Have you ever made a mistake against a boss that made you groan in disappointment? Have you ever had a golden opportunity in a game and watched it slip through your fingers? What about a trade in a card game or a video game that saw you lose out and made you kick yourself afterward? I’ve been there.
Not only have I made every stupid mistake there is to make in gaming, but my mistakes have literally lost me thousands of dollars. This number is not hyperbolic, and the loss still pains me to this day. However, there’s a lesson to be learned in all of this and it might not be the one you think. Let my pain become your teacher.
B-Tier Luck
I have what I like to refer to as B-Tier Luck when it comes to pulling good cards from trading card games. I don’t get good cards every time I crack open a pack or even just most of the time. Trying to pull something in particular just does not work for me, and my luck gets worse the more packs I open. However, when I open a pack after a while of not playing, or I open a pack at an event, I usually end up getting a good hit.
This is how I got some of my best and most expensive cards I currently own. It’s how I got my copy of Smothering Tithe in MtG, a card so powerful its got the label of “game changer.” I got my foil Karn Liberated, at the time worth $80, from a draft run by a friend. Most memorably, this is how I also pulled Charizard Star from the first pack of Pokémon, or any card game, that I ever opened.
Charizard Star is both a star card and a delta card, making it incredibly rare. Star cards are a type of card that feature powerful Pokémon that have a different color than usual, called “shiny.” While shiny Pokémon are rare encounters in video games, it is even rarer to see them depicted in official art, such as the TV series or the card game. Finally, Charizard Star is a delta species card, which means its type is different from what is expected. Delta species was a very limited mechanic and no longer gets printed.
These rare factors add up to this card going for $2,800 at a Grade 7 or a whopping $10,000 at a Grade 9.5. Even ungraded, the card is worth almost a thousand dollars! This was the rare card in the first pack I ever pulled. Talk about a pull!
Losing it All
When I first pulled my Charizard Star and got into the Pokémon hobby, I was young and didn’t understand how to keep cards or the value they can someday have. I stored my Charizard Star in a tiny tin that pressed in on its edges, along with a chunk of obsidian, a fossil, and a handful of other prized tchotchkes. I kept the rest of my Pokémon cards out loose without card sleeves, later upgrading to a cardboard box.
If I’m being honest with myself, my Charizard Star lost most of its value in the small watch tin it lived in for the better part of my adolescence. My youthful ignorance lost most of the value the card could now have. I simply didn’t understand how a casual hobby could carry so much value.
Regardless of how much my Charizard Star might now be worth, I’ll never know. Sometime between departing for college and now, I lost my watch tin and my Charizard Star along with it.
Gamer Grief
A near-universal experience I’ve seen amongst the friends I’ve made through gaming is that we’ve all got a story just like this. I knew an underclassman whose mom sold his copy of Pokémon-Yellow, still fresh in its package. One of my closest friends lost one of his own Charizard cards. My college roommate traded away his copy of Mox Diamond for $50, incapable of knowing that it would be worth ten times as much today.
These stories of losses bring gamers together. They’re a way to commiserate and mourn but also a way to communicate. Whether it’s the story of how a parent gave away a treasured collectible, of a devastating string of pulls in a Gacha, how Malenia killed you with only 1 HP in Elden Ring, or how you failed to catch a rare Pokémon, we all have these stories. In sharing them, we process and learn from our mistakes.
Nowadays, I’ve learned from my lesson. I have a binder with collections of cards. Now, I keep my important cards properly sleeved and protected. Instead of an old watch tin, I store my decks in product boxes designed to hold them. The pain of losing my cards has made me respect how much personal value they have, even far into the future.
Moving On From Loss
When I left for college, I gave away all of my Pokémon cards to a younger cousin. I knew they would get more use and more fun out of them than I would. My Charizard Star was the only card I kept for myself, which I would, of course, lose later. I miss my cards but giving them away felt like a rite of passage, like leaving something for the next person who will love them. I don’t regret it.
Looking back, I don’t mourn the value lost when I gave away my Mega Charzard EX, or my Kyogre EX, or even the value lost on my Charizard Star some time later. If I still had my Charizard Star, I would likely never sell it. What I really miss are the tangible memories and nostalgia wrapped in those cards.
Thanks for the Memories Charizard!
Games form lasting and powerful memories. I still remember where I was when I pulled my Charizard Star. I even remember what store I pulled it from and what aisle it was in. The memories of when I brought down a dragon on the wing in Dungeons and Dragons are still vivid in my mind. Beating Armored Core 6 after firing all my ammo and duking it out, metal fists pummeling into the final boss, is an epic moment I’ll always recall.
Losing my Charizard Star has taught me to treasure games in all their forms. A save file, once lost, becomes a treasured experience you can never return to. Sometimes you find a level that, try as you might, you can never find again. Other times, you lose a card that holds the treasured memory of the first time you ever got to play a game you love.
Treasure your games and treasure the memories you make from them. They are worth more than you realize.
