New Pokemon Trading Card Game Classic Could Cost a Lot of Money

A new Pokemon Trading Card Game product could be one of the most expensive Pokemon card products yet. During this week’s Pokemon Presents, The Pokemon Company announced Pokemon Trading Card Game Classic, a collaboration between the design firm nendo, Creatures Inc., and The Pokemon Company. Pokemon Trading Card Game Classic comes with three decks containing reprints of Base Set cards like Charizard, Blastoise, and Venusaur, and new cards like Ho-Oh-ex and Lugia-ex. The product also comes with a foldable game board and a toolbox containing stackable damage counters, three-dimensional burn and poison markers, and a funnel/orb system that replaces Pokemon coins. 

There are a couple of wrinkles to Pokemon Trading Card Game Classic, which may limit its popularity with fans. While the English language listing for Pokemon Trading Card Game Classic doesn’t list a price, the Japanese webpage lists a price of 35,000 yen. That’s the equivalent to $256 in US dollars, so it seems that this will be a $250-$300 product when it comes out in October. The other is that none of the cards in the set (save for the Basic energy cards) are tournament legal, which could be because the cards have a full foil treatment that extends all the way to the borders. That means that Pokemon Trading Card Game Classic is basically a very expensive collector’s item. 

While the Pokemon Trading Card Game is essentially a children’s card game, it has released more and more premium items in recent years to take advantage of the influx of adult collectors with lots of cash. Ultra Premium Collection boxed sets typically come out once per year and cost $100, and contain a mix of exclusive variant cards and booster packs. 

But while Pokemon Trading Card Game Classic will likely be one of the most expensive Pokemon card products ever, it likely won’t be nearly expensive as Magic: The Gathering’s most expensive card sets.Last year, Wizards of the Coast produced a special 30th Anniversary Collector’s Set that cost $1,000 for four booster packs containing reprinted classic cards.

Pokemon Trading Card Game Classic will come out in late 2023.