Top 20 Most Expensive Pokémon Cards

When the very first Pokemon cards were released in North America in 1999, one of the highlights was this so-called “Shellfish”. Isn’t it a turtle? Anyway, if you were lucky enough to pull this original starter back in the day, we pray you held on to it and kept it in a sleeve, because pristine 1st Edition Blastoise cards can fetch you 20,000$ and up. In case you’re wondering, 1st edition refers to the black stamp shown to the left of the pokemon, and indicates it was produced during the very first print run of these cards.

When you think of the most popular Pokémon from the first generation, ‘Mons like Charizard, Pikachu, and Mewtwo probably come to mind. Odds are, Chansey isn’t very high up. In fact, it probably doesn’t even make the list in the first place. But, that didn’t stop its original card from exploding in popularity. Its presence in the original Base Set has earned it a killer reputation among collectors, and they’ve proven as much with their wallets. Even though the artwork has been reprinted a few times over the years, the original cards still fetch prices well into the thousands. Evidently, being Nurse Joy’s assistant has its perks.

In 2004, the TCG introduced slick, colored variants of their most popular Pokémon in order to boost sagging card sales. To say it worked would be a massive understatement. Just look at Torchic. The Hoenn starter is a beloved fire-type, and its Gold Star form was a rare pull inside an already-rare set. You can probably see where this is going. Based on its low-distribution rate and sky-high popularity, nabbing one for a few thousand dollars isn’t out of the question. Although, if you want one in mint-condition, you’ll be lucky to pay anything less than 25k. If you aren’t careful, this fire-type can easily burn a hole straight through your wallet.

Ever since his trading card debut, this Kanto classic has had a habit of ratcheting up prices, and his time in the “Dragon Frontiers” set is no different. There, Charizard and his new, alternate-colored look and dark-typing flew all the way past one thousand dollars in value. And then he soared past ten, and then twenty. He’s been hovering there for a few years, but that trend is hard to miss. While 20k is hardly a small amount of money, if you think you’ll ever want one, you may want to snag it now. After all, if there's one thing we know about Charizard cards, it’s that they don’t get cheaper with age.

This iconic card comes from the set “Ex Deoxys”, and is part of the coveted ‘Gold Star’ line. The packs alone for this set go for over 300$, and if you’re willing to open them, you could potentially pull a Rayquaza worth 5 figures. In 2023, a PSA 10 graded version of this card sold for a whopping $48,000. If you don’t manage to pull this powerful sky beast though, you still have a chance at the “Latios/Latias gold star” which can sell for well over 1500$.

As if the TCG didn’t have enough rare variants, the Aquapolis expansion introduced a whole new exclusive species: Crystal Pokémon. They were marketed as so-called secret cards, and that’s evident in the fact that only nine Pokémon got the new form. You heard that right, there are less than ten different Crystal Pokemon in the whole TCG. It turned already-rare Pokemon like Ho-Oh and Charizard (xref) into bonafide goldmines. Since the Crystal series was retired at the end of the e-card era, just finding one nowadays costs thousands. If you want all nine, you’ll be writing a check with a whole lot of zeros.

If the TCG can turn this useless fish into a hot-ticket collector’s item, then anything is possible. Well, anything except finding a University Magikarp for a decent price. Nabbing one in its original release was hard enough. You had to live in Japan, pick up a specific magazine, and then fill out a notoriously difficult Pokémon trivia quiz. If you managed to do all that, you were sent this ultra-rare University Magikarp card. Allegedly, only one thousand copies were ever made, and even fewer actually made it into circulation. With all that, it’s no surprise that an auction for one of these sold for 66 thousand dollars.

In the early mainline games, every Wild Pokémon had about a one-in-eight-thousand chance of being an off-colored shiny version. So, it’s only natural that the Trading Card Game introduced their own spin on the formula. Enter: the Shining Series. The only difference is that, instead of your time, finding a Shining Card takes cold hard cash. And a lot of it. No matter if it’s a Magikarp or a Mewtwo, the brand demands astronomical prices. It doesn’t help that so few Pokémon have Shining Cards in the first place. All together, that adds up to a set that’s pretty much worth its weight in gold.

Ironically, this trading card is just as rare as the Legendary Pokémon it depicts. Although, that shouldn’t be too surprising considering the perfect storm of its release window. At the peak of Pokemania in the late 90s, Lugia starred as one of the new box-art legendaries for the second generation - and that included a starring role in the beloved “Pokémon The Movie 2000.” As a result, this first edition card has remained an elusive collector’s item for over twenty years. That’s pushed its demand well into the thousands, and that’s for a dinged up version. For a highly-graded copy, you’re looking at a price tag over fifty grand.

One of the most expensive Pokémon cards on the market doesn’t even have a Pokémon on it. Instead, it features the prestigious Master’s Scroll, which was only distributed to members of a Japanese fan-club in 2010. Trainers had to participate in several activities and mini-games, and once they accumulated a whopping 8,600 points, they’d receive one of these speciality cards as a reward. Since The Master’s Scroll has never been officially released outside of this Japan-exclusive event, overseas buyers have amped up the price to staggering heights. Let’s just say it’s not out of the ordinary to see the Master’s Scroll touch six-figures in value.

Kanto starter? Check. 1st edition? Check. We could go on, but you get the point. Funnily enough, this card doesn’t actually have the traditional Rarity symbol, and that only makes it even more special. Still, none of that is the reason Venusaur is so popular. The real money-maker is the autograph from famed Pokémon illustrator Mitsuhiro Arita. There’s supposedly only five of these signed Venusaur cards in existence, and that scarcity has led to some absurd prices. You can get a standard Venusaur card for a few grand, and the same goes for Arita’s autograph. But, if you want them together, you may want to pull out your piggy bank.

While all the cards we’ve seen so far are incredibly pricey, at least they’re somewhat in circulation. The same cannot be said for Pokemon tournament prize cards. These cards are handed out exclusively to tournament finalists and winners of international Pokemon events, meaning you can’t just pull one out of a pack. The first of these is the Master’s Key Prize Card. There are approximately only 30 of these cards in existence, as they were handed out solely to competitors in the 2010 Pokemon World Championships. If you’re fortunate enough to get your hand on one, it could fetch you upwards of 20 Large.

Most of us never bothered to learn the actual ‘game’ from which Pokemon Trading Card Game gets its name, but if you did, and got insanely good at it, you might have a shot at getting a No.1 Trainer prize card. Tournament champions in 1997 received this “Secret Super Battle” print featuring holographic Mewtwo, but it’s unlikely any of these recipients thought the card would someday be worth $90,000 dollars! In July of 2020, Heritage auctions sold one in PSA 10 condition for nearly six figures. If you are one of only a handful of people in the world to own one, it is without a doubt the centerpiece of any collection.

There’s no hope of pulling this Umbreon from a random pack. At least, not the rare version. Instead, the only legitimate way to get your hands on this promo Eevolution was to accumulate points through Japanese-only TCG events. Since the release window was extremely tight, too, not many of these Umbreon cards saw the light of day. While the English-language versions are comparatively cheaper, the original Japanese promo cards can, and have, sold for as much as seventy thousand dollars. Mind you, that’s after a few rereleases. Before more Umbreon’s entered circulation, we can only imagine how much they went for.

Forget Wall Street, put your money into Charizards! Back when the base set was first released, this fiery lizard was the best pull you could get, and it still is today! In fact, there are too many extremely expensive Charizard cards to name, including some we already mentioned like Shining and Crystal Charizard, others like Rainbow Charizard, Shiny Charizard GX..you get the idea. At the very top however is the holy grail: the 1st edition base set shadowless charizard, which had a ballpark price of 50,000. That is, before rapper Logic set a new record with his winning bid of 226,000$ in 2020. Since that big boom however, the price has dipped back down, but it’s still the holy grail of charizards. Even the non-1st edition shadowless charizard is easily still a five figure card in the right grade!

Before the official English release of the Pokémon TCG, publisher Wizards of the Coast made several test cards using their old stock. The result? A 1st edition Blastoise printed on a Magic the Gathering card. Twenty years later, one of them resurfaced, and collector’s got to work. Getting a 1st edition Blastoise on its own will already cost you around 20k. But, if you want this insanely rare test card, you need to tack on an extra zero. That's no exaggeration; the card sold for a whopping 216 thousand dollars in 2021. And, nowadays, that price would probably have a three in front of it if another one even exists.

Pokemon-GX is a variant of trading card that was introduced in the “Sun & Moon” era with much higher HP pokemon. You won’t find it in a pack, but this unique GX card was presented to a select group of people at a private birthday celebration in 2018 for Tsunekazu Ishihara, the CEO of Pokemon International. It is unlike any card in existence, depicting the pokeboss himself reaching for a masterball, and featuring a special ‘congratulations’ attack to commemorate his 60th birthday. At auction, this card has sold recently for an unbelievable 247 thousand!

The Kangaskhan Family Event Trophy card was a prize for participants in the Parent/Child mega Battle tournament in 1998. This magnificent looking card features Papa Kangas and his baby, an appropriate prize for a family-themed event. Like the Master Key and Ishihara GX, Trophy Kangaskhan is in the ‘holy grail’ category of collectibles, and there are under 50 of them in existence worldwide. Only 11 exist in PSA 10 condition, one of which sold on ebay in October 2020 for 150,000$.

The next card on our list is the trophy card to end all trophy cards. Presented to winners in the very first Pokemon TCG tournament in 1997, the Trophy Pikachu exists in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place forms, but all three are remarkably valuable. In 2019, a 3rd Place iteration sold for 100k. After the hobby exploded in fall of 2020 however, you can bet this card is soaring in value. At the time of this video, it is listed on ebay for 1 Million! It is a card so unique and unattainable that fake a.k.a “proxy” versions of it have sold for over $3000.

Historically, prize cards didn’t just go to winners of card game tournaments. In 1997, Pokemon hosted the CoroCoro Comic Illustration contest, and winners of this event went home with the now-mythical Pikachu Illustrator card. A total of 39 of these are known to exist in the world, and to give you an indication of their value, a graded version of one sold for 50,000$....in 2013! Since then, you can bet the price has been climbing. An October 2019 auction saw this piece of Pokemon history go for an astounding $195,000. Off the grid sales of this card are even more unbelievable though, as Logan Paul purchased a Gem Mint 10 copy for a reported 5 million. Whether or not it’s worth 5 Million, we’ll let you decide.