People Are Paying $80 for a Magikarp Card

The price of an alternate art Magikarp Pokemon card has dramatically risen in recent days. The Alternate Art Magikarp card from the recently released "Paldea Evolved" Pokemon Trading Card Game set is selling for over $80 on TCGPlayer, an eBay-owned marketplace specializing in TCG products. Sales prices for the card have increased dramatically since the set was released last week, with cards jumping from around $20 when the set was released last week (some cards pulled during pre-release parties were available ahead of wide release) to regularly selling for $80 or more as of today. You can check out the card below: 

There doesn't appear to be a specific reason for the card's sudden rise in value, other than it's a sought-after card for fans of the usually worthless Pokemon. We'll note that this is the first time that Magikarp has gotten its own Secret Rare card, although Magikarp previously had a Shining Secret Rare variant all the way back in Neo Revelations and had several alternate art cards when it had a tag team card alongside Wailord. 

Despite Magikarp's surprising rise in price, it still isn't the most expensive card in the set. That honor continues to go to the Special Illustration Rare version of Iono, a new trainer card that is both relevant to many decks and features a fan-favorite character. 

Magikarp isn't exactly a rare Pokemon to find in a Pokemon card set, but players will be seeing at least one more Magikarp card come out this year. The Pokemon Card 151 set will be releasing in Japan next month and features all 151 original Pokemon. The set will also be released in the US in September, although the international set name has not been announced yet.