A longtime Pokemon Trading Card Game fan says their entire collection was destroyed after a sewage line burst, which ended up causing thousands of dollars in damages. Their story later made the rounds online, sparking several creative Pokemon TCG community ideas for how they could recoup at least some of their losses.
The story itself comes from Reddit user Substantial-Pie-4973, who describes themselves as a longtime fan who built out a sizable collection of Pokemon TCG cards. A lot of it was acquired post-2019, when they returned to the hobby.
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Pokemon TCG Cards Worth Thousands of Dollars Destroyed by Sewage Line Burst
Taking to the r/PokemonTCG subreddit in late October 2025, Substantial-Pie-4973 revealed that a recent sewage line burst destroyed the vast majority of their cards. The Pokemon TCG collector described how their binders and even sealed products like booster packs were submerged in contaminated water for several days before being discovered, largely because the storage room in the basement was sealed, so the house occupants did not see any flooding or smell the sewage water.
Cleanup crews deemed the items unsalvageable due to "Category 3" water contamination, the most severe level of water damage, typically associated with hazardous waste. Substantial-Pie-4973 said the cards were usually stored securely but had been temporarily placed in the basement due to a short-term living arrangement at their grandmother’s house while searching for a smaller home. "[I] quit a good paying job to help my dad start his business because he didn’t let me fail when I was younger, so I couldn’t let him fail now," the poster said of their situation, adding they were only living in their grandma's basement for a couple of months and were expected to move soon.
Pokemon TCG Community Offers 'Poop Pack' Opening Suggestions, Scalping Accusations
Reacting to this story, some vocal members of the community called for the OP to stream themselves opening their newly acquired "poop packs," referencing a substantial number of contaminated booster packs and larger product sets seen in the shared images. "Stream the pulls and maybe people will donate for the entertainment," one of the most highly upvoted responses in the thread reads, seemingly ignoring the fact that Substantial-Pie-4973 suggested most cards were already thrown out due to being contamination risks. While the broader community reaction was largely sympathetic, a few people accused the poster of being a Pokemon TCG scalper.
"I feel no sympathy for people sitting on thousands of dollars of sealed product, especially recent stuff," one comment reads, referencing the fact that a lot of the packs seen in the shared images are from Pokemon TCG's Crown Zenith expansion—released in January 2023—and not some long forgotten childhood collection. Substantial-Pie-4973 did not address the scalping accusations directly, but did say they were "saving a few packs for birthdays" and "rainy days," without elaborating.
- Released
- April 10, 2000
- ESRB
- e
- Developer(s)
- Hudson Soft
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Pokemon
- Genre(s)
- Digital Card Game, Strategy
