This Week in the TCG World: October 13, 2026

Welcome back to This Week in the TCG World, our weekly roundup of the stories that matter to collectors. Each edition covers the biggest moves across Pokemon, Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh, One Piece, sports cards and the grading industry. A 2026 Panini Prizm Choice Prizms Nebula Lionel Messi, numbered one of one and graded BGS 9, sold for US$1.25 million in a private sale on October 9, per Card Ladder data reported by Sports Illustrated. It topped SI's list of the week's five biggest sports card sales, ahead of a 2012-13 Panini Prizm Stephen Curry Gold numbered to 10, also a BGS 9, which sold privately for US$1,017,202.20.

The rest of the list was vintage baseball at Goldin on October 10: a 1932 US Caramel Babe Ruth graded PSA Authentic with a 9 autograph grade sold for US$976,000, and a 1949 Bowman Jackie Robinson in PSA 9 sold for US$518,500, per SI. For Australian collectors, the Messi result is a reminder that a modern card can sit at the top of the market when there is only one of it. A one-of-one has no second copy to fall back on, so its condition is the only version of the card that will ever exist.

PSA's active grading backlog fell to 8.2 million units in its October 6 update, down from the 9 million we reported in late September, per Heavy.com. The company said sustained progress would put it in position to assess reopening additional service tiers in the coming months. PSA has named a backlog of about 5 million units as an important target, and the figure has dropped at every update since it peaked at 12.4 million on July 28.

There is still no reopening date, and the cheapest tier currently open is Standard at US$59.99 a card, per Heavy.com. For Australian collectors, that means the low-cost route to a PSA slab is still closed for now. If you are holding cards for the day the cheaper tiers return, that waiting time is a good window to get them assessed and ready, so they go in at their best when the door opens.

Chief U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the Southern District of New York dismissed Jones v. Fanatics in its entirety on September 29, per Heavy.com and a Mantel report republished by Yahoo Sports. The 13-count putative class action targeted Fanatics' acquisitions of Topps and GC Packaging and its exclusive licensing deals with MLB, the NFL, the NBA and their players associations. The dismissal came before the discovery phase and hinged entirely on Article III standing: the court found the 18 named plaintiffs had not shown an injury in fact.

The ruling does not end Fanatics' legal fight over trading cards. Panini's separate antitrust suit against Fanatics continues, and several of its claims have already survived a motion to dismiss, per Heavy.com. For collectors in Australia buying licensed sports cards, nothing changes on the shelf this week, but the question of who gets to make which cards is still before the same court.

A Pokemon card designed by six-year-old Megu Taniguchi sold for US$156,000, per Dexerto on October 10. The card is the 2010 Pokemon Illusion's Zorua Design Contest promo, Kindergarten Winner variant, which shows Zorua and Pikachu riding on a bus and was made to promote the theatrical release of Zoroark: Master of Illusions. The copy was graded PSA 10, and the auction closed on September 27 through Fanatics Collect.

Taniguchi won the kindergarten category of the card design contest, and along with prize money, winners received a limited print run of cards featuring their artwork; Dexerto, citing ComicBook.com, says approximately 100 copies were printed. A PSA 10 copy reportedly sold for US$8,700 in 2023, per Dexerto. A promo printed for a contest winner is exactly the kind of card that spends years in a drawer or an album before anyone thinks to check it, and the ones that survive that stretch cleanly are the ones that end up in a slab.

Wizards of the Coast's October 12 Banned and Restricted announcement left every format unchanged except Competitive Brawl, per the official Magic site. Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow, Spider-Man 2099 and Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice are now banned as commanders, with Wizards saying it is "seeing some commanders emerge with win rates high enough to make them problematic."

Nine cards, including Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Oko, Thief of Crowns and Wrenn and Six, move to a commander-only ban, so they can return to the other 99 cards of a deck. The digital-only Nashi, Illusion Gadgeteer also loses flash, with Wizards calling the card "a problem for some time." Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage and Pauper all saw no changes this round, so the cards in your binder play exactly as they did last week.

Five stories, one theme: small numbers. A Messi with a print run of one topped the week's sales, PSA's backlog shrank towards its 5 million target, 18 named plaintiffs could not show standing to sue Fanatics, a design printed around 100 times became a six-figure card, and Magic banned three commanders from Competitive Brawl. Whatever your collection is heading towards next, a submission, a sale or just a shelf, the state a card is in when it gets there is the part you control. If a card in your collection needs professional attention before it faces a grader or a buyer, that is exactly what the Lab is for.