I think yes - a lot of collectors actively try and make sure cards don't hit open market in the first place so it becomes critical to a) be everywhere on socials and b) be known as the "XYZ player collector." Just so much luck involved these days - right time, right seller, right price, etc.
Don't know how much this is true, pure speculation, but I feel Ultimate's gone downhill in popularity...? You still get a ton of it opened on Epack, sure, but the stuff that's out there in shops/stores, wonder if its just sitting there. Risk/reward ratio is so, so bad with UC, hitting even a top Ultimate Rookie /99 auto doesn't get you your money back and that's a multi-case hit with current UC. No one wants to burn their money away, just tough to justify UC when you can spend on SPA or something where you could get your money back more often.
Will be interesting to see how the 23/24 high-end product stuff plays out.
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