In 2021, the Pokémon franchise celebrated its 25^th anniversary by releasing special Pokémon trading card game (TCG) sets—some of which paralleled the most memorable and interesting cards in the series, including the tournament-illegal Birthday Pikachu. However, many of these cards are not actually the rarest, most valuable, or sought-after in the world of the Pokémon TCG. They are simply the most valuable Pokémon cards.

Here are the 15 most valuable Pokémon cards and how much they’re worth.

1. No. 1 Trainer Super Secret Battle

The No. 1 Trainer Super Secret Battle card was sold on July 2020 for $90,000. It was a prize given to the top contestants at the 1999 regional tournaments in Japan. Having this card also gave contestants access to a secret TCG final later that year. Since then, it has remained one of the most elusive cards in the game.

2. University Magikarp Tamamushi University Promo

This is one of the most obscure Pokemon cards in existence, and was only offered as a reward in a magazine contest. Shogakukan’s Magazines held a contest in 1998 for students of Tamamushi University in which they had to complete a series of tests. Those that scored the highest on their exam got to go to a Pokemon conference in Osaka later on where a Pokemon tournament was held. Winners of this tournament won the coveted University Magikarp Tamamushi University Promo, which was auctioned and sold for $66,100 at PWCC auctions in Feburary 2021.

3. 2006 Pokemon World Championships No. 2 Trainer Promo

Players could only obtain this if they placed high enough at the 2006 Pokemon World Championships in Anaheim, California. Not only did it give participants automatic entry into the 2007 World Championships, but it also increased in value significantly over time. This sold for $110,00 back In February 2021 at the PWCC auctions. Very few of these cards spring up, but every now and then, one goes on sale.

4. Ishihara GX Promo (signed)

Up next on the list is the illustrious Ishihara GX Promo card. This card was gifted to employees of The Pokemon Company to celebrate the 60th birthday of Tsunekazu Ishihara, the CEO of the company, back in 2017. Since then, it’s been a hot collector’s item for enthusiasts. This card in particular was autographed by Ishihara himself, significantly increasing its value. As posted by Goldin, the card sold for a whopping $247,230 back in April 2021.

5. Trophy Pikachu No. 3 Trainer Bronze

The Trophy Pikachu No. 3 Trainer Bronze card was a prize for the 1997 Pokemon tournament, the first ever held in Pokemon TCG history. It was never made available in any booster pack, and was only given out to four people, making it one of the rarest cards ever. Artist Mitsuhiro Arita did the artwork for it and the other cards given out at the Lizardon Mega Battle. It was sold on April 21, 2023 for a staggering $300,000 at Heritage Auctions.

6. 1999 Shadowless First Edition Holographic Charizard

Although more common than many of the entries on this list, First Edition Holographic Charizard cards are still considered exceedingly rare, especially due to their popularity. The honor on this list, however, goes to the shadowless version of the holographic Charizard from the TCG’s early history. A Gem Mint 10 of this card (the highest possible grade of collectible for a card) was sold at an auction earlier this year for $420,000 dollars—and many of these copies have also fetched high sums. With almost 130 PSA Gem Mint 10 copies of this card existing, it’s no surprise that many consider it one of the hottest cards for serious collectors.

7. Blastoise Commissioned Presentation Galaxy Holographic

At first glance, this card might appear to look like a counterfeit or an illegitimate reproduction of a Pokémon card. However, this card is special, as it’s not even an official card at all. Rather, it’s a presentation card created by Magic: The Gathering producer Wizards in 1998. Their aim? To convince Nintendo to let them handle the English release of the Pokémon TCG, which was released internationally one year later. Five cards were said to have been made, but only one has been sold at auction—for $360,000 in January of 2021. This truly special test card is indeed one of a kind—at least, to the world’s knowledge. Though evidence still emerges, it’s clear this legendary prototype is a staple of the TCG collecting world.

8. Kangaskhan Family Event Trophy Holographic

The general rule of thumb for collectibles is that many of the rarest and most sought-after usually are distributed at one-time events, and this special Kangaskhan card is no exception. This card was given to teams of parents and children at the Parent/Child Mega Battle Tournament in Japan. Teams that achieved a set number of victories were awarded this card for their efforts—and although 46 graded copies of this card exist, a Gem Mint 10 was not sold at auction until the summer of 2020, when one sold on eBay for over $150,000. This card is simple in nature without printing errors, but it stands as one of the rarest and most valuable. Plus, it’s truly a gorgeous card. And worth its weight for any serious collector.

9. 2000 Neo Genesis 1^st Edition Lugia Holographic

Neo Genesis is an infamous name for many PSA card graders—and this is mostly because of the set’s absurd amount of inconsistencies and misprints that are common throughout the expansion, namely card cuts, typos, and incorrect symbols. For the 1^st Edition Lugia, this is also true. However, this card also stands high as one of the rarest in mint condition above the set’s continuous printing flaws. Only 41 Gem Mint 10 copies of this card are known to exist, and one reportedly sold for $50,000 in late 2020. This legendary card feels only appropriate for a legendary Pokémon—especially one like Lugia.

Related: What Are The Rarest and Most Expensive Pokemon Cards Ever Sold? on Dot Esports

10. 1996 Japanese Base Set No Rarity Symbol Venusaur Holographic

Speaking of misprints, this Venusaur is not from a set that is riddled with misprints but is still one itself and so very valuable. This Venusaur is special because it has no rarity symbol. In Pokémon TCG sets, cards that are rare usually have a marking to differentiate that they are harder to find, namely a star, whereas more common cards have a circle or diamond on them. This rare card, however, was misprinted and does not have a marking on it, making it have No Rarity. Only five copies of this misprint are graded at a Gem Mint 10—making this Bulbasaur evolution card extremely rare and sought-after. One copy, sold in November of 2021, fetched $55,000 at auction. This particular copy sold for more than usual because it bore the autograph of the card’s illustrator Mitsuhiro Aria—the name behind many of the illustrations on Pokémon TCG cards.

11. Espeon and Umbreon Gold Star POP Series 5

If you’re not a seasoned Pokémon player, you likely don’t know what a Shiny Pokémon is. Shiny Pokémon are alternately-colored versions of their regular counterparts that are already rare and hard to find in the game series. Finding one of these alternate-palette Pokémon is a 1/8192 chance in older games prior to X and Y and 1/4096 in newer games without any extra effort. Similarly, it’s extremely hard to find Shiny Pokémon cards in the TCG—and this is especially true of this Eeveelution duo of cards. Generally speaking, the Gold Star series of Pokémon cards illustrated Shiny Pokémon and were absurdly hard to pull, with only 1 in 88 packs housing the potential for a Gold Star card on average.

All five Eeveelutions were available in Gold Star form in both languages, but the honor for the rarest Gold Star cards goes to the Japanese Espeon and Umbreon, which were only available to members of a Pokémon rewards program—The Pokémon Players Club—who amassed enough points to obtain the cards. Espeon required 40,000 points while Umbreon required a whopping 70,000, making the feat of earning these cards a serious fount of dedication. While an English version of Gold Star Umbreon at a Gem Mint 10 sold for just over $20,000 on eBay in December of 2020, fans of Gold Star cards can still get their hands on an Umbreon card quite easily. In fact, Gold Star Umbreon was reprinted during the Celebrations pack release last year—and many of these cards are much cheaper at an affordable $40 on average.

12. Master’s Key

Though many of the cards on this list are from the early prolific days of Pokemon’s long history, the Master’s Key is a more recent card that holds its own as one of the rarest, even in the presence of older cards. Bestowed to competitors in the 2010 Pokémon World Championships, this framed trophy card exists in the form of 36 copies—one for every competitor in both the video game and trading card game. One copy of this card was sold recently in November of 2019—on the heels of Pokémon Sword and Shield’s release—for more than $21,000. Showcasing both a monumental achievement and illustrating itself as an amazing collectible, the Master’s Key is likely the key to greatness for many serious collectors.

13. Prerelease Raichu

This entry is undoubtedly one of the more bizarre. Though many of the cards on this list have been known to exist for many years, Prelease Raichu was—and still is—considered a dubious myth in the world of collectors. Apparently, prior to the release of the TCG’s second expansion Jungle, a number of Raichu cards were mistakenly stamped with “PRERELEASE” on the bottom right of the card’s artwork. 100 copies were known to exist, but many were destroyed per the orders of the cards’ maker, Wizards of the Coast. The few remaining copies were given to employees. A good number of fakes of this card have surfaced, but no legitimate sales or confirmation of existence have been reported. Even if the card is never proven to exist, this incongruity is legendary, and will continue to be for a long time.

14. 25^th Anniversary Celebrity Collaborator Cards

These three cards are truly special on this list as they are one-of-a-kind. For Pokémon’s 25^th anniversary, artists J Balvin, Post Malone, and Katy Perry were given their own Pokemon V cards in the modern art style. Initially, fans were not happy about these cards being created, but it was later revealed that the cards were never going to be distributed. Instead, these promos were given to the artists alone. Being that only one copy of the card was given to each celebrity, there is a very low chance these highly valuable cards will ever hit auction—this is especially true for Post Malone, given his involvement in the TCG and Magic: The Gathering community. If these cards ever go up for auction one day, though, there is no doubt they will top the charts of value and scarcity.

15. Illustrator Card

Speaking of one of a kind cards, this card is less of one-of-a-kind, but the circumstances behind its worth have etched a new legend into TCG collection history. 41 copies of this card were given to winners of an illustration contest at Japan’s CoroCoro convention in 1998. Only 39 were ever distributed, and only one of these cards has legitimately attained a grade of Gem Mint 10. In February of 2021, this legendary single card was purchased by influencer Logan Paul, who wore the card to a WWE match and revealed he’d won the record for most expensive single Pokémon card sale in history—by buying the card for an absurd $5,275,000. This utterly absurd asking price will no doubt go down in the history of not just TCG collectors, but collectors in all fields.

(featured image: The Pokémon Company)