Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: Charizard, Darkness Ablaze, pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG

Pokémon TCG Value Watch: Darkness Ablaze In December 2021

The Pokémon TCG is an ever-changing and unpredictable market. Last year, we saw renewed interest in the hobby due to a number of factors including the coming 25th Anniversary, a strong launch for Sword & Shield-era sets, influencers, box breaks, COVID-19 lockdown pushing people to find hobbies, and more. Sets and cards that were readily available quickly became difficult to find. Now, every month, I will do an installment of this series, Pokémon TCG Value Watch. This series is not financial advice but is rather a way to help collectors know the trajectory of a card's availability so that Pokémon TCG completionists like myself know when to strike. Today, let's see how the cards of Sword & Shield – Darkness Ablaze, which came out in August 2020, are doing now in December 2021.

Here are the top valued cards of Pokémon TCG: Sword & Shield – Darkness Ablaze with market values observed on TCGPlayer as of this writing:

1. Charizard VMAX 020/189: $55.27
2. Capture Energy Gold Secret Rare 201/189: $20.03
3. Shiny Rillaboom Gold Secret Rare 197/189: $13.54
4. Eternatus VMAX Rainbow Rare 192/189: $13.01
5. Salamence VMAX Rainbow Rare 194/189: $12.54
6. Butterfree VMAX Rainbow Rare 190/189: $10.27
7. Scizor VMAX Rainbow Rare 193/189: $9.99
8. Shiny Coalossal Gold Secret Rare 198/189: $9.11
9. Charizard V 019/189: $8.02
10. Centiskorch VMAX Rainbow Rare 191/189: $7.04

What we're seeing here is a bit of market correction. Last month's Pokémon TCG Value Watch encouraged collectors to act on Sword & Shield – Darkness Ablaze, as I doubted card prices could possibly get lower. It is likely that many others besides myself noticed the dramatic dip in prices due to Darkness Ablaze getting a reprint. Now, the market corrects itself because those collectors end up seeing the low prices and buying cards, which decreases the number of cards on the market and shows sellers that there is interest, which then goes on to once again increase the price.

Right now, Charizard VMAX remains the big hit of the set. It has risen almost $10 USD since November 2021, which makes sense to me. For a Charizard chase card, even if it's a standard VMAX, $46 feels low. I still encourage acting on this set now, as most of the other cards have only risen a few dollars. It is still a relatively affordable set to buy singles from compared to virtually any other Sword & Shield-era set.

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