The fund enters the second half of 2026 exactly where we planned to be: heavily positioned in structurally scarce sealed product ahead of the most significant catalyst window in the hobby's history, with a proven exit engine now generating realized returns alongside the core hold. Capital deployment in the second half will remain gated by the same underwriting discipline that has kept our book at roughly 70 cents on the dollar for two consecutive quarters. We do not chase markets, and we will not stretch entry prices to stay busy.
Fundraising & Final Close
Closed capital now stands at $454,275 with a further $180,725 in soft circle, bringing total committed plus soft circle to $635,000, or 63.5% of the $1M target, with a bit of road still to travel. We anticipate holding the fund's final close at the end of October or beginning of November, at which point all uncalled capital will be called and final commitments closed. Converting the soft circle and completing the raise ahead of the anniversary window is a primary second-half priority, and it positions new capital to be deployed from selectivity, not necessity.
The 30th Anniversary Window
Pokémon's 30th Anniversary arrives in October 2026, now inside a two-month horizon. Anniversary cycles have historically driven outsized appreciation across the entire sealed ecosystem, and the fund's largest positions (Prismatic Evolutions, 151, and core sealed product) sit directly in that demand path. Joe Jonas has confirmed a collaboration with Target on the full 30th Anniversary release, signaling mainstream retail amplification at a scale the hobby has not seen before. Our posture into the window is simple: hold the core, harvest selectively into strength, and let scarcity do its work.
Emerging TCG Verticals — Riftbound, Gundam & Lorcana
A deliberate second-half focus is a set of speculative positions in emerging trading card games, underwritten on three demand fundamentals: player base trajectory, IP strength, and overall worldwide brand value. Riftbound sits on Riot Games' League of Legends, one of the most valuable gaming IPs in the world with a global player base in the tens of millions, and the fund holds sealed cases across all three of its first releases. The Gundam Card Game is backed by Bandai and one of Japan's most enduring and commercially powerful franchises, with a collector culture that has sustained premium demand for decades. Lorcana carries the Disney catalog, arguably the deepest IP library in existence, where the fund has initiated a small position via a sealed case of Attack of the Vine. These positions are sized as speculative sleeve allocations by design: small enough that no single outcome moves the fund, structured so meaningful capital only follows where player adoption and supply dynamics earn it.
Post-Quarter Activity — Precision Positions
Shortly after quarter end, the fund initiated a set of small, surgical positions in scarcity-capped single cards: four Gundam Newtype Challenge winner cards, a category of competitively awarded promotional cards with permanently fixed populations, acquired under our four-gate single-card checklist. The fund also demonstrated its velocity capability in the graded slab sleeve: three slabs purchased June 11 were exited on July 6 for a +26.3% realized return in 25 days. These positions are deliberately small relative to the book. They exist to prove out repeatable playbooks in adjacent categories before any meaningful capital follows, and each new category must clear the same evidence standard on adoption and supply before sealed capital deploys.
One Piece & Adjacent IP
Season 2 of the One Piece Netflix adaptation is driving a new wave of mainstream awareness and international collector demand. One Piece remains the highest-selling manga of all time worldwide, and expanding brand partnerships signal an IP still transitioning from niche to mainstream. Our One Piece allocation remains a measured, asymmetric position: small enough to be disciplined, large enough to matter if the collector base compounds the way the early Pokémon curve did.
Rare Books & Literary Collectibles
Brandon Sanderson's Apple TV deal for the Cosmere, spanning three theatrical releases and a full television series, continues to anchor our rare book thesis. As production milestones surface publicly, we expect broadening awareness to lift collector demand for signed editions, leatherbound printings, and first editions across the catalog. Our signed and numbered Words of Radiance leatherbounds are already marking well above cost, and we continue to evaluate additions on the same catalyst logic.
Portfolio Rotation
The rotation strategy described last quarter is now demonstrated fact rather than plan. Every Q2 exit was a strategic move with a single purpose: freeing capital from shorter-thesis positions and redeploying it into better long-term assets, specifically SKUs where the fund already holds strong conviction. Proceeds from the quarter's sales were recycled directly into deepening core positions at our target discounts rather than spreading into new names. Expect the same pattern in the second half: the long-term core does not move, the rotation book harvests into catalyst strength, and freed capital flows back to our highest-conviction holdings.
Joe Jonas × Target · Pokémon 30th
Riftbound · Gundam · Emerging TCG Verticals
Brandon Sanderson × Apple TV