Pokémon cards have always been the ultimate means of splurging among fans. But a few cards are much rarer and much more valuable than others. Pokémon cards in alternate colours better known as shiny Pokémon cards are the most coveted cards in the game.

But why are these different coloured Pokémons so special? How rare is a shiny Pokémon card? And what cards should you always be on the lookout for? Let’s find out!

Simply put, a shiny Pokémon is a different-colored version of a regular Pokémon. What makes them special is their rarity. You won’t find a shiny Pokémon in every video game or card game. They’re so rare that many content creators spend hundreds of hours looking for these shiny Pokémon within the video games.

If you’re extremely lucky, you may spot shiny Pokémon in any of the games just on a whim but as mentioned before many people invest hundreds of hours looking for them. But how do you identify one if you’re a beginner? 

The game makes it easy for you. When you come across a shiny Pokémon, you’ll see an icon with three stars above its CP. These shiny Pokémon have a different color and light up or flash every time they’re sent into battle.

Finding these Pokémons in a regular game is extremely rare. If you’re a numbers person, your chance of coming across a shiny Pokémon in the wild is 1 in 4096, which means that the chance of a Pokémon being shiny is 0.024%. This makes it even more intriguing. Even though the latest versions of the game have doubled your chances of encountering a shiny Pokémon, your possibilities are still slim.

But does every Pokémon have a shiny version, or are there only certain ones? Technically, the shiny version of every Pokémon in the game has been added to the database. However, that doesn’t mean there’s a way to get the shinier version.

Some Pokémon are shiny-locked in different versions of the game. As the term implies, is is impossible for the Pokémon to be shiny when you get or encounter them. This lock is usually reserved for mythical or legendary Pokémons.

The locking of Pokémon without shine began in a comparatively new version of the game, Generation V, with Black and White. As a result, three Pokémon were locked in that game. Since then, several other Pokémons have been shiny-locked across multiple game versions.

As we know, shiny Pokémon are pretty rare and a treat to find. But do they also have special powers, and are they stronger than the normal Pokémon?

The answer to this question could be quite disappointing. Shiny Pokémon are neither stronger nor weaker than regular Pokémons. The different colour variation only adds to the aesthetic value of the Pokémon and not its abilities.

A normal Pokémon and a shiny Pokémon are identical in battling strength. The only distinction between them is that the shiny one has a different and rare color with shining stars surrounding it. These Pokémon also make unique sound effects when they’re captured. There is no connection between the shininess of the Pokémon and its values.

In simple words, shiny Pokémon don’t have boosted stats, they can’t learn special moves, and they are not more powerful than their regular counterparts.

While we know that a shiny Pokémon has a slightly different color than the normal one, the same concept applies to Pokémon cards. These cards can be seen dotted throughout many different sets throughout the history of the Pokemon TCG as far back. Shiny Pokemon have come in many different forms throughout their history in the card game whether it be “Gold Star” cards, “Shining Pokemon” or just standard GXs and VMaxs. To give you a better idea of a shiny card, you may find a Black Charizard instead of an orange one. 

But why are these cards so valuable, and why do people spend hours and weeks looking for them?

This is because the chances of pulling a shiny Pokémon card from a deck are very slim. Of course it varies from set to set but the chances of pulling a shiny are universally slim.

You might have to spend $1000 or more on some booster boxes if you want a shiny card. And even then, there is no guarantee that you will get your hands on a shiny Pokémon card.

Shining Steelix was first introduced in the Neo Destiny trade card set. It is the evolved version of Onix, a massive large rock snake. Steelix has an additional layer of metal surrounding its body, which makes it one of the most fearsome Pokémon.

The original version of Steelix is a steel gray Pokémon. However, the shinier version of the Pokémon has a golden exterior, making it look rarer. The all-gold color of the Pokémon and its menacing facial expression make this trading card one of the coolest in the collection. The price for this shiny Pokémon varies between $215 and $247.

Rayquaza is amongst the strongest dragons in Pokémon history. The shinier version of the dragon Pokémon was introduced in the Dragons Exalted set. This Pokémon trading card holds the most power and popularity in the set. 

The original version of Rayquaza features a green snake-like dragon. However, the shinier version of this Pokémon has been swapped with black, making Rayquaza look even more dominating in the skies. It was the first shiny dragon-type Pokémon to be included in the card game, making it more iconic and valuable. A shiny Rayquaza Pokémon card varies between $250 and $400.

Charizard GX is a shiny Pokémon card that was first introduced in the Hidden Fates pack. This pack was comparatively smaller but targeted the collectors by introducing the Shiny vault. 

The Shiny Vault was a subset of cards found hidden in the pack and included cards with the shiny versions of popular Pokémons of that era. While the original Charizard has an iconic look with yellow and orange, the shinier version of the Pokémon featured a black and red Charizard. 

Like other Charizard cards, this one also carries a significant price tag and is a little difficult to find compared to others. The price of this shiny Pokémon card varies between $350 and $375. In May 2022, the card was sold at $400, and the price is expected to rise in 2023.

Magikarp is a generation 1 water-type Pokémon and is limited to just a single attack. For a Pokémon that can just splash to defeat its enemies, Magikarp has certainly gained a lot of popularity. This shiny Pokémon card was first introduced in the Neo Revelation collection. 

The original Pokémon features the usual orange, red, and yellow color scheme. However, the shiner version of this Pokémon has an all-gold appearance with a flame-like glow. The popularity of this card has continued to grow since it was first introduced. 

Its price ranged between $430 and $450 in 2022. However, the price peaked at $600 in February, making it one of this collection’s most sought-after trading cards.

Shining Kabutops was first introduced in the Neo Destiny Pokémon card set. These Pokémon were considered so rare that only one could be included in each set. While most of the shining versions of the Pokémon were inconspicuous, the Kabutops was just the opposite.

The appearance of the original Pokémon was similar to the fossils it was regenerated from and featured variants of brown on its skin with long steel blades. However, the shinier version of this Pokémon has a lime-green appearance, making it look more like an alien. In addition, this card features absolutely beautiful artwork. The price of shining Kabutops ranges between $440 and $570.

Pikachu is one of the flagship Pokémon of the series, and its shinier version does hold significant value in the trading market. This Pokémon was first introduced in the Holon Phantoms card set and had a comparatively muted color scheme. 

The original Pikachu features a pale yellow color scheme. Whereas the shinier version of this Pokémon features a dark orange skin Pikachu with pink cheeks. The card also features an explosion of lightning behind the Pokémon, making it look more heroic. Unfortunately, the Pikachu Star card is typically hard to acquire. The price of the card ranges between $500 and $800.

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Shining Gyarados, popularly known as the Red Gyarados, was first introduced in the Neo Revelation card set. It was one of the first Pokémon guaranteed to appear in the second generation of the game. 

The original version of the Gyarados Pokémon features a turquoise blue color scheme. However, the shining Gyarados have dark red scales. You can find these Pokémons in the Lake of Rage in video games. Similarly, in the card, the Pokémon is seen raging out of the lake. The price of a Shining Gyarados card ranges between $800 and $900.

Mewtwo has always been one of the most powerful Pokémons in existence. Mewtwo is also one of the most misunderstood Pokémon. The shining version of Mewtwo was introduced in the Neo Destiny card set. It was one of the final expansions of the Pokémon card game. 

The original Mewtwo is primarily gray with a long purple tray. On the other hand, the shining version of this Pokémon features a lime-green colored tail and a reflective shield. The card also shows a glow all around the Pokémon. Its price ranged between $800 and $1100.

The Shining Charizard is amongst the most expensive and rarest Pokémon cards ever printed. It was also a part of the iconic Neo Destiny collection. Even damaged Pokémon cards can sell for up to $1000, making them the most sought-after card in the entire collection. 

This Pokémon is rare even in video games but finding a card in the deck is even rarer. The original Charizard Pokémon has teal wings with an orange body. Whereas the Shining Charizard features a black and blue Pokémon. The price of the card can range between $833 and $1470.

Espeon is a psychic Pokémon and is part of the second generation. This evolved form of Eevee resembles a cat and is stronger for battles during the daytime. The Espeon Star is the shiny version of the Pokémon that was first introduced as a part of the Pop Series 5 collection. 

This series was a special edition that you could only receive by participating in play events organized by Pokémon. The Pop series was an extremely valuable and rare collection. This means that all the cards from this collection have a high resale value, even the damaged ones. 

Espeon is a cat-like Pokémon with light purple colored fur. On the other hand, the shinier version of this Pokémon features a bright green color with a glow surrounding the creature. The price of an Espeon Star card is around $2000. Since only a limited number of these cards exist, the price will always ascend.

At times it might feel like shiny Pokemon cards are just impossible to pull just because of how rare they are. But we can guarantee that these cards are still available in many Pokémon sets, especially sets like Hidden or Shining Fates. 

Suppose you are thinking about making a few hundred dollars from cards. You should first know how to identify them. The only way to know that you have pulled out a shiny card is to have a solid knowledge of booster packs and the colors of Pokémon. If the Pokémon is a different color than it usually is, you have got yourself a shiny card. 

Depending on the Pokemon, a shiny Pokémon card easily be worth hundreds of dollars. Therefore, you should not include these cards in your deck and instead you should get your cards graded. This would help you understand the resale value of your card and keep it in prime condition.

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VMax Pokemon cards are a derivation of V cards both of which were introduced in the Pokemon TCG in 2019 with the introduction of the new era of Pokemon cards: Sword & Shield. Similar to GX and EX cards of previous generations these cards are considered basic and can be played without any prior evolution to it. They are supposed to mimic the Dynamax and Gigantamax mechanics in the actual video game which allows the Pokemon to grow 100x bigger than their usual size and gives them massively improved stats and attacks. In the video game, this feat is achieved through what are known as power spots but the TCG does not feature these, instead, all the player must do is draw the V and VMax versions of a Pokemon to supersize it. 

As you might be able to see on VMax cards is that they feature a gigantic version of the Pokemon they are depicting. This is why the VMax is supposed to represent the equivalent of the Gigantamax mechanic in the card game.

VMax cards are pretty rare in comparison to their V counterparts and can only be found once or twice per booster box (36 packs) on average. When compared to things like secret rares and alternate arts which can be incredibly expensive and you may not even get one of them in a whole booster box sometimes, you can understand how VMax cards would be seen as relatively rare.

However, in the grand scheme of Pokemon, VMax cards aren’t that rare. Because of how essential they are to competitive play, it would be unfair to make them almost impossibly rare as it would completely stunt the meta of the game for people who don’t have the money to spend on hundreds of packs or buy super-expensive cards, which takes us quite nicely into our next point.

Although this is a list of the 10 most expensive VMax cards, typically, VMax cards aren’t worth that much money and it’s only been in more recent sets that VMax cards have been gaining a little more traction thanks to things like alternate arts and Trainer Galleries.

As you may already know, a lot of a card’s value is determined by the Pokemon on the card, often if it is a Pokemon that nobody really cares about, then there is no reason for people to care about the card regardless of how amazing the card’s art is. Yes, there are exceptions to this rule and sometimes the population of a card will affect the card’s value greatly but a general rule of thumb is that card’s value is often determined by the Pokemon on the card. Mascots of the game like Pikachu, Charizard, Gyarados, etc. will often sell for more than a Rillaboom for example.

However, even in general a standard VMax card just isn’t worth that much. Not to spoil the list or anything but a normal Pikachu VMax from Vivid Voltage is only worth around $10 despite being a VMax Pikachu. 

So, in no particular order, let’s get into the VMax Pokemon Cards that actually are worth some money!

First up we have just a standard Charizard VMax. Although we said earlier that standard VMax cards aren’t usually that expensive because of how necessary they are in competitive play, collectors seemed to have made an exception in the case of Charizard. We also mentioned before that the Pokemon on the card can also greatly affect the price of the card and this is a prime example of that happening. This card comes from the 2020 set Darkness Ablaze and is the most expensive card in the set to this day. Ungraded, the card typically sells for around $30 but in a PSA 10, the card has sold for more than $115.

Now we immediately see a stark increase in price. This Sylveon was introduced in the 2021 set Evolving Skies which seems to have brought many of the other entries on this list with it. It probably has the greatest wealth of alternate arts out of any set in Pokemon (apart from Crown Zenith) and this Sylveon is just scratching the surface of the expensive VMaxes as it’s probably one of the less beloved Eeveelutions out there. Despite fairy types being discontinued and shifted back to psychic types, this Sylveon has still managed to prosper as it is worth around $137 ungraded, and in a PSA 10, it is worth upwards of $450.

Yeah, people really do love themselves a good Eeveelution and this Glaceon is no exception to that, especially when the Eeveelutions are VMax alternate arts. As mentioned before Evolving Skies brought the heat when it came to both alternate arts and Eeveelutions and here’s just another example of it. However, this card doesn’t just feature a massive Glaceon which would honestly be enough for its price tag, it also features loads of other Pokemon skating around on the ice the Glaceon has created including an Azumarill, a Pikachu and a poor Feebas at the back. If you manage to pick this card up ungraded it is usually worth around $157 and in a PSA 10 can be worth more than $300.

Although Evolving Skies is kind of the home to all of the alternate art Eeveelutions, this one managed to weasel its way into Fusion Strike in November of the same year of Evolving Skies (2021). This little guy, or rather this really big guy, sleeping on top of a building with all of the Wingulls floating around its head is just too adorable to not at least be worth something and it sure is worth something. Ungraded the card is already worth $167 and in a PSA 10 the card is worth upwards of $500.

Possibly one of the most beloved Rainbow Rares you can find in the Pokemon TCG, the Rainbow Rare Pikachu burst onto the scene in 2020 in the electrifying set Vivid Voltage. It’s so simple yet so brilliant as it sports the irresistible fat Pikachu sometimes known as the Chonkachu. Unlike its normal VMax counterpart, the rainbow finish on this card made its price skyrocket further than anyone expected. Ungraded it would be difficult to find this card for less than $100 as it usually sells for around $136. Then, in a PSA 10, it’s worth a whopping $300.

Yet another entry coming from the slightly underrated set Fusion Strike brings likely one of the most creative arts for a VMax Pokemon. It features everyone’s favorite first-generation, dark-type Pokemon consuming what looks to be a small forest. It does it all with a malicious grin on his face as trees, apple cores, berries, and bee hives hurtle toward his gaping mouth. It is one of the most expensive cards in Fusion Strike just about tied with the Espeon VMax alternate art as it comes in at around $168 ungraded. However, in a PSA 10, this bad boy is worth upwards of $500.

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Are you sick of Eeveelutions yet? Because the Pokemon Company sure isn’t. Yes, your eyes do not deceive you this is yet another Eeveelution entry from the set Evolving Skies and this one is no less cute than the other three before it. This card features a massive Leafeon just in a field of hay curiously pushing around some hay bales. I would like to believe that the card is suggesting that this is how all hay bales are made in the Pokemon world, but he could just be pushing a hay bale that already existed. Regardless, ungraded, this card is worth around $170 and in a PSA 10, you won’t be able to get it for anything less than $400.

Now we enter the top 3 rarest VMax cards of all time territory and starting it off is none other than the Rainbow Rare Charizard VMax. Arguably one of the hardest Charizards to pull in the Sword and Shield era, coming from the holiday set Champion’s Path which also happened to feature the Shiny Charizard V. This is the only Rainbow Rare more beloved than the Pikachu VMax and it’s with pretty good reason, it’s a giant Charizard with fire spewing out of either side of its mouth. Sure, it’s just the same VMax art that they have reprinted with a different finish about three times now but everyone loves a good Rainbow Rare especially if it’s a Charizard. Ungraded alone, these cards sell for more than $180 and in a PSA 10 you can find these selling for more than $800.

The runner-up of this list comes the only card from Evolving Skies that isn’t an Eeveelution and it’s a fan-favorite legendary Pokemon, Rayquaza. This set features both a Rayquaza V alternate art and a VMax alternate art but as you probably could’ve guessed this Rayquaza is the second most expensive card in the set. It features the iconic snakey, green dragon floating over the high mountains of forests and greenery somehow bigger than it already was. Ungraded, these things sell for more than $280 and in a PSA 10 they are as expensive as $900.

This final entry probably doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has researched even the slightest amount about Evolving Skies. Ever since this card’s release it has remained one of the most expensive not only VMaxes but alternate arts as well. In fact, it has remained one of the most expensive English releases in the past 2 years. This is a combination of the fact that Umbreon has kind of always been the favorite of the Eeveelutions and that it is one of the coolest card arts out there. It features an Umbreon climbing a building in the night sky baring a slight similarity to Van Gogh’s Starry Night, as it reaches up attempting to touch the moon. It is often referred to as the Moonbreon in the TCG as a result of this art. Even ungraded the card is worth more than $470 and in a PSA 10, they typically sell for more than $1500.

VMax Pokemon cards can be found in any set of Pokemon from the Sword and Shield era. But, for those who aren’t aware of what those sets are, VMax Pokemon cards can be found only in the following sets: 

• Sword & Shield 
• Rebel Clash
• Darkness Ablaze 
• Champion’s Path
• Vivid Voltage
• Shining Fates
• Battle Styles
• Chilling Reign 
• Evolving Skies
• Celebrations 
• Fusion Strike 
• Brilliant Stars 
• Astral Radiance
• Pokemon Go
• Lost Origin 
• Silver Tempest 
• Crown Zenith

As for sets beyond this, we are unsure if they will discontinue the VMax feature or if it will continue into further generations.

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There’s no point in trying to hide it, everyone who has ever collected Pokemon cards has thought if not googled the same thing: “how can I get some Pokemon cards for free?”. Chances are, that exact thought and/or Google search is what brought you here today. Well, lucky for you, there are ways you can get a hold of Pokemon cards for free and we’re going to cover the best ones right here.

If you’ve never heard of Buy Nothing, it’s an awesome app that, like a lot of the other apps on this list, allows its users to either give away an item or service or find any item or service for completely nothing. That’s right, no cost at all. As you could probably guess, this means that you can just jump on the app and search for Pokemon cards and find someone selling Pokemon cards near you. So, if you’re looking for 100% free Pokemon cards that are literally just a few clicks away, BuyNothing is likely your best bet.

OLIO is a service, much like BuyNothing, designed to share and redistribute goods and share things that you may no longer have a use for but other people could have a use for. This may be in the form of old furniture, mattresses, toys, and in some cases Pokemon cards. Once again, a lot of people have Pokemon cards just strewn about their house that they don’t know what to do with, they can feel like a waste of space to someone who doesn’t know much about Pokemon cards and is therefore a great opportunity for collectors who may be trying to complete a binder or maybe even actual players of the TCG looking to expand their newest deck.

The Freecycle Network is a non-profit organization founded in 2003 that now has a whopping 10 million members as well as 5300 local towns of freecycling. Of course, this doesn’t cover the entire world and therefore means this method isn’t accessible to the whole world, but it’s worth checking whether or not one of your local towns comes under The Freecycle Network. Their mission is to “build a worldwide sharing movement” in order to reduce the extreme wastefulness we are currently facing. It just so happens that a lot of people using this service aren’t willing to just throw away their Pokemon cards that they have no clue what to do with so instead they offer it to anyone who is willing to take it off their hands through this service.

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You may be noticing a pattern with the methods of getting free Pokemon cards and that’s likely because sharing services are the most effective method of getting free Pokemon cards. However, we promise this is the last one. Free Stuff App much like the three entries before is a service that allows its users to list their unwanted belongings for free. Once again, much like the entries before it, many people happen to list Pokemon cards on this and as a result, acts as a great method of getting some free Pokemon cards.

Probably one of your first ports of call, if you’re looking for free Pokemon cards, would be to ask friends and family if they have any. It might sound like a no-brainer if not really silly but you’d be surprised by the number of people that have just bought Pokemon cards on a whim with no intention of collecting them. There are thousands of people who just have miscellaneous Pokemon cards lying around that they bought like 5 years ago and may have completely forgotten they ever purchased.

This is a bit of a “beggars can’t be choosers” situation as unfortunately, it is unlikely that Pokemon cards that people are just trying to get rid of are going to be worth anything. Pokemon cards are pretty intuitive in the sense that typically you can tell just by what the card looks like whether or not it is valuable even if you do not collect Pokemon cards. As a result of this, people aren’t really giving away cards any better than non-holographic rares.

However,  even if someone is giving a card away that is worth something, it would be better if you informed the person that they are actually throwing away a valuable card rather than just taking it from them because they are unaware of the card’s value. If they are still content with just giving it away then it would be fine to take it, but it is unfair to exploit people’s ignorance of Pokemon cards.

So what about those of you who are on the opposite end of this situation? People who aren’t looking to clutter their house with more Pokemon cards but instead get rid of the random, miscellaneous Pokemon cards that are just taking up space in cardboard boxes. 

One great option that will pretty much always work is giving them to charities. There are plenty of charities that accept unwanted toys and you can probably guarantee that there are thousands of children out there who’d love to get their hands on any Pokemon cards at all. 

Of course, all of the services listed above are also great options for both people trying to give stuff away and people who are looking for free stuff, so, by all means, also use any of those to get rid of your Pokemon cards.

Maybe you’re a collector who is fully aware that you’re not really going to get any cards of value from people giving away free Pokemon cards and you’re looking for cards that you can get for an affordable price that may one day be worth something or may increase in value if you can get it in a good grade. So, what’s the best way to get Pokemon cards for an affordable amount? Well, one of the best ways is to look at the ungraded cards on eBay.

Let’s get one thing straight, some cards are just going to be unequivocally expensive and there’s not really much you can do about it. Most vintage cards, any first edition card, any moderately rare Charizard, these are all going to be expensive no matter what you do. The skill of finding cheap Pokemon cards lies in finding cards that are in fairly good condition that seems as though they will only go up in price. “Well, how can you anticipate whether or not a card is going to go up in price?” you may be asking yourself, and we’re here to reassure you that there are a few ways you can tell. 

For one, you should take into account the exclusivity of the card. By this we mean is the card obtained in a unique way that isn’t just pulling it from a pack. Japanese-exclusive promo cards are notorious for shooting up in price as they can only be obtained in Japan whether it be through a Pokemon center or a box collection they may offer. This not only means that there are fewer of them in the world but it also makes them harder to obtain as you have to have them shipped from Japan if you don’t live there. 

As well as this, you should be keeping an eye out for Pokemon that are collectible or Pokemon that are just generally nostalgic as nostalgia sells more than anything when it comes to Pokemon cards. It’s the reason some of the most collected Pokemon are Charizards, Pikachus, Gyarados, Gengars, etc. Because of this, you should be looking for relatively unique versions of these Pokemon such as the Kanazawa Japanese-exclusive Pikachu or the Celebrations reprint of the vintage Shining Magikarp. 

One thing you should avoid however is when a card’s price tag seems a little too good to be true. In a situation like this, you should be checking the card’s condition with a fine-tooth comb. You should be looking out for everything like whitening around the edges of the card,  scratches, and scuffs, any warping to the shape of the card, and probably the most discrete of them all, the centering of the card. If the card is exceptionally poor in any of these departments, the seller is likely aware of this and has listed it for a lower price in hopes of getting rid of it for some cash. The issue is, this decreases the chances of the card ever going up in value in the future as it would be hard to get in a good grade. 

Alternatively, you can open $1 packs which aren’t super easy to come across outside of the United States but are definitely a means of getting cheap Pokemon cards. Be warned, however, there are only three cards in these packs and there is also no guarantee of a rare in them. This means that you could spend copious amounts of money and not even get a holographic card. It’s not the most cost-effective way of getting the cards you want but it’s certainly a method nonetheless.

If you’re looking to get some free virtual cards, on the other hand, there are actually some pretty effective ways of getting hundreds of cards for little to no cost. One method of doing this is just going on eBay and buying unredeemed code cards in bulk. You’d be surprised by the number of people who do not care at all about Pokemon TCGO and are only interested in collecting physical copies of the card, most of the time not even to play the game. 

One of the best ways of going about getting these cards would likely be tuning in to pack opening streams and redeeming the codes as they throw the code cards aside. Obviously, if you are watching a big streamer then there are likely hundreds of other people trying the same thing so try to show some smaller streamers some love.

Alternatively, you can try and be there for the ground zero of a Pokemon YouTuber’s videos and redeem them when the video uploads but this is a lot more difficult.

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