The Weekly Rip 10.19.25 [Intention]
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The Weekly Rip
Your Stacking Slabs Sunday Update
October 19, 2025
There’s a point in every collector’s journey when the buying slows down and the reflecting begins.
You start scrolling through your cards and ask yourself a simple question:
What am I really building here?
When the market’s hot, it’s easy to move fast.
Cards you bought for a hundred are worth three hundred.
Auction prices are breaking records every week.
New products, new prospects, new “must-haves” hit your feed daily.
And somewhere along the way, collecting turns into reacting.
I’ve been there.
You probably have too.
You see a card getting attention, a post catching fire, and you convince yourself you need in.
Then the card arrives, and instead of excitement, you feel confusion.
Why did I buy this? What does it say about my collection?
That’s when you realize it’s time to start building with intention.
Collecting with intention means slowing down and remembering your reasons for being here.
It means taking ownership.
It means being the CEO of your PC.
You don’t control every part of life — work, family, deadlines — but your collection is yours.
It’s your vision, your strategy, your decisions.
You get to define what matters and why.
When you run your collection like a CEO runs a business, everything changes:
You set a clear vision for what you want to build.
You create a strategy for how you’ll get there — budget, priorities, projects.
You establish criteria that help you stay focused when distractions hit.
You make decisions based on purpose, not pressure.
That’s not about profit.
It’s about direction.
It’s about collecting like someone who gives a damn.
For me, that direction centers on Indianapolis — the teams, the players, the stories that connect me to this city.
I’ve built my Colts Prism project card by card, year by year.
There’s one that still gets to me — the 2014 Dante Moncrief Gold Prizm rookie.
I missed it once, and it still bothers me.
It’s not about the player’s Hall of Fame case or the card’s market value.
It’s about what it represents to me — a moment in Colts history, a connection I’ll always care about.
That’s what intention looks like.
When you define your own lanes — player, team, set, era — everything becomes clearer.
You buy less but care more.
You stop chasing every spike or sizzle.
You start chasing meaning.
The CEO mindset doesn’t make collecting rigid.
It makes it sustainable.
It gives you the freedom to pivot when your interests evolve, to pass on the cards that don’t fit, and to double down on the ones that do.
The market will always move in waves. Right now, it’s a bull market.
Tomorrow, maybe not.
But if you’ve built something that reflects who you are, the market doesn’t decide whether you win.
You do.
So as you think about your next move, ask yourself:
Does this card belong in my story?
Does it fit the vision I’m building?
If the answer’s yes, go after it with confidence.
If not, walk away and stay focused on what matters most.
You’re the CEO of your PC.
Collect like it.
Build something that lasts.
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Reissue: Building a Collection with Purpose
Joe (@low_pop_papi) on Panini Inserts, Focused Lanes, and Owning the Chase
What happens when you stop listening to the noise and start building the collection you actually want?
That’s what Joe (@low_pop_papi) shared on Cards in Hand. It wasn’t just a conversation about rare Panini inserts. It was a masterclass in how to think for yourself, stay focused in a crowded market, and collect with long-term clarity.
Joe didn’t build his Steph Curry insert collection by accident. He made a conscious decision to shrink the sea. To stop chasing what everyone else was chasing. And to start owning a lane that felt both overlooked and deeply personal.
What stood out wasn’t just the cards. It was the mindset. The confidence. The clarity. This episode is a blueprint for anyone ready to take full control of their collecting strategy.
Let’s break it down.
What We Learned from This Episode
When collectors talk about Steph Curry, they usually focus on Prizm Golds, Select Blacks, or Rookie Autos. That’s not wrong — those are grails. But Joe found a different way.
Instead of trying to outbid the masses on the same top-tier base parallels, he turned his attention to Panini-era inserts — specifically, insert parallels. Golds. Vinyls. Nebulas. One-of-ones.
He didn’t need the loudest cards. He needed the right ones.
And that required a few critical decisions:
Narrowing down to one player: Steph Curry.
Prioritizing inserts with branding and design synergy — cards with stories, not just print runs.
Chasing the rarest versions: not just Stargazing, but Stargazing Gold Vinyl 1/1s across multiple years.
ZAG-ing where the hobby was ZIG-ing: opting into overlooked sets like Prizm Deca instead of ignoring them.
Joe’s strategy wasn’t just contrarian. It was intentional. He knew what mattered to him — and pursued it, even when the market wasn’t paying attention.
That’s what it means to act like the CEO of your PC.
He wasn’t buying a checklist. He was building an identity.
He wasn’t chasing comps. He was chasing connection.
He wasn’t buying what was trending. He was collecting what would last.
This wasn’t about grabbing what’s hot. This was about putting together something cooler — a PC that reflected both aesthetic taste and personal conviction.
What This Means for Collecting in 2025
The best collectors don’t wait for the hobby to validate their decisions. They build their own frameworks.
Here’s the play:
If you’re overwhelmed by options, shrink the sea. Pick a player. Pick a lane. Pick an aesthetic.
If everyone’s talking about the same cards, look somewhere else. Some of the best pieces live just outside the algorithm.
If you’re trying to stand out, don’t follow trends. Follow taste. Look for inserts with soul. Design with depth. Stories that stick.
If you want your collection to last, build a system. Know what fits, know what doesn’t, and ignore the hype cycles.
Being the CEO of your PC isn’t about making spreadsheets. It’s about making choices.
Joe reminded us that collecting gets better when it gets more personal.
And if you’re willing to go against the grain, there’s a lot of beauty left in the margins.
I appreciate your support for Stacking Slabs. Tell a damn friend.
Take care,
Brett