Pokemon, being the juggernaut in the gaming and toy industry that it is, has a very popular card game. As a result, you’d expect that Pokemon TCG card prices to be high. For the most part, that isn’t true, with many decent staples fetching a decent price due to the amount of product that gets opened. However, your heavy hitters will have even the most padded wallets will be under strain.

Building competitive doesn’t always mean high Pokemon TCG card prices

Whilst not a perfect representation of all formats of Pokemon success, the 2023 Pokemon World Championships in Yokohama, Japan saw Mew VMAX take the gold. At the time of writing, for around $30, players can pick up the Mew VMAX League Battle Deck, which contains 2 of the needed Mew VMAX cards, alongside other bulk to get to the deck moving.

Reconstructing Vance Kelly’s Deck

To purchase the 2023 World Championship deck, ignoring set rotation, you could ask locally. Prices could vary but using TCGPlayer as a base, this would be the expected price at minimum rarity, “Near Mint” quality. This also accounts for buying 1 Mew VMAX League Battle Deck prior.
Doing so accounts for:

• 2/4 Mew V FST 250
• 2/3 Mew VMAX
• 2/4 Genesect V FST 185
• Meloetta FST 124
• Oricorio FST 42
• Elesa’s Sparkle FST 233
• Boss’s Orders PAL 172
• Power Tablet FST 236
• Battle VIP Pass FST 225
• Ultra Ball SVI 196
• Cram-o-matic FST 229
• Escape Rope BST 125
• Choice Belt PAL 176
• Fusion Strike Energy FST 244
• Double Turbo Energy BRS 151

Which leaves for purchase:

• $ ($2 or less) – Mew V FST (SWSH08), Judge SVI 176, Nest Ball SVI 181, Lost Vacuum CRZ 135, Box of Disaster LOR 154, Lost City LOR 161, Crystal Cave EVS 144 – $4.64
• $$ (under $10) – Iono PAL 185, Mew VMAX, Genesect V FST 185 – $24.63
• $$$ (over $10) – Forest Seal Stone SIT 156 – $44.94

Final Total (Including VMax League Battle Deck): $103
Not a bad price to construct Vance Kelly’s Mew VMAX Deck. The majority of the cost coming from Forest Seal Stone, which did spike in price after the win.

Expensive Mascots

Like most TCGs, Pokemon is no stranger to fan favorite price hikes. Pikachu, despite not having much competitive success, can occasionally fetch a pretty penny, however its frequency in sets means lower rarity versions are cheap. Charizard fans won’t quite be so lucky. Some of the oldest Charizards in the game can fetch upwards of $1400 online. Even the playable Charizards such as VMAX can see prices over $500 at highest rarity and stamps. With Charizard GX not far behind.