Or valuable sets in general? It’s hard to narrow it down on Troll and Toad. I just wanted to take a look at the most expensive cards.

I’ve always been curious about this why exactly do pokemon cards hold so much value even decades after they first came out cuz some of them sell for insane amounts of money like thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars which blows my mind considering they’re just pieces of printed cardboard. I get that rarity and condition play a big role but it feels like there’s more to it than that. Is it mainly nostalgia driving the prices or is there an actual collectible market similar to art, stamps or coins where certain cards are legitimately seen as investments? Personally I could never justify dropping that kind of cash on a card I’d rather just throw it into a few rounds on jackpot city and at least have some fun with it.

It makes me wonder if pokemon cards will always hold value or if it’s just a trend that could crash eventually. What do you think keeps the market so strong for them?

So my basic plan is to rank Pokémon species by how likely the species of Pokémon itself is causing the value to increase. I tried my best to isolate the coolness factor and rarity of the card, so places where Pokémon have the same basically the same card like

This list is by no means all inclusive and I’d love feedback and debate. I added some commentary on some of by hotter takes.

Some general thoughts before I get to the list, obviously the original 151 dominate. As I said this isn’t comprehensive, everything I’m listing is going to have a high tier. Within the tier, the Pokémon aren’t really sorted, unless mentioned, like charizard clearly being above the other S-tier.

S+: Unbreon- the sole S plus tier IMO.

highlights- gold star Umbreon, unseen forces Umbreon, first edition Neo Discovery, Moonbreon

Duds- arguably none, maybe classic collection Umbreon Star. The only real question is could Umbreon carry a whole modern set by itself like the number 2 Pokémon on the list, Zard has to do regularly? An argument could be made that Unbreon card values are immensely helped by the fact there are other eeveelutions usually in the set.

S: Charizard- I covered a lot of this in Umbreon, but the fact that all of the modern generations have 3+ awesome charizard chase cards actually hinders their overall chance at success. Obsidian flames and Darkness ablaze are two of the lesser sets in their generations. The most obvious recent counter point to charizard behind Umbreon is shiny vault Charizard gx >>>>>> unbreon gx. I wasn’t following as closely back then, so if anyone in comments knows if this has to do with pull rates, I’d love to hear it.

Also in S: Rayquaza, Lugia, Mew,

mewtwo- definitely the lowest of the S-tier and at a huge risk of falling out. Number one reason I kept it here cause gold star mewtwo is still such a banger. I think in the end what is holding it back is not the species but rather the fact that his biggest recent cards have been in sets printed to oblivion (CZ and pogo). I think that’s why people have circled back to Mewtwo GX secret #78.

S-: Pikachu- obviously still a super star, but as there have been so many Pikachu chase cards and attempts by the Pokémon company to make them chase cards, there have been some relative duds. I think the fact the vivid voltage is one of the least sought after SS sets speaks volumes (and should be at least a slight warning sign about surging sparks).

Also in S-: Espeon, Gengar, Blastoise, Venusaur

A+: Gyarados, Snorlax, Dragonite, Gardevoir, Giratina-O,

A: Celebi, Suicune, T-tar, Kyogre, Groudon, and….

magikarp- two bangers in the past three sets. The fact that magikarp 203 is THE chase card of PE and is only an illustration rare speaks volumes. Team up karp is the other big modern winner.

A-: latios, latias, vaporeon, flareon, Jolteon, sylveon, (one of the big what ifs of the sword and shield series to me is what numbers alt art vaporeon, jolteon, and flareon would have hit had they not been promos)

metagross- just my favorite Pokémon so arguably too high, but it’s my list and this is where he is staying

Honorable mentions: greninja, zapdos, moltres, articuno, Kingdra, all the other 151 (give them the right rarity and coolness factor and anything can pop. Examples include skyridge Starmie, shining kabutops, team up exeggutor and rowlet, Pokémon center charmander and magneton.) leafeon, glaceon, Salamence, garchomp, raikou, Suicune, entei

Finally a bot from r/Pokémon tcg sent me to this discussion board, which looks to be mostly people posting pictures of cards. I’m just looking for an audience for my work. If this isn’t the right forum, no harm.

Cheers.

Hello everyone, looking to sell a massive collection today. Cards over 100 will be listed below. Looking for 95% market on the higher end (under 100) stuff, 85% on lower end. shipping will be +1 pwe +5 bmwt.

Massive collection start *******

First set of cards over 100 with close ups: https://imgur.com/a/8GUJzW4

Umbreon Vmax - 1350

Lugia V - 300

Bubble mew - 360

Giratina V - 490

2nd set of Cards over 100 with closeups below: https://imgur.com/a/VrqskkS

Shiny Charizard vmax jpn - 105

Rayquaza v jpn - 235

Glaceon vmax - 276

Umbreon v - 235

Charizard v shiny - 220

Greninja ex - 260

Pikachu vmax - 150

Charizard vmax secret - 165

Close ups of 100 plus :https://imgur.com/a/fx990OG?s=sms

https://imgur.com/a/stlWthY?s=sms

Promos, celebrations, amazing rares: https://imgur.com/a/ysPVgkL

Alt arts, IRs, SIRs, TGs, ace specs secret box: https://imgur.com/a/yzLFl23

Paf, shining fates shinys: https://imgur.com/a/LRcdB1Y

Full arts, golds, rainbow rares: https://imgur.com/a/sYOaK5v

Lower end promos, Vs, EXs, etc: https://imgur.com/a/PNcv1tr

Just wondering if my pokemon card collection is worth anything? I’ve seen the Charizard going for crazy money but I’m not too well educated in what makes one more valuable than the next?

The protective booklet they are in currently looks a little crinkled for its 20+ year ago but I assure you the cards are all in close to if not perfect condition. They have barely ever been removed from the protective book.

Thanks all 🙂

Hi Folks. I've been deep in the grading game recently. It became clear to me that not all cards are worth grading. And thanks to your feedback I've made some updates to the Pokemon card grading tool I've been working on, it's completely free: https://gradinghunt.com/

Let me know if you like the site.

• It allows you to find the best cards across modern Pokemon sets, based on their return on Grading.
• If you love data, you'll love this app.

https://preview.redd.it/0r2wu8wwmkjf1.png?width=1156&format=png&auto=webp&s=9f8051b9bd14ee986c05a203ebd39887ff142ea7

Examples:

• Umbreon VMAX (Evolving Skies): Raw: $1343 → PSA 10: $2832 → (107**% ROG**) → not the best to grade
• Pikachu EX (Prismatic Evolutions): Raw: $35 → PSA 10: $300 → (415**% ROG**) → amazing return
• Tarountula (Scarlet Violet Base): Raw: $5 → PSA 10: $413 → (1407**% ROG**) → $400 in PSA 10?? insane outlier

It's 100% free, has automatic weekly prices updates from trusted sources, I'm hoping other Pokemon graders will find value from it, like I have. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions too: https://gradinghunt.com/

I am an avid sports card collector and always looking to yen a profit. I always come across Pokémon and have tried to understand and grasp just the monetary value really. I can’t seem to find some of the cards for sale or that have sold for a reference and don’t know whether to invest or not. Are these worth purchasing and how much would you pay? There are many others but I think these are the better ones of the lot.