Trading amiibo cards seems impossible now.

[UglyMonsterFace]

So with the ratio of NPC cards vs regular villagers being 1:5, but each having 24 in the series, I feel like everyone is looking for NPCs while having a complete collection of villagers already, with about a billion doubles. That means everyone is looking for the same cards (specials) but no one actually has doubles of those.. I'm losing hope that I'll ever complete my collection this time around.. anybody else feeling the same?

 

[Anj2k6]

So with the ration of NPC cards vs regular villagers being 1:5, but each having 24 in the series, I feel like everyone is looking for NPCs while having a complete collection of villagers already, with about a billion doubles. That means everyone is looking for the same cards (specials) but no one actually has doubles of those.. I'm losing hope that I'll ever complete my collection this time around.. anybody else feeling the same?

Yeah honestly I've only just now started collecting but I already have duplicate NPCs from when I went hunting on the 5th :/

 

[Etown20]

I'm not trying to collect a full set, but there are some NPC cards I would like to have, and they are currently reselling for prices I am not interested in paying. I think the the new amiibo functionality of the Roost and especially HHP has created a greater demand for the NPC cards than there ever was before.

 

[Blueskyy]

I was able to get a few I want (Wardell, Niko, Daisy Mae) so I think I’m just going to take the 7 NPCs I end up with along with the full villager set I have and call it a day.

 

[Sheando]

I was just explaining this to my partner last night. I have about 7 duplicates left, but I can’t do anything with them because the NPC cards are so highly valued this time around. So here I am with 4 Chabwicks and 6/24 NPCs and no way to trade one for the other.

 

[HappyTails]

I just got into buying Amiibo cards. I am happy to just get who I get although I'm happy with the NPC's I got in the 8 packs I bought so far. I don't have any NPC's from the new 5 series but all in due time.

 

[Marshmallows]

I'm not collecting, but it seems like they should have included at least 2 npcs per pack.

In series 1, 17 out of the 100 are npcs, so 17%. In the card packs, 1 npc per 6 cards is 16%. So it works out pretty well. Npcs and villagers are balanced overall.

In series 5, there's only 48 cards. 24 are npcs! That's half the cards... but you only get 1 a pack... so you have to buy at least 24 packs to get all npcs and trade your dupes, or find people willing to trade npcs for regular villagers. On top of that, not everyone wants a full set, and so some will be harder to get than others.

In comparison, for series 1, you could get a full set with 17 packs if you traded all your duplicates. So overall cheaper to collect a full set of 100 vs these 48.

Maybe they figured people would value some of the new villagers like Raymond, Sasha, and Shino, as equal value vs some of the npcs, especially the ones that already have amiibos.

 

[Fey]

The odds were always extremely bad—I think we could see that coming honestly—and since the stock is so limited, even trading isn’t a real viable option.

Like stated by @Etown20 already, the desirability of the NPCs is also noticeably increased by their new functionality. I’ve myself never cared about getting them before, but now want as many as possible so that I can meet them at Brewsters and design their houses.

I think it’s possible to complete a collection—it’ll just take a while. With the cards being so sought-after, they’ll probably keep printing more for a while to come. Just have to be patient.

 

[azurill]

It would be nice to have the whole set but I know I won’t be getting them all. Currently missing 3 villagers. I haven’t gotten any duplicate NPC’s and did get some of the ones I wanted. It would have been nice to get Niko but his card is probably really expensive. I’m just happy I got my Chabwick card.

 

[Regalli]

I was expecting NPCs to go up in popularity again - I recall them being fairly hot commodities right after HHD came out because it was the only way to design their houses and get their dialogue there - but it’s definitely way worse with the half-and-half proportions in Series 5, especially since we didn’t need two Nook or Isabelle cards and a lot of standard NPCs didn’t change their models at all - another reprint for Series 1-4 including Blathers or the Able Sisters would have been just fine. (I’d have to check how many Mario or Link Amiibos have been released, since I’m certain they exceed Isabelle, but at eight distinct Amiibo now between figures and cards she’s probably among the most-represented characters.) As a result, a full half the set’s specials… and like half of those Specials are characters who have been Amiibo for some time and have no noticeable difference between their old card/figure/both, whereas the other half are either new characters or Wisp and Harvey who were added to New Leaf after all the NPC Amiibo were out, who are naturally VERY hot commodities. I have no issue with Label or Lottie getting cards of their new looks, and I don’t mind one card each for Nook and Isabelle since they do have new models, but if they wanted 24 special cards they REALLY needed more standard characters to a set. What baffles me is that, like. The Welcome Amiibo cards haven’t ever been reprinted in NA. They’re extremely hot commodities, there’s no other representation for those characters, AND they’re stylistically different from the rest of the line because of the RVs. Throw in those 50 and suddenly you’ve got a much better proportion of villagers to special characters without having to program in any new characters, it’s much closer to the standard 100 for a pack (throw in Harriet and Gullivarr - also new characters or new models, and notably absent in Series 5 - and you hit 100 even,) AND you cut down on demand for the Welcome Amiibo knockoffs because there are more legitimate cards in circulation.

The bots and resellers would have been a problem regardless in COVID times, but it would not have been hard to make this proportionately better EVEN IF they had their hearts set on a quarter of the collection being special characters.

 

[Nummles]

It's way harder to get - but a lot of people are just NOW collecting cards - so if you can find people who want earlier cards they are a little bit easier to get those NPCs because they want some of the earlier NPCs

 

[Pig-Pen]

Yeah I'm having a hard time trading, I'm offering multiple cards for 1 NPC and no dice.

 

[Edge]

On one hand, it is easier to get the villagers that I want, but on the other harder for the NPCs. I do think the Welcome Amiibo should have been added or more new villagers in general to encourage trading.

 

[Anj2k6]

Yeah I'm having a hard time trading, I'm offering multiple cards for 1 NPC and no dice.

Honestly I might do something like that once I start buying the bulk packs. Just cant spare the extra few hundred just yet lol xD