Two Fans Got 293 One Piece College Basketball Cards Last Night

We love it when someone takes our advice and hits it big. During last night’s Gonzaga game, a group of dedicated resellers were able to score nearly 300 copies of the coveted Monkey.D.Luffy College Basketball card given away free to ticketed attendees. For a few hours of work and a few more thousand dollars invested, they walked away with over $100,000 worth of cards. Better yet, this opportunity is still knocking. Thirteen more One Piece College Basketball games are scheduled through the next month.

Let’s take a second to go over the facts. If you’re not a college basketball fan, a One Piece collector, or a regular reader of our website (shame!), you might have completely missed this promotion.

From January 23 to March 4, the One Piece TCG has partnered with five college basketball teams for special giveaways during select home games. Ticketed fans can receive t-shirts, posters, and the ultra-popular Monkey.D.Luffy College Basketball promo card. Skip to the bottom of this article for more details on the teams and games giving away cards.

The first two games took place Friday and Saturday night, with Rutgers and Gonzaga hosting. The promotion has been a massive success, generating huge ticket sales among fans and One Piece TCG collectors.

In fact, ticket prices for the sponsored games have risen dramatically. What might have normally been $10 or $20 to get through the door has risen to over $200 at some stadiums. Most college basketball arenas only seat around 6,000 to 9,000 fans, so there’s just not enough tickets to go around.

And that demand is mostly driven by the absolutely wild market for these One Piece College Basketball cards. Because these games are the only way to obtain one, attendees are reselling them after the event for anywhere from $300 to $600. It’s hard to overstate the volume of sales either; after each game, hundreds of cards are bought and sold through eBay.

Getting a Monkey.D.Luffy College Basketball card is very easy, as they are handed to each attendee at the gate after getting their ticket scanned. Theoretically, that puts a limit of one card per fan, but rules were made to be bent.

We talked with RC Elite member Jake Proost who was at last night’s Gonzaga game. He and three other attendees worked together to secure as many Monkey.D.Luffy College Basketball cards as possible by purchasing them off other fans. By the end of the night, they had amassed nearly 300, with Proost and his friend Chuck splitting the entire haul between the two of them.

But that brings us to an important question: what does the market for these cards actually look like, especially considering there are 13 more games left in the promotion and several thousand more cards left to give away?

Based on what we’ve seen over the weekend, it’s pretty promising. Ahead of the inaugural Rutgers game on Friday, Monkey.D.Luffy College Basketball cards were pre-trading for around $450, and both the number of sales and average price actually rose after the game, with some sellers getting more than $800 afterwards.

The completely unprecedented market had a lot of people thrown for a loop, especially considering the card’s print numbers. These are not scarce, and it seems like attendees had absolutely no issue receiving a card.

Let’s do some math. Based on the published maximum seating capacities for the 15 promotional games, we estimate around there will be around 123,000 total fans in attendance (assuming sold-out games, which seems likely.) Since every fan gets one at the gate, we’d say there’s 123,000 One Piece College Basketball cards in circulation, or at least there will be once the promo ends on March 4.

That’s a pretty large print run. Fans have been pointing this out, with some believing that a sustained market for them is unrealistic at current prices. The One Piece TCG is still relatively small, at least when compared to gargantuan collectorbases for Pokemon or Magic: The Gathering.

Fortunately, we actually have a pretty good comparison to make. Last June, One Piece partnered with the LA Dodgers for a similar card giveaway. This was just a one-game promotion, but estimates indicate more than 30,000 copies of the card were given away.

Shortly after the game, they were reselling for around $375, a little less than these college basketball One Piece cards. Fast forward a few months and the cards have exploded in value, with raw examples trading for nearly $1,500 and a Beckett Pristine 10 Black Label example selling for $15,000 in November.

This should show that there are One Piece TCG collectors with deep pockets. We still think the price on these Monkey.D.Luffy College Basketball cards will come down a bit as more cards enter the market, but we don’t think it will crash like some are suggesting. If we’re going off the Dodgers’ cards, prices might actually rise a few months from now, especially for highly-graded examples.

And while it’s easy to look at that 120,000+ print estimate and FUD it, remember that this is not a normal card distribution. It’s not necessarily informed fans receiving these cards; they’re being handed out at the gate after scanning a ticket. How many will end up forgotten in someone’s dresser, or pitched into the trash with an empty beer cup? The actual number in circulation by the end might be far lower.

We’re feeling very bullish on this promotion. In our conversation with Jake Proost, he revealed that he had already secured a bulk buyer for over half the collection, and was in talks to sell the rest at upwards of $300 per card. For a few hours of work, that’s an incredible amount of profit to take home.

If all this reading has got you hungry, we’ve got you covered. The One Piece College Basketball tour features five teams across fifteen home games, with the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Rutgers Scarlet Knights, St Johns Red Storm, Illinois Fighting Illini, and Houston Cougars hosting.

The first two games have already taken place, but thirteen more are scheduled through to March.

• Jan 27, 6:30 PM ET – Rutgers vs Michigan State
• Jan 31, 7:30 PM PT – Gonzaga vs Saint Mary’s (halftime show)

• Feb 6, 8 PM ET – St. John’s vs UConn (special timeout show)
• Feb 7, 12 PM ET – Rutgers vs Nebraska
• Feb 9, 6:30 PM ET – St. John’s vs Xavier
• Feb 10, 8 PM PT – Gonzaga vs Washington State
• Feb 14, 8 PM CT – Houston vs Kansas State (halftime show)
• Feb 15, 12 PM CT – Illinois vs Indiana
• Feb 21, 2 PM CT – Houston vs Arizona
• Feb 27, 7 PM CT – Illinois vs Michigan (halftime show)
• Feb 28, 8 PM ET – St. John’s vs Villanova

• Mar 3, 8 PM CT – Illinois vs Oregon
• Mar 4, 8 PM CT – Houston vs Baylor

Note that some of these games feature special One Piece halftime shows. During these, fans will have a chance to receive a One Piece t-shirt featuring that game’s home team, and ticketed student section fans will get one guaranteed during all games. Additionally, attendees can also secure a One Piece College Basketball poster. These items are reselling for about $100 to $150, with bundles including the card listed for around $700.

Getting a One Piece College Basketball card is very simple. They are handed out at the gate after your ticket is scanned.

Obviously, the real money is in doing what Proost and his crew did: bringing wads of cash and buying as many cards as possible off clueless fans. There are still plenty of games left if you’re considering doing this.

Before you do, two words of caution. As we mentioned before, ticket prices for these games are going up. Way up. As of this publication, ticket prices for next Friday’s Rutgers game against Michigan are starting at $221 on Seatgeek. Larger stadiums like Illinois’ might be cheaper, but expect to put up some cash to even get through the door at these games.

Second, Proost mentioned that security began tightening up towards the end of last night and shutting down attempts from other resellers to buy cards off other fans. Try to be subtle about your efforts, and don’t get ejected.

And finally, we shouldn’t have to say this, but we do: don’t be an asshole. Don’t try to steal other people’s cards. Don’t mug people for their cards. Don’t get into fights over cards. Sporting events have a special way of making otherwise rational people lose their minds. Don’t make your mom have to write “knifed to death at a basketball game over One Piece cards” on your tombstone. That would be dumb.

Okay! That’s all for right now. This promotion has been an absolute feast for resellers, and we wanted to showcase some success from our RC Elite members. Opportunities like this are posted all the time, it just takes a little sweat and a few hours of work to turn life-changing profits at the right time.

If you want to join Jake Proost and our other members on the road to financial independence, RC Elite is ready for you. And if not? We’ll keep posting about opportunities like this every day on our website, so do yourself and your wallet a favor by subscribing to our newsletter to stay informed. We’ll see you on the next one.