I write the journal for Celeste TCG, a card operation in Miami that buys bulk by the box, scans it card by card and sells the singles on eBay. That means most of what I write about has been in my hands first — which is a very different thing from reading a press release and paraphrasing it.

What I cover: set guides and release calendars, promo campaigns worth tracking, what a card is actually selling for versus what a listing claims, and the boring operational stuff nobody writes about because it isn't fun — condition grading, misprints, shipping, and the ways a listing quietly goes wrong.

What I try not to do: pad a post to hit a word count, recommend something I haven't used, or pretend a $2 card is an investment. If a set is bad value I say so, and if I don't know something I say that too.

Strong opinion, freely given: reverse holos from the mid-era are the most underrated thing in the hobby, and everyone sleeping on them is doing me a favor.

Read the journal → See what we're selling →

Mateo Rivas is the editorial byline of Celeste TCG. The journal is written by the team that buys, scans, grades and ships the inventory in our store — the pen name keeps the voice consistent across posts, and the operation behind it is real and documented.