Pokemon TCG: The Top Cards in Paldea Evolved Expansion

The Pokemon Trading Card Game has a brand new expansion out, with some big new cards that are must have for players and collectors alike. This week, The Pokemon Company officially released “Paldea Evolved,” one of their biggest expansion sets ever. With 279 cards including nearly ninety secret rare cards, collectors are going to have to do a lot of work if they want to grab a complete set. So which cards should you be looking out for when you’re opening up booster packs? Luckily, we’re here to share what will likely be the most sought after cards, along with how much they could sell for if you’re lucky. 

Tinkaton ex (Special Illustration Rare)

Tinkaton ex is a bit of a weird card, in that it’s non-Secret rare equivalent is actually part of the deck. Instead, the card will be part of an upcoming Battle Deck release. This is another intriguing card with an attack that can bypass resistance and ability reductions and an attack that scales based on the number of cards in your hand. 

Market Price: $19.52

Boss’s Orders (Special Illustration Rare)

Boss’s Orders is a staple Supporter card that provides a free switch-in during a turn without paying a Retreat cost. This card effectively keeps Boss’s Orders in rotation for another two years. Like other staple Trainer cards, the Secret Illustration Rare card is a hot item simply because so many players plan to use it in their decks. 

Market Price: $23.62

Tyranitar (Illustration Rare)

Tyranitar is a powerful Darkness-type card with the potential for some heavy attacks for a low amount of energy. While Stage 2 Pokemon often take too much time to set up in the modern metagame, it’s hard to ignore a heavy hitter that only costs one prize. Like most of the cards on this list, this is an Illustration Rare card that’s widely considered to be one of the top cards on the list. 

Market Price: $24.63

Dendra (Secret Illustration Rare)

Dendra is one of top Supporter cards in the deck, mainly because it allows a player to quickly draw up to five cards without technically having to discard one card. This will be a card that can be used in any competitive deck, which is why its market price is steadily rising.

Market Price: $27.69

Chien-Pao ex (Secret Illustration Rare)

Chien-Pao is one of the strongest cards in the new set, largely because of its ability Shivery Chill. Shivery Chill allows a player to quickly draw up Water Energy from their deck. When paired with the abilities of other Pokemon, this is a useful card for setting up an entire deck in just a few turns. It also helps that Chien-Pao ex’s Secret Illustration Rare is one of the most dynamic of the set, which helps explains why it’s one of the top cards in the deck.

Market Price: $32.09

Magikarp (Illustration Rare)

Magikarp isn’t a particularly powerful card, but the Illustration Rare variant is still one of the top cards in the set largely due to its beautiful artwork. At least this card can be used with the Gyarados ex card released in the Scarlet & Violet set a few months ago, but expect this to be a chase card that goes straight into a binder. 

Market Price: $34.86

Iono (Full Art)

Iono is the rare “waifu” card that has a practical purpose in many decks. It can quickly disrupt an opponent’s plans by forcing them to put their entire hand at the bottom of the deck, which is useful given how many cards allow a player to draw up energy or put Pokemon cards from their deck into their hands. Expect to see Iono be a standard in many decks over the next few years. 

Market Price: $41.92

Iono (Secret Illustration Rare)

The most expensive card in Paldea Evolved and it’s not even close. This card was so popular, it caused the Japanese set it appeared in to sell out and forced Creatures Inc. to move the set to a print-on-demand model, which has never happened before. This might be the most expensive card to hit the market in 2023, depending on how the Pokemon Card 151 is released. 

Market Price: $106.63