Pokemon TCG Seems to Have Fixed Its Rarity Problem

The Pokemon Trading Card Game seems to have fixed its rarity problem in its newest set. Earlier this week, the Pokemon Trading Card Game officially launched a new era with the Scarlet & Violet card set. This series featured a brand new rarity model to help offset a higher price point caused by ongoing supply issues. Instead of players getting up to two rare card in each set, they now can technically get three, thanks to 3 of the 10 cards in each booster now being a holofoil card. The two slots reserved for reverse holofoil cards can also contain Illustration Rare cards, variant cards that have long been sought-after by collectors. 

More importantly, it appears that the hottest cards in the Scarlet & Violet set are a lot more common than the chase cards from the Sword & Shield era. While the pull rates for Scarlet & Violet appear to be unchanged (TCG Player reports that players have about a 1 in 3 chance of getting a double rare or higher, which is about equivalent to the rate for the last card set in the Sword & Shield era), there don't appear to be any exceptionally rare cards going for a ridiculous price online. 

For context, each of the last four Sword & Shield card sets have at least one card with an average market price of $100 or more. By comparison, the most expensive card in Scarlet & Violet is the Special Illustration Rare version of Miriam, which is selling for a market average of $81.44. Additionally, there's only six cards in the entire set currently selling for $20 or more. 

The lack of a market spike surrounding one or more cards could be due to a few factors. The Pokemon Trading Card Game has gradually increased its print runs over the past few years to prevent any runs on stock like what happened a few years ago. It also appears that the extra card slot in booster packs has increased the number of Special Illustration and Alternate Art cards in the overall card population, which has helped to offset the increased demand of those specific cards. 

Of course, cheaper card prices might be bad for TCG investors, but it's great for collectors and the core audience of the Pokemon Trading Card Game - kids. Fans who want to complete a full Scarlet & Violet set should be able to do so without spending a fortune chasing after various cards. It'll be easier to simply buy the handful of missing singles instead of dumping hundreds of dollars into booster packs. 

This might not be a permanent trend within the Pokemon Trading Card Game - the secondary market for the game is notoriously fickle, especially for single cards from more recent sets. However, the early data looks promising. You can pick up the Scarlet & Violet card set at most hobby and large retail stores now.