The value of Pokémon Trading Card Game cards is more important now than ever before. The rise of Pokémon TCG investing in recent years has emphasized singles more than packs or boxes, which used to be the safer, more desirable merchandise for traders. Consequently, investors have focused their attention toward VMAX, Full Art, and Secret Rare cards due to their scarcity and desirability. Though each of these three types of cards are highly sought after, one must be the most valuable of all.
Technically, Full Arts and VMAXs can be Secret Rares, and most VMAXs are either Full Arts or Alt Arts. Still, individually, each of these categories can offer value to Pokémon TCG collectors. VMAX cards feature Pokémon with stats and abilities they may not usually have, like with Fusion Strike’s Mew VMAX, and Secret Rares are usually the most anticipated in the lead-up to any set release because of their mystique.
Secret Rares Are Consistently The Most Valuable Pokémon Cards
When it comes to the Pokémon Sun and Moon and Sword and Shield series, Secret Rares are consistently among the highest valued cards. This will likely remain the case going forward as well, unless an even more lucrative classification of card comes to the Pokémon TCG when the Scarlet and Violet sets release. Any list of most expensive cards of the last few years will feature almost entirely Secret Rares, including Screen Rant's own most valuable Pokémon TCG cards from 2022. The reason for this has much to do with the fact that many cards only become Secret Rares because they are a combination of VMAX and Full Art cards, which makes them rarer and more desirable.
Why Secret Rares Are So Valuable In The Pokémon TCG
The reasoning behind the high value of Secret Rares in the Pokémon TCG has to do with how the rarity levels of Pokémon cards work. There are four basic levels of rarity: Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Promo. Within the Rare category, though, there are an additional five. all of the Pokémon TCG's Secret Rares (which includes Rainbow Rares and Alt-Arts).
Though Ultra Rares and Full Arts have clear definitions as to what the cards will look like, Secret Rares do not: their only definitive trait is that their card number will lie outside the deck number. The Pokémon TCG thus makes Secret Rares especially desirable cards by combining attributes of VMAX and Full Arts. And in combining them, Secret Rares become more valuable than VMAXs and Full Arts on their own.
For instance, there are Ultra Rare cards that, in theory, should net a Pokémon TCG collector a good deal of money, like the VMAX Pikachu from Pokémon TCG's Vivid Voltage expansion. However, TCGPlayer lists its value (at the time of writing) at only $4.75, and its past value has peaked $8.88. In contrast, the Rainbow Rare Full Art (i.e., the Secret Rare) version of the same card is listed at $144.64 on TCGPlayer.
With these Pikachu cards, the Secret Rare label brings the value out of its design by making its Full Art and VMAX design even scarcer than it was before. And as has been suggested by the aforementioned list of most valuable Pokémon TCG cards, this pattern generally repeats, meaning Secret Rares are consistently more valuable than other cards in this way.
Sources: Bleeding Cool, Eva's Binder/YouTube, TCGPlayer (Ultra Rare Pikachu, Secret Rare Pikachu)
