September 1st - September 7th, 2025
TAG 10 Alto Mare Latias Latios Pair Sells $7.6k 🔴🔵, XY Mario Pikachu Box Sells $13.2k 🚨, Sealed CoroCoro Shining Mew Magazine Sells $1.95k 📒, PSA 10 1st Edition Neo Genesis Metal Energy Sells $2k 🔋
Note: sold listing links sometimes redirect to active listings after some time but should still be discoverable by searching for the listings manually.
📋 TLDR
This week’s market was dominated by strong sealed and singles momentum. Celebrations continues its meteoric rise with a sealed Ultra Premium Collection case hitting $4.49k (over $1k per box equivalent) while Unified Minds sealed boxes are stabilizing at $3.5k+ on consistent demand for Tag Team chases. A sealed XY Break Mario Pikachu box touched $13.2k, raising renewed questions of whether the market is entering bubble territory. On the singles side, notable moves included Arceus V promos ($570 PSA 10), Latias & Latios GX pulling back slightly to $7k–$8k, and TAG slabs of Alto Mare Latias/Latios crossing $3.8k each. Vintage and niche sales stayed lively, with CoroCoro Shining Mew at $1.95k sealed with magazine, an EX Deoxys blister pack at $2.52k, and a Neo Genesis 1st Ed Metal Energy PSA 10 at $2k. Potential sleepers like Silver Tempest’s Gardevoir TG05 highlight overlooked Trainer Gallery cards that may be poised for growth.
📦 Sealed Product Market Highlights
🔵 Sealed Pokemon Celebrations Ultra Premium Collection Case sells for $4.49k
The increasing Celebrations trend is continuing to hold strong this month as well. Despite the fact that factory sealed cases carry a premium in general, this sale puts the value of each UPC box at over $1k. Even if you remove the premium factor of the case, this is still around a 120% increase. The market as a whole across sealed and singles products started to boom around April/May but even as late as July, this UPC box was stable around the $450-$550 range (I recognize its a big range). There were many products from the Celebrations lineup and this recent blow up suggests some other sealed Celebrations products could still be sleepers only with regards to going under the radar compared to a standard sealed product like a UPC or ETB.
One factor that is most likely (imo) contributing to the meteoric rise of this particular Celebrations product are the Gold Metal Charizard and Pikachu which are averaging around $4.5k and $3k in a PSA 10. Similar to my previous point about sleeper sealed products, there might be other cards in the Celebrations set that are still flying under the radar as well.
🔵 Unified Minds booster box sells for $3.55k
Unified Minds, released on August 2, 2019, is a notable entry in the Sun and Moon series that introduced numerous Tag Team GX cards such as Mewtwo and Mew GX, Slowpoke and Psyduck GX, and Rowlet and Alolan Exeggutor GX. Among its most valuable chase cards are Misty’s Favor (Full Art), Mega Sableye and Tyranitar GX (Alternate Art), Raichu and Alolan Raichu GX (Alternate Full Art) which are all crossing the $1k mark in recent sales. This set is supported pretty well by the Tag Team cards so it does have some chases supporting its rise in value.
Unified Minds booster boxes have been commanding strong prices in the sealed product market. Recent sales data shows ungraded boxes averaging around $2,500, with completed sales often ranging between $2,200 and nearly $4,000. Listing prices are sometimes lower, but realized sale prices are consistently pushing and stabilizing towards the $3.5k mark. The set is widely viewed as a stable long-term hold rather than a speculative product, with consistent price floors supported by the popularity of its chase cards and the enduring demand for Sun and Moon era sealed boxes.
🔵 Sealed XY Break Mario Pikachu box sells for $13.2k
I normally don’t highlight cards like the Ponchos or Mario Pikachus simply because their price action has been predictable for several months or so. However I wanted to highlight the sale of this sealed box because even if it's an outlier sale, it highlights the insane hyper growth of the market to the point where the sealed box price is basically the price as the Mario Pikachu in a PSA 10. For reference, there was a $9.1k sale as early as Aug 30th, 2025.
Is the Pokemon card market in a bubble right now? Many in the community agree that it feels overheated. Recent commentary points to speculative frenzy driven by hype and in some parts manipulation, which could be hallmarks of a bubble (not necessarily). Some warn this could lead to a sharp correction soon. At the same time, others argue that growing investor confidence and trading volume reinforce a long-term bullish trajectory. In short, sentiment remains divided with half cautioning that the market may be floating on unsustainable hype, while others believe the boom may yet be grounded in genuine collector demand. I personally don’t think the exact rules of something like the stock market apply exactly to Pokemon but time will tell.
💎 Singles & Graded Cards Highlights
🔵 PSA 10 Black Star Promo Arceus V sells for $570
This is actually another underrated card with great art that I had my eyes on a couple months back that I wish I would have highlighted sooner. This card also had a unique method of distribution lending to its hype factor. Arceus V #204 first appeared as a pre-order bonus in Japan for the Legends: Arceus game. It later became available globally via the Arceus V Figure Collection box, which featured the promo card alongside an Arceus figure, booster packs (Brilliant Stars, Chilling Reign, and Cosmic Eclipse), and a code card.
The average raw price for this card is still around $20-$30. This PSA 10 was a slight outlier with most sold listings within the past month hovering at around $650 but it's definitely on the rise. The gem rate is actually quite low as well with a PSA 10 pop of 600 and a total pop of 2731 (about 21.9%). The complete box which sells for around $150 is also a readily available and solid pickup that has a unique product set compared to more modern collection boxes.
🔵 PSA 10 Latias & Latios Tag Team GX facing slight pullback at $7k-$8k range
Listing 1 - $8.3k Listing 2 - $8.1k Listing 3 - $8.22k Listing 4 - $7.25k
The Tag Team Birds as they’re known is the most popular card of the Tag Team era and one of the most popular “modern vintage” cards. They have absolutely exploded since May where they hovered around a $5.5k average in a PSA 10. At the beginning of August we even saw sales crossing the $11k mark.
However, the past month has seen multiple confirmed sales dip from $8k to close to even $7k and in one (potential outlier?) case sub $7k at $6.6k. The explosive spiking in price had a lot of enthusiasts questioning when the “bubble” would finally burst for not only this card but the market as a whole. Is this significant correction an answer to that question and will other high end cards follow suit? In the meantime this might be the right time to pick up some of your favorite cards that were shooting for the moon.
🔵 TAG 10 Alto Mare Latias & Alto Mare Latios sells for $3.8k each
Disclaimer: Not sponsored by TAG but genuinely felt like this was an interesting sale to highlight.
Listing - Best offer accepted from $5.4k list price Listing - Best offer accepted from $5.2k list price
Normally, I primarily highlight PSA slabs in this section but as TAG continues to build its customer base I think it's important to highlight sales of higher end cards like these promos. For anyone who might not be familiar, TAG uses a proprietary machine learning system, rather than human graders, to grade trading cards and very detailed reports to explain the grade to create a more transparent process (although like any other grading company they are not always perfect).
Since around August 2024 (when I purchased the Latias for around $590 in a PSA 10 and the Latias in a PSA 10 at around $750) these cards have exploded with multiple sales crossing the $3k mark in the past month and that's what is most interesting about these TAG slabs. Even with higher end cards we don’t normally (at least imo) see sales like this far exceeding PSA slabs. For both the Latias and Latios, there were multiple confirmed sales in the $3k to $3.5k. These TAG sales are close to a $2k+ jump which is a pretty big difference.
As time goes on, companies like TAG that can provide the most objective and detailed review of a card's flaws and truly guarantee a card's pristine condition, will subsequently make the graded cards even more sought after. But this will be a long way off until they can improve the consistency of the process which is the struggle of every grading card company that grades millions of cards per year.
🕰️ Vintage & Niche Market Highlights
🔵 Sealed Shining CoroCoro Mew w/ magazine sells for $1.95k
Listing - Best offer accepted from $2.99k
Corocoro Shining Mew #151 was a Japanese magazine insert promo included with the May 2001 issue of CoroCoro Comic. Due to the magazine’s monthly circulation of approximately 1.26 million copies, it gained wide, albeit time-limited, distribution that quickly turned it into a coveted collectible. Among the Shining cards released as a part of the Neo sets that are highly coveted in both Japanese and English (and harder to pull in Japanese), this Shining card in particular has the unique distribution going for it as well.
Back in April of this year, this card was sitting around $4k in a PSA 10 and has since exploded to about the sub $10k range. However, given the well established history of this card (and the fact that its simply amazing in art and holo effect) I think it has a bit more staying power to stay in its range. There is currently one listing up for bid over $11k at the moment. Because of the unique distribution of this card I think purchasing a sealed copy of the magazine it came in is still a great opportunity for investment if you can find one at a similar price range to this sale. Especially because this was its only method of distribution the comic itself also becomes highly collectible as well.
🔵 Sealed Pokemon EX Deoxys blister booster pack sells for $2.52k
The top chases of the EX Deoxys expansion are the most chased cards include the Gold Star Rayquaza, Latias, and Latios which command five figure sales in a PSA 10 (a PSA 10 Latias Gold Star recently fetched $32k). The Defense Forme pack art seems to have a pretty large premium compared to other pack arts showing just how much that aspect is valued. This is not exactly the best example because these sales are a couple weeks apart but in June an Attack Forme pack sold for $656 while a Defense Forme pack sold for $1.326k. The sealed blister pack definitely carries a significant premium but the value seems to have stabilized at around $2k over the past month regardless of pack art like an Attack Forme blister which sold for $2.375k.
🔵 PSA 10 1st Edition Neo Genesis Metal Energy sells for $2k
Listing - Best offer accepted from $6.5k list price
The top chases of Neo Genesis include many Johto era cards commanding five figures in a PSA 10 including the Lugia and Typhlosion 1st edition. This set also includes a unique 1st Edition Metal Energy Holo card which is collectible for its cool holo effect and also in part because it’s a rare card from a very vintage set. As a 1st edition holo energy card rather than a Pokémon, it’s an uncommon collectible in the set, adding novelty appeal.
Energy cards are actually quite a collectible niche. Darkness Energy 94 from Call of Legends features a silhouette of Umbreon and recently sold for about $425 at the beginning of the year.
😴 Potential Sleepers
Gardevoir TG05 - Silver Tempest
This week I want to highlight a Trainer Gallery card. Trainer Gallery cards historically are not the rarest cards to pull but now with the market as a whole booming, there are many previously overlooked cards that I think will get their moment to shine including TG cards.
I’ll start including pull rate data to highlight one aspect of rarity although keep in mind it's not perfect. According to pull rate data from TCGPlayer (This data is from over 8000 packs of Silver Tempest), There is a 31% chance to pull a Trainer Gallery card. Not the hardest cards to pull but not easy either. This card has a total PSA 10 pop of 556 and a total PSA pop 1778 putting the gem rate at around 31%.
This card features really cool art featuring Champion Diantha and Gardevoir. Gardevoir overall is a very popular Pokemon but Gardevoir has also had some very previously underrated cards that are finally starting to find their footing in the market underscoring just how much room these cards still have to grow. For example, the Gardevoir ex 233 from Paldean Fates which has been stable for most of the year at around $250 and had even dipped as low as $190, is now climbing back to as high as $380.
TG05 which is the focus of this section, is still sub $100 in a PSA 10 and it has all the right factors (Great art, popular Pokemon, features a decently popular trainer from the games/anime, decent PSA 10 gem rate, and rarity pull rate). Playing in its favor despite being a Trainer Gallery which again are cards that might have been previously overlooked in favor of greater rarity cards.
📚 Educational Commentary – Collector’s Corner
Is the Pokemon card market in a bubble?
I already talked about this a bit in the sealed products section but wanted to talk a bit more about it here. The explosive growth, especially in modern singles, graded slabs, and sealed booster products, is clearly fueled in part by speculative fervor. Many collectors point out that buyouts and sharp year-over-year price surges suggest a frenzy driven by fear of missing out rather than steady collector demand. At the same time, short term volatility around major releases shows how quickly hype cycles can cool off, which does carry some of the hallmarks of bubble behavior.
That said, the ecosystem driving this boom is not entirely speculative. Nostalgic adult collectors, institutional interest in graded and sealed items, and ongoing release momentum create a more stable layer to the market. Some areas may be vulnerable to a sharp correction, but others rest on solid historical and sentimental foundations. The result is a market that can look overheated from the outside but still has long term staying power if collector interest continues to anchor demand and for Pokemon I think it's obvious that demand will hold strong.
🫐 Berries For Thought
💭 Are there any Trainer Gallery cards that you think are underrated?
💭 What is your favorite collectible niche in Pokemon?
Feedback/Questions?
Contact me at news@luckyeggreport.com 🥚