I have a few pokemon cards people have given me over the years but I don't actively collect them. the appeal 4 me would definitely be the art I love how card art can be like a tiny art gallery

i collect cards that i find visually appealing. i prefer older cards, the art styles used in card art have shifted a lot over the years and the newer stuff doesn't appeal to me as much. the holo patterns they use are different too, i prefer the cosmos holo and such compared to the boring lines in newer holos. i like the e-reader cards the best. i mostly buy damaged holos off of tcgplayer so i can get pretty rare cards for cheap since i don't mind a few crinkles. i do like the appeal of collecting rare cards, its fun to feel like i have a special collection that few other people can replicate. that said i'm also kind of a cheapskate so i don't often shell out for the genuinely rare vintage stuff lmao. i do want to pick up some of the old ex-style cards, like the absol or mew.

I've been collecting pokemon cards since like 2006 so this is kind of a sentimental thing to me. As a kid I have never played the actual tcg in any capacity whatsoever. I only got the cards because I like looking at the artwork and even in adulthood that still rings true for me. Of course now that I have an income I can shell out some money for some of the more rarer/valuable cards and while I do want to have myself a nice collection, above all its almost always been about the artwork.

I'm also really happy that the pokemon tcg is kind of moving away from fullart cards that're just a cg render of a pokemon with secret rainbow and gold variants because some of my favorite cards in my collections are the full art ones where you can just really appreciate the artwork.

  

(yes I still want that umbreon alt art btw even though its like... 400 dollars sob)

I'm a toy and card collector at heart. I buy Pokemon cards now because it's a fun thing I share with my GF and because they don't take up as much room as some of my other collections. XP

It's exciting to pull something rare, but it's not a lucrative hobby unless you're super serious, and it's nice to just appreciate common cards, IMO. Otherwise, the whole hobby just feels like yanking open packs to look for one specific card.