It's Finally Happening: Why I Started a Trading Card Blog

One of my favorite cards I own: Goose, hand painted by Erica Cardoza. Tentacles and all.

I've been wanting to do this for a while. Back in January I had so much day job work to do that it was just enough to get me to procrastinate my way into making content about my passions. In this case, trading cards!

That was the start. This post is where I'm keeping the map of everything since.

What Sanam's Labs is about

This is a non-sports card blog. Mostly Marvel, plenty of Star Wars, and some Pokémon when it earns its way in. I write about four kinds of things:

• What's happening in the hobby, and who it actually affects. Licenses changing hands, allocation, bots, AI, the stuff that decides whether you ever see a box on a shelf.
• Artists. The people whose work is the reason a card is worth anything. Sketch artists especially.
• Tips for collecting, especially if you're newer. I made plenty of expensive mistakes so you don't have to.
• Collecting with an AuDHD brain. Hyperfocus, impulse buys, doom piles, and why this hobby fits the way my brain works, for better and worse.

I also run Marvel and Star Wars breaks on Whatnot, and I built Crackwise, a tool for tracking non-sports cards. It's free right now while I finish some features, so it's a great time to get in early. So I'm in this hobby every day, not watching from the outside.

Start here

New to collecting?

• How to Start Collecting Marvel Cards
• Blasters or Hobby? The Great Debate (or, WTF Topps?)
• Friendships Ending Over Sonic-Welded Plastic, on grading

Want the bigger picture? My three-part investigation:

1. Topps Sits Next to Supreme on a Sneaker Bot's Hit List, on the bots
2. Breakers Get First Dibs. Bots Fight Over the Rest., on where the boxes go
3. I Built My Site With AI. I Still Don't Want It on My Cards., on AI in the hobby

And for background: The State of the Hobby: Topps Takes the Marvel License.

Here for the art?

• Artist Spotlight: Julie Bell and Marvel Masterpieces Value
• Artist Spotlight: Greg Horn Actually Paints for the Cards, Not Just the Covers
• Mess of Masterpieces: Which Marvel Masterpieces Set Wins

Chasing the big stuff?

• The 10 Highest-Selling Marvel Trading Cards Ever, Ranked
• PMGesus: The Precious Metal Gems Obsession, Explained
• There's a Run on 2024 Topps Chrome Marvel Sapphire, and It's Actually Two Different Runs

Want to know who's writing this?

• The Passion of the Hobby is a Double Edged Sword
• My Trading Card Collection Is Basically an ADHD + Autism Diagnosis
• My Kingdom for a Flerken: Collecting Captain Marvel's Goose
• So... I Built a Whole Trading Card Platform

How I handle facts

When I report on the hobby, I label what I know and how I know it. VERIFIED means I saw it on the company's own page, in a court record, or in a capture I have on file. REPORTED means a news outlet said it. ALLEGED means someone claims it and nobody's confirmed it. When something's just my opinion, I'll say so. I'm a collector, not a lawyer, and nothing here is financial or legal advice.

A thank you

Shout outs to all the good, passionate, inspiring collectors out there. Major props to Justin (Spideyhits, now Hobbyhits) for being something of a north star when I was rediscovering my childhood hobby a few years ago, and for being a stand-up community organizer. A lot of the reason I wanted to give back to this hobby is people like him.

I hope my thoughts, opinions, anecdotes and tools help you out. If there's something you want me to dig into, tell me in the comments.