Hi there. In this short Pokemon TCG post I cover the topic of supply and demand of Pokemon cards. This can help out collectors as well as players.
Popularity Of Certain Cards
There are always certain cards that will be more popular than others. The popularity of certain cards could be based on the popularity of the Pokemon, the card's beautiful art, whether the card has a Waifu (cute girl/woman) on it and/or the playability of the card in the competitive Pokemon trading card game. Charizard cards tend to be popular and priced higher than a lot of other cards because of the popularity of Charizard. The recent Charizard ex card from Obsidian Flames and Paldean Fates is popular because it is Charizard and its playability in the competitive card game scene.
When a lot of people want a certain card the market price of the card goes higher assuming that the supply is the same or lower. Price decreases occur when there is less demand for a card or when the supply increases. Pokemon does feature reprints of certain cards to lower prices. Lower prices makes it easier players and collectors to obtain cards at lower prices. Lower prices would not favour the Poke Investors who want to buy low and sell high.
Image from TCGPlayer:
Pokemon Tournament Results Do Affect Card Prices Of Some Cards
I type this out in early February 2024. As of late Giratina VStar decks are really popular and so are Charizard ex decks. These two decks have been winning or having placing top 8 the last two or three big regional tournaments. Because of these tournament results the price of Giratina VStar have increased. In the Toronto are one copy of Giratina VStar has gone up from something like 10 CAD to 15 CAD per copy. Prices for Charizard ex are still high but you can find low cost Charizard ex copies from Paldean Fates for about 10 CAD each compared to 22 CAD each from Obsidian Flames.
Image from TCGPlayer:
The Case of Entei V From Nov 2024 to Feb 2024
Before the Paradox Rift expansion Entei V was not too expensive. I was able to get one copy for 3 CAD. When the Paradox Rift expansion released the price of Entei V skyrocketed to 10 or 12 CAD per copy. This was because of the one second place regional tournament placement of the Entei Iron Valiant deck.
As of February 2024 the price of Entei V went down to 5 CAD in my area. Entei Iron Valiant decks are no longer super popular. The decks are somewhat competitive.
Reprint Of Cards & Recent Paldean Fates Set
What I like from the Pokemon TCG is that they keep the costs of cards low. They do with reprints of certain cards in new sealed products as well as they do reprints in special trading card game expansions. The latest Pokemon TCG expansion is Paldean Fates .
Paldean Fates features reprints of many cards from the Scarlet & Violet Base Set, Paldea Evolved and Obsidian Flames. This set also includes some new cards. Cards like Iono from Paldea Evolvedthat were priced at 4 CAD are more affordable at 1 or 2 CAD from Paldean Fates . The reprints of Nest Ball in Paldean Fates are nice. One copy of Nest Ball would be 50 cents each from Paldean Fates versus 2 or 3 CAD per copy from the Scarlet & Violet Base Set.
A copy of Nest Ball prior to Paldean Fates was around 1 to 2 CAD. With the release of Paldean Fates it is not too hard to find one for 35 cents or 50 cents CAD in the Toronto area.
