The Evolution of DSP's Pokemon Unpack-ack-acking Grift

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]opening Pokemon cards. Someone is opening Pokemon cards that has 20K viewers.

[00:00:05]Well, I I I'm not gonna be opening Pokemon cards. If I send you Pokemon booster packs, would you consider opening them live on stream? Oh my god.

[00:00:12]Uh I mean, I I don't know how that could benefit us because I don't know anything about Pokemon cards, right? Like I know absolutely nothing about Pokemon at all.

[00:00:22]Pokemon cards that is. I wouldn't know what's a good card, what's a bad card. I wouldn't know the difference between any of it. Like I know for a fact there's a market for that stuff. There's people who literally just sit on YouTube opening packs and stuff and people like that, but I don't know anything about it, right?

[00:00:40]You would I mean that kind of goes right over my head.

[00:00:44]I could start collecting Pokemon cards.

[00:00:47]Uh I don't think I'm too interested in Pokemon cards to be honest. It's probably not anything too interesting to me. Would I open Pokemon cards on stream cuz the Chase cards are worth $2,000? Uh if there was a reason to. Like let's say for example, okay, there's a new Pokemon game that comes out and people want me to play it and I play it and it gets good support. It could be similar to say Smart Guys where maybe if I could get my hands on Pokemon cards, which I'd be shocked if I could because as you know those things are in massive demand. But let's say I actually was able to buy some Pokemon cards and we can say, "Hey, if we hit a certain support level, I'll open one of the packs tonight and we'll see what's in there." I will consider doing that. Someone presented an interesting take. All right. So, when I've played these games, number one, people who have contributed actually got to name the Pokemon. And that's actually worked.

[00:01:37]People have liked that, being able to name the Pokemon. But another thing people said was, since you're doing card pack openings, would you consider actually getting some Pokemon cards and if you hit a certain level of support, opening Pokemon cards on a Pokemon stream? I thought about I was like that might work fine but I don't know about the availability and rarity of Pokemon cards. I know nothing of Pokemon cards at all. Like I'm a complete Pokemon card newbie. So I don't know if you can actually like buy a box or a booster box or a collector's box. I don't know how they work. I don't know how rare they are. I don't know how expensive they are. But if people really liked Pokemon and wanted that as part of the streams and would support it, I would be down for something like that. Uh moving forward, will you do like Pokemon cards?

[00:02:18]someone has suggested, why don't I do Pokemon, right? And I was like, oh, that could be interesting Pokemon cards or whatever. But then looking into that, they're just as crazy as expensive and just stupidly over-the-top ridiculous.

[00:02:31]Anything that's a collector's thing these days is just out of control with its pricing. I don't know why. I guess we're back to the '90s cuz it was the same thing in the 1990s. In the 1990s, comic books, cards were all over the top expensive. Then in the 2000s, the whole market crashed out. Could I open Pokemon cards? Says hearts to hearts. I've heard Pokemon cards are the worst. I've legit heard that Pokemon cards are actually the rarest, most expensive, hardest to collect and have fun with. So, I would say no.

[00:03:02]I don't think so. I really don't think so at all. Okay. Uniqueness, thank you for another $2 super chat. And they asked, "You ever play the Pokemon trading card game as a kid?" I did not.

[00:03:12]I I never owned any Pokemon cards until a fan donated some uh a few years ago.

[00:03:17]So, I have like one Pokemon card in my closet right now and that's about it. I have heard about the most insane stories about Pokemon cards now. How insane this has gotten cuz we've talked about it on this show recently that to try to get into a collector's hobby these days is nearly impossible because Pokemon cards are now valued so highly. You've got people lining up outside of stores to get them for the new shipments that come in and stuff. Did you hear what just happened recently? The guy who hid out inside the [ __ ] Best Buy because they were going to get a shipment of Pokémon cards the next day and he slept in the [ __ ] store overnight so he could beat the line to buy a box of Pokemon cards and the police came and arrested him.

[00:04:05]Okay. Did they have any value to them?

[00:04:07]No. The cards are completely worthless.

[00:04:09]They were a huge waste of money, right?

[00:04:11]But it's fun to have a random card opening, pack opening, gotcha. It's kind of the same thing as a gotacha. You're doing a pull. What are you going to get?

[00:04:18]Right. It's fun. And since then, people said, "Well, would you do it?" I would do it. Do you guys have any ideas of what I should do? And anytime someone had an idea, I would look it up. It's not even available. Oh, there's like Spider-Man Magic cards. There's like Final Fantasy Magic cards. Okay. I go to Litha. They're on pre-order. They're already sold out.

[00:04:37]Huh? And people even said, "Well, you play Pokemon a lot. Would you do Pokemon cards?" With what process would I actually obtain Pokemon cards besides standing outside of a line of 50 people outside of a Target with a hopeful chance that maybe I'll be one of the first 10 in line to buy the cards. You can't buy Pokemon cards, you know? It's like not even possible.

[00:04:59]I'm debating ordering some Pokemon cards. I really am. like they're expensive as [ __ ] but if we can have something cool to do extra for the Pokemon streams and you guys keep coming by and supporting them, I mean, why wouldn't I, right? I'm I'm debating doing it. Hey, if I have a chance to get a rare card, why not? I might have to get some card protectors then. We actually seriously considered the possibility of me maybe getting a box, a sealed box of Pokemon cards online and actually opening packs during upcoming Pokemon streams, whether that's Pokemon Fire Red or maybe coming up after that, Pokemon Champions. So, it was a good stream. Give it a look. Fun progress, good times, and great support as always.

[00:05:42]Pokemon always doing well.

[00:05:45]Someone has just sent me a link to buy Pokemon cards. Let's take a look here.

[00:05:56]A box of 36 Mega Evolution booster box for current Pokemon cards. 36 packs.

[00:06:04]$300.

[00:06:08]Yikes.

[00:06:11]$300. $300 for a box of Pokemon cards. So that would value them. How many packs are in there?

[00:06:22]30. Is it 36 packs?

[00:06:26]Yes. 36 booster packs of 10 random cards. So that would be what? $3 a pack?

[00:06:40]No, $8 a pack. What's the math there? Let's see. About eight. Eight. didn't change a pack. So, less than a dollar a card. I guess the question is what what are the drop rates? I wonder what are the drop rates for cards these days. Here's a different box. Let's see what this is.

[00:07:03]So, this one is the perfect order booster box.

[00:07:09]This one also has 36 packs, but it's less chance of chase cards. This one's $217.

[00:07:23]So, they're about $6 a pack.

[00:07:26]Still less, you know, less than a dollar a card. But again, I I bet the the non uh the nonchase cards are probably worth like nothing, right? They're probably so common, huh?

[00:07:42]So, we were talking about this on my podcast this morning that since Pokemon does so good in my content, right? We always get good good attendance, good engagement, and good support when I play Pokemon that maybe you guys would like to see me try to open up Pokemon packs during these streams as a special like thing to do. Maybe we figure out when we do it. Like, is there a time to say, "Hey, let's open a pack or something and see if we can get anything good."

[00:08:07]You know? I don't know. Like I I would consider it's not against it's definitely not um out of the question. I could do it right now. I could get one if I wanted. I wonder how long it takes for them to show up.

[00:08:21]But uh I don't know. What do you guys think? Would you be interested in me opening up Pokemon card packs during Pokemon streams?

[00:08:29]If we're going to do Pokemon cards, I guess I have to buy uh plastic cases for them, too, in case we pull something good, right?

[00:08:37]Put it in a nice sleeve and grade it.

[00:08:43]Who wants me to grade? Get graded Pokemon cards. DSP unboxing Pokemon cards for the first time. I think it would be cool cuz I know the Pokemon to be honest. I think I I'd recognize the Pokemon better than the freaking wrestlers that were on the WWE cards last year cuz I didn't know who half those wrestlers were. Like who the hell is this? Never heard of this before.

[00:09:05]We've been talking about Pokemon cards, right, and the possibility of maybe doing some card unboxings in tandem with my Pokemon gameplay. I decided to make an investment. And last night, I did actually purchase one box of 36 packs of the highest value, rarest Pokemon cards. Not the cheaper box, but the more expensive box. Okay. I actually went with a reputable seller because I was looking at it was cheaper to go with someone who had a kind of a questionable rating. I was like, "No, I'm not doing that." So, I went with a reputable seller.

[00:09:40]And uh uh the the only bummer about the whole situation, you can't get anything fast. Like, no lie, even if I pay extra, I can't get it quickly. So, I I bought it and basically I'm waiting to hear about delivery information, but they're estimating I probably won't get it until like the first week of June. Okay. Okay.

[00:09:58]Now, that may change, but the good news there is let's finish up with uh with our Pokemon Fire Red playthrough.

[00:10:09]Let's determine what the next gameplay will be. And it seems like a lot of people are saying they want Pokemon Champions. Okay, if you want Pokemon Champions, maybe that's what we'll do next. We'll start doing these multiplayer streams of Pokemon Champions. They'll be fun and interactive. You guys can coach me through the matches. And maybe what we'll do is every night when we do a Pokemon champion stream, we open a pack of cards. I have 36 packs coming. Okay, maybe if we get like a wellsupported stream, right? I'll be like, "Yeah, let's celebrate. Let's open a second pack of cards." I'm also going to buy a binder that you can put the cards in those sleeves. And I'm going to buy some of those hard protectors as well, just in case on the incredibly rare, low chance that I do pull a good card that's worth something, I want to protect it.

[00:10:56]Okay. So, I am going to be getting that kind of stuff for when we do this box of cards. The card. So, it's 36 packs, 10 cards a pack. That's 360 freaking cards.

[00:11:05]So, I have to be sure that I have enough uh to hold the cards. Let's see how that goes. But I just don't have any updates or anything on it because I won't for a while. I probably won't even get confirmation within 2 three days of if and when it's shipping. Then, you know, we have to see how long it takes to get here and go from there. Okay. So, I will let you know when I have information about it, but as of now, no, there's no real big updates yet, but I just want to let you know I'm investing.

[00:11:32]You know, this is stuff that we've talked about that this year, all right, I want to do different things. I want to branch out. I want to try new kinds of content. I want to do new things. I want to be able to jump from game to game without any limitation.

[00:11:45]This could be something interesting to do for the streams that's different, right? It's not my normal stuff. It's certainly not my normal comfort zone.

[00:11:52]And I see it as even though it's expensive cuz yes, a box of Pokemon cards is over $300.

[00:12:00]It is, but it's an investment of something that can add to the content here on the stream. Okay, so we'll see how it goes. Okay, cool.

[00:12:12]Guess what? It's here, folks. That's right.

[00:12:17]Pokemon cards have arrived. And today we are going to take a look at them together live on the stream plus all these accessories that I ordered for them as well. We will have a live unboxing and the first ever card opening right here on the show. That is right.

[00:12:32]Get excited for that. That's going to be exciting stuff. And we're going to talk about how to handle this moving forward.

[00:12:37]It's going to be great. So, you know what time it is? Should I tell you what time it is?

[00:12:42]It's card time, baby. That's right. It's time for us to turn our attention over here and to take a little look at this.

[00:12:48]This will be fun. But you know what? I told you I want to go all out. All right. So, give me a second. I'll be right back.

[00:12:55]Okay, folks. So, we're getting serious.

[00:12:57]All right. If we're going to unpack cards, we're going to unpack them the right way. We have gloves so I don't get any body oils on the cards. They will be absolutely pristine.

[00:13:07]That's what we're talking about. We're going to white glove treat the cards today. All right. That's what I'm talking about, baby. All right. So, let's go. Let's get these gloves on. And yeah, I went with the name brand stuff.

[00:13:17]I went with Ultra Pro. Ultra Pro is the name brand company for card uh, you know, storage and the like. So, I got a binder that's actually a 360 card binder. It's enough to actually have all of the cards in this box in it. Uh, if I so choose to store them that way. Okay, so let's see here. Uh, we are going to break the seal on this unopened box of Mega Evolution Pokemon cards. We're going to take a look at it for the first time ever. I've never seen anything like this. I've never done this before. First time ever in my life, opening a pack of Pokemon cards. Okay.

[00:13:47]We're breaking the seal. There we go.

[00:13:49]Record. People are incredibly upset that I'm doing this. I'm serious. There's people in Kick Chat who are absolutely losing their [ __ ] that DSP is about to open Pokemon cards on stream. That's hilarious. Okay, so here's what it looks like.

[00:14:01]Pretty nice art there. Mega evolve your strength to the next What does it say?

[00:14:06]The next stage. Yeah, there you go. It's real. It was authentically sealed. It's not a receal. It's not a scam. It's real. Here we are.

[00:14:14]36 packs. All right, so we're going to do our first ever unpacking of Pokemon trading cards. Are the Do the packs look different? I've never seen these before.

[00:14:23]They do look different. Take a look at that. They actually do look different.

[00:14:26]They have different Pokemon on the front. That was my first ever Pokemon card unpacking. I hope that you enjoyed it. So now here's the question, cuz here's what we got to figure out, everybody. Let's talk about this right now. Okay, let's have a discussion about it.

[00:14:37]When should I decide to unpack cards? I now have 31 packs left right here. Okay.

[00:14:42]And the question is, what should be the occasions for which I unpack cards? Okay. Number one, I would say if we're doing a Pokemon stream, then maybe I would do like a a pack of cards for Pokemon stream, right? Like, why not? Why not just do, you know, every time we're doing Pokemon at some point during the stream, let's open a pack of cards. Okay? So, that's number one. The other thing is we may play the Pokemon card, excuse me, the trading card sim game soon. We might even play it next week. I think like if we're going to do that, obviously you're opening virtual packs of cards. I think at least once when we do those, we should probably open a pack of cards for that, too. Okay. I I mean, just being honest and fair, I think that would make sense. That'd be cool. So, if we're playing Pokemon, maybe open a pack of cards. If we're playing the trading card game on nights and we decide to play that, if we do, we open it then. Okay.

[00:15:20]Now, outside of that, all right, when else? Because here's the thing. I don't have financial goals on my streams and haven't since November. But if I say, "Oh, well, if we hit a certain level of support, I'll open a pack of cards."

[00:15:31]What's going to end up happening is people are going to be like, "You have goals. Don't you know you have goals?"

[00:15:37]And so, obviously, I don't want to do that. I don't want to go two steps forward and then two steps back. Does that make sense? So the question is what do we do then? Do we do it based on if someone get gives a lot? Like let's say someone does a $100 contribution. Is that instantly we we commit to opening a pack of cards? Then if there's a $100 contribution, we do something like that. You like if you drop 20 subs or $100 super chat or I guess that would be three bucks per membership. So 33 memberships, right?

[00:16:02]Do something like that because people are like, "Oh, why why so much?" Cuz I only have 31 packs left. You understand, right? I don't have 31 packs left. So I I don't I don't want to be opening them seven of stream and we're done with this box in one week. This is expensive. You do understand that this box cost a lot of money, right? So I don't want to just go through it, you know, within a week.

[00:16:19]By the way, excuse me for one second. I have something I need to do. Come on, frog. Let's have a pose off, frog. Yeah, come on.

[00:16:28]Sorry about that. I'm contractually obligated to do that every time the frog animation plays. So Zachma did a $2 super chat says, "One pack a day, you silly goose." One pack a day. Is that what we should do? Only one pack a day.

[00:16:38]We could maybe do that. So, I mean, what I'm thinking, like I said, maybe if we if we're playing uh if we're playing Pokemon, guaranteed that I'm going to open a pack during the Pokemon stream.

[00:16:47]If we're doing the trading card game, guaranteed that I'll open one pack during the trading card stream. Okay.

[00:16:52]And then maybe in celebration of a big contribution, like if someone does a $100 contribution, I'll be like, "Okay, for 100 bucks." Did it not play any sound effect? I didn't hear it. That was weird.

[00:17:04]Well, anyway, I don't know why uh it didn't play the sound effect. I'll read that in a second. That's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking one pack for permon stream, one pack for trading card stream, and for a $100 contribution that way. Here's why I want to do it that way. Cuz then we have a chance to open a pack on any stream, right? Like literally any stream we could open a pack. That's cool. Otherwise, it would only be during Pokemon streams and only during trading card streams and no chance of opening packs otherwise. And I want to always kind of have a chance to do it. Okay, that's what I'm thinking.

[00:17:27]Some people are saying 50 rather than 100. Uh well, here here's the thing.

[00:17:30]Okay, here's why I'm apprehensive about doing every 50. Okay, because quite frankly, as you saw, that was not quick to do. When I'm going to do this, I got to move my stuff. I got to adjust the camera, interrupt what we're doing. I don't know if I'm always going to have the gloves, to be honest. That was kind of a funny thing to do for the first time. I doubt I'll always have the gloves on me or whatever, just to be honest here. Okay. Um, but it takes a while to do. It's going to be disruptive to the content that we're doing. Right now, let's say, for example, I'm streaming a game and we get three $50 contributions. What if we get a $50 contribution early, a $50 contribution middle of the stream, and one later?

[00:17:58]It's like, so what we're going to do is unpack cards the whole stream. I thought this was a game stream, you know? I feel like the $100 price point means that every once in a while on a rare night we'll get to see a pack of cards, but it won't be intrusive to the content that I normally put out and every once in a while someone drops 100 bucks. That's a special event. You know what I'm saying?

[00:18:13]It'll be something cool. Cuz the thing is the one here's the thing I don't want to do. I don't want to be relying on hitting an arbitrary number cuz my streams don't have goals like that anymore. They did for a long time. First it was 100, then it was 200, then it was 150. Right now I don't need that anymore cuz we're doing good. We've been doing good on every stream. I have no complaints whatsoever. Thank you all for that. Don't have to worry about that stuff anymore. I'm not going back to that. I want this to be a way to say, "Hey, let's party atmosphere. have a special thing that we're doing now cuz someone decided to support in a big way and it could happen at any time. I do feel if I do 50 bucks, it's going to be too common. We're going to be doing it too much and this this box will be gone within like a week or two. I'm serious.

[00:18:40]I feel like this box will be gone and I don't that's the thing. Like I wanted to have this be something special that lasts a bit. I don't want this to be gone in a week and now wow get more.

[00:18:46]Well, this thing cost a lot of money. I want to have to be ordering them once a week. That's crazy, you know? No. No.

[00:18:52]See, that's what I mean. There's not going to be a card pull goal. I want to do it in celebration of something special, you know? Why do it in tying money? I'm not. We're doing it in time to the content we're doing on Pokemon streams. And if I play the trading card game, but I want to do another way so it's not just those streams. Cuz let me give you an example. Next week I'll probably play Pokemon twice. We may play the trading card game once, maybe twice, but probably one. So that's three packs all week. But if there's always a chance that someone might contribute and we could see another one. That'd be cool.

[00:19:14]It's always Oh, it's cool. It's interesting. Maybe Phil will do a pack tonight if someone does a big contribution. Or let's be honest, maybe someone's like, I really like this game, man. I want to support it and I know if I do a good contribution for Phil, they'll open a pack, too. And that's something for everyone, you know? I don't know. Listen, I'm still open. If you guys think 50, then 50. What do you think?

[00:19:27]How about How about this? Right. Who would be willing to do that? Is there anyone even on the stream right now who's like, "Yeah, if Phil had a $50 reward to open a pack, I would do it."

[00:19:35]This this particular box people are asking. So, I saw this box going for as cheap as $300. As expensive as over 400.

[00:19:41]I think I paid 325. I think that's what I think I paid 325. Okay.

[00:19:46]So, yeah, it's expensive as [ __ ] They're These are not cheap prices. You know, straight aces. You seem to be misinterpreting. He goes, "People can spend 50 bucks to watch a TCG streamer open cards and ship it to them. This isn't a card stream. My content isn't cards. This is a special thing in tandem with me already providing you an entertaining stream, a podcast, a Pokemon gameplay stream, a trading card store stream, a Lego Batman stream, whatever it may be. You're already getting the content. This is something additional to that. No one's going to say, "I'm going to give Phil $50 if he opens a card path." They're going to say, "I already like his content. This is good content. I want to support it.

[00:20:15]Here's 50 bucks. And as a bonus, we're also going to get to see a card opening today." That's the difference. This is not my business is not I bought the cards to open and ship them to people and that is my content. That's not my content. You're getting it wrong. And you're thinking, "Oh, Phil, there's already competition out there for 50 bucks to ship you cards." That's not my business. That's not even the point of it. You've got it wrong. I'm already giving you other content. If that trading card gamer was also doing something completely different to entertain you and also was shipping you cards, then you'd have a point. But all they're doing is [ __ ] sitting there waiting for money to open a card pack and send it to somebody. That's a little different than what I do. It seems like people are are now pushing for 50. I don't know. Again, understand that we're already going to be opening these naturally during streams of Pokemon or if I do the trading card game. This is not something that's always tying it to money. It's not supposed to be about that. All right. I bought it to be an additional piece of content for when we're doing this kind of gaming. Some people are disagreeing. It's tough to figure this out. We got to determine it right now. All right. All right. 100% locked for now. Number one, at a Pokemon stream, we're going to open a pack.

[00:21:03]That's number one. Number two, during a trading card stream, meaning the game, the sim game, if we choose to start playing that late nights, one one pack for those. And I will say, all right, we'll do it. 50 bucks. If someone does a $50 super chat, 10 subs, 5,000 kicks, that would be 17 gifted memberships. Okay? Or super sticker for 50. a $50 contribution. All right. And you know, during a stream, all it has to be in one go, too. It can't be like, "Oh, I give you a $5 super chat, then a $5 super chat, then a five, then a five, then a five, then a five over four hours, and then all of a sudden added up to 50, and now at the end, no, you do it all at once with the intention to say, hey, I want to see the pack, too." All right, that's how we're going to do it. Bruya Gaming, this is not meant to be a business venture where I'm shipping uh things. He goes, "You sign the cards and mail them." No, the the cost of mailing alone will be more than the card. There's no point.

[00:21:46]I already know cuz I've been there, done that. Okay. Jack Ryan Gaming did get a $2 shrimp as one pack every 100 likes.

[00:21:51]Oh, we're not opening packs for life.

[00:21:52]That's not happening. Sorry. Okay, so that's that's the rules right now. It's going to be we will open a pack of these for a Pokemon stream or if I happen to do a trading card sim stream, which we may start next week. We'll see. And if someone does a $50 contribution in one go, whether it's 10 subs, 5,000 kicks, 17 memberships, or a super chat or a super sticker or a $50 tip, we'll open another pack. And that starts as of right now, this very moment, it has begun. Okay, there you go.