, I have lost. I feel like, you know, like beat Bobby Flee. I feel like I'm always, like you're Bobby Flee. And I'm always.

Occasionally I'll lose, but you know. When, when? On what one have you lost? I think I win and then it's, oh. You beat me once. What was that? Pokemon or something? Oh, yeah.

I guess. What inconsequential what match was that? Yeah. Yeah. It's okay. The, uh, I, I am a lucky pack opener,

but not so lucky that I can put the day job. As a, it's not to sell them. I just feel like I, maybe get luck. I don't open a ton as much as it might seem. The boys and I don't even, we open one tenth of what we opened before.

before I opened the store. Now we opened the store we're not even close to the amount that we used to, which is probably good. That's all these actually have stuff to sell. Yeah. But when I do... Probably good for the pockets and the bank account, too. It is.

It's good for both. Well, there are a ton of releases coming out over the next couple of weeks, some small ones and some big ones. And you can find all the release calendars over at the Collector Nation.com or on the app. Super helpful. Or you can go check out our social media. We're now doing some release pyramids and Chase. set list. So it makes it really easy for you to know what's in the set. Makes it really easy for

me to know what's in the set. And overall, just creates the hobby ecosystem and community. We got a ton of amazing things happening over there, whether it's the latest news or Ryan's voice serenating you. So make sure to go check out the collectornation.com or download the app on iOS. And are we live on Android? It might be by Friday because it's... go check it. It's coming soon. It's in for approval with them. So it's any moment. And if you're a creator in the hobby, feel free to DM us and we can get you all set up as a verified creator on the collector nation platform. And I know you want that little check next to your name. I wish you to have that little check. You know, whatever color you want it to be will make it.

We are so happy for those who have already joined. So come join. the best spot in the hobby. Any final thoughts, Ryan? No. I'll give everyone a little insider tip. So go to the app. Listen closely here. Go to the app.

Go check out one of the release pages. And because if you need to have the app either way. But if you sign up through the release pages, there's a little Easter egg called a free hobby box giveaway. So everyone that registers for the app through the release pages, it's registered to win either a hobby box in sports or a Pokemon ETB.

So your choice. And a little insider tip. So I mean, you get a free app that should probably be a $30 app anyway. And you get registered to win. Yeah. Can't beat that.

We appreciate everyone that is already visited. You know, it's been a labor of love, but it's got a lot of value. And one last tip, I see people opening and ripping boxes all the time. And they're not sure what the parallel

is they're not sure how many other cards there are. Our set lists, our checklists now, have the search part at the top and you can put the card number in. It will tell you every variation that that card has and that player has in that set and the name of it. I see a lot of people talking about that. I didn't even know that. And that will be super helpful for me when something's called like a Mojo Dojo Casa House card.

And I'm like, I don't know what that is. Yeah. I saw a lot of people opening like tops. like Bowman. And I struggle with the same thing when you first opened it. And you can go to that checklist search bar. Put it in.

It'll show you every variation, the name of them, and other cards that player has. That's a game changer, making the hobby easier one day at a time. We appreciate you for supporting our show and supporting everything we're doing. Go give us a follow on YouTube,

like, subscribe, and comment. We apply to every single comment. We do. We appreciate everyone for listening. Thecollationation. For Bella Schaefer, I'm Ryan Alford. We'll see you next time. Thanks for tuning in to the show.

Be sure to follow us on your go-to podcast platform and catch the full video episode over on YouTube. Visit us at collectornation.com and follow Ryan on Instagram at Ryan Alford. Now get out there and collect yours.