News & methodology
How each price and screen is built, and dated market notes written from the catalog's own reads. Signals, not tips.
30th Celebration, five weeks in: three Mew hold 95% of the set, PSA has graded 711 copies, and the art behind it
The follow-up to the nine-days-in note. Independent opening counts agree with TCGplayer's odds on the main tiers and still cannot pin down the RGB Mew; PSA's count went from 125 in BetterPop's 8 October build to 711, 261 of them RGB Mew, which come back PSA 10 far less often than the rest; a pack's contents are worth 57% of its $10.83 price. Plus what The Pokémon Company chose for the art, and the stories of the first five weeks.
CardGameInsight Desk · Oct 21, 2026 · 10 min read
30th Celebration, a month on: the set gave back 42%, the RGB Mew found a price, and PSA has graded 125 copies
The same 158 cards that cost $1,267.51 for one of each on 25 September cost $731.96 on the latest reads, with the middle tiers down most. The three RGB Mew, unpriced then, now read $3,739 to $6,000 on 8 to 16 listings each. A pack's contents are worth 49% of its $13.37 price, down from 60%.
Ascended Heroes: every tracked card got cheaper in a month, and every PSA 10 count grew
Between the 9 September and 8 October population builds, the twelve Ascended Heroes cards this site tracks fell a median 18.4% at TCGplayer market while their PSA 10 counts rose a median 18.4%. Across all 302 tracked cards the median count grew 0.9%, and the ten sets released before 2012 did not move at all.
Two Classic Collections: the 25th's reprints five years on, the 30th's nine days in
The 30th Celebration's 30 reprints price at $1,089.53 for one of each after nine days, led by Lugia at $278.90; the 25th's 25 reprints sit at $502.21 after five years, with five under a dollar. The same Charizard, three times: $869 original, $165 in the 25th's, $185 in the 30th's.
30th Celebration, nine days in: the friendliest pull rates of the era, and what a pack holds
TCGplayer's 3,000-pack study puts a Special Illustration Rare at 1 in 21 packs and an Illustration Rare at 1 in 5, against 1 in 80 and 1 in 9 for the rest of the era. On the catalog's first read the expected value of a pack is $10.87 against an $18 pack, 60%, where the three other studied sets sit at 7% to 36%.
Before Delta Reign: what the Mega Evolution era looks like in the data
Mega Evolution: Delta Reign arrives on 6 November as the era's final main set. Across the era's 31 tracked cards, PSA 10 population explains nothing of PSA 10 price yet, and the month to mid-September was the softest of any era.
Thirty days across 291 tracked cards: a flat market with a soft newest era
Between 16 August and mid-September the median tracked card moved −1.3% at raw market; 111 rose, 172 fell, 172 stayed within five percent. The Mega Evolution era was the exception, down a median 10%.
Crown Zenith's Galarian Gallery, three years on: the most graded modern set in the catalog
BetterPop's September build counts 705,845 PSA-graded Crown Zenith cards, more than any set except Base Set and 151. The Galarian Gallery carries the value: Giratina VSTAR at $316 raw with 24,194 PSA 10s.
Destined Rivals: the Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex figures, and its Ascended Heroes sequel
The most valuable Scarlet & Violet card added to the catalog this week is Destined Rivals' Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex at $452 raw with 16,371 PSA 10s. Its Ascended Heroes namesake sits 20% below where it was a month ago.
Phantasmal Flames: three cards, one Pokémon, 84% of the set
The concentration screen's most lopsided set is the newest one in it. Mega Charizard X ex in three rarities carries 84% of Phantasmal Flames' raw value, and the rarest of the three sells graded for more than the most expensive.
The 30th Celebration launches tomorrow. Here is what the 25th's Classic Collection is worth today
A 30-card Classic Collection of gold-bordered reprints arrives on 16 September 2026. The 25th anniversary did the same in 2021; five years on, its reprints trade at a fraction of the originals and carry far larger PSA 10 populations.