What to target in Scarlet & Violet

The top 10 cards are 49% of the set’s $691.00 estimated singles cost — plan these first and the rest follows on a normal budget.

The value here concentrates heavily in the top illustration cards — roughly half the set's total chase cost lives in a handful of names led by Gardevoir ex's Special Illustration Rare. That card is the one collectors genuinely love: it's the emotional and financial anchor of the set, and demand for it is driven as much by the artwork and the Gardevoir fanbase as by any deck. Miraidon ex and Miriam's SIRs are the other premium pieces, and they carry real desirability as era-defining, first-of-a-generation cards.

Below the SIRs sits the Illustration Rare tier, and this is where sv1 is quietly rich. The Ralts–Kirlia line, Drowzee, Slowpoke, Wiglett, Fidough and Riolu are all inexpensive individually but collectively beloved — these are the cards people actually enjoy owning rather than just budget filler. None of the set breaks into the truly high price bands, so this is a landscape where you're chasing charm and completeness more than trophy value. That's a healthy thing: the cards collectors love and the cards that cost money are largely the same cards here.

#	Card	Number	Rarity	Market	PSA 10
1	Gardevoir ex	#245	Special Illustration Rare	$67.62	$211.90
2	Drowzee	#210	Illustration Rare	$46.43	$1,000.00
3	Ralts	#211	Illustration Rare	$40.43	$735.00
4	Slowpoke	#204	Illustration Rare	$38.03	$797.00
5	Kirlia	#212	Illustration Rare	$35.39	$582.71
6	Riolu	#215	Illustration Rare	$30.18	$620.00
7	Fidough	#213	Illustration Rare	$22.19	$332.50
8	Greavard	#214	Illustration Rare	$20.61	$565.00
9	Miraidon ex	#244	Special Illustration Rare	$20.12	$129.36
10	Wiglett	#206	Illustration Rare	$19.71	$599.57

How Scarlet & Violet is built

The smart way to complete Scarlet & Violet

The smart approach to sv1 is to treat it as two projects: lock down the handful of Special Illustration Rares first, then grind the deep but affordable Illustration Rare and ultra-rare pool. Because no single card sits in a punishing price band, a master set here is more about patience and volume than about one budget-wrecking purchase.

1. Secure the marquee SIRs first — Gardevoir ex, Miraidon ex and Miriam — since they anchor both the value and the emotional core of the set.
2. Complete the Illustration Rare run next: the Ralts–Kirlia line, Drowzee, Slowpoke, Wiglett, Fidough, Riolu and the rest are cheap individually and the most rewarding to own.
3. Fill in the double-rare ex cards and full-art Trainers, which form the bulk of the secret-rare numbering.
4. Add the ultra rares and gold/hyper rares that close out the 258-card total.
5. Backfill the 198-card base set — commons, uncommons and regular holos — which is fast and inexpensive to complete.
6. Decide on a grading pass at the end, sending only the IRs and ex cards that clear the fee math in top condition.

Collecting challenges

The good news: nothing in sv1 sits in a nosebleed price band, so no single card blocks completion. The challenge is breadth — 258 cards including 58 secret rares means the ultra-rare and gold tiers add up even when each piece is affordable. As the literal first set of the era it was printed heavily, so singles are plentiful, but that same volume means condition sorting matters when you're chasing gradeable copies.

Singles or sealed?

Because sv1 was the era's launch set and printed in enormous quantity, singles are abundant and the chase cards don't sit in extreme price bands — that tilts the math toward buying singles for anyone focused on completion. Sealed product still makes sense if you value the opening experience, want gradeable copies straight from packs, or like holding a foundational set's sealed boxes for nostalgia. The live figures on this page show exactly where the crossover lands, but as a rule the deep IR pool is cheaper to assemble card-by-card than to hit through packs.

Sealed product comparison

Scarlet & Violet pull-rate estimates

Community-estimated era averages from large pack-opening aggregates — not official Pokémon data. “Specific card” is the expected packs for ONE particular card of that rarity.

Scarlet & Violet promo cards

Black Star promos tied to Scarlet & Violet — from its ETBs, collection boxes and prerelease events. They live in the Scarlet & Violet Black Star Promos set, so a true master-set run includes them separately.

Sprigatito#1 · Prerelease promo$11.36Fuecoco#2 · Prerelease promo$5.35Quaxly#3 · Prerelease promo$2.86Mimikyu ex#4 · Elite Trainer Box promo$1.74Quaquaval#5 · Prerelease promo$1.42Pawmot#6 · Prerelease promo$2.04Hawlucha#7 · Prerelease promo$132.99Revavroom#8 · Prerelease promo$1.36Spidops#9 · Prerelease promo$0.34Espathra#10 · Prerelease promo$0.35Arcanine#11 · Prerelease promo$2.53Dondozo#12 · Prerelease promo$0.31Miraidon#13 · Collection box promo$4.70Koraidon#14 · Collection box promo$4.70Miraidon ex#28 · Collection box promo$0.71Koraidon ex#29 · Collection box promo$0.60Meowscarada ex#33 · Collection box promo$1.10Skeledirge ex#34 · Collection box promo$0.84Quaquaval ex#35 · Collection box promo$0.73Fidough#69 · Prerelease promo$0.84Greavard#70 · Prerelease promo$0.71Maschiff#71 · Prerelease promo$0.66Great Tusk ex#72 · Elite Trainer Box promo$10.57Iron Treads ex#73 · Elite Trainer Box promo$0.80Sprigatito#76 · Elite Trainer Box promo$12.59Floragato#77 · Elite Trainer Box promo$3.11Meowscarada ex#78 · Elite Trainer Box promo$6.66Fuecoco#79 · Elite Trainer Box promo$6.05Crocalor#80 · Elite Trainer Box promo$1.88Skeledirge ex#81 · Elite Trainer Box promo$3.75Quaxly#82 · Elite Trainer Box promo$1.75Quaxwell#83 · Elite Trainer Box promo$1.65Quaquaval ex#84 · Elite Trainer Box promo$2.42

Which Scarlet & Violet cards are worth grading?

Grading in sv1 pays off in a narrow but real band: the affordable-but-beloved Illustration Rares. Cards like Drowzee, Kirlia, Riolu and Slowpoke — plus the Spidops ex — are the ones where a clean gem-grade copy clears the grading fee, precisely because the raw cost is low and the demand for pristine IRs is high. The SIRs are worth grading too when you find flawless copies, but the everyday grading value is in that IR tier.

The catch is condition. As an early SV-era set, sv1 cards show the same factory quirks as the rest of the generation — surface scratching on the textured foil, edge whitening, and centering variance. That means raw copies need careful inspection before you commit to grading fees; the difference between a gem and a near-miss is small on these cards and it decides whether the submission is worth it.

Tier 1 — grade theseWorth grading

Positive expected value after ~$25 fees at live PSA prices and this set's real gem rates.

Gardevoir ex #245raw $67.62 → PSA 10 $211.90 3.1×EV +$42.98Drowzee #210raw $46.43 → PSA 10 $1,000.00 21.5×EV +$159.71Ralts #211raw $40.43 → PSA 10 $735.00 18.2×EV +$68.48Slowpoke #204raw $38.03 → PSA 10 $797.00 21×EV +$89.11Kirlia #212raw $35.39 → PSA 10 $582.71 16.5×EV +$83.36Riolu #215raw $30.18 → PSA 10 $620.00 20.5×EV +$80.02

Tier 3 — personal collectionCollection only

Fees eat most of the margin. Grade to preserve a pristine pull, not for profit.

Koraidon ex #247raw $19.45 → PSA 10 $107.18 5.5×EV +$16.93Miriam #251raw $18.37 → PSA 10 $95.72 5.2×EV +$9.59Great Tusk ex #246raw $12.46 → PSA 10 $90.00 7.2×EV +$17.73

Premiums and EV use tonight’s PSA prices and this set’s real gem rates — not projections.

What collectors say about Scarlet & Violet

Collectors regard sv1 fondly as the true base set of the Scarlet & Violet generation — the set that established the new frame, the new ex mechanic and the Illustration Rare tiers everyone now chases. The consensus praise centers on the artwork, especially Gardevoir ex and the Ralts line, which many call some of the most charming cards of the early era. The common gripe is that the set feels a little top-light on value: outside the headline SIRs there's no huge money card, which some see as a feature (approachable) and others as a knock (nothing to truly chase).

Creators on Scarlet & Violet

▶Did I Get A Super Rare Pokemon Card? Scarlet & Violet Pokemon Card Pack Opening #pokemontcg #pokémonAgon Built▶A New Generation of Pokemon Cards is Here...Scarlet & Violet!PokeRev▶TOP 5 Pokemon cards from Scarlet & VioletMattculli▶I Opened EVERY Scarlet & Violet Elite Trainer BoxMystic Rips

Synthesized from widely-reported collector consensus — see a take that’s off? Use the report link on any card page.

Protect your Scarlet & Violet cards

Even a modest set deserves basic protection — condition is most of a card’s value.

Affiliate links — purchases support CardPrice at no extra cost. Full guide: how to build & store a master set.

Where Scarlet & Violet goes from here

Supply is the defining fact here: as the launch set of an era, Scarlet & Violet was printed in massive quantity and remained available for a long window, so raw commons and even many rares are abundant. That caps the upside on the bulk of the set — there's simply a lot of it. What sustains long-term interest is the set's status as the foundational "base set" of the generation, and the enduring appeal of its best artwork. Cards like the Gardevoir ex SIR tend to hold collector attention because they're loved, not because they're scarce.

Realistically, the durable value lives at the top — the marquee SIRs and the best-loved IRs in gem-grade condition — while the middle and bottom of the set stays cheap and plentiful. Reprint risk is a genuine consideration for individual popular Pokémon, but a well-preserved sealed box or a graded flagship card carries the sentimental weight of being from where the era began. Treat it as a collector's set first; collect what you love and the value takes care of itself.

Not financial advice — live prices and trends are above, collect what you love.

Related Scarlet & Violet sets

Scarlet & Violet Energies2023 · 8 cardsPaldea Evolved2023 · 279 cardsScarlet & Violet Black Star Promos2023 · 196 cardsObsidian Flames2023 · 230 cards

Scarlet & Violet — frequently asked questions