Price Trends: Pokémon Cards Climbing in Price - 02/25/2025
By 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 January 25 and February 23, 2025.)
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
- Set: Scarlet & Violet Base Set
- Increase: +$22.08
- Current Market Price: $41.56
The Pokémon market has been going off like a firework in the past few months. Between the release of Pokémon TCG Pocket and the back-to-back successes of Surging Sparks and Prismatic Evolutions, the current demand for Pokémon cards appears to rival what we saw during the height of the collectibles boom in 2021. Modern cards (especially Illustration Rares) that were just a few dollars in September have doubled in price in three months, and then doubled again in a matter of days.
I’m cautious about pinning too much of the blame on speculators and buyouts, both of which were features of the Pokémon TCG market well before this most recent boom. But their influence certainly brought any stability to the runaway prices we’re seeing.
Slowpoke is just another beneficiary of these trends. The card first started climbing after Black Friday, doubling in price from $10 to $20 in the coming months, before a huge sales day on February 22 (when the average number of copies per buyer reached 3.1) made Slowpoke spike again to over $30.
- Set: Obsidian Flames
- Increase: +$26.57
- Current Market Price: $32.97
Houndour slowly crept up in price from $3 to $6 between the start of December and the end of January, as higher-than-average sales dried up the supply. Then on February 16, a massive buyout (an average of 5.6 copies per buyer) cleared out the remaining low-cost copies and pushed Houndour over $30.
- Set: Paradox Rift
- Increase: +$28.52
- Current Market Price: $35.80
Brute Bonnet followed the same pattern. Between the start of December and the end of January, its price snuck up just two dollars from $5 to $7. Then on February 19th, after several consecutive high-sale days, a burst of buying (with an average of 3.5 copies per buyer) caused the remaining low-cost listings for the card to evaporate, and Brute Bonnet spiked to over $30.
It’s worth noting that this card was illustrated by Tomokazu Komiya, the same artist behind the Drowzee card that became the face of this most recent round of price spikes, as well as the next two cards on this list. Either collectors thought his work was underrated, or speculators were betting that collectors would think that after seeing all his Scarlet & Violet Series full-art cards explode in price.
- Set: Paldea Evolved
- Increase: +$33.54
- Current Market Price: $39.65
Artibax gained just $3 between early December and late January, but then it nearly quadrupled in price between February 17 and 21. Sales were definitely elevated during that period, but it’s hard to say whether any sort of buyout was involved. On its busiest day, February 18th, the average number of copies per seller stayed below 2.0.
- Set: Paldea Evolved
- Increase: +$38.10
- Current Market Price: $51.56
Baxcalibur saw the most obvious buyout of all five of these cards… on September 7, when the average number of copies per buyer rose to 9.0. That buyout had no impact on Baxcalibur’s price, which actually finished lower a month later. But then weeks of elevated sales between December and mid-February brought its price from $10 to $20, and an even stronger series of days between February 18 and 20 sent its price to over $50.
The highest the average number of copies per seller got during those three days was 2.1. No single day during this period matched September 7th, either for total number of copies sold, or for average number of copies per buyer. The difference was, sales were high for weeks in succession, not just for one day.
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
- Set: Twilight Masquerade
- Increase: +$88.66
- Current Market Price: $416.17
Sales of Greninja ex 214 have actually been a bit low in February compared to previous months. But with few new listings, the card has trended up anyway, breaking the $400 mark for the first time last week.
- Set: Prismatic Evolutions
- Increase: +$97.89
- Current Market Price: $355.83
The Special Illustration Rare Eeveelutions have been playing musical chairs with each other since they first released in Prismatic Evolutions last month, and no ‘lution has seen its fortunes change more than Flareon ex. Originally “just” $220, Flareon ex has climbed $100 even as its sales have quieted as collectors await more waves of Prismatic Evolutions product, and as other Eeveelutions like Vaporeon have dropped.
Exactly why is unclear, but Flareon might be a more popular Eeveelution than the market anticipated. One small poll on eliteforum placed it as the third-most popular Eeveelution under Umbreon and Espeon—if that’s accurate, we might see Flareon ex overtake Expeon ex as the third-most valuable card in Prismatic Evolutions.
#3 Sylveon VMAX (Alternate Art Secret)
- Set: Evolving Skies
- Increase: +$131.59
- Current Market Price: $435.38
Speaking of Eeveelutions, Sylveon VMAX started trending up after Cyber Weekend and spiked hard in late January, following the same trend as the Illustration Rares earlier in this article. The actual number of sales of this card have remained fairly low, given its Evolving Skies-high price. But with so few new listings for this four-year-old card, determined buyers have pushed Sylveon VMAX to a new all-time high.
#2 Rayquaza VMAX (Alternate Art Secret)
- Set: Evolving Skies
- Increase: +$143.84
- Current Market Price: $757.99
Rayquaza also flew higher than ever before this month, breaking $700 on the strength of a small number of sales by determined buyers.
#1 Latias & Latios GX (Alternate Full Art)
- Set: Team Up
- Increase: +$164.66
- Current Market Price: $1,420.76
And Latias & Latios-GX broke $1,400 with just a handful of sales. The average number of copies per buyer for Latias & Latios-GX hasn’t risen above 1.0 all year, but with no listings below $1,899.99 at time of writing, there hasn’t been a need for any kind of shenanigans to raise the lovebirds’ price. Naturally dwindling supply has done it all.
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 February 2025 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.
Download the Pokémon Price Trends Report
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