TCG Turtle Collecting, Montreal, QC (2025)

01/15/2025

As the Gengar VMAX Alt Art from this set is crossing new highs every other week, it's dragging the booster box up with it.

Fusion Strike looks to be the main contender to move up and challenge the $1,000 barrier among the Sword and Shield era sets not named Evolving Skies.

Released during an unfavorable time, a month after Celebrations, it wasn't met with much fanfare. Fast forward to 3 and a bit years later, it's looking to be the dark horse set of the SWSH era.

The Build and Battle boxes as well as Build and Battle Stadiums have recently sold out on Pokémon Center which means supply for this set is drying up across the board and through all the SKU types.

With the set containing other popular Pokémon in their Alternate Art forms such as Espeon and Mew, is there a world where this set might challenge the $1,000 barrier by the end of the year?

Credit to for their graph and picture of the card.

If you find these posts interesting or are part of the hobby, it would be very appreciated if you leave a like/comment or follow/share on either Instagram and/or Facebook (link in bio). This is also not financial advice.

01/14/2025

With the huge success of Suring Sparks, it was only a matter of time before the promo card in the regular ETBs would start to move up.

In the case of Magneton, it seems like the move up was sudden and extreme. As more attention drives people into the hobby, looks like Team Rocket style activities are slowly becoming the norm and it seems like it doesn't take much to affect pricing.

For the Magneton, it took about 300 copies to leave the market to move up the price almost 6x in the span of a weekend.

With the craziness happening in the hobby right now, will this start becoming the norm?

Credit to for their graph and picture of the card.

If you find these posts interesting or are part of the hobby, it would be very appreciated if you leave a like/comment or follow/share on either Instagram and/or Facebook (link in bio). This is also not financial advice.

01/13/2025

It's Prismatic Evolutions release week!

With many streamers/rip and shippers already having access to the product, the chase looks like it's going to be a long and hard one.

As Pokémon is experiencing another boom era, the Prismatic Evolutions regular ETB is going for about $150 on TCG. We're closing in on almost 3x MSRP. At the time of this writing, some streamers and content creators are ripping through packs and it looks like completing the Eeveelutions SIR set will require A LOT of capital and patience.

With tough pull rates and hard to find product at reasonable prices, is it better to flip the ETBs and keep them sealed or rip into the product knowing chances are very slim for pull rates?

Credit to for their graph and picture of the card.

If you find these posts interesting or are part of the hobby, it would be very appreciated if you leave a like/comment or follow/share on either Instagram and/or Facebook (link in bio). This is also not financial advice.

01/08/2025

Prismatic Evolutions is only a couple of weeks away! As the most anticipated set since probably 151, it's sold out everywhere. The Eevee and Eeveelution chase looks to be the main focus for the next few weeks.

Considering it's sold out everywhere and there are some reports that pre-orders are slowly getting cancelled due to the lack of allocation of the product, some folks are looking towards other Eevee and Eeveelution cards to satisfy their need to own cards of these Pokémon.

Once place to get them are in the Trainer Gallery subset of Brilliant Stars. Released in 2022, it came with the original Eeveelutions Flareon, Vaporen and Jolteon as well as Eevee with their OG trainer, Blue.

Do you think other Eeveelution cards will move up in price due to the lack of availability for Prismatic Evolutions?

Credit to for their graph and picture of the card.

If you find these posts interesting or are part of the hobby, it would be very appreciated if you leave a like/comment or follow/share on either Instagram and/or Facebook (link in bio). This is also not financial advice.

01/07/2025

Crown Zenith was the last SWSH set and blessed us with the Galar Gallery. As a special set, you can only get packs via traditional retail products. The mainstay of any special set is the Elite Trainer Box.

The Lucario VSTAR card that accompanied each ETB was hovering around $1 for the better part of the year or so. As Crown Zenith became an afterthought, finding an ETB wasn't so hard. That being said, it does appear that ETBs might be harder to find then the box collections.

With the ETBs slowly being less available and Lucario being such a popular Pokémon, the price appreciation of this card almost makes sense? It's a nice looking card and at a low enough price point that it's very easy to scoop up. Although still only $3, it has almost tripled in price and does not look like it's stopping its price increase any time soon.

For those who've ripped Crown Zenith ETBs, do you still have your copies to trade up?

Credit to for their graph and picture of the card.

If you find these posts interesting or are part of the hobby, it would be very appreciated if you leave a like/comment or follow/share on either Instagram and/or Facebook (link in bio). This is also not financial advice.

01/06/2025

I'm unsure if I should be surprised but this completely caught me off guard! 🚨

Looks like SV 01-02-03-04 moving up QUICK over the last few weeks. Here are a couple of examples of Illustration Rares which are still relatively hard to pull gaining massively during the holiday season.

Looking at Drowzee from Scarlet and Violet Base Set, it's now more expensive than the Miriam SIR (which WAS the chase of the set). It did look like it had a natural price appreciation into December but then exploded over the last few weeks of 2024. This is the same with Marill from Paldea Evolved. The Magikarp continues to be the main focus of that set but the Marill Illustration Rare is now firmly a top 5 card in terms of price. It's also more expensive than the 3 Gen IX starters which are all SIR's in the set.

With price appreciation across more than just the chase cards, do you think the 2023 S&V booster boxes will see continued appreciation now that the expected value within the boxes are slowly creeping upwards?

Credit to for their graph and picture of the card.

If you find these posts interesting or are part of the hobby, it would be very appreciated if you leave a like/comment or follow/share on either Instagram and/or Facebook (link in bio). This is also not financial advice.

01/01/2025

New Year, New Me? NOPE

Starting off 2025 with a retrospect of all the S&V booster boxes released in the era. Although the most recent focus has been on Surging Sparks with a 90% increase in price since launch, most, if not all booster boxes in the S&V era are climbing.

With a slowdown at the start of the S&V era, we had a change in pace. Up until recently, it was relatively easy to find booster boxes of any S&V set at or below MSRP. As there has been a recent uptick in demand and print runs locked in months in advance, we started seeing a change in the equilibrium and demand is definitely outstripping supply.

Do you think The Pokémon Company will overcorrect in 2025 or do you think we'll see more of the same in terms of supply in the market?

Credit to for their graph and picture of the card.

If you find these posts interesting or are part of the hobby, it would be very appreciated if you leave a like/comment or follow/share on either Instagram and/or Facebook (link in bio). This is also not financial advice.

12/30/2024

Does the rising tide lift all boats? 🛥

It sure does seem that way with Surging Sparks.

As the booster box continues to climb in price and everyone keeps chasing the Crystal Hat Pikachu as if its Nov 2020 again, many of the cards in the set are also benefiting from the chase.

With 11 SIR's in the set and relatively tough pull rates, odds of getting the Pikachu are very slim. Considering the odds of other SIR pulls are also as slim, some are finally getting the recognition they deserve such as Ceruledge.

As the price appreciated 90% over the last month, it's definitely been a big winner in the month of December.

Do you think all the other SIR's in Surging Sparks will benefit as well?

Credit to for their graph and picture of the card.

If you find these posts interesting or are part of the hobby, it would be very appreciated if you leave a like/comment or follow/share on either Instagram and/or Facebook (link in bio). This is also not financial advice.

12/27/2024

The stonking seems to be spreading across all modern sets! Probably one of the more underrated sets of SWSH, Crown Zenith wrapped up the era with a full subset of Gallery Cards. The most famous are the gold cards which have appreciated over the last 3 months. Most notably, the Giratina has almost doubled in price and doesn't look like it's stopping any time soon.

Here's a breakdown of their PSA Pop reports as PSA 10's:
▪ Giratina: 10,001/16,804
▪ Arceus: 8,297/13,341
▪ Dialga: 6,535/10,648
▪ Palkia: 6,136/10,649

As you can see, almost 50k copies have been graded between them. Turning 2 years old this upcoming January and sealed product getting harder to find, is Crown Zenith about to go parabolic or are there just too copies out there for it to maintain these elevated prices?

Credit to for their graph and picture of the card.

If you find these posts interesting or are part of the hobby, it would be very appreciated if you leave a like/comment or follow/share on either Instagram and/or Facebook (link in bio). This is also not financial advice.

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas to all!

For those owning a copy of Miriam from Scarlet and Violet Base Set, it does look like Team Rocket has delivered 🎅

Jumping almost 100% in the last 3 months with a lot of its gains the last week or so, it does look like there is a focus on this card.

How long will it last, nobody knows. However, are you bullish or bearish on this price?

Credit to for their graph and picture of the card.

If you find these posts interesting or are part of the hobby, it would be very appreciated if you leave a like/comment or follow/share on either Instagram and/or Facebook (link in bio). This is also not financial advice.

12/24/2024

It took a while but we finally got our first $100 card from Temporal Forces. A set mostly focused on TCG mechanics with the introduction of Ancient and Future Pokémon as well as the re-introduction of ACE Spec cards, this set wasn't really welcomed by the broader collector base.

Still relatively new, Temporal Forces was released earlier this year. Having a roller coaster ride to the $100 mark, it does look like this price might stick as the volume sold (highlighted by the columns) looks to be trending downwards meaning there's less and less of these cards exchanging hands as time goes on.

Looking at the pop report, only ~2,800 have been submitted to PSA with ~1,600 of them coming as GEM MINT. Having about ~55% probability of hitting that GEM MINT grade might get flippers involved as it does seem that 10 grade will come with a higher premium.

Do you think 2025 will continue to show strong prices across S&V era cards or will we finally slow down?

Credit to for their graph and picture of the card.

If you find these posts interesting or are part of the hobby, it would be very appreciated if you leave a like/comment or follow/share on either Instagram and/or Facebook (link in bio). This is also not financial advice.

12/23/2024

While everyone's chasing SIR's at the very top end of the hobby, there's definitely a lot of opportunity at the lower price ranges.

Here are 5 examples from Obsidian Flames and Paradox Rift, two sets that were somewhat overlooked.

As we can see, all of the cards are "only" Illustration Rares. Their prices have appreciated and almost tripled over the last year. With pull rates being relatively difficult at the Illustration Rare level, people seem to be noticing and collecting these cards.

To be honest, the only real difference is the texturing as most of the Illustration Rares released in the S&V era can easily be Special Illustration Rare artworks.

As we wrap up 2024 and look forward to 2025, do you think it's too late to pick up some of these priced cards?

Credit to for their graph and picture of the card.

If you find these posts interesting or are part of the hobby, it would be very appreciated if you leave a like/comment or follow/share on either Instagram and/or Facebook (link in bio). This is also not financial advice.

12/16/2024

With many chase cards in SWSH gaining value, we're revisiting Charizard Base Set reprint with Celebrations.

The chase card of a 25 card subset, this was actually relatively hard to pull when Celebrations came out. Although it did subside in value as more and more product flooded the market, many of the sealed items now are above MSRP.

Closing in on 35k copies graded at PSA with 2/3 of them coming in as GEM MINT, one might think that a lot of NM copies are getting scooped up for further grading.

In any case, Charizard is the most popular and recognizable Pokémon out there and many modern cards have slowly crept up in value the last few months.

Do you think this new infusion of hobbyist will move the price floor up for chase cards?

Credit to for their graph and picture of the card.

If you find these posts interesting or are part of the hobby, it would be very appreciated if you leave a like/comment or follow/share on either Instagram and/or Facebook (link in bio). This is also not financial advice.

12/12/2024

This was THE card to chase back in 2021. At the peak of the hype, everyone was trying to get their hands on Charizard VMAX from Shining Fates.

As Pokémon made the printers go BRRRR in 2021, the set was printed into the ground and anyone can get a Shining Fates ETB from The Pokémon Center for MSRP. The availability has kept most cards from that set at decent prices and this card in particular hovered around the $70 mark as it was still hard to pull.

With recent demand skyrocketing for anything Pokémon, you best believe the most recognizable Pokémon will get the attention of most casual fans.

As the set is about to turn 4 years old this upcoming January, it'll be interesting to see how many NM copies are available in the wild as many will have slowly drifted into the SP-LP category.

Considering there's about 30,000 copies graded at PSA and 22,000 or so got a GEM MINT grade, unsure how the over grading might affect pricing of raw copies.

Do you think chasing this card is now worth it with it's recent price increase?

Credit to for their graph and picture of the card.

If you find these posts interesting or are part of the hobby, it would be very appreciated if you leave a like/comment or follow/share on either Instagram and/or Facebook (link in bio). This is also not financial advice.

12/11/2024

Who would of thought a fish would beat a Waifu as the chase card in Paldea Evolved.

Magikarp continues its climb and is approaching $200 in terms of pricing. When Paldea Evolved first released, Iono SIR on the Japanese side was going for crazy prices and it was a bonafied chase card on the English side.

Magikarp stole the show and doesn't look like it's sharing any of the shine. Considering that there was about 7,000 copies submitted to PSA for grading and only about 1,500 came back with a GEM MINT grade, the odds of getting that 10/10 is about 20%.

As Paldea Evolved starts to become less available and the demand for this card continues to rise, specially for grading and chasing the magical GEM MINT 10 mark from PSA, do you believe we'll see this card reach higher highs in the future?

Credit to for their graph and picture of the card.

If you find these posts interesting or are part of the hobby, it would be very appreciated if you leave a like/comment or follow/share on either Instagram and/or Facebook (link in bio). This is also not financial advice.

12/10/2024

With the last 2 eras (S*M and SWSH) having a Charizard set for its 3rd main set, Scarlet and Violet was no different.

Obsidian Flames was the 3rd set of this current era and it was mostly centered around Charizard. With no real other chase cards as well as extremely high pull rates for SIRs except Charizard, it was the first set in the S&V era to be "short printed". The release also coincided with the Japanese release of 151 which made Obsidian Flames even more of an after thought.

That being said, Charizard is now doing Charizard things. With Obsidian Flames readily available at most LGS and within retail products, it's not close to being "out of print". The main chase card has appreciated about 60% in price over the last 3 months and with the new hype around Pokémon, it looks like it has room to move.

As Charizard EX SIR gains ground, chasing it will slowly be "economical" and we might see demand for Obsidian Flames continue to grow.

Considering the plethora of product out there currently on sale, do you think this Charizard is worth the chase?

Credit to for their graph and picture of the card.

If you find these posts interesting or are part of the hobby, it would be very appreciated if you leave a like/comment or follow/share on either Instagram and/or Facebook (link in bio). This is also not financial advice.

12/09/2024

More than a month away from its release, Prismatic Evolutions is already sold out for pre order at most locations. If it's not sold out, it's been heavily marked up as TPC's print runs have been recently adjusted to meet demand. With the print runs for sets planned out months in advance and the demand being very volatile, it's very hard to predict the demand for a specific set.

As the Moonbreon and all other Eeveelutions moving higher and higher in price, Prismatic Evolutions would be another shot at getting really nice artwork of Eeveelutions with a recent set release. Considering the demand for Pokémon in general continues to increase heading into the holiday season, the release of Prismatic Evolutions is looking to be very close to Shining Fates back in 2021.

Do you think we're in a new hype cycle for Pokémon or is there just not enough supply out there to quench hobbyist demands?

Credit to for their graph and picture of the card.

If you find these posts interesting or are part of the hobby, it would be very appreciated if you leave a like/comment or follow/share on either Instagram and/or Facebook (link in bio). This is also not financial advice.

12/05/2024

Who would of thought the Gardevoir EX would have started appreciating over the last few weeks? Not me...

The price of this card almost a year ago was hovering around the $15-18 range for a NM copy. It's now closing in on $35 and it looks like it's not really stopping any time soon.

With S&V Base Set booster boxes on sale across the board and probably the best holiday pick-up you can find, these type of price movements from cards within the set will definitely help it in the long term.

Although many people consider S&V Base Set to be heavily printed and overly abundant, a lot of people that has recently joined the hobby weren't here when this set was released. It's possible the price appreciating is from people working backwards and acquiring SIRs from the set that first introduced them to us.

Do you think S&V Base Set is underrated or is this the doing of Team Rocket?

Credit to for their graph and picture of the card.

If you find these posts interesting or are part of the hobby, it would be very appreciated if you leave a like/comment or follow/share on either Instagram and/or Facebook (link in bio). This is also not financial advice.

TCG Turtle Collecting