The Twitch streamer Maximilian “Trymacs” Stemmler repeatedly opens Pokémon boosters in his streams and collects the cards. He would like to have them graded by a US company to determine their rarity. However, this would only be possible if he is a US citizen.
In 2021, Twitch streamer Trymacs was one of the key figures behind the hype surrounding the opening of Pokémon boosters. Over the years, he has reportedly spent a total of 130,000 euros on Pokémon cards.
This year, Trymacs is again regularly opening booster packs. In Pokémon TCG Pocket, the app for digitally collecting Pokémon cards, he had no luck, but shortly after, he pulled one of the rarest cards in a Twitch stream.
Now he wanted to have his pulled Pokémon cards graded, but that can’t be done from Germany.
We present you Trymacs’ career in our video:
“If I catch him”
What kind of company is this? It is the US company Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA). They are located in the USA and grade trading cards or other rare collectibles. Many know them because they also grade Pokémon cards, and based on this grading, the resale value of a card can be determined.
The higher the value of the card it was graded with, the higher the resale price can be.
Due to the new tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on imports into the USA, PSA is now forced to no longer grade items that must be imported into the country. They announced this on April 3, 2025 on their website.
People living outside the USA can no longer have their items graded. Of course, there are other companies that offer such grading, but PSA is the most well-known.
Therefore, Trymacs would need to live in the USA for PSA to give his Pokémon cards what is called “grading.”
How does Trymacs react? Trymacs is visibly shocked by this decision from PSA in a stream clip on YouTube. His original plan was to send his best cards to the company and have them graded by them.
He is frustrated and indirectly comments on Donald Trump: “My goodness, wow. If I catch him!” All of this with a sarcastic undertone.
Although Trymacs states that there are plenty of things to criticize about the company and its grading, they are still the “top dog,” and everyone, when talking about grading, refers to PSA’s evaluations.
The phenomenon of influencers opening rare Pokémon boosters on social media has been around for some time. However, not everyone is thrilled with this new type of content, including MeinMMO editor Jasmin Beverungen, as she writes in her article: Influencers on Twitch and TikTok ruin the Pokémon card game – And that makes me sad
