Why You Should Avoid Buying Loose Pokemon Sword & Shield Packs

Pokemon Sword and Shield packs have a vulnerability — it is easy to determine which Sword & Shield packs have hits and which do not, without opening the packs.

There are, of course, well-known methods for doing that. There is the old school open and glue-it-closed approach. Today, some use CT scans to get this done. However, a bunch of videos on YouTube have shown how a specific type of metal detector can be used to find the biggest hits.

We give you the whole story and explain why you should NEVER buy loose Sword & Shield packs. Or any other kind of loose pack, for that matter.

What is in a pack of Sword & Shield?

A pack of Sword & Shield contains ten cards. Among those, the vast majority are not holographic. There is one reverse holo in each pack and also a wildcard slot.

It contains either a non-holo rare, a holo, or better, such as a V card. But in most cases, you do not have a hit. Around 60% of the packs contain a “dud” in the wild card spot. That is why finding the packs with a hit is so useful. You can sell most packs without missing hits if you know what you are doing.

How to search the packs

You will need a specific gizmo to find the hits using this system: the Arkzeo Portable Metal Detector Body Search Tools for Work and Family wire pipe power. Yes, it’s a very catchy name. These machines are readily available at Walmart and Amazon for about $16.

They are usually used to scan walls for wires and cords. When it finds additional metal within the walls, it pings. Do you see where this is going?

Yes, the hits in Sword & Shield contain metal, which can be detected with an Arkzeo Portable Metal Detector. You may need to adjust the gadget’s sensitivity to detect the hits. Otherwise, it might detect none of the packs or all of them.

The goal is to find the sweet spot where it detects some of the packs but not others. This is not that difficult to achieve with some trial and error.  

The best method to calibrate the machine is to try it on opened cards. Look at its response to paper cards versus metal ones. You want the sensitivity set so the machine beeps when placed next to a hit. You also want to make sure that it does not respond to the pack’s packaging.

Since about 38% of the packs have hits, you want the pings to have more or less that ratio. That would mean you are on the right track.

Alt Art Cards

One thing that stood out in Max W’s video was how the detector reacted to the alt-art cards. He found two of them in the packs. The Arkzeo Portable Metal Detector detected both. However, they had less of a strong reaction.

Therefore, Max put them in the less sensitive section. That would indicate that they had less metal in them. So, the trick would be to figure out exactly what kind of reaction to expect from an alt-art card.

Why did Maxwell make this video?

A user on the Elite Forum noted something a bit suspicious about the video: “Cynics have pointed out that this fellow has never made any video about Pokemon cards before. There is an affiliate link to these things on Amazon for a new listing, and several hundred have sold since the video was released. Also, remember that affiliate links stay active for other purchases. Just interesting details.”

However, this account does not have many videos on any topic. They had two: one from a Kooks concert in Baltimore a decade ago (he had pretty bad seats), another showing a praying mantis eating a live cicada (absolutely disgusting), and then this.

Perhaps this was the first video of this individual trying to build a new brand on Pokemon. If so, he certainly did a good job because the video got a lot of attention and 35,000 views.

He followed it up with another video on a similar topic. He does seem to know quite a bit about Pokemon cards and has a real passion for them. So, I don’t think he is some shill for Amazon.

If you thought he would address the controversy, he did not. Instead, he just decided to address one of the many viewers’ questions: whether the Arkzeo Portable Metal Detector works on sleeve packs.

The answer is yes. It does. However, his sample size was not as big as it could have been.

We still aren’t sure why the Sword & Shield video was made

The motivation for the videos remains unclear. Some people think they were made to sell Arkzeo Portable Metal Detectors. Honestly, the amount of money you make from those links is not all that high, so that is probably not the main motivation here.

Others believe that he was trying to perform a public service. Either way, he helped the Pokémon community, whether he intended to or not. I do not doubt that people were using this device or others like it on Sword & Shield packs before.

Many have reported getting far too many dud packs than they are likely to receive. This brought it to the attention of the public. I doubt the public service element was the point because he seems too enthusiastic to show how to scan the packs and where to get an Arkzeo Portable Metal Detector.

Most likely, our friends just wanted more views. There is no crime in that, either.

Is this a new phenomenon?

I did some digging, and no — this issue has come up before. There are a few instances of people trying this kind of thing on YouTube. Look at this video, for example.

Indeed, this account, PokeJ, made many videos of themselves using metal detectors on various Pokemon products. The videos are not narrated and just show this individual at work on a variety of products. It seems to work on all of them.

All eight of the videos this account made are from three years ago, so this is nothing new. However, it did not get as much traction as it could have, probably because the presentation was not the best.

P4C Gets In On The Action

Inspired by this, the P4C channel, which is still active, also tried its hand at this about three years ago. This video was presented as a public service to warn against the possibility that people were using this measure for Japanese booster loose packs online.

They used it on the EV Heroes set. It worked remarkably well—100%, to be exact. So this isn’t just a Sword and shield thing. It is very effective everywhere.

Our friend P4C was at it again six months ago. This time, he wanted to see if it also worked on English language sets. In the previous video, he had only looked at Japanese booster packs.

As he explained, the last video got much attention, and many people asked how to calibrate the machine properly. He acknowledged that these videos are controversial, but they have to be done for “scientific and curiosity purposes.” He also mentioned that packs may be searched.

Once again, the detector got it 100% right. It doesn’t matter if the packs are English or Japanese or what product they are from. The detectors work incredibly well.

What does this mean for Sword and Shield Packs?

One user commented on Max W’s video: “So this explains how I got scammed. I bought 400$ worth of single packs from my local shop and got not one single hit, so I’m talking about over 50 packs!!! Will never buy single packs ever again!!” Another wrote, “This is killing me. All you have to do is set the sensitivity using opened cards! Stack the cards how they would be in a pack with a hit and without a hit, put the stack back in a pack, then set the sensitivity where it beeps on the hit and doesn’t beep on the miss. Too easy.”

Indeed, that is the problem. CT scanners are costly technology, and no one will use them on a bunch of packs. But this Arkzeo Portable Metal Detector gizmo is cheap; anyone can afford it.

Given that it can detect the most valuable cards and not tamper with the package at all, it would be stupid not to use it if you are selling packs.

Learn from the sports card folks

Sports card collectors have long known that buying loose packs is a problematic prospect at the best of times. Pokemon collectors were less aware of this problem because it hit them hard.

For example, take a look at this video. The host says, “Sword & Shield packs are cooked. I wouldn’t recommend buying any loose packs of Sword & Shield. I wouldn’t recommend buying any loose packs at all.

He added that, “This is a scam. A straight-up scam. It’s unethical. You deserve to lose your business.” The outrage is touching and almost naïve. It struck me how used to this we are in the sports card world. We expect people to do this kind of thing to packs and even boxes with CT scanners. The general attitude you see from folks on the sports side of the hobby is Buyers beware. Meanwhile, the Pokemon folks have more of an ethical community and expect people to abide by specific rules and standards.

The question is, and I do not know the answer, are Pokémon sellers and rip-and-ship outfitters more ethical than their sports card counterparts?

Rip and Ship problems

The sale of loose packs of Pokemon is an issue. But the bigger one is the rip and ship operations. If you don’t know, these are the Pokémon equivalent of breakers doing personal breaks.

But they generally do not open boxes; they open loose packs. Using the Arkzeo Portable Metal Detector means they can easily detect the big hits and even the alt art cards in Sword & Shield, possibly other releases.

One YouTube user wrote, “Rip n Shippers’ secret is out. I watch streams where dudes pull packs for 4+ hours and barely pull anything and wonder how people still throw money their way.”

To be safe, avoid Rip and Ship operations altogether. But if you don’t want to do that and want to buy in any way, research before committing. Watch some rip-and-ship videos and see what percentage has hits.

If it is around 38%, that is the norm; that operation is probably not using an Arkzeo Portable Metal Detector. But if it is significantly lower over many packs, there may be a real problem here.

Can this be used with sports cards?

Sports card folks will ask if you could use this to detect refractors of various kinds. Dan the Card Man says, “I don’t think this will work for sports cards.”

I usually agree with this guy (I subscribe to his channel, by the way), but I am not so sure. The answer is yes. It may take some work and experimentation, but that can be done. It would benefit paper products because many hits are chrome or metallic and can be detected.

So, it is easy to imagine this being useful in Topps flagship or Bowman. Chrome products may be harder to do, but they might also be possible.

Final word on buying loose Sword & Shield packs

It is sad to see many Pokémon folks lose their faith in the hobby the way sports card folk did long ago. There is a real disappointment that comes through, which I find touching.

But life is tough, and this is how the world works. Where there is a loophole or way to scam people, someone will do it. And Pokemon cards are becoming a very reliable way to make money.

They are far more reliable than sports cards. Therefore, we will be seeing more and more of this. Technology is making it easier to predict what is in packs and boxes. Between this and the CT scanners, we have a serious problem.

It is time for Pokemon collectors to take more of the precautions that sports card users have. Buying loose packs is something most of us stopped doing long ago. I am sure that many Pokémon collectors will now do the same.

Since these videos have been out there for years, there is no question that many people have been using this system for years, and you should be aware of it, now only with Sword & Shield, but with everything.

Perhaps the Pokémon Company should also consider taking some precautions. It seems far too easy to detect the hits in their products. This issue has been around for years, and they have done nothing to address it.