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December 15th - December 21st, 2025

📋 TLDR

📰 TCG News: PSA’s Parent Company Buys Card-Grading Rival Beckett, Pokémon Company Leases 1 Million+ Sq Ft To Print Cards, Secret Rares From “Start Deck 100 Battle Collection” Revealed!

🔢 Card Market Highlights: Japanese Blue Sky Stream Booster Box Sells for $560, TAG 10 Chinese 151 Collection Pikachu Sells for ~$810 + Promos (McDonald’s Squirtle and Pichu Bros.), Japanese CoroCoro Unpeeled Promo Sheet Sells for $10k

😴 Potential Sleepers: Crown Zenith - Mew GG10/70

🏆 Card of the Week: Golisopod ex from English Paradox Rift 246/182 and Japanese Ancient Roar 088/066, illustrated by Oku. This set of two cards do a great job of showing Golisopod’s transition from bolting at the first hint of danger, to taking on any challenge as a trained fighter

📰 TCG News

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

🔵 PSA’s Parent Company Buys Card-Grading Rival Beckett

Collectors has purchased Beckett; financial terms were not disclosed, and Beckett will remain an independent brand within Collectors with no current pricing changes. The acquisition includes Beckett’s Comic Book Certification Service but does not include Southern Hobby Distribution or Dragon Shield; GemRate figures cited show PSA at over 75% of weekly grading volume, CGC just over 18%, and Beckett nearly 3%. (Source: ESPN)
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🔵 Pokémon’s Millennium Print Group Signs Largest U.S. Manufacturing Lease of 2025, Will Occupy 1.27 Million Square Foot Campus to Print Cards

Millennium Print Group will occupy a 1.27 million-square-foot campus at Spark in Morrisville, North Carolina, described as the largest U.S. manufacturing lease signed in 2025. Millennium will lease 400,000+ square feet of existing buildings and receive a newly constructed 866,000-square-foot manufacturing facility slated for completion in 2027; TPCi is quoted as printing at max capacity amid shortages. (Source: Pok​é​beach)
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🔵 Secret Rares From “Start Deck 100 Battle Collection” Revealed!

Secret Rares are already appearing on social media, and the product is set to release on December 19 for 891 yen (just under $6). The lineup includes Secret Rares #747–#766, each tied to specific deck numbers, with Mega Meganium ex, Mega Emboar ex, and Mega Feraligatr ex all found in Deck 101.

Cards from Japan’s MEGA Dream ex and Start Deck 100 Battle Collection are also expected to show up in January’s special Ascended Heroes set. (Source: Pokébeach)

📈 Card Trends

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

Top Gains 🔼

Top Losses 🔽

🔢 Card Market Highlights

📦 Sealed Product Market Highlights

🔵 Regigigas Lv. X Collector’s Tin Sells for $1.4k

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This contains Regigigas promo DP30 along with four booster packs: two from the Platinum expansion, one from Rising Rivals, and one from Stormfront. There are only 4 in a PSA 10 and one of the last known sales was in July 2024 for ~$3.7k. Booster packs from all 3 sets go for about $200-$250. Near mint copies of the Regi promo go for about $30 but with a total of 361 graded and 4 PSA 10s it might just be a very difficult card to grade. But these tins also very rarely come up for sale.

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🔵 S&V 151 Pokémon Center ETB Sells for $600

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PC (Pokémon Center) stamped ETBs and the similarly stamped promos that come with them are the modern equivalent of first edition cards. Recent sales have come down a bit from highs of $900-$1k to $600-$700. Sales of the stamped Snorlax promo have also come down from around $1.5k to $1k in a PSA 10.
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🔵 Japanese Blue Sky Stream Booster Box Sells for $560

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Japanese Blue Sky Stream is the Japanese equivalent of one part of Evolving Skies. The top chase of this set is Rayquaza VMAX #83 (PSA 10 around $3.5k, which is more than double its English counterpart from Evolving Skies). This set had a much lower print run and recent sales are actually closer to the $600-$700 range. This sale seems to be a slight outlier but overall prices are going up from around $400 mid year.

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💎 Singles & Graded Cards Highlights

🔵 PSA 10 McDonald’s Squirtle Promo Sells for ~$4k

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Squirtle #7 is a Japanese promo card from the 30-card McDonald’s Pokémon-e Minimum Pack set, released exclusively in Japanese McDonald’s restaurants from January 26 to February 24, 2002. These six-card packs came in each Happy Meal during the campaign and were compatible with Nintendo’s e-Reader.

This sale is on the slightly lower end of the peak $4.3k range from a couple months ago but overall this card is up over 400% from roughly $800 PSA 10 sales back in February.

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🔵 TAG 10 Chinese 151 Collection Pikachu Sells for ~$810

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TAG 10 Gem MT is one level below Pristine, which might roughly equate to a CGC 10 Pristine (with the gold label). The Chinese card market as a whole has corrected downwards a bit since it exploded earlier this year with each wave of S&V sets releasing alongside a Chinese exclusive Pikachu.

PSA 10 prices are not that far behind with some recent sales in the past month as low as $725 and as high as $900. You can see a full report of how this card was graded here.

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🔵 PSA 10 Japanese Movie Promo Pichu Bros Sells for $745

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Pichu Bros. is a Japanese Movie Promo card, numbered 028/P, released in 2002 as part of the fifth Pokémon movie campaign tied to Guardian Gods of the City of Water: Latias and Latios.

It was distributed in Japan as a bonus to audience members who prebooked theaters tickets before the movie premiere in July.

There are 146 in a PSA 10 with a total of 310 graded. Recent sales are in the same range but up about $400-$500 mid-year.

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🕰️ Vintage & Niche Market Highlights

🔵 Japanese CoroCoro Unpeeled Promo Sheet Sells for $10k

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The 1996 Glossy Pikachu & Jigglypuff Japanese CoroCoro promo is an unpeeled 2-card sheet that was distributed as a magazine insert with CoroCoro Comic in Japan. These sheets are printed on glossy stock and intended to be separated along perforations.

There is an active listing for this sheet for $25k. For Jigglypuff there are only 5 copies in a PSA 10 and 2 copies for Pikachu. (Glossy and non glossy variations of this card exist, including in English).
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🔵 PSA 9 Art Academy Gosha Promo Tangrowth Sells for ~$8.5k

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The Art Academy Gosha Tangrowth is a Japanese promo card illustrated by fan artist Gosha as part of the Pokémon Art Academy competition on Nintendo 3DS. It was awarded as a prize card with a print run of only 100 copies, making it one of the rarest Tangrowth cards and just a rare card overall. One PSA 10 copy sold for $16k in September this year.
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🔵 Pokémon Japanese Nintendo 64 Double Get Campaign Booklet Sells for $225

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Note: This sale includes only half of the full booklet that originally contained the promos.

The Pokémon Japanese Nintendo 64 Double Get Campaign booklet is a Media Factory promo item given to customers who purchased a Nintendo 64 at participating Japanese retailers between December 10, 1997 and January 31, 1998. Each booklet includes two promotional cards, Cool Porygon and Hungry Snorlax, along with cardboard Food counters intended for use with Hungry Snorlax’s attack.

PSA 10 copies of Snorlax go for about $800 while Porygon copies go for about $600.

😴 Potential Sleepers

Crown Zenith - Mew GG10/70

PSA 10 - 6633 pop / 20594 total - $212 average

Ungraded - $32 average for near mint condition

Although it’s down overall about $11 in the past 3 months it puts it at a better price to pick up raw or in an LP condition. Mew is a popular Pokémon with a dedicated fanbase and this card features additional Pokémon which makes it even more appealing.

This is one card where the yellow border might complement the card art a bit better than usual. Because it’s not as popular as other S&V Mew cards (as a result of being able to pull it easier among other things), it has a strong long-term appeal at a more appealing price (for now).

📚 Educational Commentary – Collector’s Corner

“What is the actual difference between condition categories like Near Mint, Lightly Played, and Heavily Played?”

Near Mint (NM) means the card looks clean at a glance. No creases, bends, or stains. You might see tiny white specks on corners, slight edge wear, or very light surface marks that only show under strong light. The card lies flat and still feels “fresh out of the pack” to most people.

Lightly Played (LP) means the card has visible wear but still looks respectable in a binder. You will usually see whitening along multiple edges, small nicks, or light scuffing on the front or back. The card should still be flat and structurally fine. Many collectors treat any clear crease as too much damage for LP and push it into a lower grade.

Heavily Played (HP) is where the card looks clearly worn. Strong edge wear, heavy whitening, obvious scratches, scuffs, or dents are expected. Creases you can see or feel, dirt, ink, or light water marks are common. The card is still intact, but it is usually a poor grading candidate and priced mostly as a “placeholder copy.”

One simple rule many collectors follow is that any obvious crease or bend that breaks the surface usually pushes a card into Heavily Played or Damaged, no matter how clean the rest looks. Keep in mind that the listed condition categories are not exhaustive. Just what is common.

🫐 Berries For Thought

Which describes you best this year?

• Mostly sealed / Mostly singles / Mix / ‘I just like the art.’

Share your thoughts by replying to this email! (I read all of them 🙂)

Questions or feedback? Send a message to news@luckyeggreport.com 🥚.

Note: Sold listing links sometimes redirect to active listings after some time, but should still be discoverable by searching for the listings manually.

Chart Source: TCGPlayer, TCGMarketNews