Published on October 23, 2023
We got good reception on our Scarlet & Violet base post. We’ll continue the series discussing Paldea Evolved. Paldea Evolved evolves from Scarlet & Violet base set in a good way. The ETB features all 3 Paldea starters. We bought one booster box and got decent pulls. themandalorian and I didn’t know but the set is big, 279 cards big. The value of packs have gone down, but not as much as Scarlet & Violet base. We’ll consider that a step in the right direction.
Original price on Pokémon Center for a Paldea Evolved booster box: 161.64 or $4.49 a pack. It’s not sold out yet.
Current price on tcgplayer: 93.17 or 2.59 a pack. Scarlet & Violet base was $2.36 a pack.
That’s a loss of 43% in 4 months. It’s a lower loss than Scarlet & Violet base set. That doesn’t make it a great investment. Our best pull was Dendra #266 (on sale here on eBay). We love the card and it’s always a blast getting a Special Illustration Rare. We noted that pulls were hard to get in this booster box and decided not to invest more.
Paldea Evolved details
There are 279 cards in the set. 80 cards are ranked above $3. That’s a concentration value of 28.67% (80/279). That tells us what percentage of the set had any value. I only looked at the illustration rares or better, starting with Heracross #194. The total value is calculated at $741.22, excluding commons, uncommons, and rares. That’s more than double Scarlet and Violet base. At a pack price of $2.59 each, you could theoretically collect the entire set in 287 packs.
Can we take a moment to say Magikarp is stunning art? The detail, the complexity, the depth. Kudos to Shinji Kanda. Bonus: I never noticed the Gyarados the first time, at the top of the card.
The bad and good
Much of what we wrote for Scarlet and Violet base applies to Paldea Evolved.
- We’re relieved there is no Charizard in this set. It takes away the focus from everything else.
- This set is awful for collectors and investors
- It was overprinted, leading to dramatic losses in value
- Production was easily reduced by 2 to 3% from Scarlet & Violet base. More to go, but a positive step.
- This makes collecting and investing in these sets difficult
- We’ll be offloading most of this set on Shopify and eBay over time, focusing on 151.
- What stinks for collectors is great for buyers
- There is so much stock everywhere, it is easy to get a good deal or buy a lot for cheap for the holidays
- If you are looking to get an individual card or complete the set, the lower prices makes it much easier to obtain and get what you want
- The large set makes collecting the whole set a challenge
- Paldea Evolved ETB’s are $67 for 2 on StockX, and even cheaper at tcgplayer, with 1 going for $29.59.
- https://stockx.com/pokemon-tcg-2023-scarlet-violet-paldea-evolved-elite-trainer-box-2x-lot
- https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/493974/pokemon-sv02-paldea-evolved-paldea-evolved-elite-trainer-box
- Considering the value of Paldea Evolved is almost double Scarlet and Violet base set, and the packs are reasonably close in price, it makes sense to spend more on these packs than base set packs.
- The art work surprises and delights, with unexpected winners in the set
- The gold cards are mostly a lower value than the full art holos. Example, Chien-Pao #274 gold is valued at $9.69. Chien-pao #261 is valued at $21.87.
- We would rather own cosmos holo energies than gold energies
- There may be scope to get rid of gold cards, similar to how Pokémon TCG got rid of rainbow cards
- The basic and stage 2 Pokémon tend to be valued more than the Stage 1 Pokémon.
- Fuecoco #201 $11.87
- Crocalor $5
- Skeledirge $14.5
We’ll perform a similar analysis on Obsidian Flames and Paradox Rift. Our expectation is Paradox Rift will start with high prices and drop lower over the coming months. Our focus remains on S&V 151 cards and completing the base set.
Notes:
(1) Pokémon Center Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet-Paldea Evolved Booster Display Box (36 Packs) https://www.pokemoncenter.com/product/699-86349/pokemon-tcg-scarlet-and-violet-paldea-evolved-booster-display-box-36-packs
(2) tcgplayer Paldea Evolved Booster Box – SV02: Paldea Evolved (SV02) https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/493975/pokemon-sv02-paldea-evolved-Paldea%20Evolved%20Booster%20Box
(3) Our Linktree to see our eBay, social media and Shopify sites: https://linktr.ee/Pokeashvmax
All prices from pricecharting.com unless noted.
Wish you well on your pulls!
Sincerely yours,
smilingdad
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