The Top 10 Most Valuable Pokémon TCG Cards (That You Might Actually Own) (2024)

With the Pokémon Trading Card Game's popularity at an all-time high, people are rushing to their old collections and hoping to find a few treasures they can sell. You see stories of cards being flipped for five or even six digits online with alarming regularity, causing the COVID-19 pandemic's equivalent of a gold rush.

However, if you're a casual fan digging out their old binders, there is a slim chance you'll find any of those mythical best-sellers in your collection. While paying off your mortgage from one card may be all but impossible, you can still make a healthy profit. With that in mind, here are the top ten most valuable Pokémon cards that you might actually own.

To work this out, I went through every single Pokémon set on TCGPlayer's price database and noted every single card worth with a market value of more than $100. I then removed all promotional cards, including tournament prizes, limited editions, and gift cards given to the game's staff. While these can be worth a lot, it is very unlikely someone is going to have them sitting under their bed and simply not know about it.

Keep in mind that market prices for cards fluctuate quickly, meaning cards from recent sets like Shining Fates or Vivid Voltage might not hold their value as well as a Base set card from the '90s. It's also worth remembering that TCGPlayer's prices are an average; you could sell your own for much more or much less, depending on the quality of the card.

#10 – Stormfront Charizard, $489.46

Prepare to see a lot of Charizard on this list. As the series' most popular Pokémon, it appears on almost all of the cards here in some form or another.

Stormfront was released in 2008 under the Diamond & Pearl umbrella. While not one of the set's many rare Lv.X Pokémon, Charizard was still a highly coveted Secret Rare, putting him as the most valuable card from the entire set.

#9 – Aquapolis Lugia, $490

Aquapolis came from that weird e-Card era of the Pokémon Trading Card game, where cards could be scanned into the e-Reader peripheral for the Gameboy Advance. While the whole thing was a total failure (the e-Reader was never even released in Europe, yet the cards were...), some of the cards from that time are still pretty valuable. Lugia (also known as 'Crystal Lugia', due to its Crystal Type ability) is the most expensive card from Aquapolis, coming in at around $490-$500.

#8 – FireRed & LeafGreen Charizard ex, $500

The return to Kanta in the GameBoy Advance era also saw the TCG follow suit, with a set entirely featuring Pokémon from the original 151. To give it that Advance generation flair, a number of Pokémon also received an ex form, a new feature that was first introduced in EX Ruby & Sapphire. Of course, the #1 card was Charizard ex.

#7 – Shining Fates Charizard VMAX, $510

The newest card on this list, Shining Fates only launched last month, and brought with it a whole load of Shiny Pokémon. While there are a fair few cards in the set worth a decent amount of money, it is hardly surprising to see Charizard's full-art Shiny treatment take the top spot.

#6 – Base Set Charizard (Holo), $566.29

Base Set Charizard is probably the most famous Pokémon card in the world at the moment, and so you may be surprised to see it only be the fifth card on this list. The reason for that is the difference between A Base Set Charizard and a Shadowless Base Set Charizard. Shadowless Base Set cards can be identified by the lack of a dropshadow around the art frame, and signify it was in the very first print run of the TCG. Ones with shadows, while still highly valuable, are worth significantly less.

In the context of Pokémon cards, 'holo' simply means a card with glittery foil finish on the art.

#5 – Plasma Storm Charizard, $572.47

From 2013, Plasma Storm was eighth Black & White expansion. In the far-flung Unova region, a land full of exclusive and unique Pokémon… Charizard is the most valuable card. While I do question The Pokémon Company's fixation on putting Charizard in every set, I do really dig the art on this one.

#4 – Base Set Shadowless Blastoise (Holo), $797.99

Okay, maybe not everything is a Charizard. This is the first appearance of a Shadowless Base Set card in this list, and it's the water-type Blastoise raking in the big bucks. Much like Charizard, it's important to be certain that what you have is a shadowless holo Blastoise, as one with the drop shadow is significantly less at 'just' $150.

To be entirely honest, I feel bad for Venusaur. The grass-type starter Pokémon are always my favorite, but it doesn't even make this list!

#3 – EX Deoxys Rayquaza Star, $961.46

It's kind of nice to see this card on the list for me, as EX Deoxys was one of the last sets I remember buying before going on a Pokémon TCG hiatus. Released in 2005, EX Deoxys continued the trend of 'Star' Pokémon, cards which depicted Shiny Pokémon instead of their usual coloration. While in recent years Shiny Pokémon have become a bit more common (especially in Shining Fates), at the time they were a massive deal, which is why Rayquaza Star is worth almost $1000.

#2 – Dragon Frontiers Charizard Star (Delta Species), $1500

Another now-retired special type of Pokémon is the Delta Species. It was actually part of an exclusive story set in the TCG-only Holon region, as scientists used Delta radiation to hunt down Mew. Delta Species Pokémon are type-shifted, giving this Charizard a Dark type over its usual Fire. On top of that, it's also a Star Pokémon, meaning you have a Shiny Black Charizard on a black card template for its Dark type. It's no surprise why this one is so popular.

#1 – Base Set Charizard (Shadowless Holo), $2032

Of course, there's no Pokémon card that is more sought-after than a shadowless Base Set Charizard. This is the one that regularly makes the news, with some auctions for it going up into the hundreds of thousands for a verified pristine copy. There are two printed versions of Shadowless cards – first editions can be identified by the First Edition symbol under the bottom left corner of the art, while second editions, while still Shadowless, do not have the same mark.

While first editions can sell for thousands more than second editions, their value more depends on the quality and PSA-grading of the card. The ones you see in the news are often PSA 9 or 10, but most don't tend to get that grade, meaning most sell for significantly less.

Still, 'significantly less' in this context still means almost $500 more than the second most valuable Pokémon card. If you find this in your collection, you're quids in.