Its an unfortunate piece of game design, though I cant immediate see what Hudson Soft couldve done to fix it other than give you a better deck out of the gate and / or implement consolation prizes, as this is arguably an issue with the TCG itself
You can also build custom decks and participate in battles, which use a simplified set of rules from the normal Pokemon Trading Card Game, translating into shorter games with more frequency played, rather than longer, drawn-out matches with more extensive rule sets
That price is the lowest amount that the card has seen in several years, with it seeming to experience a gradual decline in value
The Incredible Hulk on the other hand is hard to ignore, but strangely that's one of the best ways to deal with it
Market Price $2.49 Holofoil Price updated Jul 31, 2026 Opal has dropped 77.2% since release