Price Trends: Pokémon Cards Climbing in Price - 12/09/2025
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 November 8 and December 7, 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: Silver Tempest
- Increase: +$7.03
- Current Market Price: $14.67
Starting us off, we have the most straightforward example of a buyout I’ve seen all year. This card has hovered between $6 and $8 since June, but it spiked to $14 after a single buyer picked up 110 copies on December 2.
I’m not sure why someone decided to buy out this card, but the non-Rainbow Rare version of Serena was not affected.
- Set: Mega Evolution Promo
- Printing: Normal
- Increase: +$7.32
- Current Market Price: $21.93
The very first Mega Evolution Black Star Promo, this card comes in about one in four Mega Evolution Build & Battle Boxes. The other three out of four boxes come with either Inteleon, Alakazam, or Lunatone, all of which have gone up in price since October as Build & Battle Boxes have remained stubbornly pricey.
But Meganium has gained the most value, possibly because it’s seen fringe play alongside Mega Venusaur and Hydrapple. If a Grass-type deck becomes a force in Standard, it’ll almost certainly include Meganium—and since there’s no Illustration Rare version yet, players who want to max-rarity their decks will have to go with this promo or its Staff-stamped version.
#3 Meowth
- Set: Jungle
- Printing: 1st Edition
- Increase: +$7.83
- Current Market Price: $9.58
This card—the first Meowth ever printed in English—almost quintupled in price after a massive buyout on November 30th spiked the average number of copies per buyer to 37.5.
Unlike with Serena, we know exactly why this card was bought out, but that explanation has to wait until we get to card #1 in this price bracket.
#2 Jigglypuff
- Set: Jungle
- Printing: 1st Edition
- Increase: +$11.32
- Current Market Price:$13.28
This Jigglypuff grew by over 500% after back-to-back buyouts on November 29 and 30, the latter of which involved a single buyer picking up 29 copies.
Like Meowth, this buyout was the direct result of an even bigger price spike:
#1 Kabuto
- Set: Fossil
- Printing: 1st Edition
- Increase: +$20.15
- Current Market Price: $36.48
Since August, Twitter/X user Kabuto King has been diligently working to collect every single 1st Edition Kabuto card in the world. Around late November, all that work translated into a major price spike for this mostly-forgotten card—and when people started investigating its cause, Kabuto King and their quest went absolutely viral.
(Major props to Kabuto King, who parlayed that virality into a $51K charity auction for St. Jude.)
Anyway, Kabuto’s spike proved that it was possible to affect the price of low-rarity 1st Edition cards with just a handful of buyers. As a result, copycats have been targeting every first 1st Edition of a Gen I Pokémon they can think of, from Meowth and Jigglypuff to Horsea and Cubone and Magmar. If you own any 1st Edition cards from the original TCG Series, chances are they’ve gone up.
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: XY Promos
- Increase: +$21.77
- Current Market Price: $376.03
In honor of Bidoof Day (July 1, 2021), The Pokémon Company International printed this charming promo and made it available to fans who subscribed to the Pokémon Center newsletter ahead of that day.
The card has risen steadily since March through entirely organic-looking sales, as 2021 has receded further into the past. With few other winners this month outside of Kabuto, Special Delivery Bidoof ranks by default.
#4 M Gengar EX
- Set: XY Promos
- Increase: +$26.80
- Current Market Price: $287.87
M Gengar EX has also been climbing steadily all year—though some of that interest may be due to the return of Mega Pokémon in Pokémon Legends Z-A, and the return of Mega Gengar to the TCG in Phantasmal Flames and the upcoming Special Set Ascended Heroes. Once again, the lack of competition has helped M Gengar EX stand out this month.
#3 Special Delivery Pikachu - SWSH074
- Set: Sword & Shield Promo Cards
- Increase: +$28.18
- Current Market Price: $287.10
Special Delivery Pikachu has been on the same gradual climb as Special Delivery Bidoof all year, and this month there weren’t any bigger spikes to steal its spotlight.
#2 Greninja & Zoroark GX (201) (Alternate Full Art)
- Set: Unbroken Bonds
- Increase: +$30.06
- Current Market Price: $285.54
Like most of the alternate-art TAG TEAM cards, Greninja & Zoroark-GX 201 grew substantially in the first half of 2025. It’s been stagnant since August, but a mini-buyout of six copies on December 4 helped push the card over the $280 threshold.
- Set: Unified Minds
- Increase: +$37.21
- Current Market Price: $332.86
Like the Special Delivery cards above, this Rainbow Rare has also enjoyed a slow, steady climb, starting around June. It’s now the most expensive card in Unified Minds, and one of the few winners during this general Pokémon market downturn.
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 December 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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