Pokémon TCG: Glory of Team Rocket Japanese Single Prices Have Crashed, Here’s What You Can Pick Up

While we wait for Destined Rivals to land in the US on May 30, collectors are already snapping up singles from the Japanese Glory of Team Rocket sets, and now’s the perfect time to join them. The initial hype has peaked, and bloated prices are falling fast.

This isn’t just the usual post-release cooldown, it’s a mix of wider stock availability and Pokébro investors moving on, making it far more affordable to pick up cards individually rather than gambling on overpriced sealed boxes (no matter how appealing that is!). Here’s why buying singles could be the smart move for collectors in the US right now.

TL;DR: Single Card Prices Are Crashing

Just look at the current value of Japanese booster boxes for The Glory of Team Rocket set, more than double the shelf price right now. We haven’t seen overpricing like this since 151, but I think we’re looking at the light at the end of the tunnel for stock shortages of Pokémon TCG worldwide.

Take Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex SIR for example; sold listing were at the $500 mark starting 20th April, which has nose dived down to around $370.77 over the past couple of days. A strong start when it comes to market correction.

Then there’s Team Rocket’s Moltres ex SIR, going from a few sales at around $250 to $163. Granted, it’s not a dramatic drop, but that’s a $87 drop in the space of a week or so. Not bad. These price drops happening sooner shows us that more scalpers are leaving our hobby, which means artificial bloating on release is down.

Most Affordable Team Rocket Cards

It’s not all about the ridiculously expensive chase cards however, with Glory of Team Rocket’s Super Rare ex and Hyper Rare ex variants looking stunning. These cards are usually over looked in each set, which is great for trainers like me and you.

However, we can see that it’s not just us thinking this with certain cards like Team Rocket’s Mewtwo Super Rare ex, which has climbed in value by $6 and change since release to $38.75. Following Journey Together’s artstyle of the full color Pokémon with an outline of their trainer in the background, these cards are worth snapping up.

Maybe it’s just a Mewtwo thing? Team Rocket’s Nidoking Super Rare ex is performing as expected, dropping from $26 with some stability at $12.94. it’s an iconic card for generation one fans and watchers of the first season of the Pokémon anime, not to mention it looks more menacing than Brock with a frying pan. This is one of those cards to buy now and watch it climb down the road, the same goes for Moltres and Crowbat.

Best Team Rocket Trainer Cards

There’s some peak nostalgia here from generation one and two here, specifically Giovanni and Ariana. The former being the don of Team Rocket who players take down in Kanto, and Ariana serving as the second interim boss of Team Rocket in Johto.

There’s not much data on Giovanni 129/098 right now, but it features Team Rocket’s leadership alongside the boss himself. It’s likely to hold it’s value at around the $17 mark, so if it comes up cheaper, grab it. A rule of thumb with this set; if it’s Giovanni or Mewtwo, expect to pay out of your nose for it.

Team Rocket’s Ariana 128/098 is a stunning artwork variant of the standard trainer art, sporting prices between $17 and $18 and rightly so. Again, the set hasn’t been out long enough to judge the value of this card properly, but any listing for under $18 is a good deal right now.

Best Team Rocket Art Rares

Some of the best artwork in the Scarlet and Violet era belongs to illustration rares and art rares. They’re cheap and look amazing, easily some of the most slept on cards in the TCG. If you’re looking for your collection to span binders, grow in value and look good whilst doing it? This is the way forward for you.

Coming in higher than most right now is Team Rocket’s Meowth 109/098, sitting at around $19.25 at the time of writing. That’s a fall of nearly $20 from the launch of The Glory of Team Rocket, which is to be expected so close to launch. But the link to this Pokémon and Team Rocket is iconic to say the least (Where the hell is Jesse and James in this set?). It looks like this card is still crashing, so anything below the $20 mark is an awesome deal.

For some reason, Blaziken 101/098 is crashing card right now. This artwork is incredible, showing off exactly why this generation three starter Pokémon is a fan favorite. These are usually all traits that go into a Pokémon card having a nice climb, which tells me this is a card to snap up rigt now. It’s even playable thanks to it’s Infernal Legs attacks, dealing 120 damage to your opponents active Pokémon and another 120 damage to a benched Pokémon. This card could literally snag a trainer two prize cards in one move, which is another reason why it should be worth more.

If you really want to open boosters of The Glory of Team Rocket despite the price tags and five card count of Japanese packs, go for it. But there’s some serious bargains to be had on single cards. Just to note, pricing mentioned in this article are correct at the time of writing. Also, stock may go in and out due to TCG Player being a live secondary marketplace. But that’s what makes it fun, right? If you missed the Charizard Sam’s club deal, this it might be worth checking back in to see if it’s still available.

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Christian Wait is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything collectable and deals. Christian has over 7 years of experience in the Gaming and Tech industry with bylines at Mashable and Pocket-Tactics. Christian also makes hand-painted collectibles for Saber Miniatures. Christian is also the author of “Pokemon Ultimate Unofficial Gaming Guide by GamesWarrior”. Find Christian on X @ChrisReggieWait.