Price Trends: Pokémon Cards Climbing in Price - 8/28/24
Peter Day
We want you to have the best information available when you price cards on the TCGplayer Marketplace. So to help you get the most from your inventory, we’ve put together a downloadable CSV report of Pokémon cards that have dramatically increased in Market Price in the past 30 days.
(Note: This report only considers Near Mint copies of cards with at least five sales between July 27 and August 25, 2024.)
Here are ten highlights from that report. First, we have the five cards that gained the most value in the past 30 days after starting with a Market Price of $20 or less.
Top 5 Price Increases—PKMN Cards $20 or Less
#5 Poliwrath
- Set: Base Set
- Increase: +$3.93
- Current Market Price: $20.85
You can easily find a copy of Base Set Poliwrath for around $5. The trick is finding one that has survived the intervening decades in Near Mint condition. Pristine copies don’t sell very often—but when they do, it’s at a significant premium, and they have a big impact on the Market Price. A handful of sales in the past 30 days were all it took to push Poliwrath over the $20 threshold, though that’s still $2 below the card’s last price peak in May.
#4 Jolteon - 064/SV-P (Yu Nagaba)
- Set: Miscellaneous Cards & Products
- Increase: +$3.95
- Current Market Price: $22.24
Yu Nagaba is a Japanese artist known for capturing an incredible amount of movement and personality using just black lines on a white background. To date, he has illustrated 10 special Japanese promo cards in his signature style: Eevee, each of the Eeveelutions, and Pikachu. The Jolteon from his 2023 mini-set has climbed back up in the past month, seemingly as a natural correction back to the price it had before it took a big dip in May.
- Set: Scarlet & Violet—151
- Increase: +$4.35
- Current Market Price: $20.25
Illustration Rare Dragonair appears to have experienced an unusual spike in pricing, similar to Angelic Arbiter, which we covered in our recent look at rising Magic cards. In August there have been a handful of sales for well over $20, with one sale breaking $30, interspersed with many other sales for $17 or less. At time of writing, there are dozens of listings in the $17-$19 range, so those higher-value sales probably don’t indicate a genuine price increase.
- Set: Silver Tempest
- Increase: +$5.78
- Current Market Price: $21.59
Every version of Regidrago VSTAR spiked massively in early June, after the release of Twilight Masquerade gave Regidrago a terrific new attack to copy in the form of Dragapult ex’s Phantom Dive, and an excellent Energy acceleration engine in the form of Teal Mask Ogerpon ex. Their prices climbed even higher in August as Regidrago became a favorite to win the World Championships, and even though it couldn’t claim the top spot, it proved that it was resilient enough to send players in the Top 8 even when everyone was gunning for it.
This version of Regidrago VSTAR is the rarest and fanciest printing of the card, so it’s also the version that’s benefitted the most from all the competitive attention.
- Set: Scarlet & Violet Promo Cards
- Increase: +$6.36
- Current Market Price: $11.65
This Scarlet & Violet Promo card was distributed through Play! Pokémon events that were held in November 2023. It appears to have been the target of multiple buyouts in the past couple of months, with the biggest one occurring right when the card reached its lowest price ever ($5.11) on July 24. That day, the number of copies per buyer rose to 6.0, which reversed the card’s direction and sent it spiking back over $10 a copy.
Next, these are the five cards that gained the most value in the past 30 days after starting with a Market Price over $20.
Top 5 Price Increases—PKMN Cards Over $20
#5 M Rayquaza EX (Shiny Full Art)
- Set: Ancient Origins
- Increase: +$19.15
- Current Market Price: $209.10
The #1 chase card from Ancient Origins has been on a steady, organic climb since mid-April. It’s not entirely clear why, but I’m inclined to attribute Rayquaza’s growth to natural ebbs and flows in which old sets are trending with collectors.
It doesn’t hurt that The Pokémon company has teased the return of Mega Evolution in next year’s Pokémon Legends: Z-A, which could signal the return of “M” Pokémon to the TCG. This version of M Rayquaza-EX is one of the most expensive M cards ever printed, just behind M Charizard-EX, and interest in these decade-old cards might pick up if The Pokémon Company brings back this mechanic.
- Set: Ultra Prism
- Increase: +$20.47
- Current Market Price: $416.67
The #1 chase card from Ultra Prism has been trending down since October of last year, when it peaked at over $520. The past 30 days were the first time in months that it started clawing back a tiny percentage of the value it’s lost, thanks to a mini-buyout on June 5th.
Lillie doubled in price in 2023 as fans who rediscovered Pokémon card collecting during the Sword & Shield Series started exploring older sets, starting with the Sun & Moon Series. This latest uptick probably indicates that Full-Art Lillie will never be worth as little as $250 ever again.
- Set: Double Crisis
- Increase: +$31.01
- Current Market Price: $143.20
Another #1 chase card from its respective set, Team Aqua’s Kyogre-EX rose almost 30% in the past 30 days without any accompanying surge in purchases—the market simply ran out of Near Mint listings under $200 for this 9-year-old card. So far there’s only been one sale that broke the $200 mark, so while the scarcity is there, we’ll have to see whether there’s enough demand for this card to maintain its price point. Given that the artwork hits a lot of the same notes as more recent popular cards (it’s unique, it fills the whole card, it features multiple Pokémon and characters, and it pairs with another card illustrated by the same artist), odds are good that it will.
#2 Umbreon VMAX (Alternate Art Secret)
- Set: Evolving Skies
- Increase: +$34.45
- Current Market Price: $857.56
Alternate-art Umbreon VMAX crept up a modest 4% this month after spending the previous two months slipping down from its peak of nearly $1,000 in May. It’s still well above the price it had at the start of the year, so Moonbreon will remain the #1 card of the Sword & Shield Series as it celebrates its 3-year anniversary this week.
- Set: Twilight Masquerade
- Increase: +$37.21
- Current Market Price: $293.60
Greninja’s price took a lot of turns this month, dropping to $225, surged to just over $300, and then gently fell below that threshold again. Through it all, Greninja has maintained its status as the most expensive card of the Scarlet & Violet Series, even though Shrouded Fable has replaced Twilight Masquerade as the most recent Pokémon set. That’s yet another reason to think that Greninja ex might become the Scarlet & Violet Series’ answer to Moonbreon.
By selling these cards online, you can reach a broad audience of customers who are willing to pay what these cards are truly worth. Download the August 2024 Price Trends Report to review every Pokémon card that went up in value this month. Then list those cards on TCGplayer so your inventory can do more for your business.
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