The 10 Most Expensive Sword & Shield Series Pokémon Cards

It's been almost three years since the Sword & Shield Base Set first brought Pokémon TCG players to the Galar region. Between then and now, we've been through supply chain troubles, the pandemic-fueled speculator bubble, Pokémon cards being banned in Target, Pokémon's 25th anniversary, a new online TCG client, and record-breaking year after record-breaking year.

Today we're examining the cards that ruled the market through those eventful years, and looking at how they became stars during the biggest Pokémon craze since the turn of the millennium. These are the most expensive Pokémon cards from the Sword & Shield Series.

Honorable Mention: Play Rewards

Historically, some of the most valuable Pokémon cards have been prizes and gifts like Umbreon Star that were issued exclusively to Pokémon TCG players and tournament organizers. Play! Pokémon has continued that tradition into the 2020s with prerelease promos and prize packs, some of which are extremely rare.

The most valuable of these, the Vivid Voltage Staff Prerelease Promo Charizard, is actually more expensive than the #1 card on this list. That's what happens when a special Charizard card is only given to tournament organizers in the middle of a global pandemic.

We aren't counting these cards because, by design, they weren't and aren't available to most collectors. But you should remember that they exist in case you find one in someone's trade binder.

#10 Alt Art Gengar VMAX (Fusion Strike)

In November 2021, Fusion Strike had the unenviable task of following up Evolving Skies and Celebrations, two of the most popular Pokémon sets in recent memory. The Pokémon Company International decided to up the ante by filling Fusion Strike with 284 cards, making it the largest International set ever.

Unfortunately, most of the Pokémon chosen to fill all those slots weren't quite as exciting as the ones in their previous two sets. No offense to Sandaconda and Greedent, but they just don't sell cards as well as Sylveon and Charizard. Even Mew, Fusion Strike's headlining Pokémon, couldn't really meet that standard.

Two cards stood out in the overcrowded field. The first was Alt Art Espeon VMAX, the only Alt Art Eeveelution VMAX that hadn't been printed in Evolving Skies or a special collection. The second was Alt Art Gengar. Gengar consistently ranks among the most popular Pokémon in the franchise, and sowsow's cartoony illustration captures the funny-yet-threatening vibe that made Gengar so beloved.

Gengar and Espeon have traded first and second place a few times since November 2021. For now at least, Gengar is holding strong as the most expensive card in Fusion Strike, and the 10th most expensive card from the Sword & Shield Series.

#9 Giratina VSTAR (Crown Zenith: Galarian Gallery)

The Giratina VSTAR in the Crown Zenith Galarian Gallery is part of a four-card cycle with Palkia VSTAR, Dialga VSTAR, and Arceus VSTAR.

Giratina is sort of the bad boy of the Pokémon universe. Near the dawn of time, Arceus couldn't handle Giratina's in-your-face attitude and banished it to its room the Distortion World. Now Giratina just hangs out outside of time and space, presumably writing moody poetry and rocking out on a six-string bass.

That edgy characterization could be why Giratina has become more valuable than either of its goody-two-shoes siblings, and even its creator. Whatever the reason, Giratina is the 9th most expensive Sword & Shield card, and the only card on this list that belongs to a subset.

#8 Secret Rare Charizard V (Champion's Path)

Champion's Path had impeccable timing. The Charizard-forward premium set released in September 2020, seven months into a global pandemic, when the TCG industry's supply chain was weaker than it had ever been. One month later, influencer Logan Paul opened a 1st Edition Base Set Charizard live on stream. The interest in trading cards among nostalgic millennials, already picking up due to the quarantine, reached a fever pitch.

Everyone wanted Charizard cards. Nobody could get them.

Today, Champion's Path Elite Trainer Boxes still sell for more than twice the suggested price of $49.99, and everyone who buys one is hoping to open one of two cards. The first is this Secret Rare Shiny Charizard V.

#7 Secret Rare Charizard VMAX (Champion's Path)

The second is this rainbow-colored Secret Rare Charizard VMAX. Rainbow Rares appear to be going the way of the Doduo beginning with Scarlet & Violet, so Charizard VMAX is the last of its kind.

#6 Alt Art Charizard V (Brilliant Stars)

Don't spread this around, but most Pokémon cards don't end up being worth as much as they cost during prerelease season. When a new Pokémon set is on the horizon, and even a month after it's out in the wild, its cards tend to go for top dollar. Once the next set comes out and the community's interest shifts, that's when card prices stabilize—usually a bit below where they started.

For a clear example, check out Alt Art Arceus V from Brilliant Stars.

Alt Art Arceus V pre-sold for almost $100. Over Brilliant Stars' release weekend it dropped to $64.38, before rising a little and dropping again, slowly drifting down until it hit its lowest price of $33.72 in early August, a month after the release of Pokémon GO. After that it bounced back to the $40 range, where it's spent the last five months.

Alt Art Charizard V is also from Brilliant Stars, but it didn't follow this pattern. Somehow, it's more valuable today than it was when it came out.

Charizard sold for an average of $170.81 the Friday that Brilliant Stars released, and it's never dropped below $150. That's the power of Charizard.

#5 Alt Art Lugia V (Silver Tempest)

The #1 lesson that The Pokémon Company International learned during the Sword & Shield era was that their fans like full-card artwork that tells a story. For most of the Pokémon TCG's history, the art on high-rarity cards has been trapped in a card frame, or has lacked any sense of place. Or both.

Every Pokémon card is a chance to give fans a little window into the Pokémon world. TPCi started taking more of those chances in the Sun & Moon Series, but they pushed the envelope further starting in 2021 by printing six or more Alt Art Pokémon cards in every major release. In 2022 the Alt Arts kept coming, and were even supplemented by Trainer Gallery subsets made entirely of full-artwork cards.

All this brings us to Alt Art Lugia V, the #1 chase card from the final set of 2022, which tells an entire "big fish" story on a 2.5 by 3.5-inch canvas. It's gorgeous.

Scarlet & Violet is set to include even more Alt Arts and Trainer Gallery cards, so TPCi clearly likes the response they've seen to cards like this.

#4 Alt Art Giratina V (Lost Origin)

Before Silver Tempest and Alt Art Lugia V, Pokémon fans were opening Lost Origin and looking for its blockbuster card, Alt Art Giratina V.

Shinji Kanada's surreal illustration has helped Giratina V out-price the Alt Arts of Arceus V, Palkia V, and Dialga V from Brilliant Stars and Astral Radiance. Giratina later pulled the same stunt in Crown Zenith, as we saw with the #9 card on this list.

#3 Alt Art Rayquaza VMAX (Evolving Skies)

Rayquaza has appeared on plenty high-value cards before, from the Shiny Rayquaza in Dragons Exalted to Rayquaza Star in Deoxys. Alt Art Rayquaza VMAX continues that tradition while giving Rayquaza an actual background so we can appreciate the scale of Dynamax Rayquaza. The Sky High Pokémon is threading through ancient trees like they're traffic cones. The ruins beneath it look like a center for ants.

Alt Art Rayquaza has an A-list Pokémon with a great look and the right pull rate (really really low). Yet it's not even the most expensive card from Evolving Skies.

#2 Special Delivery Bidoof (SWSH177)

On June 28, 2021, TPCi announced via tweet that the following Thursday would be "Bidoof Day."

To celebrate this beaver-shaped meme of a Pokémon, TPCi pulled out all the stops. There was exclusive merch, a TCG show match, a week-long event on Pokémon GO, and a very committed Rick Roll. But the gag with the most staying power turned out to be an unassuming promo card called Special Delivery Bidoof.

TPCi had previously used a Special Delivery Pikachu card to promote the opening of the Canadian Pokémon Center in late 2020. Fans could only get the card by spending $20 or more on the new eCommerce site during a limited window right when the site launched.

Special Delivery Bidoof required fans to jump through even more hoops. First, you had to be subscribed to the Pokémon Center newsletter. Then you had to follow a special link sent via email on Bidoof Day to "register your interest," after which you'd probably receive a code that you could use to add Special Delivery Bidoof to a future order of $20 or more. With so many barriers to the Bidoof, it's no wonder there aren't many copies in the world.

#1 Alt Art Umbreon VMAX (Evolving Skies)

Alt Art Umbreon VMAX's runaway success is a well-worn joke at this point.

Alt Art Umbreon isn't just the most expensive Pokémon card from the Sword & Shield Series. You have to go back a full decade to Plasma Storm to find a more valuable Pokémon card that was available in regular booster packs.

How'd we get to this point? For starters, Alt Art Umbreon VMAX is a gorgeous-looking card featuring one of the most popular Pokémon in the series, and it was printed in a set with notoriously low pull rates. But that could easily describe Alt Art Rayquaza VMAX too, and Alt Art Sylveon VMAX, and Alt Art Espeon VMAX. Umbreon is twice their price or more. Why?

It's tough to say, but one theory is that once a price reaches a certain threshold it creates its own demand. To put it another way, "Moonbreon" is popular because it's so expensive. The thrill of owning the most valuable modern Pokémon card has its own appeal, which keeps demand high, and the supply of sellers low. Who would choose to cash out their Moonbreon now instead of holding on to it for another five or 10 years to see if it can go even higher?

Keep stretching, Umbreon. We're all rooting for you to reach the moon.