Updated December 9, 2021 by Joe Parlock: Even months after its launch, people are still clamouring for Celebrations. As many cards have seen their value plummet (sorry, Pikachu), others have taken their place, so it's time to update this list with the latest market prices. The prices on this list are as they are on the morning of December 9, 2021. Other than the prices, the rules are still the same: we're only including cards found in Celebrations booster packs, whether that's in the main Celebrations itself or as part of the supplementary Celebrations Classics Collection.
Celebrations is the Pokemon TCG's big 25th anniversary set. Spread across numerous products, it features a mix of new cards, reprints from across the series, and even returning mechanics given to newer Pokemon. It's a really exciting set full of stuff for collectors, but what are the most valuable cards you could pull?
To determine this, we're looking at TCGPlayer's Market Price for both Celebrations – the brand new cards – and the Celebrations Classic Collection – the reprints. We ignore promo cards, such as Lance's Charizard V or Dragapult Prime, as those tend to have a lower value due to guaranteed pulls in certain items.
As the set is only just creeping out there, things are likely to change slightly in the coming weeks as stocks of cards increase. But, for now, here are the top ten most valuable cards in Pokemon Celebrations.
10 Blastoise – $6.28
As soon as it was announced that Celebrations would feature reprints of base set cards, everyone knew to expect them to be the most valuable cards to pull. Demand for base set cards is high, even if it's in a reprint product like this or XY Evolutions. What's surprising here is that Blastoise isn't higher.
When Celebrations first launched, it was predicted that Blastoise would rise in value. That… hasn't happened. Since its launch, Blastoise has plummeted down the list, losing almost $90 from its market price and falling from fourth place to tenth. It's fared better than Venusaur, at least, which has fallen out of the top ten altogether.
9 Xerneas EX - $8.31
When Celebrations first launched, people didn't seem that interested in EX Pokemon, despite being one of the longest-running Pokemon variants in the whole TCG and spanning almost the entire fifth and sixth generations. Whether it's through newfound nostalgia, a realisation that these cards are pretty fantastic, or just other cards seeing their prices tank, EX now dominates this list.
First printed in the original XY base set, Xerneas EX is also worth mentioning because it's a Fairy-type card. Despite continuing on in the games, the TCG actually discontinued fairy type in the Sword & Shield base set and rolled all fairy type Pokemon under the Psychic umbrella. That makes this reprint one of the few times since Sword & Shield that the fairy type has reappeared.
8 Tapu Lele GX - $9.54
For Sun & Moon, EX was replaced with the new GX variant, to help bring the games' Z-move mechanic into the TCG. Their whole thing was that they had "GX Attacks" that could only be used once each game, similar to the upcoming VSTAR mechanic.
Tapu Lele's GX ability is pretty great, with Tapu Cure GX healing all the damage from two of your Benched Pokemon. The art's cool too, but is Tapu Lele really anybody's favourite Pokemon?
7 Gardevoir ex Delta Species - $10.06
ex was the predecessor to EX introduced way back in EX Ruby & Sapphire, the first third-generation TCG expansion. Its whole thing was that ex Pokemons' attacks had extra properties, like how Gardevoir ex Delta Species' Flame Ball attack moves a Fire Energy from it to a Benched Pokemon.
On the other hand, Delta Species' idea was that it allowed Pokemon to appear in types they normally weren't in. Gardevoir usually is either a Psychic type (changed back from a brief stint as a Fairy type), but here it's a Fire type with an attack that directly cares about Fire energy.
It's a cool card that gives an insight into two overlapping periods in the TCG's history… but that's probably not why it's on this list: people just really love Gardevoir.
6 Mewtwo EX - $12.95
The second EX card on this list is Mewtwo EX, first printed in Black & White Next Destinies. As one of the earliest EX Pokemon cards released, it's in this set more as a cool historical thing to showcase the debut of EX as a variant.
It would have been cool if Celebrations included the alternative full art Mewtwo EX, which features a new etched foil printing process that made them very different to cards that had come before. But regardless, like Gardevoir, Mewtwo is always a popular inclusion in the TCG.
5 M Rayquaza EX - $14.43
There's no denying it, M EX cards are cool. They were added as an expansion to the EX mechanic in X & Y to reflect the games' Mega Evolution theme. They showcased Mega-evolved Pokemon like Swampert, Lucario, or, of course, Rayquaza.
Unlike EX Pokemon, which were usually Basics regardless of if they're evolved or not, M Pokemon still needed to be evolved onto an existing EX Pokemon – to play M Rayquaza EX, you needed an Rayquaza EX in play to evolve from.
The coolest thing about them isn't their mechanics, though, it's the art. M EX Pokemon had the name of their attack incorporated into the art in some way. The languages were swapped, too, so while English and International cards had the Japanese for "Emerald Break" swooping in under Rayquaza, the Japanese cards had "EMERALD BREAK" in English instead. It's a really striking design that's a rare deviation from Pokemon's normal templating, and it's definitely something that should be brought back.
4 Shining Magikarp - $21.67
The first card on the list to come from Celeberations' secondary 'Classics' range, Shining Magikarp is a straight reprint of Shining Magikarp from 2001's Neo Revelation. Shining Pokemon were the first time Shiny Pokemon appeared in the TCG, showing off Pokemon in their much rarer alternative colour schemes.
Shining Magikarp was one of the two first Shining cards to appear in the game, with it and its evolution Gyarodos being used to introduce the concept. In the wider games, Gyarodos was used to show players what Shiny pokemon were, with a red shiny Gyarados being a minor plot point in Pokemon Silver, Gold and Crystal.
3 Umbreon Star - $32.33
While most of the other reprints are of cards available in other expansions, Umbreon Star has only been available as part of the Pokemon Organised Play event scheme (now known as Play! Pokemon). Only available between March and September 2007, this is the first time Umbreon Star has been made widely available. Ever.
Star Pokemon were always the rarest of the rare in the sets they were in, starting with their debut in Team Rocket Returns. Like Shining Pokemon, these showed the Shiny forms of Pokemon, however these ones had the added pizazz of having their art break free of the box and enter the card frame.
2 Mew (Secret Rare) - $46.93
Mew didn't even appear on the original version of this list, as it didn't spike in price until shortly after Celebrations' launch. While it has fallen in price since its peak of $72.88, compared to other cards it's been holding on like a trooper. It's also bar far the most valuable card in the main Celebrations set, with the next most-valuable being Surfing Pikachu VMAX at just over $2.
Because it's in the main Celebrations expansion and now in the Classic Collection, this is also the only card on this list to be legal in the current Pokemon Standard, thanks to the E symbol in the lower left. That isn't why it's valuable – it's a shiny Mew as a gold secret rare, it's a total collector's piece – but it is cool that Celebrations can actually be played with as well.
1 Charizard - $78.81
Of course, by far the most valuable card in the entire of Celebrations is based on the game's most valuable card full stop. Base Set Charizard has fetched hundreds of thousands at auction, and almost single-handedly drove last year's surge in demand for the game.
To prevent people passing off Celebrations as an original Base Set Charizard, there are a few differences between it and the super valuable card. As well as the Pokemon 25 stamp, the font is ever so slightly different to the original and the Wizards of the Coast copyright has been removed (as they stopped publishing the TCG in 2003). Despite those differences, Charizard is almost always the most valuable card in any set it appears in, and Celebrations is no exception.
Since Celebrations' launch, Charizard's value has dropped by over $200, showing how much the expansion's value has fallen in the months since launch. It's still a great card that might pick up value as Celebrations goes out of print, so now is probably the best time to grab one if you've been waiting.