What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to a solo episode of Stacking Slabs, your hobby content alternative. I'm Brett. I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to pick apart a topic that has come and presented itself from other pieces of content that we put out here on Stacking Slabs.

If you're not already, make sure you hit the follow button on this feed. There is new episodes across many different categories coming at you every day. We are working hard out here to make sure that we are talking to you, the collector, about cards and topics that you care about. We are going to continue to grow and scale the Stacking Slabs network. I'm thinking a lot about how we do that, what we're doing, and the place we sit at in the hobby, and I couldn't be more thrilled to be here with you to do that.

Shout out all of you, the loyal listeners. Shout out all the passionate collectors who send me messages, who comment, provide their own commentary. We're excited to keep pushing forward and delivering episodes that are meaningful to you. And today, I want to go beyond the feed. We are stuck on our phones, scrolling, looking at apps, marketplaces, social media, and this manufacture digital manufacture approach to the way we consume the hobby feels like it is it, but it is not.

And I can assure you that every time I go into a show like The National and see droves of people and different cards and collections and conversations, I'm always reminded that the hobby is much bigger than the view that I am looking at it from, and that is mostly from an Instagram world and my own connections and the content that I consume. What if I told you that the sports card hobby is like an iceberg? The part you see is with social media is just the tip, while the massive hidden world lies beneath the surface. That is the question that I want to explore. And I I'm I'm doing this by myself, and the the reason why is because I had a couple conversations recently.

One on passionate profession with the BBC Emporium guys, and they were talking about just this hidden world and collections and, all the amazing cards that are in basements and all these collectors that have these massive collections that aren't on social media. And then I pair that with conversation I had on Card Ladder Confidential when we were and we were talking about the cards that, you know, are coming at us are the cards that we start to measure prices on because they're available. But what about the unavailable cards? So it's like this meld of what is available in this hidden component that I wanna dig into. I wanna explore the how the hobby is much larger than what's visible online and why most of the coveted cards we never see for sale.

I think even if you're a long time collector, it's really easy to get caught up in these Instagram posts or Twitter debates or YouTube comments, but countless collectors and incredible cards exist that never make it to these feeds. And the more we can understand the hidden scale, I think it'll help change how we think about what we chase and can help us measure the value of our own collections. I'll be talking about some stories that maybe relate to this and my quest for some ghost cards and a specific example that I've talked about, but will give further context. And I wanna lay out some frameworks to help us understand how we can maybe gain clarity and confidence in a hobby that is mostly driven from hype and by social feeds. So we think about the iceberg effect, and that is what we see on social media, the mail they post, the big polls, the record sales is exciting.

It's thrilling. It gets engagement, but it's only a small sliver. And for every collector showing off on Instagram, there are many more who are quietly in the background buying, selling, trading with ever posting online. There is, you know, there has been numbers thrown out on how many people are in the hobby and how it's growing, and I don't really know what those metrics are. But what I can tell you is based on kind of the sales data and what we're seeing and based on the lead manufacturer and top slash fanatics trying to grow the pie, the hobby is enormous, and most of it operates off camera.

When you when you walk into a local show or a hobby shop and see a table of cards in niche player collections and maybe an older crowd who's been in for a long time, many of these collectors or dealers or whatever you wanna classify don't necessarily have these big YouTube channels built out or have, you know, 10 k plus followers on Instagram or not even on Instagram at all. And they still have these insane collections, and they spend serious money on cards because they love it. And just because they're not on social media doesn't mean that they don't have a tremendous passion like people who are on social media about cards. The hobby lives in their safety deposit box or their meetup at local card show every Saturday. So much happens off social media that the real demand for certain cards can be very different than the online buzz.

And social media might have you believing everyone only cares about the latest rookie or hot set. But when you step offline, you'll find communities chasing other things from, you know, oddball cards to the last card they need for a team set or collection. And I think while we get more sucked into the social component and the algorithms, there is something to be said about what is offline and what is happening. And I think while this is not going to be shared or in this episode because no work has been done. I do always think about the stories that aren't happening online are probably the coolest stories, much like the coolest cards that aren't posted online are probably the coolest cards.

And so I think social media in a way is great. I wouldn't be able to have built stacking slabs the brand, and you probably wouldn't be listening to this show without it. But I I do think it creates this mirage. And it's it's not to say that it's not useful, but it connects us and it showcases really cool cards. But it can distort our perception.

We tend to equate visibility with importance, and a card that gets posted every day might feel important while a card nobody's posting might slip under the radar. Yet often, the truly rare significant cards aren't plastered all over social media precisely because so few people own them or haven't seen them. It's this collector's paradox. The more truly scarce and significant a card is, the less it might appear online. And online, this paradox helps us remember the lack of social media presence doesn't equal lack of value or interest.

And there's an entire subculture of collectors making decisions based on personal passion and long time perspective, not just social media trends. And I always find it so interesting when a big sale happens and all the smart people go out and just, like, slam it. It's like, well, you're not even considering the people that you don't know or we don't know about. And I find that fascinating, and I find that dynamic interesting. And so how does this hidden side of the hobby change the way we collect?

Does it remind us to think for ourselves? And I think in this episode, I wanna illustrate just how eye opening a hidden hobby can be, with the story of me landing my Andrew Luck collection or my core of my Andrew Luck collection and, where that has taken me. And as many of you know, I'm a big luck collector. A big part of my collecting journey has been trying to build the ultimate luck PC in a way that is unique to me, not how maybe the hobby says these are this is how you should build an Angel of Luck collection. Or if there was a cookie cutter approach, this is what it would be.

But mine has been focusing on the Panini era, the Prism, the the optic cards. And so this for me, it means hunting down the rare parallels, whether it's golds, gold vinyl, finites from various years. A lot of these cards are ghosts in cards that I have never seen before. But and, like, we can talk about one card in particular, and that is the which is an invisible card, the 2012 Andrew Luck black finite non auto. Never seen it.

I've never seen it in a pop report. I've seen the autograph version. And what is interesting about that card is that 2012 debut year Prism coincides with Andrew Luck's rookie year who was the chase. And I just find it so interesting that that card has never presented itself. So because I've never seen the card and because it's never presented itself or is in a pop report, to me, it makes the card although it aligns with all the traits of a Andrew Luck card I want and need, it makes me way more interested in that.

And as I took that exploration and trying to understand where maybe some of his other finites were, it really started out of curiosity. And so I leveraged my collector network and started reaching out to hobby contacts or friends. And eventually, I got connected to, different collectors that I didn't have relationships with who then started me on the journey of cards that I have in my collection today. And these cards weren't cards that were posted for sale or were on marketplaces, but they just resided in the collections of collectors. And I just needed to get connected to them through other individuals.

And that was hard work, but it also resulted in me gaining access to the cards that I currently have in my collection. And the best cards aren't always publicly for sale, and I think that's an important note. Sometimes you have to hunt these cards down, whether it's meeting someone at a show or meeting, having some someone else find a card for you, like my 2014 Black Prism, which Grant found at the night Waldorf stories found at the Nashville Card Show got me connected with and then or other information of cards that, when I got connected to the dealer who wasn't on social media or the collector who wasn't on social media who had hoards of black finite Andrew Luxe and gold vinyl and everything that I like and, you know, had conversations with him and ended up meeting him in person, was able to gain his trust and land the cards that make up the foundation for my collection today. The the the luck chase taught me a few things that I wanna emphasize, and I think think first, it's many of the hobbies, treasurers live in personal collections, not marketplaces. You might have to network, build relationships, or put the word out for what you're after.

If I hadn't started asking around and letting folks know I was hunting luck one of ones. I might still be waiting for them on eBay. Second, the moment an elusive card does appear, be prepared to move quickly and decisively. I knew the value of these ghost cards to me, and you have to offer strong when they are cards that are inside the collections and that aren't for sale. You can't ask what are they for.

Like, may you can be aggressive. It is okay to be aggressive, especially when they're cards you need. I think this might be a little sentimental, but stories add value, and the stories of how you acquire cards matters. And because I went through a lot to acquire those pieces in my luck collection, that makes me want those to keep those cards in my collection, and they mean more to me by a lot. And I see remember memories of the chase, maybe the friendships or the connections I made in the process, these negotiations, and all of these that never all this that never happened on social media.

And to me, that moment and those stories and moments and my access to those cards and how I got them, I think, is an important topic, and I know a lot of other people have gone through similar instances with the cards or players that they collect. So that's my personal tale of chasing kinda ghost cards, and I'm still sitting here wondering about the twenty twelve and where this ghost card is. But this isn't a phenomenon unique to me. It's all across the hobby. There are ghost grails cards that, whether by rarity or might be tightly held, don't show up in public.

And so I wanna talk about how these unavailable cards affect the hobby at large from kind of the mark market dynamics and the psychology that it puts on collectors everywhere. There's this ghost grail phenomenon, and I think it is this idea that some of the most iconic cards have never serviced publicly. I think about the Curry super factor that everyone loves to talk about, his rookie super factor. And we're not we're talking about the cards that would fetch sky high prices if they ever hit auction, yet to this day, they still remain sealed in our product or no one's ever seen. The the Luka twenty eighteen black one of one is one more modern.

The o nine tops chrome Steph Curry super fracture, is another. When cards of this caliber are hidden, they almost take on a mythical status. Now what does the absence of these cards do to the market? I think it's a double edged sword. On one hand, you've got mystique in height buildup.

And leather. Collectors talk about what if it shows up and speculate on price, and you've either got collectors that are ripping packs and trying to unearth these cards. And it might boost the sale of a specific product, but then there can be a downside if the card never surface after, you know, months, collectors are still looking for it. I think unseen cards play games with our psychology. There obviously FOMO knowing a card is out there that could be there to complete your set or be the crown jewel, but no one's able to find it.

It can be agonizing. It can also skew our sense of value. If you're chasing a player rainbow and the one of one never shows up, how do you value the rest of the set? So that's interesting. It causes myself to overvalue some less rare cards because I knew I might never ever get a shot at the one of one.

There's also a bit of phantom ownership that happens in our heads. We begin to fantasize the ghost card so much that it almost feels like part of our collection. It's part of our collection emotionally even if it's not in your case. It can drive some obsessive behavior, checking safe searches, setting up alerts, pop reports, sourcing people, annoying people. You know how it goes.

But I think on the broader scale, many high profile cards remaining unseen can lead to cynicism. You know, people, when they don't see something that they expect, especially in this era where so many boxes and cards are being ripped on launch every day, this can cause some people to maybe be a little skeptical. But when a ghost grail finally appears, and I'm thinking about this moment of, like, when this luck might eventually show up, like, what is my reaction? What is my move? It can be electric to collectors or maybe the broader the broader hobby.

But it also you know, we we we we enjoy like, there's a sickness to us where I think we enjoy as collectors, when something is unattainable or something we haven't seen. So in some instances, it's like a measuring test of how mythical of is the card really if once it's released and the dust settles, no one's really excited about it. There is this sense from the community when an unavailable card is revealed that lights up the hobby. You see it, and we are talking about the avoidance of social media. But with social media, it just blows up.

It's like gas on a fire, especially when it's a card that many collectors have had conversations about and is just appearing or has been a status card. Unavailable cards cast a long shadow. They influence everything about individual buying decisions. They cause us to ask questions. But I think when you have this dynamic where cards are available, they're not available, they appear finally, there's a reaction.

It causes us as collectors to maybe have to think about if this is a card that we're after and finally presents itself. Maybe what is a framework to help navigate a hobby where hype and hidden gems are constantly pulling us in. So I think about and I'm putting these together, and we'll see if any of these land. But thinking about some of these mental models, and I think about this iceberg mental model. And always remember the iceberg.

What you see is only a fraction of what exists. So if you use the mindset as a framework to question assumptions, if everyone online seems to be chasing one card or a player, ask yourself, is this truly scarce or is this hype? Likewise, if a card you love isn't getting attention on social media, that doesn't mean that it's not valuable or desired. It might just mean interested collectors aren't loud about it. And this is where I think doing independent research, checking auction data, talking, to dealers, observing show floors if you go to shows is important.

This will give you a complete picture of the demand and supply of that card. And keeping the iceberg in mind helps you avoid this trap of the social media bubble and help us make informed buying decisions based on reality, not just the perceived reality of your feed. There is this ghost card calibration, and it's this mental framework we can create for preparing us for how we handle cards that are unavailable. Ghost card calibration is the way I'm thinking about it. Essentially, the ghost's existence, but don't let it paralyze your collecting.

Identify your personal grailed tier, the card or the few cards that would be the end all be all for you if you could ever get them and accept that those might not ever come and being okay with it. And so that allows you to focus your collecting goals on what is attainable and what brings you joy day to day. This is how I feel about my 20 the 2012 Andrew Luck Black Finite. I don't know if we'll ever see it. I want it, but I'm not gonna get lost in trying to worry about landing it or not.

We've got the intrinsic value framework, which is social media and high profile sales can make us measure value in pure dollar terms or popularity, but long time collectors know that there's a different kind of value, intrinsic value or personal value. I I suggest asking yourself, why do I want this card? I think that question I ask myself, and I've been running different experiments asking myself that card. What I'm looking for when I ask myself that is consistency with response. And if I'm able to gain consistency with my response over a long period of time asking myself the question, that helps build a mental model for me that that card should likely be a priority.

Now this is just my thoughts on things that I think about and what I have experienced over the years, but there's a lot of different ways. There's many different models you can create for yourself. But I think at the end of the day, the goal here is to consider what cards are available and what cards aren't unavailable and to begin to whatever however works for you, begin to build some sort of system and decision making system in your mind. So if the card never comes, you have a response and reaction. But if the card does come, you are prepared and ready to go.

I wanna close this out and maybe circle back to some of the ideas, the hobby being so large that it's much more than we see online, and recognize that you'll make wiser and more content collector knowing that. When you realize that every post for every post about a card or someone looking for a card, there's hundreds and thousands of people out there that are just quiet and not online. And I think just understanding that is the normal state of the hobby is a good one, and it can be liberating. Also, unavailable cards or the ghost grails that loom in the background of our hobby, is something to recognize. Instead of letting them haunt us, we can use them for inspiration.

They can remind us why this is why we do this, why this is a hobby. There's always this time for discovery that can be fun, and sometimes the greatest find is one that is yet to come. So there's some optimism there. And I would just as I'm thinking about this and these episodes are how I'm thinking, what I'm processing, how I'm evolving. But I would encourage you to maybe think about the aspect of your collection that might be influenced versus seen versus unseen and maybe connect with somebody else who is active on social media and have a conversation like them.

I've been trying to have conversations with other people who aren't online all the time, and I'm getting a lot of value from that. There is this depth to the hobby that's hidden, and it's, I think, kind of a very cool dynamic to it. There's always more to explore, more people to meet, more collections to see, more conversations to be had, and I think that is fun. I appreciate you spending some time with me on stacking slabs. We got a whole lot of content coming to you each and every day on this feed.

We're putting in a lot of work to make sure we're delivering for you, the collector out there who treats this hobby as an escape and treats it out like you are the CEO of your PC. Thank you so much for supporting me and the Stacking Slabs network. Appreciate it. We'll be back. Talk to you soon.