Confronting Logan Paul | I Bought His $200,000 Pokemon Cards

Um, Graham Steven. One Pack YouTube channel. Channel Graham Steven. Steffen, here we go, here we go. [Music]

Now before I show you how all of this happened and why my face looks like this, let's rewind a little bit, because it all begins right here. Enjoy.

So just like every other 90s kid, I was absolutely obsessed with Pokemon. I was nine years old when the trading cards, the Game Boy game, and the TV series were released. And yeah, needless to say, I was immediately hooked. I spent the following three years of my life navigating through Viridian City, battling gym trainers, and waking up every morning and secretly hoping the Pokémon existed in real life. But that never panned out.

Anyway, like most kids at that time, the best way to show off your seriousness as a Pokémon aficionado is to bring your cards to school so that you can either trade for the cards you didn't have or show off that you have a Mew. Seriously, in elementary school there is no bigger flex than to pack a big binder of Pokémon cards in your backpack and then whip them out at lunch time so that everyone around you can admire your collection.

By the time I was 12 years old, I had completed most of my collection for the base set. But one afternoon, I unzipped my backpack and found my entire binder of Pokémon cards gone. That's right; some kids stole my entire collection of Pokémon cards in one swoop. I'll be honest, after that it was really hard to get back the same enthusiasm that I once had for collecting Pokémon cards. The thought of rebuilding that entire collection from the ground up was just too monumental for my 12-year-old mind to comprehend.

Now, I dabbled briefly after that and collected some of the Japanese Neo set. I still have those cards, but it was never really the same as I once had. However, the story is not in there. Over these last few years, I couldn't help but notice that Pokémon card collecting has begun to see a new resurgence. Millennials like myself have taken another interest in collecting these cards and beginning to relive a piece of our childhood in the exact same form we had 20 years ago, all from these single packs of cards.

But now there's one noticeable difference: the prices of these cards have been increasing faster than you could smash the like button for the YouTube algorithm. That's a hint; if you haven't already smashed the like button, it helps me out tremendously. And if you enjoyed Pokémon as a kid, then you definitely want to smash the like button because trust me, this video has a crazy ending.

Anyway, I digress. As much as we all thought that Pokémon might go up in value one day, as I'm sure was thought about every fad before it, certain Pokémon cards proved to be rather incredible yet nostalgic investments that have risen a lot in value in the recent few years. Now, card collecting is nothing new; in fact, it's been around since the 1860s when the first baseball cards were inserted into candy products. But over time, these cards have turned into something other than just a fun part-time hobby—they've turned into a very profitable business and investment.

So, 62,000. In fact, just last month, the Mike Trout rookie card took the world record for the most expensive trading card ever sold at three million nine hundred and thirty thousand dollars, and the seller known as Vegas Dave bought the card just two years prior for four hundred thousand dollars. Not to mention, as a show of the hobby's recent popularity, five of the last seven record-breaking sales of all time happened within the last six months. Well, Pokémon is no exception. In fact, certain cards have been a better investment than even the stock market.

Case in point: the first edition Charizard. In 2016, these cards were selling for about nine thousand dollars in gem mint 10 condition and now, just four years later, the same cards are selling for forty thousand dollars, while others are listed for sale at prices exceeding one hundred and two hundred thousand dollars.

Now just like you hear real estate investors talk about location, location, location, card collectors talk about condition, condition, condition, and the difference in price between them can be astronomical. Now, the first thing to look for is rarity, or in other words, how many of these cards exist. The fewer of them out there, the higher the price they will sell for. The second, you have to consider: who's gonna buy it and how much demand is there.

Now when it comes to Pokémon, nothing is more iconic for a young kid than a Charizard. Growing up, that was the favorite. It was the most powerful and it was the card that everyone wanted. And still to this day, Charizard continues to dominate the market. And third, obviously, is condition. The cards like this are graded by a third-party authenticator like PSA, who go over every aspect of the card to determine its condition. They'll look at things like the card's corners, edge wear, how well-centered the placement is, and if there are any surface-level scratches. The higher the grade, the higher the price, and the difference between a 9 and a 10 can mean the difference of a lot of money.

Like just look at the numbers here: out of 2500 first edition Charizard cards, only 118 of them have been graded in gem 10 perfect condition. And for collectors, the difference in rarity goes a long way. That's the difference between your card getting twenty-eight thousand one hundred and fifty dollars at an auction versus forty-two hundred dollars for the same card in slightly worn condition.

So now that we've got that out of the way, this brings us to today. I happen to be browsing the YouTube trending page, and this video came up from Logan Paul: "I Bought a 200,000 Box of Pokémon Cards." Well, unbeknownst to me, Logan Paul took an interest in collecting and investing in Pokémon cards, easily spending several hundred thousand dollars reliving his childhood through strategically investing in hard-to-find, highly graded cards and unopened packs.

That led him to bidding on what many would consider to be the holy grail of Pokémon cards: an unopened first edition booster box containing 36 packs of the most valuable Pokémon cards in existence, unopened for over 20 years. The price of this? Well, just over two hundred thousand dollars. But of course knowing Logan Paul, he's not just gonna go and buy a 200,000 box of first edition Pokémon cards without turning it into a business.

So he decided to sell 35 of the 36 packs for 11,111 dollars each, raise money for charity in the process, and then open them live on his channel. The buyer gets to keep the pack that they bought, with a small chance it contains one of the rarest cards of them all: a first edition Charizard card, now valued at well over one hundred thousand dollars.

Well, in that moment, something came over me and my inner child got so giddy at the excitement of having the chance to rebuild that collection that was stolen from me 20 years ago through the randomness of opening up another pack of Pokémon cards. And so I bought one.

Here's what my friends had to say about it: "Whoa, no, that's like my childhood too! I had all my— I had all those binders with the little card slots." "Let's go!"

"Because I grabbed one too!"

"You did?"

"Let's go, dude! I was thinking of doing the same thing, but I really need that money towards a house, because I actually don't own a house yet and I feel like that's a bigger priority for me right now."

"That's crazy, Graham! Wow, talk about, uh, to be able to come full circle! And wow, okay then I'm gonna tune in!"

Spending so much money on a pack like this was not easy, but I broke it down as follows:

We'll start with the pros here. One: it's a fun concept. It helps raise money for charity. It gives you really interesting content to watch. I could relive some of my excitement for collecting Pokémon cards. I have a one in three chance of pulling a holograph, which would pay for the entire deck of cards. And lastly, I have a chance at donating these cards towards a really good cause.

Now on the cons list, uh, it's eleven thousand dollars, and it's eleven thousand dollars, and that's a lot of money! I don't like paying extra for anything, let alone something like this. So eleven thousand dollars is a pretty big con, and I could very well pull cards that would make this eleven thousand dollars just not worth it at all.

"What do you think the chances are of making your money back?"

"It's tough. It's going to be tough. I think the odds of breaking even? 30 shot, I would say."

"I thought that myself. Worst case scenario is losing eight dollars. Best case scenario is getting a Charizard back in the PSA 10: 150,000."

Obviously, you could do the math here. He spent 200,000 on 36 packs of cards, working out to be 5,555 dollars each. Now he's reselling them for eleven thousand one hundred and eleven dollars each. So now he's gonna double his money in about a month, he's gonna raise some money for charity, and he's going to keep a pack for himself. That's not a bad ROI at all!

Now if you watch my channel, you know I'm a numbers guy, and I'm not oblivious to how much money he's making from this. But to my surprise, after I reserved my pack, other sellers on eBay began listing their packs as well. They rose the price of an unopened first edition pack all the way to twenty thousand dollars and even thirty-five thousand dollars for a pack with a guaranteed holo because those packs just end up weighing a little bit more than the other ones. But now we wait for the unboxing a few days from now to see which cards get pulled.

And then after the live stream, I've coordinated with Logan to go and pick up the cards in person, so wish me luck!

One eternity later...

I think it's time! My heart is beating out of my chest! Ladies and gentlemen, if we can go through the, uh, the hand of you, the Titan! Wow! My palms are sweating though.

"Mine too! Palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. Mom's spaghetti!"

"Careful, doctor, I'm gonna fight!"

"Okay, stop, stop, stop! Oh, it's fake! Stop!"

"That's fake! This is good!"

"Yeah, that was funny. He's getting good reactions here. I'm glad we're filming this. That's funny."

"Come on, that was a two thousand dollar prank!"

"I'm so nervous right now, man!"

Um, Graham Stephen, One Pack YouTube channel. Channel Graham Stephen. Steffen, you reached out to me personally, said, "Yo, the packs for cereal!" I said that they are! It's fantastic if you want to participate, and he did!

So here we go, starting off. There's no guy again. Let's do the three card trick! One, two, three!

"Oh, my heart's pounding right now!"

"Yeah, wow! The centering on the back of this card is very good. Nidorino, 60 HP, Magikarp turns into a Gyarados, one of the most powerful dragon Pokémon! Stay persistent, man! Never give up!"

"He's a burping fish."

"Yeah, that's—yeah, Professor Oak, Rattata! Also, how am I doing guys? My first box break? I feel like that's not bad."

"Gassy Doduo, Psychic Energy, Tangela!"

"Oh god, wait! Sandshrew!"

"Oh, here we go, here we go! Let's go!" [Applause]

"Don't sleep on Magikarp!"

"Holy sh—burping fish turns into this beautiful giant dragon Pokémon Gyarados, like 21 feet 4 inches!"

You guys don't know this, but he's been talking about getting a holo card for days now. That's all I've heard!

"Wow, so now we'll go off to Logan's house?"

"This may come off as a surprise to you, but this is semi uneventful. They say we are sitting here just carefully putting the cards in sleeves. I think there was a time in this next decade where Pokémon was gonna take off to the next level, and maybe I—maybe I kick-started a little bit. But like, dude, this is so fun! And more and more people are making it mainstream! Like again, I just saw that Logic opened a box today, pulled the Charizard! Like, it's making people our age feel like children again while also like making money and hitting that chord of nostalgia that nothing else can provide you with."

"This is the most excited I've been about anything in years, bro! Years! This is it! Gyarados! Look at the—see that?"

"Yeah, that’s gnarly! What will that one nick do? That’ll make it a knife, right?"

"I would—I know it would! That sucks, I'm sorry, bro!"

"Thanks for participating! Yeah, that was so much fun!"

But wait, guys, the video is not over yet! We're gonna be driving all the way to Las Vegas to surprise Andre Jick with a Pokémon card! He was not able to participate in this because he's saving up for a house, so I'm gonna be surprising him with a card and seeing which one he picks out. It's gonna be epic! Keep watching.

"So I know you really wanted to get in on a pack with Logan Paul, yeah? So what I did is brought the cards!"

"Okay!"

"You're gonna pick one card to keep! You could pick one card, okay? So pick a card, drag a card, any card. There's no trick."

"So this is my gift to you!"

"Came all the way here from the pack?"

"Yes! Yeah! I'm gonna guess—watch you get an energy!"

"Oh dude, all right! Let's do—yep! Do you want that one? What do you get?"

"Okay, that's your card, man!"

"All right, yeah, that's cool! That's really cool! So you get a keepsake from that!"

"I don't—I don't. Thank you so much, man!"

So overall, this has been an incredible journey, and from all the cards that could have been picked, Gyarados is one of my all-time favorites, and I'm going to be keeping this one forever as a reminder that it's never too late to get back to where it all started.

And one day, I could begin rebuilding the collection that I used to have as a kid. In addition to that, at the end of the day, over 130 thousand dollars was raised towards the National Alliance on Mental Illness. And so, to further support the cause, I'm going to be listing the remaining cards on eBay with no reserve, with 100% of those proceeds being donated back to NAMI.

The link is going to be in the description for anyone who wants the cards I'm holding now, and I'll ship them out right after the bidding ends. Or if the winning bidder wants, you can pick them up from me in person and we'll go grab a coffee. It's on me!

And even if you're not interested in bidding but you still want to show your support for the cause, I will link to them down below in the description so you can donate directly to them, whatever you want.

And lastly, it goes to show you that no matter who you are, what your background is, or where you came from, something like Pokémon could be a really great unifier, and we could each share our excitement towards something that meant a lot to us growing up.

I have to say, this entire experience has given me an entirely new perspective and appreciation towards what Pokémon has done for all of us. And now, I think I'm just as hooked as I was back when I was 9 years old.

Now, obviously, there could be an investment aspect to this as well, but most importantly, it's really fun! And it's amazing that 25 years later Pokémon is still just as strong as ever, maybe even strong enough to get you to smash the like button for the YouTube algorithm!

So with that said, you guys, thank you so much for watching! I really appreciate it! Make sure to destroy the subscribe button and the notification bell! Also, feel free to add me on Instagram! I posted pretty much daily, so if you want to be a part of it there, feel free to add me there as on my second channel, The Graham Stephan Show! I post there every single day.

I'm now posting here, so if you want to see a brand new video from me every single day, make sure to add yourself to that! And lastly, if you guys want two free stocks, use the link down below in the description, and Weeble is gonna be giving you two free stocks worth at minimum eight dollars and all the way up to one thousand six hundred dollars when you deposit a hundred dollars on the platform.

So if you're interested in those two free stocks worth at minimum eight dollars each, use the link down below! Let me know which two free stocks you get! Thank you so much for watching, and until next time!