Tyler Robinson - January 29th, 2024
Sword & Shield:
The Rarest Pokémon Cards in the Set
Sword & Shield was released on November 15th, 2019 and for reasons that transpired in a few short months after its release, was one of the most popular modern Pokémon releases. On top of that, this series saw a whopping 27 different expansions to it’s set release as well as the introduction of V and VMAX cards. This is a list of each Sword and Shield expansion and that expansions rarest card.
Starting with the promo release that occurred throughout the sets lifetime but started during the initial release, SWSH296 / Champions Festival, World Championship Staff Card coming in at $462.50.
After the promo release we had SWSH01 Base Set and it’s rarest card was a trainer card 200/202, Marnie coming in at $42.00.
Next up is SWSH02 Rebel Clash with another trainer card being the rarest, 189/192 Boss’s Orders coming in at $51.24.
Next in the release order was SWSH03 Darkness Ablaze and it’s rarest card was 020/189 Charizard VMAX at $29.30.
Next up was a UK release sponsored by the Football Association called SWSH Futsal. This release was a 5-card release and the average price for it’s rarest card is currently $124.95, which is the 2/5 Eevee on the Ball.
Champion’s Path was released during the SWSH era and is considered to be in the same set, however, booster packs, boxes and cases were not sold, instead these cards were only available in certain boxed products. It’s rarest pull you could have obtained was 74/73 Charizard VMAX, secret rare which currently goes for $180.69.
SWSH04’s Vivid Voltage released a year after Sword & Shields U.S. debut and brought with it 188/185 Pikachu VMAX as it’s rarest possible pull coming in at $101.84.
Another SWSH era promo release was McDonald’s 25th Anniversary 25-card set which was available as the Happy Meal toy. It’s rarest possible pull was 025/025 Pikachu, worth $10.80.
Shining Fates which was another non-booster box, primarily boxed and tinned product release for large retail stores was next up in the SWSH timeline. It’s rarest possible pull was yet another trainer, 072/072 Skyla, worth $8.89.
Next up and a personal favorite, SWSH05 Battle Styles with loads of epic pulls saw 155/163 Tyranitar V, coming in at $75.19.
SWSH06 Chilling Reign released shortly after with the best pull and amazing art of 201/198 Blaziken VMAX, coming in at $167.49.
SWSH07 Evolving Skies, which had quite the market ups and downs due to a short run and then a sudden reprint, saw the best and most sought-after pack pull being 215/203 Umbreon VMAX, coming in at a crazy price of $493.21.
Pokémon celebrated its 25th Anniversary with a subset release of “Celebrations,” which had 2 x 25-card sets, one set was the newer Pokémon and the other set were some of the original Pokémon. This was also a boxed and tin release and the chase card was 025/025 Mew at $26.98.
SWSH08 Fusion Strike which released 2 years after the announcement of Sword and Shield, and it’s super rare pull would be 271/264 Gengar VMAX coming in at $219.99.
Brilliant Stars SWSH09, which has two releases, first is a trainer gallery release, meaning each Pokémon card is a full art card that displays a trainer alongside the Pokémon, saw the best pull come in as TG23/TG30 Umbreon VMAX, that is currently selling at $23.50.
Brilliant Stars SWSH09, non-trainer gallery, chase card was yet another 154/172 Charizard V, coming in at $121.00.
SWSH10: Astral Radiance Trainer Gallery chase card was an absolute classic, TG13/TG30 Starmie V, full art card that featured one of our favorite Pokémon trainers Misty, priced at $35.84.
SWSH10 Astral Radiance ultimate chase card was 172/189 Machamp V, currently priced at $82.53.
Pokémon Go which was released alongside SWSH, available only in special boxed products such as Elite Trainer Boxes and tins saw the chase card come in as 079/078 Mewtwo VSTAR, which retails at about $33.00.
2022-2023 saw yet another McDonalds Promo M23, which was a 15-card release available as the toy in Happy Meals, saw 006/015 Pikachu as the ultimate chase card coming in at $4.08.
Trick or Trade also occurring during the SWSH era was a special Halloween promo, saw a 30-card reprint of past Sword and Shield expansions such as Fusion Strike and Chilling Reign cards. The chase card here was a fitting 057/198 Gengar at an underwhelming $0.21 price tag. Note** The numbers and symbols were printed based on the set it was apart of, the only defining factor that it was a Halloween special was the holographic Pumpkin shaped Pikachu symbol.
SWSH11:TG, yet another trainer gallery release this time for Lost Origin, saw TG17/TG30 Pikachu VMAX with Ash come in as the ultimate chase card for $34.19.
SWSH11 Lost Origin, the third to last expansion release in the Sword and Shield set saw the highly sought after chase card, 186/196 Giratina V come in at $281.00.
SWSH12 Silver Tempest Trainer Gallery and it’s smash hit was TG20/TG30 Rayquaza VMAX coming in at $25.90.
SWSH12 Silver Tempest regular rarest card which was a 186/195 Lugia V, comes in currently at $138.23.
And finally, SWSH13 which had what was dubbed a The Galarian Gallery which was a 70-card subset available in Crown Zenith the last SWSH expansion and was made up of illustration rares, special illustration rares, and gold secret rares. The chase card here was a GG69/GG70 Giratina VSTAR coming in at $73.00.
SWSH13 Crown Zenith regular sets chase card was the Trainer Card 147/159 Elesa's Sparkle coming in at $22.62.
And that is the rarest cards and best pulls possible according to available market data for Sword and Shield. Comment below if you had the pleasure and luck of pulling any of these. Do you have a Umbreon VMAX?
Thanks for reading, from your friends at Booster Crate!
Related Posts
From the Vault: Lessons from Discontinued Trading Card Games
Yu-Gi-Oh! News: Phantom Nightmare & Full Card List
so cute
Some cards I’ve never even heard of before!
Not gonna lie coming back to Pokémon and I’m down bad for that geovomvi boss orders
Thanks for the article it was fun looking through which cards are valuable as someone who used to collect the original Pokémon cards as a kid.
very interesting blogs indeed