For some time, it has become a trend to open old Pokémon booster packs live on Twitch. Streamer Matthew “Mizkif” Rinaudo did this and pulled a card that may be worth over 125,000 dollars.
What happened? Mizkif bought an old box of Pokémon cards and opened it live on stream. The box with the booster packs cost 35,000 dollars. Such old boxes are very rare and accordingly expensive.
In just under 3 hours and under the watch of more than 110,000 viewers at peak (via Sullygnome), the streamer opened all the booster packs. This took a while because each card was carefully handled and immediately securely packed to retain its value.
However, most of the cards found had little value. It was only in the last booster that a really rare card awaited: Holo-Lugia.
The find itself and the joy about it can be seen in this clip:
How rare is Holo-Lugia? This is still being debated. A Holo-Lugia rated PSA 10 was sold for 129,000 dollars on November 26 (via PSA). Previously, a card went for around 12,600 dollars at auction in August. In total, there are reportedly 41 cards worldwide that are in this good condition and have been graded by PSA.
In a reddit thread, there are differing opinions on how much the card will fetch:
- Some believe that the pulled card could be sold for over 125,000 dollars due to its good condition
- Others expect a price range of 10,000 to 25,000 dollars
Additionally, Mizkif has already pulled a Holo-Tornupto, which is said to be worth between 5,000 and 50,000 dollars. Thus, the streamer will likely recoup his 35,000 dollar expenses.
Pokémon cards are popular on Twitch
Streamer Mizkif is not alone in his collecting passion on Twitch. In recent months, many streamers have opened such boxes and discovered cards that sold for up to 350,000 dollars, as Dexerto reports.
Streamer Chance “Sodapoppin” Morris, known mainly for his WoW streams, has recently pushed back against this trend. He explicitly burned a rare card worth about 10,000 dollars live on stream:
In the reddit thread, there is also criticism for the absurd prices being paid for these old booster packs and cards. Cards that were sold for several hundred or thousand euros in 2018 and in some cases even 2020 have sharply increased recently.
However, the price is driven by low supply and the currently growing interest. This has also been fueled by streams like Mizkif’s.
Another point of criticism is that some users see a form of gambling in these openings labeled as “child-friendly.” This was also criticized by Sodapoppin.
Gambling and Twitch is always a topic. Moderator Jan Böhmermann has already criticized this and took the German streamer Jens “Knossi” Knossalla to task.
Why Twitch is so important for Gaming – Listen to it in the MeinMMO Podcast
Find out here what influence streaming and Twitch have on gaming, the industry, and us as players.
Absurdly high prices are not only found in the old trading card game Pokémon. The popular new game Genshin Impact also often makes headlines where streamers spend a lot of money on characters.
A player recently spent around 12,500 euros just to check the drop rates:
Player checks drop rates in Genshin Impact – Invests 12,500 € in Old Rock
