July 28th - August 3rd, 2025
XY Era Blowing Up With $50k Sale 📈, Generations Meowth Promo Potential Sleeper 😼, Call of Legends Pack Lot Sells $10.5k 🌊, 1st Edition Charizard Climbing Back To All-Time Highs 🧗
📋 TLDR
This week marked another surge in interest for mid-to-late era XY sets, led by a $50k sealed case sale of Flashfire, reinforcing collector appetite for not only complete sealed products but also the XY era of TCG as a whole. Singles markets are responding in kind, with promos and Mega Evolutions climbing sharply in value. The Meowth #192/SV-P promo may be a potential sleeper pick, while Charizard and Gengar promos from the XY era continue to explode. In the vintage world, a PSA 10 Shadowless Base Set Charizard crossed the $270k mark, and strong performance continues for Gold Stars and niche anniversary boxes. Altogether, the market appears increasingly confident in both modern rarity and historical icons.
📦 Sealed Product Market Highlights
🔵 Sealed case of XY Flashfire sells for $50k
Listing – Best offer was accepted from $100k list price (contains 6 booster boxes which have been selling on average for $5k–6k)
Top chase cards include M Charizard-EX Secret Rare (#108), M Charizard-EX Ultra Rare (#69), and Reshiram-EX, with M Kangaskhan-EX and Pokémon Center Lady also in high demand. Flashfire is widely seen as a strong mid-block XY release thanks to the strong artwork and Mega Evolutions.
This case sold at a roughly 35% premium over the aggregate average resale value of six individual booster boxes (6 × ~$6.1k), underscoring collector appetite and what they are willing to pay for sealed cases.
🔵 Sealed Platinum Supreme Victors booster box sells for $16.1k
Listing – A similar listing went for $16k in the week
Top chase cards include Zapdos Secret Rare #150, Moltres Secret Rare #149, Rayquaza C (Cracked Ice #8), Charizard G LV.X #143, and Garchomp C LV.X #145. Supreme Victors was praised for its legendary bird trio and high-quality holographics.
At $16.1k, this box fetched about a 61% premium over PriceCharting’s $10k average sealed box value, highlighting strong investor confidence in Platinum subsets. In the current market the day-to-day auction or buy-it-now sales generally set the value of the product. There was a confirmed $10k sale at the end of May and an $8k sale within the same week (not factory sealed) so we’re still seeing a solid, significant jump.
🔵 Lot of 26 Call of Legends & 1 EX Delta Species pack sells $10.5k
Call of Legends features chase cards like Rayquaza Shiny (Secret Rare SL10), Lugia Shiny #15 which is fetching close to $10k in a PSA 10, Deoxys Shiny #2, Kyogre Shiny SL6, and Entei Shiny SL3. This set also contains a Dark Energy card that also features an Umbreon in the background (goes for around $500 in a PSA 10). As far as chase cards, the limited pop of Lugia and Rayquaza in a PSA 10 (19 and 23 respectively) is one likely driver for a large number of sales.
EX Delta Species features a subset of the well known Gold Star cards including Kyogre, Groudon, and Metagross.
These pack lot sales don’t seem too common especially for higher end packs as opposed to buying them in the form of sealed products (booster boxes) although those would come at a slight premium. We are seeing a lot of sales for Call of Legends booster packs in the $350–$400 range with EX Delta Species hovering close to $600, so the lot sale at $10.5k isn’t too far off compared to purchasing the packs individually.
💎 Singles & Graded Cards Highlights
🔵 Mega Gengar Black Star promo sells $6.5k
Listing – Best offer was accepted from $6.5k list price – PSA 10 POP of 116
Gengar and XY promos have been on a tear recently. A PSA 10 copy of this Mega Evolution Gengar XY Black Star promo recently sold at $6.5k. However this card stands out to me because the sales data is very limited (potentially because of the low pop) but one of the last sales was at $1.5k close to 3 months ago in May.
We’ve seen some cards shoot up in price dramatically but this $5k jump is significant. Ultimately one sale might not be significant but with a highly limited pop. In this case it's possible that the biggest factors are simply coming together for the perfect storm. (General Pokemon card market boom, very popular Pokemon, very popular set, PSA 10 with a very limited population).
Nevertheless it will be interesting to see if similar promos see a significant jump or if this was just a rare one-off event. Although it should be noted that similar Mega Evolution Gengar cards are heading towards a similar trend.
🔵 CGC Pristine 10 Paldean Fates Bubble Mew EX Hits $2.25k
Bubble Mew EX from Paldean Fates was originally not a fan favorite, actually seeing a dip from highs at the beginning of the year (at least in a PSA 10) but is climbing steadily. In the month of June alone this card saw CGC Pristine 10 sales in the range of $1k to $1.5k (1,2,3). What price point will this card plateau at if at all?
🔵 Japanese exclusive Generations Meowth promo potential sleeper hit?
Meowth #192/SV-P is part of the SV-P Promotional cards line released exclusively in Japan, bundled within the Starter Deck Generations “Special Battle Set. This promo card is generally paired with the Paldean Wooper from the same set. These promo cards will very likely not be printed in English which was one potential reason market enthusiasts hesitated to pick this card up. The PSA 10 pop is at 9472 and averaging around $150 and continuing to recover from its peaks around $200 earlier in the year.
But as we’ve seen, pop reports don’t make any difference when the conditions are right (decently popular Pokemon, Japanese exclusive, and really cool artwork). Personally I really like the artwork of this card which also models after the older games (looking at the background).
🔵 Charizard XY 276 Japanese promo sells $4.73k
For anyone not familiar with this card, The Charizard EX #276/XY-P promo was released on September 15, 2016 as part of the Japanese Pokémon Card Game Art Collection book, a 191-page art compendium celebrating 20 years of TCG illustrations.
Illustrated by Hitoshi Ariga, the card’s unique artwork (which in my opinion is also some of the best Charizard art in my opinion), mode of release, and tie-in to the art book elevate its appeal beyond standard XY era releases.
Following the great Pokemon card market boom at the beginning of the year, this card is close to hitting $5k in a PSA 10 up from around $1.2k at the beginning of the year (and the raw plastic sealed card is hitting its PSA 10 price from the start of the year). The copies of the book with the card unsealed are also going for about $3k up from around $1.5k also at the beginning of the year.
This Charizard is on the long list of unstoppable promos so I’m curious to see what will be next like the aforementioned Meowth promo.
🕰️ Vintage & Niche Market Highlights
🔵 20th Anniversary Japan exclusive Team Rocket case sells $17.7k
Listing – With both promos graded in a PSA 9 and unsealed
Originally issued via online preorder between November 3 and December 18, 2016 as part of Pokemon’s 20th-Anniversary celebrations, the Japan-exclusive Team Rocket Special Case (MSRP ¥12,000 or ~$110) was initially underrated, with early eBay sales hovering around $400–$600.
This auction featured an unsealed case with all the parts and the accompanying promo cards graded in a PSA 9. A factory sealed case has sold for $20k and above. The accompanying promo cards featuring Giovanni/Persian and Jesse/James/Meowth now sell around $13k–20k in PSA 10.
A similar Team Rocket case was released as a part of the Destined Rivals set which does not feature promo cards like its predecessor. However, it's potentially still a solid long term buy for the exclusive Team Rocket case.
Note: Goldin auctions include a buyer’s premium which the seller does not receive.
🔵 PSA 10 1st edition shadowless Base Set Charizard sells $270k
Listing (Sold listings seem to hyperlink elsewhere outside of Ebay but the item number should be correct)
The crown jewel for a lot of collectors, we originally saw PSA 10 copies of this card sell for over $300k (one example – winning bid of $325k) across the board in 2021 during the resurgence of Pokemon TCG popularity. The value has declined significantly since then but are we starting to see a trending climb back up? Another copy sold at a $175k winning bid at the beginning of May. A raw copy also recently sold for $35k.
🔵 PSA 10 Latios Gold Star (Unlimited print) sells for $51.1k
Gold Star cards have been on fire this year with demand at an all time high. A PSA 10 Gold Star Latios recently sold for $51.1k. This just shows that demand is still strong and present even with the more exclusive limited PSA pop Gold Stars like the Latios with a pop of 28. This version of the card is from the unlimited print which some enthusiasts argue (and somewhat depending on the set) is harder to pull and more desirable than its 1st edition counterpart.
📚 Educational Commentary – Collector’s Corner
How much does it matter whether you’re buying a booster box or loose packs — and why do sealed cases sometimes sell for so much more than the sum of their parts?
When collectors and investors evaluate sealed products, they often place a premium on full cases because they represent maximum security and provenance. A factory-sealed case offers assurances: the boxes haven’t been weighed, mapped, or tampered with, and are most likely to yield “clean” results for break-open collectors. Additionally, sealed cases offer optimal long-term investment integrity, especially as booster boxes grow scarce.
The discrepancy between individual box prices and full case prices stems from this added confidence. A case of six Flashfire booster boxes, for example, recently sold for $50k, about a 35% premium over buying six boxes individually. That’s not just for the cardboard; it’s for peace of mind, proof of origin, and the long-term stability that case-level sealing provides
Now the risks are pretty obvious. I'm not familiar enough with sealed products to speak on this with confidence but ease of creating counterfeits is potentially higher when it comes down to some cardboard and tape as compared to the details of a single booster box. Additionally, the desire to keep product sealed in their original factory box introduces a Schrodinger’s booster box (using Schrodinger humorously) effect where you can’t guarantee the box contains the actual sealed product without opening it.
🫐 Berries For Thought
💭 Many market enthusiasts talk about the current card market being in an unsustainable bubble. Do these concepts still apply exactly the same way as they do with the stock market?
💭 How do you feel about betting on if a card/set will do well purely based on artwork?
Feedback/Questions?
Contact me at news@luckyeggreport.com 🥚