Top 10 Pokémon Grails
The ten Pokémon cards collectors chase hardest, from trophy promos to the modern alt art everyone wants.
These are the cards that define the top of the Pokémon hobby. A few are near-mythical prizes and test prints that surface at auction once in a while; the rest are first-edition and gold-star holos that trade every week on eBay, where condition and grade decide everything. The list closes with the modern card that turned a new generation into grail hunters.
Awarded to winners of a 1998 CoroCoro Comic art contest in Japan, with only a few dozen known. A PSA 10 sold for $5.275 million in 2022.
The card that started the hobby boom. 1st Edition copies in high grades are the benchmark for the whole Pokémon market.
One of two test prints Wizards of the Coast made in 1998 to pitch printing the English cards in the US, before Base Set existed.
Given to teams at the 1998 Parent/Child Mega Battle in Japan, where a parent and child played together. A true trophy card.
Famously hard to grade: centering and print lines sink most copies, so gem mint examples are scarce.
A Base Set Raichu with a Prerelease stamp, long rumored and later confirmed. Only a handful are believed to exist.
The first shiny Charizard, printed as a secret rare numbered beyond the set. The 1st Edition is the version to own.
Gold Star cards were pulled at roughly one per several booster boxes, and the Charizard is the most wanted of the era.
The shiny green Rayquaza Gold Star, one of the most iconic chase cards of the EX series.
"Moonbreon", the defining modern grail. Its alternate art made Evolving Skies the most chased set of the Sword & Shield era.
Frequently asked
What is the most valuable Pokémon card?
The Pikachu Illustrator promo from 1998. A PSA 10 copy sold for $5,275,000 in 2022, a Guinness world record for a Pokémon card.
Which Charizard is the grail?
The 1999 Base Set 1st Edition Charizard (4/102). Shadowless unlimited copies are valuable too, but the 1st Edition stamp in a high grade is the one collectors chase.
Is there a modern Pokémon grail?
The Umbreon VMAX alternate art from Evolving Skies (215/203), nicknamed "Moonbreon", is the most chased card of the Sword & Shield era.
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