Highlights

  • Charizard cards are highly sought after by collectors, especially those from the earliest sets like Base Set and Gym Challenge.
  • Some of the most valuable Charizard cards include Dark Charizard, Charizard (Shadowless), and Charizard VMAX.
  • Rarity, unique designs, and special attributes, such as being a prom card or a secret rare, contribute to the high value of Charizard cards.

Charizard has been an iconic card for the Pokemon Trading Card Game for years now, often finding itself as a bit of a collector's piece for fans of the fiery, dragon-like Pokemon. While the Flame Pokemon doesn't make an appearance in every set, the ones that it does pop in have a higher chance of holding their value over other cards from the set.

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Over the years, Charizard has been featured on 48 cards since its debut all the way back in the Base Set in 1999. Charizard has had ex cards, delta forms, special Tag-Team card, and even promo cards, with the red Pocket Monster putting itself among one of the Pokemon with the most unique cards printed in the game. If you're looking to collect your favorite Charizard cards and want to see how high this Pokemon's price can fly, here are the most valuable Charizard cards for you to hunt down.

The prices found in this article are taken from TCGplayer's Market Value, a pretty good indicator of what prices look like for cards based on market fluctuations. Because of this, though, prices will rise and fall based on many factors. There's also the matter of private sales, auctions, and graded cards, which are not taken into consideration here since those items are exceptionally limited and can be difficult to track if they're not groundbreaking sales or exceptionally high grades.

10 Dark Charizard

Team Rocket - $408.86

Dark Charizard by Ken Sugimori

If being evil means I get to get my very own Dark Charizard, then sign me up for Team Rocket. This unique card comes from the Team Rocket set, the fourth expansion for the game from 2000. This devious and cunning-looking Charizard is one of the first times we get to see something like an alternate interpretation of one of the original Pokemon, and certainly one of the first times we've seen anything that looks like an 'evil' Pokemon from the franchise.

This Dark Charizard is the lowest entry on the list of the most expensive Charizard cards but will still set you back a good amount to add it to your collection. If you happen to have one of these Charizards at home, make sure to pay attention to whether or not it has a 1st Edition stamp on the left-hand side of the card, that will add a huge bump to your card's value if it does.

9 Charizard (Shadowless)

Base Set - $435.00

Charizards Base Set Shadowless by Mitsuhiro Arita

For many, the Holy Greil of Pokemon Trading Card collecting are hunting down Shadowless cards from the Base set. These cards are among the first waves of cards to be printed, and can be identified by missing shadows in the frame of the card, hence the name Shadowless. These cards can be hard to identify if you're not aware of the variance in print runs, and, as such are highly coveted among collectors.

The original Charizard was one of the most powerful cards in the Base Set, taking down plenty of other kid's decks in the cafeterias of schools across the world. Given Charizard's natural popularity, often called the Charizard Tax among collectors of the trading card game, it's easy to see why the oldest printing of the card would fetch a high value, particularly for those who used to play with the card back when they were kids.

8 Charizard VMAX

Prize Pack Series Card - $455.02

Charizard VMAX by akyCG Works

Gigantimaxing was a fun new mechanic that was introduced in Pokemon Sword and Shield, taking your regular-sized Pokemon and transforming them into kaiju-sized monsters, oftentimes with new typings, abilities, and a whole suite of attacks. Bringing that mechanic to the Trading Card Game was an easy transition, taking otherwise incredibly powerful cards and giving them a huge boost in power, HP, and abilities, in exchange for making them a bit more situational to evolve.

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Charizard VMAX was a star of the early VMAX era, not because it was particularly good, even though it does deal a staggering 300 damage with its second attack, but this one, in particular, comes from a Prize Pack that was distributed to tournament goers, with a special stamp on it to signify it is a promo. These cards were hard to find at the time, raising its value in the years since thanks to its exclusivity.

7 Charizard (Prerelease)

XY Prerelease - $579.99

Charizard XY Prerelease by Mitsuhiro Arita

If you happened to head to a prerelease event for the (at the time) upcoming Evolutions expansion from the XY block, you had a chance to cracking one of these special prerelease Charizards, made extra special thanks to the fancy holographic stamps in the artwork of Charizard. The cards in this set were made to honor the 20th anniversary of the trading card game, with plenty of reprints of cards from the Base Set, with some tweaks to attacks, HP, and abilities to help keep them scaled up in power.

This interpretation of the Base Set version of the card takes the Pokemon Power from the original card, reimagines it as an Ability, and then buffs Charizards attack a bit to help it be the powerhouse he's meant to be.

6 Charizard 136

Plasma Storm - $608.80

Charizard PS 136 by Ayako Yoshida

The first time we get to see an all-black shiny version of the Flame Pokemon comes from the Plasma Storm expansion, the eighth set to release as part of the Black & White arc. If you look closely at this card's set number, it's actually number 136 of 135 cards in the set, making it a special Secret Rare, an incredibly hard card to pull from packs thanks to a very low drop rate.

This isn't the first time players have got to see a shiny Charizard on a card, but it does mark one of the first times it was seen with a 3D model, helping to distinguish it even from among other valuable Charizard cards.

5 Charizard ex

FireRed & LeafGreen - $624.59

Charizard ex by H

Charizard ex has a lot going for it to help elevate its value to staggering heights. Printed in 2004's EX FireRed & LeafGreen set, Charizard ex marks the first time the fiery lizard was printed on as a more powerful ex Pokemon. These cards boast higher health, attacks, and abilities, while also providing a whole new level of exclusivity and mechanics to be designed around.

Though ex cards had been around for several sets before this one was released, fans clamored over this card as it felt like a functional reprint of the original Base Set thanks to some very similar powers and attacks that came with this card.

4 Charizard Star (Delta Species)

Dragon Frontiers - $699.95

Charizard Star by M

Unique among Charizard cards at the time, the Charizard Star counts itself special since it is another special printing of a shiny Charizard, giving the normally red Pokemon a stunning black pallet swap and marking the first time Charizard can be found as a Dark-type Pokemon card instead of its usual Fire typing. This Charizard is also a Basic Pokemon, meaning you can play it without having to evolve it all the way up from a Charmander before playing it.

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As part of 2006's EX Dragon Frontiers expansion, this Charizard's rarity and value is bumped up a bit thanks to its Star status, making it incredibly hard to find in packs back around the time of its release.

3 Blaine's Charizard (1st Edition)

Gym Challenge - $850.00

Blain's Charizard by Ken Sugimori

There are a few things going for Blaine's Charizard to help boost its value among collectors. First, there's a pretty good chance that any given copy of the card is going to have one of two misprints on it. The first is on some versions of the card, the rules text on the Roaring Flame attack will feature a Fighting Energy symbol instead of the correct Fire Energy symbol. If it doesn't have that error, then it'll have a regular Fire Energy symbol, but the word 'Energy' will have a lowercase 'e' instead of the correct capitalized one.

To be fair, the Fighting Energy version also features the lowercase 'e', but is unique among cards that such a huge error was able to slip past the production process twice, since they occured in two different print runs of the card.

2 Shining Charizard 107

Neo Destiny - $970.00

Shining Charizard by Hironabu Yoshida

Among all the Charizards that you can collect, Shining Charizard consistanly places itself right up at the top in terms of rarity and how well it is prized among collectors. This stunning card was released in 2002's Neo Destiny expanion, and quickly became a fan favorite thanks to the hauntly vague shilloute of Charizard flying away, never giving fans a good glimpse at the shinning Pokemon, but encouraging them all to chase after it.

Shining Pokemon are fairly exclusive on their own, being one of the first times Pokemon cards could require Energies of various types to use attacks, as well as coming with the special rule that you could only use one Shining Pokemon in your entire deck. These cards also feature a special foiling process on the Pokemon itself, helping to make it look like a truly shining version.

1 Charizard 146

Skyridge - $1,200.00

Charizard 146 by Kouki Saitou

The first and so far only time Charizard has been featured on a Colorless card, this Charizard from the 2003 set Skyridge distinguishes itself from other valuable versions of the normally Fire type Pokemon with its unique abilities and attacks. This is all thanks to the special Crystal Type ability that this card posesses, letting you temporarily change Charizard's typing to either Fire, Lightning, or Fighting, depending on what type of energy you have attached to it this turn.

Interestingly, this Charizard is part of the final set that the game company Wizards of the Coast developed, and as such, only had a single print run, leading to fewer cards being printed compared to other sets of the time. This has helped catapult this Charizard's value up to some of the highest levels among Charizard cards.

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