With some Pokémon sets, it's hard to anticipate which cards collectors will chase, which cards players will prioritize, and how those two factors will impact the price of different cards. Obsidian Flames is not one of those sets.

One look at the booster box tells you everything you need to know. Obsidian Flames is the Charizard set of the Scarlet & Violet Series, just like Darkness Ablaze was for Sword & Shield, and Burning Shadows was for Sun & Moon. (Noticing a theme? Get ready for "Dark-Dark Fire-Fire" in 2026!)

There was never any question that one (or all) of the four Charizard cards in Obsidian Flames would top the set's most expensive cards. The question was, which other Pokémon could make the cut against such a nostalgic headliner.

Let's find out. These are the most valuable Pokémon cards in Obsidian Flames.

#10 Pidgeot ex (Ultra Rare)

While Pidgeot ex may benefit a little from nostalgia, the main reason this card costs so much is because Pidgeot ex is the best Pokémon in Obsidian Flames. It can fit into decks of any type, and its Quick Search Ability offers unlimited tutoring for absolutely free.

For so long, the benefits of playing Evolution Pokémon haven't outweighed the costs of evolving—the card slots evolution takes during deck creation, and the setup that evolution requires during play. But The Pokémon Company has worked hard to build a format where cards like Gardevoir ex are more than viable, and once you're running Rare Candy for your main attacker, it's a lot easier to run a Stage 2 utility Pokémon too.

#9 Scizor (Illustration Rare)

Scizor can deal decent damage in a format where most of the best Pokémon have Abilities, but it's mostly valuable for its art. Oku loves to saturate their images with a single overwhelming color, and the intense red of this illustration makes Scizor look dramatic and downright deadly. This is probably the most beautiful Scizor card ever printed.

#8 Pidgey (Illustration Rare)

Pidgey is, of course, one of the first Pokémon that most millennials ever encountered in the Pokémon world, which makes it especially nostalgic—a fact that Jerky leans into here with the sign for Route 1. This Pidgey is also more competitive than it looks, since you need one of these low-HP birdies in order to evolve into the incredible Pidgeot ex.

#7 Gloom (Illustration Rare)

Despite being a Gen I Pokémon, Gloom never had a full-art card until Masako Tomii gave us this absolute gem. Tomii excels at lush backgrounds, and the explosion of life and color surrounding Gloom make this drooling stinkplant look plausible by comparison. It's just gorgeous.

#6 Charizard ex (Ultra Rare)

First, and most obviously: it's Charizard. Hard-core card collectors may be burned out on the fire-breather, but for everyone else, Charizard will always be the hottest Pokémon you can ever find in a pack of cards.

Second, Charizard just doesn't have much competition in Obsidian Flames. The set contains less than half as many Secret Rare cards as Paldea Evolved, so there aren't as many popular Pokémon to steal the spotlight. If you're buying singles from Obsidian Flames, you're probably spending that money on Charizard.

Thirdly, and most unusually, this Charizard card is… really strong? In what might be a first for the Flame Pokémon, Charizard ex is honest-to-goodness, not-grading-on-a-curve competitive in Standard. Its attack deals high damage for little Energy with no drawbacks, it has an Ability which accelerates Energy and rewards you for playing multiples, its Tera Rule Box is extremely relevant in a metagame full of Pokémon that attack the Bench, and being Darkness-type gives it a huge advantage against some of the best decks in the format.

Competitive players often save money by going for the lowest-rarity version of a card available. But in the case of Charizard ex, so many fans want it that even the Double Rare version costs double digits for a playset.

#5 Pidgeot ex (Special Illustration Rare)

Like the Illustration Rares for Pidgey and Pidgeotto, the Special Illustration Rare version of Pidgeot ex name drops a classic route from the original Pokémon games. This time it's Route 18, the bottom stretch of the scenic Cycling Road that connects Celadon City in the north to Fuchsia City in the south, which is also full of Bird Keeper Trainers. Fans may be divided on the hyper-flat art style Jerky used for Pidgeot ex, but even the most jaded Pokémon fans have to admit they've never seen Pidgeot presented this way, and that novelty is a big draw for collectors.

Competitively, Pidgeot ex is the best Pokémon in Obsidian Flames. When a card appeals to both collectors and players like this, its price tends to soar.

#4 Cleffa (Illustration Rare)

Cleffa is canonically an extraterrestrial and likes to dance on nights with meteor showers, a detail that's never been depicted this beautifully on a Pokémon card before Obsidian Flames. The glow of the sun on the horizon and the reflective ice below Cleffa help balance the illustration and center the focus on Cleffa's adorable star-shaped silhouette.

Cleffa was introduced in Generation II as the pre-evolution of Clefairy, so it's basically an honorary Gen I-er, and there are few things Pokémon fans like more than a gorgeous new full-art card of a nostalgic Pokémon.

#3 Ninetales (Illustration Rare)

This is one of the most stunning Ninetales cards ever printed, and given that Ninetales is a Gen I Pokémon with 48 other cards to its name, that's saying something. The almost mystical way SIE NANAHARA has rendered the sun's glow and the trees that twist like smoke really enhances the natural surroundings, which both emphasizes Ninetales' theme (fox, fire) and makes Ninetales feel more plausible by comparison. In a forest this magical, you'd be surprised if you didn't run into a nine-tailed fox taking a morning walk.

When a Gen I Pokémon gets a beautiful new full-art card, Pokémon fans buy that card.

#2 Charizard ex (Hyper Rare)

It's Charizard again, but this time it's even shinier! And gold!

Can you guess which card is #1 yet?

#1 Charizard ex (Special Illustration Rare)

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the Special Illustration Rare version of Charizard ex is the most valuable card in Obsidian Flames. AKIRA EGAWA's explosive illustration inspires the same awe that made his cycle of godlike Pokémon in Crown Zenith some of the most popular cards in the entire Sword & Shield Series.

With serious power and an illustration this shiny, the only thing holding this card's price in check is how easy it is to pull in Obsidian Flames. Every pack has about a 0.5% chance of containing Special Illustration Rare Charizard—that's objectively low, but it's still about twice as likely as your odds of opening the #1 chase from previous sets, like Iono and Miriam. The anecdotal data backs up our statistical data: a lot of Pokémon fans are finding SIR Charizard ex in their Obsidian Flames booster packs. So despite this card having sky-high demand, in time, the supply might actually be able to meet it.