While some cards may be promotional cards for the 25th anniversary of Pokemon, more often than not, people are referring to the Pokemon set “Celebrations” released in 2021 when talking about the 25th anniversary as indicated by the little Pikachu logo with a 25 on its face on all of the cards from the set. 

The most of these packs you can buy in one purchase is 10 as there are no booster boxes for this set, meaning that the most packs you can buy at once come from the set’s Elite Trainer Box. Granted, upon release, this was one of the highest value-for-money Elite Trainer Boxes money could buy as it not only came with 10 Celebrations packs but also 5 additional Sword & Shield packs.

However, unlike most packs in the Pokemon TCG, these packs only contain 4 cards as opposed to the standard 10-card Booster pack.

This now notorious Mewtwo originally appeared in the 2012 Black & White set: Next Destinies to then make its return in Celebrations nearly a whole decade later. But before this, it even made a return only a year after its original release in the 2013 Black & White set: Legendary Treasures. Ungraded, the Celebrations version of this card is only worth around $8 but in a PSA 10 this card is worth up to $40 and this price is likely to go up in the coming years. The original copy of this card from 10 years ago is funnily enough worth a similar amount to the 2021 version of it both graded in a PSA 10 and completely ungraded.

This Mega Rayquaza EX may be a lesser-known card among newer fans of the TCG but if you’ve been around since the release of X&Y back in 2013 then this one might ring a bell. Ungraded you can easily pick one of these up for around $11.00 but when in a PSA 10 they can be worth up to $50. The original copy on the other hand from the set Roaring Skies is somehow worth less than the newer remake coming in at around $7 ungraded and only about $40 in a PSA 10.

This entry originally comes from the 2001 set Neo Revelations which also featured one of the rarest cards of all time now, the first edition Shining Gyarados. This card has a lot of nostalgia factor behind it likely boosting its price as every single person who played Pokemon at least had an attempt at catching the gold Magikarp. Very few succeeded but with this card, everyone can finally have one. Because of this, the card is worth around $25 ungraded, and when in a PSA 10, the card can be worth upwards of $60. However, if you manage to get a hold of the original Shining Magikarp, or better yet in first edition, ungraded it is worth around $300 and in a PSA 10 can be worth more than $3800.

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Then in comes not only the most expensive Gold Star Pokemon card but probably one of the most expensive Pokemon cards that can be pulled from a pack. The Gold Star Umbreon originally comes from the exclusive POP Series 5 set which was released in 2007. The set was exclusive as the packs could only be obtained by attending a Pokemon Organized Play event, hence the name POP series. Unlike most Pokemon card packs, these packs only contained 2 cards making the Umbreon extremely hard to pull. In Celebrations, however, the card is worth around $20 ungraded and $70 in a PSA 10. However, if on the extremely slim chance that you have the original copy of this card, ungraded it is worth around $1500, and in a PSA 10 is worth more than $19,000.

This is the first and only entry on this list that isn’t from the Classic Collection likely because it is the only card that people actually care about that is from the normal set. For those who don’t know, the classic collection within the Celebrations set, much like the trainer gallery, refers to the section of the set that contains a certain type of card. In the case of the Classic Collection, this section contains all of the reprints of vintage cards such as the Gold Star Umbreon or the Mewtwo EX. Regardless, ungraded, the Gold, Full-Art Mew is worth around $35 before it is graded and if found in a PSA 10 can be worth upwards of $90.

Finally, we arrive at the card that everyone saw coming from a mile away, the Base Set Holographic Charizard. If you’re at all involved in the Pokemon TCG Community, especially since the hype that Logan Paul drew towards it, then you have definitely heard of if not seen the Base Set Holographic Charizard. This card was released in the first official set of Pokemon cards, better known as the base set of Pokemon, back in 1996. It has since become one of the most sought-after cards in Pokemon history and has been reprinted and recreated countless times throughout the TCG’s existence and the Celebrations set was no exception to this rule. It is the rarest card in the set and without grading is worth around $60. However, if you happen to get it back in a PSA 10 this card can be worth upwards of $230. Now, let’s suppose by some miracle you manage to get the original first edition copy of this card, even if it wasn’t graded you’d be looking at a card worth around $3750. In a PSA 10 though, this card suddenly skyrockets to a whopping $305,402.

Let’s say you have your heart set on packing this Charizard, it’s probably worth knowing how difficult this Charizard is to pull. Well, you’re in luck as it is suggested that the Base Set Charizard reprint has a pull rate of about 1 in 97 or in other words, just a bit over a 1% pull rate. Considering that a pack of celebrations costs about $7 each, it’s easy to see why this card is so sought after.

Believe it or not, this wasn’t the first time The Pokemon Company released celebratory packs for the anniversary of Pokemon. In fact, in 2016 they released what is known as the Mythical Collection which contained Generations packs. These packs were the 20th anniversary equivalent to the Celebrations packs and similarly contained some pretty good pulls. These pulls included the Mega Charizard EX, the Pikachu Full Art, and the Shiny Gardevoir Full Art. 

However, prior to this, there weren’t actually any anniversary sets meaning that it’s probably worth collecting the cards from these sets as they mark the first time Pokemon released a set like this for such an occasion. 

A Pokemon Generations pack would probably be hard to come by nowadays, but not impossible. You might be able to find one on eBay or any online marketplace and they sell for around $40 a pack. However, getting them as single pops would be difficult, it’s more likely you will be able to get them from old collection boxes, etc.

If Celebrations isn’t really your thing and you insist on collecting cards from the Generations set list, then it would probably be a good idea to know what you should be looking out for in these packs or even if you’re just looking to buy individual cards. It’s worth noting that, much like Celebrations, Generations has two different sections of its setlist. It has the standard setlist but then it has the Radiant Collection which contains all of the cool full art and shiny pulls from the set. If you’re not sure what you’re looking for, do not fret, we’ve compiled a list of all of the chase cards from the Generations so that you don’t have to go scouring the web for them.

M Charizard EX: This is likely one of the most sought-after cards in the set and it doesn’t even come from the radiant collection of the set. As you could probably guess because it’s a Charizard, it immediately gains some sort of monetary value. Not only that though, but it’s also the X mega-evolution of Charizard which everyone seems to massively prefer to the Y mega-evolution which only looks slightly different to the standard Charizard anyway. Regardless, ungraded this card is worth around $55 and in PSA 10 this card is worth upwards of $500.

Flareon EX Full Art: The following two cards are both from the Radiant Collection of Generations. This is one of the cooler full arts from an older generation of Pokemon as it’s the closest thing we had to alternate arts back then unlike now when almost every set has about 4 alt arts in it. What’s also so cool about this card is that it features the 3 original Eeeveelutions (Jolteon, Flareon, Vaporeon) all in one card which isn’t something you’d come by too often at this point in the Pokemon TCG. Ungraded, this card is worth around $25 but in a PSA 10 can be worth up to $300. 

Sylveon EX Full Art: This cute little thing is, much like the Flareon, worth so much because of its likeness to an alt art and also the fact that the art is awesome and features not only a Sylveon but a cute little Eevee in the back as well. Ungraded you can probably pick one of these up for around $24 and in a PSA 10, these are worth more than $200.

There are of course other awesome pulls in this set as it features some of the coolest art out of any set released in 2016 but in terms of actual value, these cards are the biggest chases in the set.

Judging by the release schedule of the past two anniversary sets, it’s likely that there will be another celebratory set in 2026 in which Pokemon will be celebrating its 30th anniversary. Judging by how much Pokemon has been scaling up the grandeur of their sets in recent years, especially with the release of Crown Zenith just on the horizon, there’s no doubt that it’s going to be crazy.

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A legendary Pokemon, in the context of the whole of Pokemon, not just the TCG, is an extremely rare and equally as powerful Pokemon. They are often sported on the front of their designated game’s cover and are only obtainable once in their games (excluding through trading). Most Pokemon games’ stories revolve around the legendary Pokemon of its given region and how the player will inevitably catch it. However, in the Pokemon TCG, there isn’t actually anything that distinguishes Legendary Pokemon from other Pokemon, there isn’t any descriptor that would indicate that the Pokemon is legendary. Instead, players must rely on the games and anime to gauge what Pokemon are legendary.

So, with this in mind, wouldn’t this technically make all Pokemon cards that feature a legendary on them, a “legendary Pokemon card”? Unfortunately, the answer is not it isn’t that simple. Nobody really refers to Pokemon cards with legendaries on them as legendary cards as it would just cause confusion thanks to an actual mechanic in the game called “legendary cards”. To put it in lamen terms, not all legendary Pokemon are Legendary Pokemon Cards but all Legendary Pokemon Cards are legendary Pokemon.

Okay, so if a Pokemon card being legendary doesn’t contribute at all to its status in the game, then what on earth is a Legendary Pokemon Card? Well, “Legendary” cards were introduced in the base set of Heart Gold and Soul Silver in 2010 and immediately caused some stir in the TCG community as they weren’t like anything the game had ever seen before. These were four separate cards featuring Lugia and Ho-oh, 2 of them representing each Pokemon. The interesting thing about these cards is that the art of the card is split into two parts distributed between the two cards horizontally, one card making up the top half of the art and the other card making up the bottom half of the art. When both of the cards were combined in actual play they would make an extremely powerful turn and could sometimes steamroll the opponent. 

This style received a mixed reception, some complaining that it was impractical and looked dumb when you only packed one half of the card, while others loved the originality and collectability of it. However, this feature would go on to reappear in the set Unleashed in 2010 with the Pokemon Raikou, Suicune, and Entei and would then appear again in the set Triumphant with the Pokemon Darkrai & Cresselia and Palkia & Dialga. 

If you’re a super, super observant Pokemon fan, you may have even heard reference to legendary Pokemon cards within the card game itself before 2010. These cards were introduced in the 2001 Japanese-only sequel to the Pokemon Trading Card Game known as Pokémon Card GB2: Here Comes Team GR! which would introduce what I guess is the sequel to Team Rocket: Team Great Rocket. Within the context of this game, legendary cards were cards that could be obtained by (similar to gyms in the video game) beating their guardians known as the “Grand Masters”. Each Grand Master’s deck revolved around one of these legendary cards each of which represented a legendary Pokemon. There were only ever four legendary cards and these legendary Pokemon included the legendary birds (Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres) and Dragonite. Some of you may be scratching your head and thinking to yourself “well why is Dragonite there, that’s not a legendary Pokemon”. Well actually, (adjusts glasses), Dragonite was, at the time of release, one of the first-ever pseudo-legendary Pokemon in the game, technically making it a legendary Pokemon. 

These cards were known to be extremely powerful and capable of completely changing the tides of a game if played correctly. 

The legendary mechanic in Pokemon was discontinued in the very same year it started: 2010. There wasn’t a warm enough reception or a super high demand for these cards and viability in competitive play wasn’t worth the hassle of collecting them. Because of this, Legendary cards, or any cards with a similar mechanic for that matter have yet to see a return. 

The closest thing to legendary cards we have seen since their dissolution would probably be the introduction of Break cards in the 2015 X & Y set Breakthrough which were cards that, much like Legendary cards, had art that displayed horizontally across the entirety of the card and featured gold versions of the Pokemon. However, thanks to its strange art and the fact that the art is on the card horizontally, even these were not particularly popular amongst Pokemon fans and you’d struggle to find one that is actually worth anything. 

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If you’re looking to get a hold of some legendary cards yourself there are a few ways to go about doing so. So, we’ll cover a few below.

Opening The Original Packs: Now, it may not be the most cost-effective way of going about obtaining the cards but it is a method of getting them nonetheless. If you open any of the aforementioned sets: Heart Gold & Soul Silver Base Set, Triumphant or Unleashed, you have a shot at getting one of the two pieces of the cards. Granted packs from these sets are about $100 a pop these days, but the novelty of owning a vintage pack never wears off.

Buying Second Hand: Alternatively, if you aren’t looking to spend thousands of dollars potentially to get absolutely nothing for your money, you can just buy the legendary card you are looking for second-hand. You must keep in mind, however, that the cards are likely to be scuffed, scratched, or poorly centered if you are buying them ungraded. This is because most people who own these in good condition have sent them off to be graded or have already graded them. Therefore you should take an extremely close look at these cards when trying to buy one to get the best value out of your purchase. 

Buying A Graded Copy: If you are looking to guarantee that the card you have bought is in pristine condition, then buying a graded copy of the card is probably the best option for you. This will likely be super expensive but it is still cheaper than buying the packs and trying to pull the cards yourself. Getting a graded copy of most of them in a PSA 9 or better will likely cost upwards of $500.

While their discontinuation would suggest otherwise, these cards are in fact worth a lot if you can get them graded well. Below we have listed the approximate pricing of all Legendary cards in a PSA 10. 

Lugia: 

Top Half: $1877.75

Bottom Half: $638.60

Ho-Oh: 

Top Half: $1500.00

Bottom Half: $1968.59

Entei & Raikou: 

Top Half: $615.17

Bottom Half: $262.50

Raikou & Suicune: 

Top Half: $894.03

Bottom Half: $775.00

Darkrai & Cresselia: 

Top Half: $512.00

Bottom Half: $225.00

Palkia & Dialga: 

Top Half: $307.14

Bottom Half: $310.78

Kyogre & Groudon 

Top Half: $453.98

Bottom Half: $551.00

Rayquaza & Deoxys 

Top Half: $560.00

Bottom Half:  $1574.33.

A possible reason (aside from how they were printed) why these cards never made it far in the Pokemon TCG is because of the unique way in which they work. Because they are such powerful cards you would need both pieces of the card before you can even bench it, remaining completely unplayable until that point. This means that in a lot of games one half of the card would just remain dormant in your hand for the whole game never really having an opportunity to really shine. As well as this, if you somehow managed to get this lucky, it cannot be played on your first draw meaning you can’t even ramp up any momentum with it and must wait until later in the game to drop it. 

Another issue with these cards was the amazing ability to completely turn the tides of a game in just one turn, some of them being able to deal upwards of 1000 damage dependent on the number of energies on them. This can be a pretty frustrating experience as the card requires little to no setup for such huge damage but at the same time can potentially remain unplayable for a whole game. This complete coin-flip style of play was not received well by the community and there have yet to be any more legendary cards since.

As discussed before, if you’re looking to pack either the Ho-Oh or the Lugia, then you are looking at spending about $100 per pack. However, not all of these cards come from the same set, so how much would it cost to get some of those other cards?

If you’re looking to get a legendary version of any of the dogs (Raikou, Suicune, and Entei) that come from the set Unleashed, as of right now, you’ll actually be looking to pay upwards of $150 which is more expensive than the Heart and Gold Base Set. 

Then there is Triumphant which saw the release of Palkia & Dialga as well as Darkrai and Cresselia which still costs around $160. 

Finally, if you’re looking to pick up the Rayquaza & Deoxys or the Kyogre & Groudon then you’ll have to try and get your hands on a pack from the set Undaunted, you’ll probably be disappointed to discover that, much like the previous two, it is going to cost you anywhere in the ballpark of $150 to $200.

A common misconception when talking about legendary Pokemon cards is to think that they are “Legendary Collection” which is a completely different thing. So, what does it mean for a card to be from the Legendary Collection? Well, Legendary Collection was actually a standalone expansion released May 24th 2002 that featured reprints of older cards. It featured cards from Base Set, Jungle, Fossil, and Team Rocket, and was essentially designed for competitive play more than anything else. Having said that, however, if you are able to get a hold of a holographic Charizard from the Legendary Collection set in a PSA 10 you would be looking at upwards of $1750.

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If you’ve watched even a bit of Pokemon TCG content then you’ve seen that there is a specific way everyone opens a pack. From how they open the wrapper of the card to how they shuffle the cards afterward, there is clearly an order. Sometimes they’re going so fast you may not even be able to understand the reason for this, but not to worry, because there is a reason for this. The packs are opened in such a way that the best pulls of the pack are saved until the very end of the pack to build suspense and this is typically referred to as “the card trick”. Of course, you could dive even further into this and argue it increases the run time of videos, it increases viewer engagement, blah, blah, blah, but at its core, it just makes opening the packs a little bit more fun. Some people even go as far as hiding the code card of the pack as the color of the code card indicates whether or not there is a holographic card or better in the rare slot of the pack. 

However, this doesn’t mean it is the “proper” way to open Pokemon cards, in fact, if you have seen openings where the person has to get through hundreds of packs you may have noticed they don’t do any card trick at all and instead once they have taken the cards out of the pack, they just fan them out in their hand, and move on to the next pack. So in short, if you don’t want to organize the pack like it’s described above and you just care about efficiency, there is nothing wrong with that.

Okay, but what is the best way to open the actual packaging of the card? There isn’t really much suspense or enjoyment in opening those at all. In fact, if you’re new to opening Pokemon cards, it can be quite fiddly and frustrating and make opening the packs extremely tedious. At the same time, you don’t want to be too aggressive with the pack so as to not damage the cards inside it. So to combat that, here are the steps you should take to most efficiently and safely open your Pokemon card packs. 

Step 1: On the back of every pack there should be a thin tab or flap that comes up. Pinch the top of this tab between your thumb and the middle joint of your index finger.

Step 2: With your free hand, pinch the corner of the pack between your thumb and index finger, just low enough on the pack that you can feel the cards inside.

Step 3: Begin to pull the tab back with your fingers and pull the pack in the opposite direction gently until you you break the seal in the top of the pack and make an opening just big enough for a single finger.

Step 4: Slide your finger into this opening and begin to peel away the rest of the packaging and there you have it, your pack is opened. 

A much less common and much riskier way of opening packs for the more paranoid members of the Pokemon TCG community is using a pair of scissors to cut away the top of the pack. This is usually a precaution taken to avoid other people resealing packs but this is very unlikely.

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Suppose you have a pack art that you are really fond of, you may want to preserve the packaging of it. This is especially common with vintage packs of Pokemon cards as the pack arts are much harder to come by. Therefore, collectors are willing to pay top dollar for a well-preserved pack wrapper. 

In this case, follow the steps mentioned above but when it comes to the fourth step of peeling away the packaging you’re going to have to be a lot more careful. Make sure that you do not peel away any more of the pack than the adhesive that seals the top of the pack shut. Any ripping or crinkling of the actual pack will immediately decrease its value. Open the pack just enough so rather than putting your index finger in to peel the pack open, you can reach in the pack and pull the cards out altogether.

Now let’s explain that quick shuffle of the cards that every Pokemon TCG content creator does when they are opening packs. The trick varies from set to set but from the Sun and Moon generation onwards, it has been the same so let’s cover those first. 

Once you open the pack of cards you will either be met with the art of one of the cards or a code card. If you are looking at a card art, you are looking at the front of the pack, so flip it around to the back of the pack so that you can see the code card and the Pokemon logo is facing you. Now, discard the code card and take 4 cards from the back of the pack, and put them to the front. Congratulations, you have just done the Pokemon cards trick, this now means that the 9th card of the pack will be the reverse holographic card and the 10th card of the pack will be the rare slot of the pack, or in other words (more often than not) the most valuable card in the pack.

However, if you are opening a pack from the X & Y era, all the way back to the base set of Pokemon, then you take 3 cards from the back instead of 4 with the exception of the set Aquapolis in which you only take

If you’re opening a whole booster box of Pokemon cards, things can get a little messy. You’ll probably have the hundreds of common cards floating around, Pokemon wrappers everywhere, and your best pulls strewn about somewhere in a sleeve as well. So how do we fix this? 

One of the first steps you can take is organizing your pulls. You can start by separating all commons from the rares in the pack. You can distinguish the rarity of a card by the symbol in the bottom right corner of the card. A black circle indicates that the card is common, a black diamond indicates that the card is uncommon and a black star indicates that the card is rare. It’s usually okay to pile the common and uncommon cards together as the difference in rarity is pretty marginal, but you should however separate the rares from them as there is only a maximum of 2 in each pack. 

You can then organize them even further by separating non-holographic rares from holographic rares and holographic rares from ultra rares. The term Ultra Rare refers to a card that usually has a unique mechanic which is shown at the top of the card next to the Pokemon’s name like V, VMax, VStar, EX, GX, etc. 

This should make your Pokemon card openings just a little bit tidier.

Once all these Pokemon cards are opened, however, they have to go somewhere. Especially if you got some amazing pulls, you don’t want to just be throwing them into a cupboard to get scuffed and collect dust, so here’s how you can store your cards. 

For one, for any pulls you deem rare or valuable, you should immediately put them in a plastic sleeve. You can get hundreds of them for dirt cheap on Amazon and they play a big role in preserving the quality of your card. 

Then, you should put your sleeved card in what is known as either a Toploader or a semi-rigid. They are thin plastic cases made to store trading cards that act as an extra layer of protection for the card as well as potentially straightening out any bends in the card. 

From there, your best bet is to store these cased cards in a box that they can fit snugly into. If the cards clatter around too much in the box, there’s a risk of scratching. As well as this, you should store the cards on their side which may be a bit of a balancing act but if you store cards on their face down or face up for extended periods of time, gravity can sometimes warp the shape of the card ever so slightly.

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While it may seem unfair at times, there are just some Pokemon cards that are stronger than others, like, A LOT stronger than others. So much so, that these cards may even be able to single-handedly change the tides of a game completely simply because the player top-decked it. Some are even so powerful that they are banned from competitive play, leaving the Pokemon TCG community scratching their head wondering how the Pokemon Company could ever release such an unbalanced card. But what makes a Pokemon card strong? 

While you could argue that factors such as a Pokemon’s health or its retreat cost can make it strong, the strength of a lot of Pokemon cards boils down to a single attack or ability that the Pokemon has coupled with the energy cost of said ability. Don’t get us wrong, the health of a Pokemon can definitely sweeten the deal as it can become awkward for your opponent to clear but more often than not these cards are praised for their ability to turn the game around with just a single ability. Players often determine the strength of a card by weighing up the cost of energy against the value of the action they are getting out of it and let’s just say, there are some pretty low-cost abilities that can completely change the game. So, it no particular order, let’s get into this list.

Mega Tyranitar EX is a dark-type card that comes from the 2015 set Ancient Origins. While it may be a mega Pokemon meaning that it is the only time the player will be allowed to mega evolve a Pokemon in the game, the sacrifice is made worth it by its one attack “Destroyer King”. This attack may sound pretty costly as it requires two dark energy and two colorless energy but it’s worth every single one. It does 110 base damage which is already a hefty blow, this is then scaled up by 60 for every damage counter on your opponent’s active Pokemon. This allows you to trap your opponent between a rock and a hard place if they have a damaged Pokemon in play. They are either forced to retreat their Pokemon if they don’t want the Tyranitar to blast through it or they sacrifice that Pokemon and give you a free prize card for the sake of saving some energy. Tyranitar is also especially useful if you can catch your opponent top-decking as the likelihood is, they won’t be able to retreat their active Pokemon.

This card may come as a surprise to a lot of newer players in the TCG as it lacks that wow factor in terms of art. It doesn’t have any flashy borderless art, nor does it have any cool glossy finish, so what’s going on here? How on earth could this card be good? Well, in 2008, The Pokemon Company released the set Great Encounters which would make this Claydol the biggest dark horse in Pokemon history. It went from being a card that the average noob would just throw away to an absolute must-have in most decks. You see, this Claydol has the ability to called Cosmic Power which allowed the player to, once during every turn, put two cards from their hand into the bottom of their deck but draw until they have 6 cards in return. Also, did we mention that the Claydol could still attack after doing this? This made the Claydol an absolute card-generating machine and one that would allow you to rid of any filler cards you may be pulling from your deck. Of course, it has now been power-crept into oblivion but it was a silent killer in its hay-day.

Remember how we mentioned cards getting banned from competitive play because they were just too overpowered… well Lysandre’s Trump Card was one of those cards. Released in the 2014 set Phantom Forces, players quickly realized the unbelievable value that this card had. It’s a trainer card that forces both players to shuffle their discard pile back into their deck. While at first glance that may not sound too crazy its power became very apparent very soon after its release. Oh, what’s that, you are getting absolutely steamrolled by your opponent and you’ve lost your win condition? Not to worry, Lysandre’s Trump Card acts as a complete reset button so that you don’t have to lose anymore. You know all that progress that your opponent just made after like 20 minutes of calculated play and making reads? Yeah… we’re just going to completely reverse all of that and give you all of your cards back. Hopefully, that does a better job of explaining why this card became so infuriating to play against.

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This card was introduced among a bunch of other tag team cards in the Sun & Moon era, especially in the Team Up expansion. While there are a bunch of extremely viable tag team cards, none are quite as powerful as the Mewtwo and Mew GX. This card’s ability was as follows: “This Pokemon can use the attacks of any Pokemon GX or Pokemon EX on your bench or in your discard pile”. Now if it just allowed you to use the attack of the Pokemon on your bench the card would still be decent but nowhere near as powerful as the deal-breaker which is the fact that it allows you to use the attacks of Pokemon that have been discarded. This means that the Mewtwo and Mew can combo with a deck full of heavy-hitting EX and GX cards to make probably one of the most demoralizing decks known to man. There is no feeling worse than expending so many resources on clearing a big card only for your opponent to drop another absolute tank and the Mewtwo & Mew encapsulate this feeling perfectly.

Now let’s take it back about 20 years to the second generation of Pokemon when Game Freak seemed to still be finding their footing with the balancing of this game and would randomly drop the most game-breaking cards in the form of a 30 HP Cleffa. For a single colorless energy, this card allowed the player to shuffle their hand into their deck and draw 7 cards which if you’re low on cards basically reads as “here’s a fresh new hand for one energy”. Plus, the low cost of this ability made it so repeatable that players could just essentially flick through their deck in search of whatever cards they needed. Now, you may be thinking to yourself: “well it’s a 30 HP card so it’s not exactly hard to clear” but what if I told you, this demon’s passive ability meant that your ability to attack it was determined by a coin flip? That’s right, Cleffa’s passive means that every time your opponent attacks a coin must be flipped, if the coin lands on heads the attack goes through as normal, however, if the coin lands on tails, the attack is made void and your opponent’s turn automatically ends! Okay, but once you do finally attack you’re probably going to kill it right? Not quite. We almost forgot to mention that this card has no weakness and no retreat cost meaning that the player can just pull it back to their hand whenever they are sick of cycling through their deck.

There are quite a few Mews that have the same attack that we’re about to discuss but it became commonplace in the Pokemon TCG following the Southern Islands Mew promo. This promo card introduced the attack “Rainbow Wave” which became a huge problem for a lot of players. Rainbow Wave allowed its player to select any type of energy attached to the Mew (apart from colorless) and deal twenty damage to all enemy Pokemon of that same type… including benched Pokemon. Also, this attack neglects any weakness or resistance meaning it will irrefutably deal twenty damage to your opponent’s bench. This meant that if you could make the reads on the kind of deck your opponent was playing you could just start to chip away at their bench effectively for free. Even in the case of being unable to read your opponent’s hand, you could still just use the attack to discover the type of Pokemon your opponent has on their bench and possibly even what exact Pokemon they have on their bench if you are a bit savvier to the meta.

Speaking of being able to chip away at your opponent’s bench for free, the Mega Blastoise EX takes it one step further. Coming from the now famous 2016 set Evolutions, the Mega Blastoise EX introduced the attack Hydro Bombard which dealt a base damage of 120 for three water energy. On its own that’s already not a terrible deal but what if I told you it allowed you to do an additional 30 each to two of your opponent’s benched Pokemon? Unlike the Mewtwo, there isn’t even any condition that your opponent’s Pokemon have to meet for them to take damage, the Blastoise can just blast them with 30 damage for no reason. Not to mention, considering this is a mega-evolved Pokemon, it’s pretty tanky and hard to clear, meaning that the Blastoise can possibly start killing your benched Pokemon if you’re not careful.

It turns out that Mew and Mewtwo don’t have to be teaming up to be insanely strong cards and the Mewtwo EX proves this. Thanks to its attack “X-Ball” the Pokemon TCG meta upon this card’s release quickly devolved into a race to draw the first Mewtwo. This attack allowed Mewtwo to deal 20 damage multiplied by the number of energies on both Mewtwo and your opponent’s active Pokemon. Considering that the attack costs two colorless energy (which is ridiculously cheap) it basically had a base damage of 40. This attack allowed the Mewtwo to quickly blitz through any lead your opponent may have been establishing by dealing a quick 140 damage for relatively zero cost. Funnily enough, the only thing that was really effective at stopping a snowballing Mewtwo EX was another Mewtwo EX. However, once someone got the ball rolling with their own, it’s understandable if you are unable to cope with the damage that they start to ramp up.

Coming in as the newest entry on this list from the 2022 set Brilliant Stars, this card uses the new V Star mechanic in a pretty interesting way. A V Star ability is an ability that can only be used once in a game and in the case of the Arceus V Star, this is the ability to search your deck for two cards of your choice. While that may not sound extremely powerful at face value, the ability to pick two cards out of your deck for no energy cost leaves a lot of room for some amazing combo potential.

When you think powerful Pokemon, I doubt the first thing that comes to your mind is a Tapu Lele, but you best believe that this Pokemon is a force to be reckoned with but not for the reasons you may think. Tapu Lele’s ability “Wonder Tag” means that once you play it from your hand onto your bench you can search your deck for a support card. This is an awesome way to affordably beef up your turn with card draw and a new Pokemon on your bench. As well as this, once your Tapu Lele is active it can use the ability “Tapu Cure” to restore two Pokemon on your bench to full HP.

Coming out with the Roaring Skies expansion of Pokemon, Shaymin EX has one of the lowest damage attacks on this list and yet is still one of the most powerful cards in all of the Pokemon TCG, so what’s going on here? Well, thanks to its ability “Set Up” which allows its player to draw until they have six cards once they play Shaymin from their hand onto their bench, this card became essential for generating cards. However, its power doesn’t stop there. When this is combined with the attack “Sky Return” (which only costs two colorless energy) which deals 30 damage and means Shaymin can return to your hand along with all attached cards, Shaymin becomes an infinite card drawing machine.

Believe it or not, a card doesn’t have to be some crazy secret rare or alternate art for it to be worth a decent amount of money. Of course, collector cards like the rainbow rares and the alternate arts are always going to be worth more, but the playability of a card definitely affects its value as its demand increases. For example, the Arceus V Star listed above is worth around £20 despite only being a V Star card and this is because of its viability in competitive play. So, if you have cards that you think are a little worse for wear but are still strong cards in the Pokemon TCG, you can definitely try selling them for a bit of quick change.

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A Rainbow Rare Pokemon card refers to a full-art Pokemon card that has a rainbow texture over it. They were initially introduced in the Sun & Moon era of Pokemon cards and were some of the hardest cards and most expensive cards to pull at the time. Although they have slightly lost their novelty, even now, in the back end of the Sword and Shield era of Pokemon, they remain some of the most valuable cards in specific sets.

Rainbow cards can only be pulled from the Sun & Moon base set onwards. Any set prior to this did not feature any Rainbow Rares. They will always occupy the rare slot of the pack (which you can identify by a star at the very bottom of the card) and varying pull rates depending on the set you’re opening. Each individual rainbow rare in the set will also have its own pull rates. Typically a card’s value is decided by two things: its rarity and how desirable the Pokemon actually is. Nobody really cares about Rainbow Rare Tauros because in essence nobody really cares about Tauros. Get yourself a Rainbow Rare Charizard however and it’s a different story, suddenly you got a pretty valuable card on your hands. 

Now let’s jump into this list (all price data gathered from TCGPlayer’s market prices).

We open the list with a tag team card from the Sun & Moon era of Pokemon. More specifically, the set Team Up. This set introduced the “tag team” mechanic in the trading card game and would then become a staple part of the Sun & Moon sets to come. This mechanic meant that the card could feature two separate Pokemon in one and in this case, the card features a cute little Pikachu with its arms crossed standing on the hand of a slightly more menacing Zekrom. Ungraded, this card clocks in at around $80 but in a PSA 10 can be as expensive as $200.

This card is relatively low on the list for a Rainbow Rare Charizard and this is likely because it’s one of the newer entries. The Rainbow Rare Charizard VStar burst onto the scene in February of this year in the set Brilliant Stars and also introduced the VStar game mechanic for the first time. The card features a Charizard roaring and flying through the air in all of its multi-colored glory and will cost you around $86 ungraded. In a PSA 10 however, you can expect to be paying around $300 and this is likely going to increase in the coming years as Brilliant Stars stops its print run.

You thought it was just going to stop and Pikachu and Zekrom? Don’t worry there are plenty more tag team cards to come but for now, let’s take a look at the Mewtwo & Mew GX. This card sees the return of the legendary Kanto region in the set Unified Minds duo which is probably what makes it so expensive. The card features a Mew floating in front of a Mewtwo sticking its weird three-pronged hand at the viewer of the card and costing about $100 ungraded, these two don’t mess about. In a PSA 10, they aren’t quite as expensive as the Charizard raking in about $200 but they are nonetheless more valuable ungraded.

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Told you it wouldn’t be the last of the team-up cards. This card from likely the most memorable Sun & Moon set: Cosmic Eclipse, features both a blast from the past and a spotlight being shone on the newer generation of Pokemon as we see the nostalgic first-generation, fire-type starter Pokemon Charizard carrying the seventh-generation fire-type starter Braixen on its back. Ungraded this card finds itself just a bit more expensive than the Mewtwo and Mew at around $102. Now if you manage to get hold of this card in a PSA 10 then you have yourself a roughly $300 – $350 card on your hands.

This is actually the first standard GX entry on the list and it is already hard to come by as it is. It comes from the Sun & Moon set Celestial Storm and seems to be a pretty rare card nowadays. It’s simply just a Rayquaza semi-coiled up roaring about something but has a market price of around $116 when ungraded. It’s hard to gauge an accurate price for this in a PSA 10 because not many have sold, but there are several being listed in the region of $650 for this card.

This entry comes from the Sun & Moon set Lost Thunder as it brings back the OG second generation (Silver) legendary: Lugia. Like a lot of the other dragon-looking Pokemon, the card just features the Pokemon screeching, roaring, or shouting, whatever you want to call it, it’s making some loud noise and the card is rainbow colored, what we are interested in is the pricing. To pick one of these up ungraded you’re looking at a $140 commitment and if you’re a real baller then you can buy it in a PSA 10 for roughly $800.

If you’re even a little bit into Pokemon cards then chances are you knew this one was coming. Also known as “The Rainbow Chonkachu” this beast of a Pikachu is in the upper echelon of Rainbow Rare pulls. Making its debut in the Sword & Shield set Vivid Voltage, the Rainbow Rare Pikachu VMax features the cutest, chunkiest Pikachu you’ve ever seen as lightning strikes behind him (or maybe it’s its tail, I’m not entirely sure). This is not only one of the rarest Rainbow Rare Pokemon cards but probably also one of the rarest cards in Sword & Shield. Even ungraded the card is worth around $150 but if you manage to get this in a PSA 10, you will have yourself a card close to $850 and this is from a modern set.

This will be the final tag team entry for the list and will probably remain that way unless The Pokemon Company both brings back tag team cards and then makes one more epic than this. This Unbroken Bonds Rainbow Rare pull brings together the Pokemon Black & White, fire/dragon-type legendary Reshiram with the fire/dragon-type starter Charizard to make one of the most awesome team-ups in Pokemon history. This card is worth around $150 ungraded and skyrockets to about $900 when in a PSA 10.

You’re probably noticing a pattern here with Charizard and the truth is, people just love anything with a Charizard on it and The Pokemon Company knows it. This Charizard comes from the Sword & Shield holiday set Champion’s Path, and re-uses the art of the Charizard VMax from the Sword & Shield set Darkness Ablaze but instead puts a rainbow flare on it. When I said Pikachu was likely one of the rarest Sword & Shield pulls is because this is probably the rarest Sword & Shield pull there is. Ungraded this card is worth nearly $200 and in a PSA 10, this card almost breaks the $1000 mark. In a few years, this may be one of the most sought-after Charizards.

This probably comes as no surprise to anyone. It ticks all of the boxes to make it the most valuable Rainbow Rare, it’s a Charizard, it’s a Rainbow Rare, and it’s the oldest Rainbow Rare Charizard, not to mention it is extremely hard to pull. YouTuber maxmoefoePokemon opened nearly 500 Burning Shadows Packs only to pull one of these bad boys. Because of this, ungraded, the card is already worth around $400, then if you get that in a PSA 10, say hello to your very own $3000 card.

While this list may make it sound like Rainbow Rares are the only secret rares worth pulling, this simply isn’t true. Almost any type of secret rare whether it be a Golden Rare, or an Alternate Art, they all have their own amazing pulls. Not too long ago, The Pokemon Company released a Golden Rare Mewtwo, and even earlier than that they released a Golden Rare Arceus both some of the rarest cards in their respective sets. If you own a card that just looks valuable, it’s always best to check online how much the card sells for before you jump to conclusions assuming it’s not worth anything.

While the list may suggest that Pokemon are the only things that can be Rainbow Rares there are plenty of trainer cards that are also Rainbow Rares. In fact, there are some Rainbow Rare trainer cards that are worth a good amount of money in their own respect. For example, the Rainbow Rare Bea from Vivid Voltage is worth about $50 in a PSA 10 and similarly, the Rainbow Rare Beauty from the same set is worth around the same. Of course, it can’t compete with the absolute best cards listed above but they are by no means worthless.

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First Edition Pokemon cards are vintage Pokemon cards that were included in the first print run of their designated set. This was a feature that continued to be printed on cards during Wizards of the Coast’s management of Pokemon card printing from 1999 to 2003. Because of this, First Edition Pokemon cards cannot be found in sets beyond the year 2003 when Nintendo took over from Wizards of the Coast.

A First Edition Pokemon card can be identified by a small, black, circular stamp with the number “1” on it that reads “EDITION” above it on the bottom left corner of the card’s art. This can also be verified by the lack of a shadow on the right border of the card’s art as well as copyright dates ranging from 1995 to 1999.

First Edition Pokemon cards are very rare but even within the First Edition cards themselves, there are varying degrees of rarity and value. For one, common and uncommon cards (indicated by the shape of the stamp on the bottom right corner of the card), although they are undoubtedly rare cards and will sell for more than any modern common or uncommon card, they won’t sell for half as much as basically any First Edition holographic card. Every single First Edition holographic card (and that means every single one) is worth a few hundred dollars in a PSA 10.

Throughout this post, we are going to be throwing around the term “PSA 10” which might sound like complete nonsense if you’re not familiar with Pokemon collecting so we’ll clear this up quickly. PSA stands for Professional Sports Authenticator and is a grading company for collectible items from trading cards to FUNKO POP figures. They grade cards on a scale from 1 – 10 (10 being the best) and grade them according to a few things. These things include the centering of the card, the quality of the print (especially in the case of foil cards), scuffs or scratches, warping or bends in the card, and staining. Once it is graded, the card is put into a hard plastic case with a label that states the grade of the card. Having a card in a PSA 10 case can massively increase the value of the card as you will see further into this article.

More First Edition Pokemon Cards

This holographic card comes from the 1999 base set of Pokemon cards and features the first generation electric type Magnemite evolution: Magneton. It is shadowless meaning it lacks the shadow on the right border of the card which was considered an “error” in a few of the print runs of the set which vastly increases the value of the card. Ungraded these have sold for around $130 but in a PSA 10 one recently sold for $17,000.

If only this were a Pikachu, the value of the card would likely shoot up by thousands. Unfortunately, however, there was no holographic Pikachu in the base set of Pokemon so the fans had to settle for a first edition, holographic Raichu instead. Ungraded these can sell for up to $200 and in a PSA 10, they have sold for $17,100.

This is one of only two entries on this list that aren’t a part of the base set of Pokemon as this one comes from 2002 set Neo Destiny, just a year before first editions stopped running. If you don’t already know this about Pokemon, all the Pokemon Company has to do is slap a Charizard on a card and it will likely sell for top dollar and this card is no exception. Ungraded, these cards are already insanely hard to get a hold of, ranging anywhere between $1000 – $2000 but put this card in a PSA 10 and it’s a whole different story. In a PSA 10, the First Edition Shining Charizard has sold for $20,000.

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Everyone’s favorite telekinetic alien thing is pretty valuable if you have a First Edition, shadowless version of it. In fact, chances are you have seen or even at one point owned (if you are a 90s kid) one of these holographic Mewtwos. But it’s not the 90s anymore, so if you still got one of these in mint condition, ungraded it can sell for around $400 and in a PSA 10 it has previously sold for $22,000.

At number 6 we have a bit of a curveball entry that I don’t think many people saw coming considering the vast number of cards I’d rather pull when opening base set Pokemon cards. However, the reason this card is so valuable is that the Hitmonchan itself takes up such a small portion of the card art, meaning that there is foil is clear and fills up more space. This makes it much harder to grade well. In fact, only 56 copies of the card exist in a PSA 10. Speaking of which, ungraded you can probably pick one up for about $200 but as soon as you get that in a PSA 10 case, the card’s value skyrockets up to $23,100.

Oh yeah, remember that whole rule about slapping a Charizard on a card and people going wild for it? Well, the same principle applies, although to a lesser degree, to essentially all first-generation starter Pokemon. While it’s common knowledge that nobody on this planet picks grass-type starters, the First Edition, Base Set Venesaur is extremely popular among collectors. You can expect to find one of these ungraded for around $600 but in a PSA 10 this has sold for $25,000.

This is another one of those entries that just feels completely out of left field, because, let’s be honest who really likes Chansey that much? Well, it turns out not that many people like Chansey that much but it’s valuable for the same reason as the Hitmonchan. Because of the nature of the card’s art and how vast and clear the foil is, it’s extremely hard to get one in a PSA 10. They are so rare in fact that only 48 exist in a PSA 10. Ungraded they are worth about $200 but in a PSA 10 they are suddenly worth around $36,877.

Considering the value of everyone’s least favorite first-generation starter Pokemon, it comes as no surprise that the Blastoise is worth so much as well. But, as well as being a sought-after Pokemon, this card only has a population of roughly 100 in a PSA 10. Because of this, finding one ungraded will probably cost in the ballpark of $420 but in a PSA 10 this card sells for obscene amounts. It recently sold for $45,100 in a PSA 10.

To the more seasoned collectors, you may already be aware of the reason for this card’s value, but for everyone else, this may come as a massive shock. While Lugia is definitely nostalgic and a fan-favorite legendary to some degree, it certainly isn’t at Charizard level of cards that people want, so what is happening here? It all has to do with the card population, but there’s a reason for this too. Yes as we’ve mentioned before the vast and clear foil already makes the card hard to grade blah blah blah. However, when Neo Genesis dropped in 2000, the first few print runs of the set were irredeemably bad, the printing on the foil was just completely inconsistent and this meant that all of the First Edition prints of the card were just terrible. While they later corrected the printing in the unlimited version of the set, it was too late, the First Edition run was already over leaving there only to be 43 PSA 10 Lugias to exist today and only 3 in a BGS 10. Even finding someone selling an ungraded one is rare but has sold for around $800 in the past. In a BGS 10 however, you better be ready to say goodbye to your mortgage because this card has sold for $144,300.

Everyone and their mom have seen this card by now. It’s the poster boy of Pokemon himself, this OG Charizard has been the crown jewel of Pokemon since 1999 and it doesn’t look like it is going anywhere, anytime soon. This card is probably the most popular card of all time among collectors and with good reason. It ticks all the boxes of being a valuable card, it is extremely hard to get a hold of, it’s vintage, it’s First Edition and most importantly of all, it’s a Charizard. The population of the card clocks in at 121 in a PSA 10, which comparatively isn’t that low, but when we’re talking Charizards, that is DEFCON 1 levels of rare. This is why ungraded, the card practically doesn’t exist, but if you do manage to find one it would still cost you around $4000 and in a PSA 10 this card sold for a whopping $350,100.

Yes, all print runs of the base set First Edition Pokemon cards did not feature a shadow on the right border, the shadow was then added in a later print run in the unlimited version of the set.

First Edition was a feature that ran for every set (except Base Set 2) until Neo Destiny in 2002. This means that the value of a First Edition pack varies depending on what set you are referring to. The First Edition Base Set packs are likely the most expensive packs, costing around $4000 a pack, but if you look towards first edition jungle packs, they are worth around $400 a pack. A good way of gauging the value of a pack is checking the sold items under the item’s name on eBay.

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