Price Trends: Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards Climbing in Price - 04/01/2025
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 Yu-Gi-Oh! 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 March 1 and March 30, 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 $10 or less.
Top 5 Price Increases—YGO Cards $10 or Less
#5 Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch (Quarter Century Secret Rare)
- Set: Quarter Century Bonanza
- Increase: +$11.04
- Current Market Price: $15.51
Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch (like Monarchs in general), hasn’t been competitive in years. But even weak cards command serious prices when they’re iconic, and especially when they’re printed as Quarter Century Secret Rares (QCSRs), the special collector-focused rarity Konami devised to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Yu-Gi-Oh OCG. With QCSRs on their way out, expect every Quarter Century Secret Rare on the market to rise to some extent over 2025.
#4 Pot of Duality (Quarter Century Secret Rare)
- Set: 25th Anniversary Rarity Collection II
- Increase: +$13.23
- Current Market Price: $22.33
As another QCSR (and one that, unlike Thestalos, does see competitive play currently), Pot of Duality was probably undervalued at less than $10. Someone took advantage of that disconnect with a massive buyout on February 22 that raised the average number of copies per buyer to 25. A couple smaller buyouts in the following weeks were the final nail in the coffin of sub-$10 Pot of Duality QCSRs.
- Set: World Superstars
- Increase: +$13.90
- Current Market Price: $22.75
The Galaxy-Eyes archetype received new support last month in Maze of the Master, in the form of Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Primal, which can summon itself and search up a Tachyon Spell or Trap card. Tachyon Transmigration happens to be one of the better options, as it works as a hand trap that can negate multiple effects and shuffle the negated cards away.
While Tachyon Transmigration was reprinted in Maze of the Master and can be found for less than a quarter, the original version from World Superstars (2015) remains the highest-rarity and most valuable version—and the preferred option for players with means.
- Set: Retro Pack (2020 Date Reprint)
- Printing: Unlimited
- Increase: +$13.93
- Current Market Price: $21.44
Embodiment of Apophis was also reprinted in Maze of the Master, alongside new support for Apophis cards like The Man with the Mark, Divine Serpent Apophis, and Treasures of the Kings. Sales of every version of Embodiment of Apophis rose after Maze of the Master released, but this version from the North American reprint of the European set Retro Pack was the most sensitive to this demand surge, because supply has always been low.
#1 Photon Papilloperative (UTR)
- Set: Astral Pack 2
- Printing: Unlimited
- Increase: +$12.02
- Current Market Price: $21.65
Photon Papilloperative came out of almost a decade of competitive irrelevance last month when it helped Cameron Taylor Neal win Team YCS - San Salvador on March 2. That one tournament result started a surge of purchases of Photon Papilloperative, and while other versions of the card all cost under $1, the Ultimate Rare version from Astral Pack 2 grew the most as Near Mint copies simply sold out.
Next, these are the five cards that gained the most value in the past 30 days after starting with a Market Price over $10.
Top 5 Price Increases—YGO Cards Over $10
#5 Super Starslayer TY-PHON - Sky Crisis (Quarter Century Secret Rare)
- Set: Age of Overlord
- Increase: +$24.81
- Current Market Price: $225.64
Super Starslayer TY-PHON - Sky Crisis has grown in popularity since December as an easy way to counter 3000 ATK cards like Ryzeal Detonator and Nibiru, the Primal Being. In just the past month, it’s popped up in decks like Ryzeal, Primite Blue-Eyes, and Bystial Fiendsmith. Those competitive successes keep the few Quarter Century Secret Rares on the market on an upward trajectory, though it may not last forever, as lower-rarity versions dropped significantly in the past week, after it was revealed that the card would be reprinted in the upcoming April set Quarter Century Stampede.
#4 Jinzo (Quarter Century Secret Rare)
- Set: Quarter Century Bonanza
- Increase: +$27.78
- Current Market Price: $69.18
Jinzo has been an iconic Yu-Gi-Oh monster since the earliest years of the game, so the Quarter Century Secret Rare version is an obvious pickup for collectors. Its recent rise looks due more to low supply than to high demand. Sales have been relatively quiet in the last month, but prices have spiked as sellers have come to value QCSRs more highly overall and buyers have kept paying more for cards of that rarity.
#3 Heavy Storm (Quarter Century Secret Rare)
- Set: Quarter Century Bonanza
- Increase: +$34.57
- Current Market Price: $83.06
Heavy Storm QCSR appears to be taking off for the same reason as Jinzo QCSR: it’s an iconic Yu-Gi-Oh card with a fancy new rarity. Its price increased steadily all month as we passed the four-month anniversary of Quarter Century Bonanza.
- Set: Starter Deck: Kaiba
- Printing: 1st Edition
- Increase: +$199.64
- Current Market Price: $329.64
This price increase applies specifically to the 1st Edition version of Blue-Eyes White Dragon from Starter Deck: Kaiba, one of the first Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG products ever released in North America. The true value of this card is hard to pin down because there are so few sales.
In March, three copies sold for $199.99, $499.95, and $1,021.39. A PSA 10 copy of the card recently sold on eBay for over $9,000, so none of those prices for an ungraded copy seem totally outlandish.
#1 Dragon Master Magia (Quarter Century Secret Rare)
- Set: Battles of Legend: Terminal Revenge
- Increase: +$253.13
- Current Market Price: $953.48
Dragon Master Magia is slowly creeping up to its real Market Price after a batch of suspect sales in January. Dragon Master Magia has only been printed as a Quarter Century Secret Rare—no lower-rarity versions exist—so fans who want to see Black Luster Soldier and Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon team up for three negates a turn have no other options to pursue. Dragon Master Magia well earns its title as the most expensive Yu-Gi-Oh card printed in the last year.
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 March 2025 Price Trends Report to review every Yu-Gi-Oh! 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 Yu-Gi-Oh! Price Trends Report
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