Top 10 Best Pokémon Celebrations 25th Anniversary Hits (September 2026)
Pokémon Celebrations landed in October 2021 for the TCG's 25th anniversary, splitting the spotlight between a new set of gold-foil legends and a Classic Collection of exact reprints pulled from across the game's history. With the 30th Celebration anniversary set now underway, here are the ten biggest chase cards five years later, ranked by current market value. (September 2026)
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10. Reshiram - $14.92
Set: Sword & Shield: Celebrations (Classic Collection)
Card Number: 113/114
Rarity: Classic Collection
Reshiram kicks off this countdown, but it's easily one of the most striking full art designs Black & White ever produced. The card leans almost entirely on white and pale blue, letting Reshiram's Blue Flare attack do the only real color work against all that open space. It's a choice that still hits just as hard today, and even inspired the BWR Reshiram in White Flare.
9. Blastoise - $15.10
Set: Sword & Shield: Celebrations (Classic Collection)
Card Number: 2/102
Rarity: Classic Collection
Blastoise gets a lot less shine than its Base Set rival (Charizard), but it deserves more credit than it gets. This is Ken Sugimori's original artwork, the same Sugimori who designed the Pokémon themselves before he ever illustrated a single card, and that history shows in how confident and simple the pose is. No dramatic angle, no special effect, just a Blastoise doing what a Blastoise does. It's one of the cleanest pickups on this list for anyone chasing a complete Classic Collection run.
8. Zekrom - $15.69
Set: Sword & Shield: Celebrations (Classic Collection)
Card Number: 114/114
Rarity: Classic Collection
Zekrom's full art treatment holds up remarkably well for a design that's now well over a decade old. The card is almost entirely shadow, all sharp black angles and a single red eye and blue head trail cutting through the dark, with barely any background to speak of. It's a stark, minimal approach compared to how busy full art Pokémon tend to look these days, and that restraint is exactly what makes it stand out in a binder next to flashier, more modern reprints.
7. Mew ex - $19.38
Set: Sword & Shield: Celebrations (Classic Collection)
Card Number: 88/92
Rarity: Classic Collection
My personal favorite pull from the Classic Collection side, Mew ex takes the original EX Legend Maker artwork by Ryo Ueda and gives it a second life in a set already overflowing with legendary reprints. The purple and green color scheme is unusual for Mew, who normally gets pink and gold treatments across most of its other printings, which makes this one an easy standout the moment you flip through a binder. Its Versatile Poké-Body, letting it copy the attack of any Pokémon in play, made it a genuinely useful tech card back in its EX-era heyday, not just a pretty face.
6. ____'s Pikachu - $31.92
Set: Sword & Shield: Celebrations (Classic Collection)
Card Number: 24
Rarity: Classic Collection
Fans call this one Birthday Pikachu, and it's easy to see why. Illustrated by Kagemaru Himeno, the card is just a cake, some candles, and a very happy Pikachu, no battle pose, none of the usual TCG visual language at all. It plays less like a battle card and more like a birthday invitation that happens to have HP printed on it. Originally a mail-in Wizards of the Coast promo, its Birthday Surprise attack rewarding an actual birthday pull is the kind of oddball detail that makes Celebrations feel like a genuine tour through the game's history.
5. Shining Magikarp - $37.11
Set: Sword & Shield: Celebrations (Classic Collection)
Card Number: 66/64
Rarity: Classic Collection
Shining Magikarp is the biggest history lesson on this list. Wizards of the Coast used Neo Revelation to introduce the whole idea of a Shiny Pokémon card, and Magikarp alongside Shining Gyarados. Some collectors argue Gyarados would have made the flashier Classic Collection pull, but Magikarp got there first, and Celebrations rightly gave the original its due. It's also, funnily enough, another Ken Sugimori piece, the same artist behind the Blastoise a few entries back, with that same plain, confident style carrying through.
4. M Rayquaza-EX - $38.10
Set: Sword & Shield: Celebrations (Classic Collection)
Card Number: 76/108
Rarity: Classic Collection
Now we're getting into the real chase cards for Celebrations with M Rayquaza-EX. This full art Mega Evolution originally came out of XY's Roaring Skies, and the neon green energy crackling around Rayquaza's body still looks great against the darker background even a decade later. Emerald Break scales its damage with your bench, which made this a genuinely playable attacker back when Mega Evolution decks were still relevant, not just a card people wanted for the art. Mega Evolution cards as a whole have been climbing in collector attention over the past couple years, and this reprint is riding that wave as much as anything Celebrations-specific.
3. Mew - $67.58
Set: Sword & Shield: Celebrations
Card Number: 025/025
Rarity: Secret Rare
The secret rare Mew is the only entry from the main Celebrations side of the set on this list, and it's the closest thing the set has to a mascot. Illustrated by Saki Hayashiro, the card is gold rays and scattered sparkles with a Shiny Mew floating dead cente. It's not the priciest card on this list, but for a 25th anniversary set, having the actual mascot dressed head to toe in gold feels like the whole point.
2. Umbreon ★ - $91.87
Set: Sword & Shield: Celebrations (Classic Collection)
Card Number: 17/17
Rarity: Classic Collection
Umbreon Gold Star holds the number two spot, and its price rarely dips for long. This is Masakazu Fukuda's original artwork from Pop Series 5, the same artist behind some of the game's moodiest dark-type illustrations, and the matte black finish with those glowing blue rings still doesn't look like anything else in the hobby. Between that competitive pedigree and Umbreon's reputation as the hobby's most sought-after Gold Star pull, with graded copies from other printings selling for eye-watering sums, it's no surprise this reprint refuses to cool off.
1. Charizard - $163.15
Set: Sword & Shield: Celebrations (Classic Collection)
Card Number: 4/102
Rarity: Classic Collection
Charizard takes the top spot, and honestly, was there ever any doubt? This is Mitsuhiro Arita's original Base Set artwork, the most reproduced and most counterfeited piece of art the trading card industry has ever produced, and Celebrations gives it yet another life twenty-five years after it first made pulling a good card feel like winning something. The dynamic pose, the fiery background spilling out from underneath those wings, the Flame Pokémon flavor text sitting quietly at the bottom like it's not attached to the most famous card in the hobby, all of it still lands exactly the way it did in 1999. This is the undisputed chase card of Celebrations, and it isn't particularly close.
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Final Thoughts
Nine of the ten biggest hits in Celebrations come from the Classic Collection, which tells you where real collector demand lives in a set built entirely on reprints. The gold Mew is the lone main-set card to break through, and it earns that spot by being exactly what the anniversary was about. Pokémon Celebrations came by its name honestly, and with the 30th anniversary now here, expect these Celebrations chase cards to only get more attention.
FAQ
What is the most valuable card in Pokémon Celebrations?
The Classic Collection Charizard is the most valuable card in the set. It's a reprint of the original Base Set Charizard, illustrated by Mitsuhiro Arita, and it leads every other Celebrations card in this countdown by a wide margin.
What's the difference between Celebrations and the Classic Collection?
Pokémon Celebrations has two halves: a 25-card main set of gold-foil reprints plus a Secret Rare Mew, and the Classic Collection, a separate set of exact reprints pulled from across the game's history. The Classic Collection side holds most of the set's real chase value.
Is the Secret Rare Mew worth picking up?
Yes. As the only main-set card to crack this top 10, the 025/025 Secret Rare Mew is the strongest pull outside the Classic Collection, and it's a reliable pickup on Rare Candy's marketplace if you're chasing the anniversary's gold mascot card.
How many cards are in the Pokémon Celebrations set?
The main Celebrations set has 25 numbered cards, including the Secret Rare Mew. The Classic Collection sits alongside it as a separate 25-card subset of vintage reprints, meaning the full Celebrations release spans 50 cards once you count both halves together.
Why is Umbreon ★ such a popular chase in Celebrations?
Umbreon Star's original EX Unseen Forces printing is one of the most recognizable Gold Star cards ever made, and that reputation carried straight into its Celebrations reprint. The matte black artwork and glowing rings make it an easy standout even next to Charizard.
If you're building Celebrations or hunting specific Classic Collection hits, Rare Candy has Celebrations packs and singles ready to go.
