Logan Paul's love of Pokemon is pretty clear based on the inordinate amount of money he's willing to pay for first edition cards. Now, it seems as if he's looking to spread the love by giving away some first edition unopened Pokemon card packs during a live stream on Christmas day to those watching live.
According to yesterday's episode of Paul's podcast Impaulsive, the 6 boxes of 1st Edition Base Set Pokemon cards that he made headlines earlier this week for purchasing aren't just for him. Despite spending $3.5 million for them, Paul is looking to get into the holiday spirit and give one box, or 36 packs, away to fans.
On the 306 episode of the podcast, seen below starting at 1:01:34, Paul says that he's seen the effects of his influence on the Pokemon card market which serves as some motivation to be giving the cards away. He noted that every time he opens a box, "the rest go up in value" making it increasingly more difficult for other fans of the game to get in on older unopened packs. By giving 36 of them away, hopefully, big fans of the TCG will be able to have their own shot at getting high-value cards.
As Paul points out, because the packs will be unopened, there's the possibility for high-value cards to be given away for absolutely no charge. It takes one look at the price of Paul's first edition Shadowless Charizard card to see why the Christmas day live stream is so enticing to collectors. Paul claims that his card is worth at least $1 million, but the same card sold for $369,000 in December 2020, so there are some conflicting accounts regarding its value. Either way, there's the possibility for a fan to make it big with a rare card in perfect condition.
Over the last few years, Pokemon cards have seen a major resurgence in mainstream popularity, in some part thanks to the spotlight that Logan Paul put on their investment value. As a result, scalping has become increasingly popular for those looking to make easy money off of rare cards. Things came to a head in the community when violence broke out in stores causing some retailers to put a hold on restocking them for several months. The situation seems to have calmed down, for the time being, however, there remain worries that with Paul's continued influence that prices will rise once more and chaos will ensue inside stores again.