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September 14th - September 20th, 2026

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📰 TCG News

Note: Some updates may touch on wider Pokémon news beyond the TCG.

🔵 Mercari Bans 30th Celebration Listings and Its Shares Swing

Mercari banned listings of 30th Celebration products from September 16th, saying the surge in trading after release risked disputes between buyers and sellers and harassment of the users involved. The ban holds for as long as the company judges that a safe trading environment cannot be ensured, and it is warning customers, monitoring listings and removing them in the meantime, with account restrictions for repeat offenders.

The market reaction was sharp. Mercari closed 6.4% lower on the day the restrictions took effect, recovered 1.4% the next day, then rose more than 4% on the Friday. Citi called the selloff overly pessimistic and said the halt was not significant enough for it to revise its forecasts.

(Source: CNBC · Mercari)

🔵 30th Celebration Ditto Premium Collection Lands November 6th

The 30th Celebration Ditto Premium Collection arrives on November 6th at the Pokemon Center and wherever Pokemon TCG products are sold. It holds a Ditto promo card, an acrylic card display, eight 30th Celebration booster packs and an online code card.

The acrylic stand is designed to show off either the Ditto promo or something pulled from the eight packs. The promo's attack, Surprisingly Transform, flips a coin to search the deck for a Pokemon and switch it in, with its attached cards, damage counters and conditions carried over.

(Source: Pokemon.com)

🔵 Zubat, Golbat and Crobat Promos Coming to Pokemon Leagues for Halloween

From October 1st to October 31st, Pokemon League players can earn exclusive Zubat, Golbat and Crobat promo cards. Each Play! Pokemon store decides how to hand them out, through tournaments, play and trade sessions and other "Pokeween" events, with Ghost-type stickers given away alongside them.

The three cards carry the same Pikachu pumpkin stamp used on Trick or Trade BOOster packs, plus a Play! Pokemon watermark set behind the card body. Whether they are holo has not been confirmed.

(Source: PokeBeach)

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📈 Card Trends

Source: Price data provided by TCGPlayer.com and chart visual provided by TCGMarketNews.com (which sources data from TCGPlayer).

Weekly Top Gains 🔼

Weekly Top Losses 🔽

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📦 Sealed Sales

🔵 Sealed 1st Edition Temple of Anger Booster Box Sells for $8.9k

Listing

Booster Box · 2008 · Japanese DP5 · 1st Edition

Temple of Anger is DP5, a Japanese Diamond and Pearl era expansion from 2008, and this is a factory sealed 1st Edition box. The set's Deoxys holo is shown alongside it.

The most recent comparable box sold at auction for $7,000 on July 26th, drawing four bids, putting this about 27% higher. A fixed-price copy took $10,000 on May 8th, so this still sits roughly 11% under that mark.

🔵 Factory Sealed 2012 Double Album Box Sells for $4.5k

Listing

Double Album Box · 2012 · English · factory sealed

The Double Album Box is a 2012 English sealed product. Three of them came up at auction on the same day, September 10th, closing at $3,506, $3,784 and $3,895 on 42, 32 and 59 bids. This one went nine days later and took more than any of them.

Measured against the highest of that trio, $3,895, this is about 16% higher. The same box was a far cheaper thing two years ago: $810 in November 2024 and $699 that December, so this sits at roughly five and a half times the 2024 level.

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🃏 Card Sales

🔵 PSA 10 Poncho-Wearing Eevee Full Set Sells for $40k

Listing

Graded PSA 10 · SM-P Promos 137 to 144 · 2017

The eight Poncho-wearing Eevee promos went out from October 7th 2017 at Pokemon Centers, Pokemon Stores and the Pokemon Center Online. Five booster packs bought in a single transaction earned a choice of one of the eight, and the promotion ran only while stocks lasted, so a complete set meant at least forty packs across eight separate transactions.

The most recent comparable PSA 10 set sold for $16,500 on February 13th, putting this about 142% higher. A graded set of eight took $9,000 six days after that, and a mixed PSA 9 and 10 set took $2,800 in January 2025.

🔵 PSA 10 Karen's Umbreon With a Swirl Slides to $14k

Listing

Graded PSA 10 · VS 1st Edition 091/141 · 2001

Karen's Umbreon is 091/141 from the 2001 Japanese exclusive VS set. This copy carries a holo swirl, the circular pattern left in the foil during printing, which normally draws a premium over a plain copy.

The card peaked at $17,777 on May 1st, also a swirl copy, putting this about 21% lower. Plain copies have been landing in the same place: $15,900 in March, $15,200 in August, then $14,000 on both September 18th and 20th. This swirl copy sold on the 16th for a cent under what those two plain copies took later the same week.

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📼 Vintage & Niche Sales

🔵 PSA 10 Tropical Mega Battle Phone Card Trio Sells for $115.6k

Listing

Tropical Mega Battle Promo · 1999 · Consecutive cert set of 3

These were the consolation prize at the 1999 Tropical Mega Battle. Players who did not get an invitation to the main event battled in side sessions instead, earning a stamp each time, and a completed stamp booklet was exchanged for one of three phone cards. Articuno 144, Zapdos 145 and Moltres 146, all illustrated by Ken Sugimori. This lot is all three in PSA 10 with consecutive certification numbers.

The same three cards crossed the same auction house individually five months earlier, on March 27th: Articuno at $16,250, Zapdos and Moltres at $10,625 each, $37,500 for the trio. Sold together as a consecutive set they took about 208% more. Single copies on eBay have run lower still, at $14,100 for the Articuno in May, $9,500 for the Zapdos in April 2024 and $8,600 for the Moltres in January. Heritage figures include its 25% premium, so the set hammered at $92,500.

🔵 Sealed Case of 20 Pokemon Card GB Copies Sells for $35k

Listing

Sealed case of 20 · Nintendo · 1998 · with promotional flyer

Pokemon Card GB put the TCG on a Game Boy Color in Japan more than a year before Pokemon Trading Card Game reached North America, with collecting, trading and deck building that mirrored the paper game, plus digital-only cards. Every copy shipped with a Dragonite promo carrying a GB symbol where the expansion symbol usually sits. This lot is an open case of 20 unopened copies in Excellent condition, so 20 sealed Dragonite promos, together with a 16.5 by 11.75 inch promotional flyer for the game.

That works out at $1,750 a copy. A single PSA 10 Dragonite promo took $2,750 in the same auction, so one graded card is worth more than a sealed copy of the game it came in. Both Heritage figures include its 25% premium; the case hammered at $28,000.

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💰 Top Sales This Week

The biggest confirmed sales across popular auction platforms, ranked by total paid. The Pikachu Illustrator at the top is the highest price ever paid for a Pokémon card at auction.

$4,000,000 — PSA 9 Pikachu Illustrator · Heritage · September 18th

$600,000 — 1st Edition Base Set Booster Box · Heritage · September 18th

$460,000 — PSA 10 Charizard #3 · Heritage · September 18th

$380,000 — PSA 10 Charizard Gold Star · Heritage · September 18th

$271,500 — BGS 9.5 Torchic Gold Star · Alt · September 17th

$250,000 — PSA 10 Masaki Gengar · eBay · September 20th

$220,200 — PSA 10 Palkia Lv.X · Alt · September 17th

$210,000 — PSA 9 Espeon Gold Star · Heritage · September 18th

Top sales across popular auction platforms. Some platforms charge a 20-25% premium. Heritage rows are ranked on the hammer price, with the headline shown on the website.