don't neglect the IR tier as a spending category Join TCGPlayer waitlists for the Elite Trainer Box if your local store is sold out secondary market ETBs were running 30-50% above MSRP at launch but normalize faster than booster boxes Master set including all 165 reverse holos brings total to 409 cards a dedicated 4-inch D-ring binder handles this comfortably, but budget $200-300 for sleeves, holders, and organization supplies If you only want the top three: Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex SIR, Cynthia's Garchomp ex SIR, and Ethan's Ho-Oh ex SIR are the three cards most collectors display from this set and together they cover the villain-vs-hero framing the set is built around Market Insights Top chase values (April 2026): Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex SIR $484-537, Cynthia's Garchomp ex SIR $193-278, Ethan's Ho-Oh ex SIR $143-226, Team Rocket's Moltres ex SIR $115-142, Team Rocket's Nidoking ex SIR $100-125 Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex SIR represents 26% of total set value by itself one of the more top-heavy distributions in the SV era outside of Prismatic Evolutions
Time Stamps : 00:04:08 - Match 1 00:24:11 - Match 2 00:33:34 - Match 3 00:44:11 - Match 4 01:01:06 - Match 5 Mono Red Madness | Historic | Jim Davis Creatures (25) 1 Ox of Agonas 4 Blazing Rootwalla 4 Bomat Courier 4 Dragon's Rage Channeler 4 Magmatic Channeler 4 Managorger Phoenix 4 Seasoned Pyromancer Instants (8) 4 Fiery Temper 4 Unholy Heat Sorceries (9) 2 Pillar of Flame 3 Shatterskull Smashing 4 Faithless Looting Lands (18) 12 Mountain 2 Den of the Bugbear 4 Ramunap Ruins Sideboard (15) 2 Grim Lavamancer 3 Goblin Chainwhirler 2 Roiling Vortex 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance 3 Abrade 3 Soul-Guide Lantern Not too shabby
In Part 1, I reviewed the evolution of rarity through the end of the original ex era, at which time, there were 7 Official Rarity designations: Common (C) Uncommon (U) Rare (R) Rare Holo (H) Rare Holo ex (ex) Rare Holo gold star (GS) Secret Rare (SR) Todays article finishes the historic overview of rarity in the TCG and proposes solutions that PCI could incorporate to simplify rarity going forward
Why Trainers Matter: Trainer cards often get overlooked initially but can become highly valuable as sets age
Propaganda and Snuff Out are decent reprints, but theres little else of big financial value
