If you’re plugged into the Pokemon card market at all, you’ve probably heard about some of the drama surrounding Prismatic Evolutions. The most recent special collection set is in incredibly high demand and low stock – thanks to its rare and valuable Eeveelution cards – which, as we’ve come to expect with Pokemon, has people acting up. Store break-ins, fist fights at Costco, and extreme price gouging have turned the friendly TCG space into a source of stress and anxiety, just as it has many times in the past.
The last time we saw people dive-tackling each other over Pokemon cards was during the collaboration with the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. Before that, the mobs were out causing chaos at department stores during the pandemic, to the point where Target temporarily stopped selling Pokemon cards altogether for the sake of employee safety. Rare cards lead to bad behavior throughout the Pokemon community, unfortunately.
Pokemon Prices On The Rise
Rare cards – and the chaos they invite – also leads to market inflation. When popular Pokemon card products are hard to find, it’s only natural that the price would go up. But what’s interesting about the Pokemon market is how much spill over we see whenever an outrageously hyped card comes along. It’s not just Prismatic Evolutions prices that are out of control, it’s all Pokemon cards.
We saw this same thing happen during the pandemic. Once retail and online stores ran out of sealed product, the price of singles – even ones from other sets – started to climb. There was a far-reaching Pokemon boom during 2020 and 2021 that wasn’t isolated to any specific set (though Evolving Skies ramped things up significantly), but rather an overall renewed interest in the hobby that caused prices of all kinds of collectibles cards to spike. We’re seeing a very similar phenomenon right now.
Just like Evolving Skies, Prismatic Evolutions has accelerated a process that was already happening, bringing more attention to the value of rarer cards and making the prices rise even faster. If you have some rare pulls from the last few years that were worth a bit but not enough to deal with the hassle of selling them, you might want to check again, because some of them are hitting outrageous prices.
Your Money Cards Might Be Worth More Than You Think
For a while, Evolving Skies Umbreon VMAX, known as Moonbreon, seemed like an anomaly. Its value continued to go up year after year, defying all understanding of how the market is supposed to work. Now, we’ve got a big handful of cards like that.
Paldean Fates Mew ex, known as Bubble Mew, climbed from $80 to $300 in the last four months, with PSA 10 graded cards going for over $1000. Another Evolving Skies card, Rayquaza VMAX, has nearly doubled in value since last July, going from $380 up to $617. If you have a card that was ever worth something, it’s probably worth even more right now.
Even some cards that were never really worth anything are suddenly in high demand. The Full Art Jessie & James from Hidden Fates – a fairly common card from the main set, barely moved higher than $15 over the last year. Today, it’s going for $75. Paldea Evolved’s Magikarp Illustration Rare was once as cheap as $50, now it goes for $220. Some of these price increases are due to more recent sets finally going out of print, but when it comes to cards like Jessie & James, it’s more likely some combination of market manipulations and good ol’ fashioned hype.
There’s no guarantee that your stash of bulk EX cards are finally going to make you rich, but if you’ve been sitting on some Pokemon cards waiting to see if their value will go up, today might be the day.
Pokemon TCG
- Original Release Date
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October 20, 1996
- Player Count
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2
- Age Recommendation
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6+
- Length per Game
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Variable
- Franchise Name
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Pokemon