I’d like to buy a trophy/prize card so I can at least have one, anyone have any suggestions? $500 and under, as I can’t afford stuff like Master Scroll. Any suggestions would be great
There are some medals with pikachu on them, or some tropical winds from the championships in that price range.
Pikachu victory medal set was the first that came to mind too, if it doesn’t have to be a singular card. PSA 10 set of 3 should still be at around 500$, definetely have that trophy feeling. Or if you’re like me & you don’t care about PSA 10 with them, just get a raw Exc set for cheaper 
BW victory cup sets are even cheaper and incredibly underrated for what they deliver imo. Maybe you can still find championship arenas for that price, they just don’t do much for me personally.
I think your best bang for your buck would be a japanese holo of the Championship Arena.
bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Championship_Arena_(Nintendo_Promo_28)
zenmarket.jp/en/auction.aspx?itemCode=d453362422
Here is the celebi version currently sitting on auction at $326.
zenmarket.jp/en/auction.aspx?itemCode=t670151126
Here is the Dialga at $422 buyout.
The Celebi is in beautiful condition but will likely spike above your pricepoint. The Dialga is in “near-excellent” condition but you can afford it. If you’re looking for a buyout on one that will likely hit a psa9 or 10, I can link those as well, but they’re probably gonna be out of your price sweetspot.
You might get lucky with this: zenmarket.jp/en/auction.aspx?itemCode=b480553792
It’s currently sitting at $578 with 7 hours to go and it looks like a psa10 candidate to me. Could be a $1500+ card once graded.
There is nothing wrong with the pikachu medal cards or the bw trophys mentioned above. I happen to own copies of both (kept the chus, just dumped the bw’s in 1-3rd places). But to be perfectly honest, there is a metric fuckton of those two sets and honestly, if you want a trophy card that has a little more legitimacy to it and will likely retain/climb in price a hell of a lot more as they end up in permanent collections, a championship arena is your trophy card.
Quick edit with a shitty phone pic for reference:
5 Likes
Don’t buy one just to own one. Do your research and compile a few which is under your budget and go for the one you like the most. Here are some recommendations (ungraded).
- Grand Party Trainer
- Legend Pika Medal Set
- Legend Gen 2 Starter Medal Set
- Gym Challenge Victory Medal
- Palace Book
- Victory Belt (I believe that is what its called)
- Championship Arena (05/06 Japanese)
- Victory Cup Set (English)
- Pika Victory Gold/Silver Medals (2006/07 Japanese)
- Basically anything in the L-Promo list that is not Master Key or Scroll
- Many, many more…
Good luck!
9 Likes
Neat list. Grand Party Trainer is a great card but it’s more of an event card than anything. You collected stamps from recording details of battles you watched and traded the stamp passport in for the card. I think your number 6 on the list is the Palace belt (unless there is a thing called a victory belt). Super cool card and currently underrated. Victory Cup English struggles in the same regard as those pikas. There seem to just be an unlimited supply of them, though they are cool to have a copy of in the collection. The L-Promo list is a really good idea. From that list, I’d suggest the Copycat.
It was the 2009 LEGEND Battle winner prize (awarded to the top winners).
The Burned Tower is under $500 raw and was the Reviving Legends Release Commemoration Tournament winner prize.
If we’re wanting to go a lil cheaper, I’d grab the lost remover which was the Lost Link Release Commemoration Tournament victory prize. The card really has the look and feeling of a trophy card, but the price remains low as of right now: www.ebay.com/itm/Pokemon-PSA-10-Japanese-Promo-Card-Lost-Remover-Lost-Link-Prize-057-L-P-Gem-Mint/264722369682?hash=item3da2aecc92:g:BKsAAOSwDptesloE
These trophy cards have unique holos and stamps on them, but the art was reprinted into nonholo set cards. As far as I know, the art on the championship arena cards is unique to the award, never to be reprinted as a set card.
1 Like
Pokemon Card Laboratory is not a trophy per se, but is real close to it bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_Card_Laboratory_(PCG-P_Promo_24)
4 Likes
I highly recommend the grand party card! It’s a trophy card, limited print, artwork is unique, the pocket monster logo at the bottom and the holo is amazing.
But I might be a bit biased as it’s my favourite card ever.
2 Likes
Burned Tower, Indigo Plateau, Lost Link, and probably one or two more were regular uncommon cards in the English sets. Aside from the stamp and the holo pattern they share art with $0.25 cards in English. Just something to be aware of. Championship Arenas and Grand Party and Victory Medals all have unique art.
That was the last sentence of the post you quoted me on 
I do think that them having a unique stamp and the fact that the holo only exists in the trophy goes a long way though. It’s a step up from the University karp sharing the same artwork as the Web karp, and you see how little that matters to people. Came back to show this card i mentioned last night: zenmarket.jp/en/auction.aspx?itemCode=b480553792 It ends in 1 minute and is still within his pricepoint!
**edit** it went for $578.72.
1 Like
I think a good set to get now would be one of the Extra Battle Day winner Acerola, Guzma or Lillie cards from the SM-P set. Their prices are slowly going up though - I think the Lillie is now around $500-$600.
Failing that, wait until a new card is announced with a low distribution number. They tend to shoot up in price after a few years as they become harder and harder to find.
4 Likes