The Trophy Pikachu Is Already a Record, and the Auction Just Opened

Goldin's 2026 Pokemon 30th Anniversary auction is live and closes October 25. The lot everyone is watching, the 1997 Gold 1st Place 1st Tournament Trophy Pikachu in PSA 8, the only copy PSA has ever graded, stood at $2,225,000 before the 22 percent premium on October 10, $2,714,500 with it, after 29 bids. The record for any Trophy Pikachu is $1,769,000, set by a Bronze 3rd Place in May. It fell in pre-bidding.

Why This One: The card was handed to the winner of the first official Pokemon TCG tournament, at Makuhari Messe in June 1997. There is one Gold 1st Place card per tournament, and this is the first one the market has seen in a slab. The Bronze that sold for $1.77 million was a PSA 10; this is a PSA 8, and it is already 25 percent higher, which tells you what population-one does to the grade ladder.

The Rest of the Board: As of the same read, a BGS 10 Skyridge Gengar at $122,000 (a PSA 10 of the same card sold for $150,000 on eBay in August), a PSA 10 Legendary Collection Charizard at $110,000, a PSA 10 Black Star Eevee League promo at $110,000, a sealed EX Deoxys box at $110,000, and a PSA 10 Gold Star Mewtwo at $105,000. Eleven days to go.

The Long View: We ran the Index back to June 1 and gave it a permanent home. Vintage stands at 123.8, up about 24 percent in four and a half months; modern is at 100.4, flat. The grey band is the two weeks in September when the engine produced no new comps; the step that follows is the catch-up. Everything on the page updates with every issue: thepackreport.com/pack-report-index.

Two Markets: Vintage has not had a down month since the series starts. Modern has traded in a four-point band the whole time, because every modern set is still being printed or reprinted into its own demand. The Index is a proprietary model built by Rip Station; the page explains how, and what it is not.

Vintage +2.5%, the Biggest Reading Yet: Unseen Forces +12%

The Pack Report Index tracks two baskets: the ten most-traded cards in each of twelve vintage sets (1999-2007) and twelve modern sets (2016 on), priced by Rip Station's engine from public comps, grade by grade, and compared with the same day last week.

Widest Week Yet: Vintage added 2.5%, the largest weekly reading since the series began, and the breadth matched it: 80 of 118 cards up, 14 down. EX Unseen Forces led at +11.6% on the Entei and Lugia ex lanes, Neo Genesis +6.8%, Expedition +6.7%, EX Deoxys +5.2% with its Goldin box on the block. Modern added 0.5%: Fates Collide +9.0%, Evolutions +5.4% and BREAKpoint +3.9% woke up, Ascended Heroes fell 3.8% again.

Vintage sets

Modern sets

The Index is a proprietary model built by Rip Station, which publishes The Pack Report. Method, full history and the trend chart: thepackreport.com/pack-report-index.

What a PSA 2 Is Worth

This issue's quiz card is a 2001 Neo Discovery Umbreon holo in PSA 2. Good, in PSA's vocabulary: creased, worn, played. Our estimate on it is $432, and it sits in the $200 machine.

Why a 2 Holds Money: Three things. Umbreon is one of the five or six characters whose every card carries a premium, grade or no grade. Neo Discovery holos were pulled, played and traded in 2001, so the surviving population leans heavily toward low grades and a clean copy is scarce; the PSA 10 is a four-figure card. And a PSA 2 is still authenticated: the buyer knows it is real, which on a 25-year-old holo is most of what they are paying for.

The Rule: On a chase card, every grade has a floor and the floor is set by the art and the name. On a common, the floor is zero below a 9. Before you dismiss a low grade, look at what the 10 sells for: if the 10 is four figures, the 2 is not junk.

• Pocket's Big Month: Ranked Season 18 opens today in Pokemon TCG Pocket, the Mega Garchomp ex drop runs October 15 to 25, a Charmander and Drampa Wonder Pick follows on the 18th, and the next full expansion lands October 30, the app's second anniversary week.
• Ten Days to Prerelease: Delta Reign Build and Battle boxes hit Play! Pokemon stores on October 24, each with one of four foil promos: Masquerain, Magmortar, Enamorus or Kommo-o. Pokemon Center's first preorder wave of boosters, ETBs and bundles sold out on opening.
• Forty Staples: The Deck Crafter's Collection ships October 23: 40 tournament-staple cards including Meowth ex, with dividers and a booster, aimed at players building from the 30th Celebration Battle Decks that follow on the 30th.
• Gengar, Again: Goldin's BGS 10 Skyridge Gengar stood at $122,000 on October 10, seven weeks after a PSA 10 of the same card sold for $150,000 on eBay. Two six-figure results on one crystal-era holo in two months; Skyridge is the only Wizards set up in each of the last three Index readings.

Three Four-Figure Pulls From the $500 Machine in One Afternoon

Rip Check: 771 packs by 91 collectors in the seven days to Wednesday, against 470 by 97 the week before: a similar crowd ripping two thirds more. The $25 machine led with 428, the $50 machine did 130, and the $500 machine had its busiest week at 74. All-time: 19,077.

Pulls of the Week: Tuesday afternoon, three rips of the $500 machine inside four hours: a 2011 Call of Legends Lugia shiny in PSA 5, estimated at $4,500, nine times the ticket; a 2007 EX Power Keepers Charizard holo in PSA 9 ($1,400); and a 2002 Neo Destiny Shining Charizard in PSA 3 ($1,388), which is this issue's Grade Expectations in one card. Last Thursday evening the $250 machine gave up a 2009 Supreme Victors Charizard G in PSA 10 ($2,405). The $50 ladder runs through October 27. See what is live HERE.