Hi guys so I was wondering you everyones thoughts are on this card. does it have room for growth? will it do well down the line?
in my opinion It has to be one of the moest popular wotc zards out there arguably more popular that shinning zard or even shadowless.
box prices going into double figures really reflect how sought after the set is. charizard is the most sought after card in this set right now coupled with amazing unique artwork/ and it still being wotc era. the pop isnt extremely high either considering its desirability, with that said, could this mean the card has alot of potential moving forward based off all of these ticked boxes or am i missing something here becasue the price for one at the moment seems more than fair at around 2500.
any insights into this set and card would be much appreciated and i will look forward to hearing from you all
i did just notice that the pop is 140 but is higher than all the other grades but at the sime time it seems that there is an abundance of sealed product in existence so my guess is the pops on 9 or higher wont change drastically at this point.
We all have different opinions, but personally I do not care much for the artwork on the crystal Charizard. I think by a long shot it is the ugliest of all the crystal cards. Crystal Celebi and Lugia on the other hand have amazing artwork. I think the impressive value of this card to a great extent is based on rarity, and the fact that it is a “secret rare” Charizard and comes from a low print WotC set that in recent years have received a lot of hype. It is hard to measure popularity, especially when comparing to cards that are easier to obtain, but I would think that even Dark Charizard and Blaine’s Charizard are liked more by many (even though they are much cheaper to get). The base set version is certainly much more iconic regardless of it being 1st edition, shadowless or unlimited.
Glad to know I’m not the only one who feels this way. I have never been crazy about the artwork on Crystal Charizard, which is odd considering how great Skyridge’s artwork is as a whole.
Im the same with you on that one I never grew up with skyridge either! and have little connection with the set I think i would rather own a psa 10 1st ed base holo that go for the skyridge charizard especially when thinking in terms of my personal collection which would bring about nostalgia
In terms of long term growth, I don’t see much of it. I think the $2500 range is a fair price for this card. Pop of this card will only continue to go up so more will be available. Plus I think skyridge had a pretty good print run in terms of conditions straight out of the pack which could be why there are more 10’s graded than even 9’s of the zard. I also think shadowless zard is much more popular and always will be. It’s hard to compare the sets sealed box value to the value of the cards inside because there’s a few factors that play into both. For example the fact that the skyridge zard is easier to grade in 10’s because of the print could make it not as valuable. Also the fact that Skyridge was the last set produced by wotc and had their productions cut short as well so there weren’t as many sealed boxes made as other sets making it much more scarce. That combined with the fact that it is, in my opinion, the most aesthetically pleasing box made could also contribute to the increasingly high value of the sealed box.
A couple of things I don’t think were mentioned yet but I think are relevant:
The charizard is obviously the most valuable card in the set but the holos (even in psa 9) carry a significant value. Even the reverse holos hold value. The box is expensive but theres a lot of cards in the set beyond the charizard that support that price.
The print run is known to be really low (= smaller supply of boxes) but there is no 1st edition print run. So unlike the previous WOTC sets where (allegedly) about 90% of the copies printed are unlimited and generally undesirable, all crystal zards are the desirable variant.
Ah, duh how could I forget that . But I believe they take up a different slot in the pack so their existence doesn’t impact the number of regular crystal charizards that were printed.
Another thing I remembered based on the pull rates I saw from a few box opening videos, I think its actually harder to pull one particular regular holo from a skyridge pack than any particular crystal (i.e. holo Xatu is rarer than crystal charizard). I believe this is based on the assumption that there are ~2 regular crystals per box and a 1:3 holo pull rate. Someone can correct me if this is wrong. Just some food for thought
You are correct that the average pull rate is 2 crystals per box. If you include the chance to pull a reverse crystal, it is more like 2.5 per box. There are 6 crystals so realistically any specific crystal is 1 in 3 boxes. The holo pull rate is 1 holo in 3 packs. With 36 packs per box, that is a pull rate of 12 per box. There are 32 holos in this set which means 1 in 3 boxes has a specific holo in it. This means that you have the same chance to pull crystal Charizard in your box as you do any specific holo.
Close, but I’m pretty sure (again, correct me if I’m wrong) that the 12 holos you get include the 2 regular crystals since they are found in the holo slot of the pack. Which means there’s only 10 standard holos expected per box.
You expect to see a given crystal once every 36*3 = 108 packs. At 10 standard holos per box, you need to open 3.2 boxes*36 = 115.5 packs to find a given standard holo.
Oh ok that makes sense. I was under the assumption that the crystals did not count in the holo pull rate but it would make sense if they do. In that case it would be harder to pull a specific holo.
Sorry, maybe I was too ambiguous. I’ve just watched a video of an opening to confirm this. A skyridge pack looks like the following:
from back to front1) non holo2) non holo3) non holo rare4) reverse holo (reverse of any card, including crystals)5) non holo OR standard holo OR standard crystal6) non holo7) non holo8) non holo
9) non holo
I assume roughly 2 standard crystals on average per boxI assume a standard crystal takes the spot of a standard holo
Provided these assumptions are true, standard crystals are more common than standard holos (ignoring reverses). But not by much. Possibly, the true pull rate is closer to like 1.8 or 1.9 per box. That would mean standard crystals and standard holos have about the same or identical pull rates.
Anyway, I we have deviated from the original topic. My point in mentioning the pull rates is that I think most people assume crystals have extra level of rarity to them when in actuality they aren’t really any rarer than a standard holo in terms of print numbers.
I personally like the artwork on the Crystal Zard but not as much as Ho-Oh which is my favorite crystal. I think the price at $2500 is a good deal for this card considering its a Zard from a set that people absolutely love and rightfully so as almost every card even the common and uncommons look great. I think there is some room for growth but I don’t think it will get close to the Gold Star Zard.
. But I believe they take up a different slot in the pack so their existence doesn’t impact the number of regular crystal charizards that were printed.