Pokemon Card Rarities: The Ultimate Guide

Pokemon card rarities are confusing. Since 1996, there have been many types of cards and rarities. Everything from Common Cards to Secret Rares. These different Rarities are essential to understanding how scarce and valuable a card is.

This Ultimate Guide will clarify how the rarity system works. So you will know which cards are rare and are worth keeping.

Contents

What Are The Pokemon Rarities

Specific Rarities

Promo Cards

How To Check Rarity

There are many Pokemon Card Rarities. The Pokemon Company assigns all rarities. These rarities suggest how scarce a card is. Each has different attributes and values. The main rarities are:

• Common

• Uncommon

• Rare

• Double Rare

• Ultra Rare

• Illustration Rare

• Special Illustration Rare

• Hyper Rare

What Are The Pokemon Rarities?

Before the Scarlet & Violet sets, things were simpler. There were Common, uncommon, and rare cards. However, there were 4 types of "rare" cards:

• Regular Rare: Just a normal rare card, with no fancy effects.

• Holo Rare: A rare card with a shiny foil picture.

• Ultra Rare: An extra-powerful rare card, often with unique features.

• Secret Rare: A super-rare card hidden outside the main set numbering.

Now, there are many more types of rarities, like Double Rares, Illustration Rares, and Hyper Rares. So, what used to be called just "Rare" is now split into these new categories to show how special each card is.

There are also Promo Cards. Promotional cards aren’t sold in packs. Instead, they are given out at Special events or sold as extras in Pokemon Products.

Common is the lowest rarity. A Black circle represents Common cards. Most cards within the common rarity are basic Pokemon cards. These cards pack little punch and are easy to find. Common cards are easy to find and each booster pack has at least 4 common cards.

However, Common cards have some value. Firstly, these cards are basic. So they are essential when playing the game because, at the start of a game, you must place a basic Pokemon in the active position. You also need these cards to evolve into better Pokemon cards. So common cards that evolve into strong Pokemon or that are strong can be worth more than usual.

Some old Common cards can be worth a lot. These common cards are a part of sets so long ago that even they are worth a large chunk. For example, this base set Pikachu without a Shadow is worth over $150. Even though it's common. All common cards will have a reverse-holo variant. These are cards with a special holo effect on the card itself.

Common Rarity

Uncommon Rarity

Uncommon cards are usually middle evolution cards, but not always. Stepping up from Common, Uncommon cards are bolder than their peers, yet not quite rare treasures. They sport a distinctive black diamond, and some even come in a flashy reverse-holo version.

Rare Rarity

Rare cards are much more valuable. A black star symbol represents the Rare category. Before the Scarlet & Violet era, every card after uncommon was classed as rare. Including regular rares to Hyper Rares. So cards older than March of 2023, the rare category is much broader.

Within the 4 old “rare” subcategories: Regular Rare, Holo Rare, Ultra Rare, and Secret Rare. Types of older cards included in the Rare category before Scarlet & Violet are:

• EX

• ex

• GX

• Legend

• LV.X

• Prime

• Star

• Mega ex

• Rainbow Rare

• Golden Rare

New cards in the Scarlet & Violet era with the single star are regular rares. These rare cards have a special holo foil. This gives the card’s artwork a shine. Like common and uncommon cards, rare cards can have a reverse-holo variant.

Double Rare Rarity

In Scarlet & Violet, Double rares are all regular-version Pokemon ex. In future sets, the Double Rare category might expand to more types of cards rather than just ex. Double Rare cards are roughly equivalent to regular V, Vstar, and Vmax cards in Sword & Shield. This new rarity is shown with 2 black stars.

Ultra Rare Rarity

All Ultra Rare cards in Scarlet & Violet are Full Art Pokemon and Full Art Trainers. A Full Art card is a unique card. That has an artwork that spreads across the entire card.

Ultra Rare cards are the first that fall into the old Secret Rare category. These are cards outside of the set. So they have a higher card number than the advertised set number. 2 Silver stars represent the Ultra Rare rarity.

Illustration Rare Rarity

Illustration Rares are fancy versions of regular cards. They have a special illustration known as an alternate artwork. These cards are quite rare and can be worth a large sum. They are also Secret Rare Cards. The symbol to represent this rarity is a single gold star.

Special Illustration Rare Rarity

Special Illustration Rare cards are illustration rares of unique cards. For Scarlet & Violet, these tend to be ex-cards and trainer cards. Just like illustration rare cards, they feature an alternate artwork.

This category is valuable. And most of these cards are worth quite a lot! 2 Gold stars represent this category.

Hyper Rare Rarity

Hyper Rare cards are gold versions of cards. These cards are the rarest and are incredibly hard to pull. Hyper rare cards won't always be more valuable than special illustration rares. These cards are also secret rares and have 3 gold stars as their symbol.

Promo Cards

A promo card is any card not sold in a pack. Promo Cards are created to promote a product, event, or milestone. These cards are more tricky to get your hands on. Different Promo cards are distributed. This will affect its rarity and how you can find them.

How To Check The Rarity of A Card

To check the rarity of a Pokemon card, look in the corner. Here, you should see one of the rarity symbols. However, remember that many older cards will have the rare symbol. Not accurately showing the card’s rarity.

To check more about the value of a card. Search for the card online. You can use TCGPlayer to see what the market value of a Pokemon card is.

Conclusion

Thank You for reading The Ultimate Guide To Pokemon Card Rarities. Check out our other articles about the new Temporal Forces set. And the 10 Most Valuable cards in it.