I’m not sure people care about these anymore, but I wanted to give some updates on where I believe the populations stand.
Estimates of Total Sets (graded)
This does not include any ungraded examples that may be in collections. This also does not include any AU grades that have not been shown to the public yet.
| Set | Alpha Prototypes | Alpha Playtests | Beta Playtests | Delta Playtests | Alpha Presentations | Beta Presentations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CGC Population | 9 | 9 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| Known AU Grades | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Totals | 11 | 12 | 14 | 10 | 7 | 4 |
To come up with this data, I took the CGC population for a specific card in each set and then added it with the number of known AUs that have been shown for it online. The sum of both should be equal to the true population count at CGC.
For transparency, I used the following Pokemon for my calculation of each set: Alpha Prototypes (Pikachu), Alpha Playtests (Charizard), Beta Playtests (Charizard), Delta Playtests (Charizard), Alpha Presentation (Pikachu), and Beta Presentation (MewTwo).
My Thoughts
I’m really shocked at how many of these prototype cards exist and have been graded. I still think they are exciting, but some transparency from someone around these would be welcomed in the future. We were originally told that Akabane only had about 6 sets of each, and now we are clearly stepping into the realm of 12+ for some of these set. We are only a few months past their initial sales to the public, and I can’t make heads or tails on if this is going to taper off or if we will continue to see steady growth in these populations.
If these are truely playtest cards, then I’m happy to own at least one of them. For now, I think I’ll be holding off on purchasing any more until some form of clarity is released (how many really exist, what sets do we not know about yet, etc)
What do you all think? Still interested in these or has your interest slowly burnt out?
Edit: For anyone reading this thread sequentially or who found this post on Google, there appears to be fakes. Please check out this thread to learn more: Many of the Pokemon playtest cards were likely printed in 2024