The hobby was developing, but on a smaller scale in a dedicated pack-opening and competitive community.įast-forward to Octoand the hobby experienced its most significant catalyst yet - Logan Paul’s livestream opening of Pokémon’s first TCG set, Base Set (1999). These initial spikes were only a symptom of the market boom that followed in the latter half of 2020 and early this year, though. Collectable sets are rare and the “pulls” tend to be valued highly, especially when it comes to popular Pokémon like Umbreon and Charizard. TCG fans initially saw this and other price hikes as a form of market correction. Today, the card is valued between $150 and $200, almost six times more than its value at the beginning of 2020. One of the first single cards to experience this price hike was Umbreon GX SV69, which prior to the boom casually sat around a value between $30 and $40 before rising to $80 on TCGplayer in the first half of 2020. Post-pandemic, though, single cards in the set began to skyrocket in price on merchant sites like TCGplayer and Troll & Toad. Hidden Fates Elite Trainer Boxes, a TCG product featuring 10 booster packs, dice, and sleeves, were scarce, but fans could easily find Hidden Fates Tins at their local Walmart or Target. PSA grades card conditions on a scale from one to 10, with the latter representing “Gem Mint.” A regular Charizard GX SV 49 might be worth over $600, but a PSA 10 Gem Mint version of the same card triples in value, and can be found on eBay for over $1,800.Īs a mascot of the franchise and an exceedingly rare card, Charizard GX SV49 rose as the ultimate “chase card,” but the hype around Hidden Fates initially eventually petered out as TPCi continued to print the set to demand.
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If someone is lucky enough to pull a Charizard GX SV49 with perfectly aligned borders, flawless corners, and a scratchless surface, that tends to be a perfect target for grading with independent grading companies like Professional Sports Authenticator. TCGplayer acts as a middleman for local game stores across the United States and through its market price statistic - which averages out a card’s selling price - defines market value for many fans of the TCG. Hidden Fates was a hot collector’s set on its release date of Augdue to the aforementioned Shiny Vault and its incredibly sought after shiny reprint of Charizard GX SV49, a card worth over $600 ungraded on TCG merchant site, TCGplayer.
Highly collectable sets such as Hidden Fates - famous for its Shiny Vault, a collection of Pokémon reprinted in their Shiny form - began to see steady price hikes as more collectors entered the scene in the summer of 2020.
With the dissolution of live events, many Pokémon fans lost a reason to spend money on cards, but with the increased budget flexibility and incoming economic stimulus packages, the market began to take its first turn. Competitive TCG players across the world spend money on competitive cards, entry fees, and even plane tickets to qualify for Pokémon’s yearly World Championship. The TCG community took its own hit when The Pokémon Company International announced the indefinite suspension of competitive TCG play. Nowadays, both booster boxes sell for almost double the price on retail sites. Pokémon’s next TCG set in May, Rebel Clash, maintained this trend as it sold for a similar price. When COVID-19 cases began to spike in the United States, the modern TCG market was largely unaffected as products and singles continued to sell at reasonable rates - Sword & Shield Base Set Booster Boxes released in February of that year and remained between $90 and $120 at local game stores and on the open market. Pokémon cards are now spiking with products flying off the shelves at Target, Walmart, and local game stores, but it wasn’t long ago that the newest TCG sets could be easily found in the wild year-round. Even so, its popularity tends to ebb and flow as people fall in and out of nostalgia. Pokémon commands loyal fans around the world and is one of the most lucrative franchises on Earth, maintaining a mammoth presence in video games, trading cards, toys, and other merchandise. Pokémon cards have been booming just in time for the franchise’s 25th anniversary. 22 years later - and a year into COVID-19’s impact on the U.S. Opening a pack of Pokémon cards and shifting past the commons in search of a new shiny holographic rare offers a special type of dopamine rush that goes back to 1999, the year the Pokémon Trading Card Game first released in the United States.
Movies, concerts, and travelling have yet to return to our daily lives, but Pokémon is holding strong during the current pandemic.