Reliving the Pokemon TCG Card Opening Experience

Wow, it has been a long time, almost 2 years.. since I last bought Pokemon cards for collection.
It all started when my friend was watching a youtube video of a booster box opening. His absolute favourite Pokemon is Charizard and he got hyped when he witnessed the youtuber pulling out a beautiful rainbow rare Charizard GX from the Burning Shadows booster box. It was at this moment when his mind was switched on and extremely determined to possess the card.

He asked me if I was interested in opening the Burning Shadows booster box together with him. Hence, this was how the mini-adventure began 2 weeks ago! Finally, there was someone else who could encourage me to pursue my card collection interest to the next level.

I sourced for cheap booster boxes in Carousel and bought the BS booster box for a hefty price of $145. I then proceeded to outside my friend's home with much excitement and anticipation. Initially I thought we were opening it inside his home, but resolved to do it at a secluded area such as West Coast Shopping Mall's Long John Silvers.

Just before the unveiling, I told my friend to lower our expectations so that we would not be too disappointed if we did not get his dream card. Despite that, I displayed my collection album so as to get him all hyped up :), With everything according to plan, we started ripping off the wrapping of the 36 booster packs from the box and shuffled 4 cards from the back to the front, so as to reveal the rare card last. This rare card could either be a non-holo (boo..), a foil card, a regular GX card, a full art card, a rainbow rare card and best of all, a Secret Rare Gold Card! The standard procedure will be to slowly lift up the card in front of it... if the edges are shiny, then you know that you have hit the jackpot!

The best moment of this was that halfway through the card opening, my friend obtained a.. drumroll...

a RAINBOW RARE MARSHADOW GX!

We totally did not expect this as there is a chance that there is no rainbow rare in a booster box! To get it in our first opening was stunning. The card had a really nice texture and it was beautiful coated with rainbow-coloured gloss. Without any hesistation whatsoever, my friend put it in a sleeve. Our loot is shown below:

At this point my friend was getting REALLY excited. He frantically asked me if I could purchase any booster box. After much consideration, I agreed. I was fortunate to source for a Sun and Moon series booster box worth only S110! Because we were highly superstitious, I wore the same clothing and my friend drove the same car to the same location. WHEN ALL THE STARS WERE MET, we went about our standard procedure. Halfway through and no sign of any rainbow rare cards.. my friend was becoming nervous. We were prepared to leave disappointed when all of a sudden, my friend literally froze, and was beaming with excitement at the same time. He showed me the golden border on the bottom of the card and my heart was racing as well. I think it was the second last pack.. We decided to reveal it at the final draw... Earlier on I showed him the pokemon TCG book and was eyeing on that ultra ball. Yes, it is indeed the most valuable card in the booster set, but there was a possibility of other trainer cards that are secret rare. 

After we "sort of" calmed down, my friend slowly and carefully revealed the card...

OMG!

It was THE Card, the HOLY GRAIL.

It was like striking TOTO first prize.

So Freaking Lucky!

My friend then cautiously placed his precious Sacred Ultra Ball golden plated card in his card sleeve. We went back home feeling 200% satisfied, as there simply could not be a card opening as epic as this.

Anywayz, our main loot is shown below:

Best Epic Moments playing Pokemon Go

It has been over 2 years since I had last played Pokemon Go, an augmented reality mobile app that was first released in August 2016. Initially, I played the game with much anticipation, but after 2 months, I temporarily stopped playing due to the lack of interest. Out of the blue, my good buddy, Terence, reignited my passion for the game around March 2017, and from then onwards I never looked back. Just last year, my Pokemon Go experience had risen to a whole new level, thanks to my good buddy and ex-classmate Kenneth, a.k.a. the_game_master. 👦

With Terence:
15:- Drove all the way to Tuas to catch the rare Pokemon Miltank.
14:- All the Unown catches when my car was at max speed to destinations such as Bedok and Sentosa.
13:- Was at the West side when there was a notice by sgpokemap indicating Chansey location on the East. Hence, I drove to the East, after which we realized that Unown just spawned at the West. However, we were already at the East and were not able to reach Unown location on time before it de-spawned. <Instant regret>
12:- Illegally parked the car at the main road and dashed to the Unown location inside Gardens by the Bay. Fortunately managed to catch it at the last minute, but the Aunty behind us missed her chance. Skipped back gleefully to the car only to feast our eyes on 2 Chiobos waiting for their man. <3
11:- Was frustrated after several attempts of not catching an Articuno and threw a tantrum.
10:- Cute moment when we were at a secluded hill in my car raiding when a young caucassian boy approached us to request to party for the raid.
09:- Night cycling at Ulu Pandan Road to catch Pokemon (when 'O bike' was popular). So glad that Terence was open minded and agreed to this.
08:- Insane luck catching 2 shiny Ho-ohs out of 3 attempts during an imprompto raid hunt.
07:- Terence helped me get shiny Aerodactyl after random click of reserach quest reward.
06:- Trading and getting first shiny lucky together (Roselia and Eevee).
05:- Terence shocked me by confessing that he caught plenty of Unown and Mr Mime during the Chiayi event in Taiwan. Guess he was "at the right place at the right time". I felt very happy for him.
04:- All the experiences of catching 100IV Pokemon together.
03:- Terence caught a 100IV Mewtwo after so many attempts and he was a relieved man.
02:- Terence caught a SHINY 100IV Pikachu at Sunset Way!
01:- Terence caught 2 shiny Groudons simultaneously in both his accounts. I got so excited that I posted on telegram to event raiding group.


With Kenneth:(mostly via trading)

5:- While driving, Kenneth randomly caught a shiny Swablu.
4:- Spent time with Kenneth on public transport during one of the community days (5 free raid passes for a chance of shiny Gengar, whereby both of us got Shiny Gengars during our first raid!)
3:- Traded at Vivocity and he got lucky Mewtwo with an IV of 91!

2:- Recently traded and we both got luckyt shiny Swinub! Not forgetting lucky Chansey and Swinub.
1:- Traded at his home and got LUCKY SHINY MOLTRES!! (during that time was guaranteed lucky due to the "Aug 2016" criteria, but I was overjoyed considering I did not catch a shiny Moltres during the event raid)

In the case, considering that special trade can only be conducted ONCE daily, I'm already very lucky and these moments are truly epic!

By Myself:

5:- Through my perseverance, I managed to secure 2 Shiny Groudons and a Shiny Magby within one night!
4:- Catching my first Unown on-the-dot at Ubi while driving the Nissan Z. Was a proud moment.

3:- Obtaining a 100IV legendary via a research quest for the first time after so many months.

2:- Very satistfied that I managed to obtain a 100IV event Pichu!
1:- Shiny Snorunt visited my account at my Condo basement!

BONUS: I miss cycling at the park and catching Pokemon. Got rid of my bicycle due to wear & tear (which I deeply regretted after).

BONUS: With Terence and Kenneth, I was driving when my right rear tyre was unfortunately punctured but because of their kind assistance, the spare type was restored. Was so embarrassed and definitely not my proudest moment.