As the title suggests, what would people classify as the rarest japanese sets out there? Can range from first production to most recent. Feel free to name multiple or rank them or whatever you please, just curious. I imagine it would mainly be the PCG sets, right?
The rarest japanese set is the no rarities by far. MUAHAHAHHA
ide say it goes like this:
Number 1: No rarity
Number 2,3, and 4 undecided.
Neo 4 shinings are difficult to get in psa 10, but i wouldnt call them rarer then some pcg as they pop up mint to often. So ide say crystal e5 unlimited beat them and sets like UNlimited PCG - PCG Offense and Defense of the Furthest Ends.
So its hard to choose spot 2,3,4 for these reasonsā¦ I really cant decide here and say one is rarer then the other because they all have there massive problems/things to thinks about depending on your goals and what your after. The centering on neo 4 and pcg is insanityā¦ its terrible. Still no rarities are even more oc on averageā¦ every time a mint one shows up its damaged to hell, and if its not damaged to hell it is oc to hell, and if its not oc to hell then i hate you and your family, and i will find you and put a snake in your bed while you sleep (ć„ļæ£ Ā³ļæ£)ć„
5: PCG 1st ed Offense and Defense of the Furthest Ends due to terrible centering, the difficulty for you to put gem mints together is gonna be tough, and other reasons.
6: PCG 1st edition clash of the blue sky would probably be after these as Boxes do show up sometimes, and there centered alot better.
If your talking about actual rarity and not the difficulty to find mint, then ide still class these pretty much the same as I have because the way they were printed, and the amount that leaks.
Either way, these are the top 6 rarest sets Imo. If i was goingto make an alteration by print run, it would be between 2,3, and 4 because it seems the unlimited print run of neo4 is much larger then the ulimited print run of e5 crystal, and dragon frontiers based on what most collectors have seen there seems to be almost no listings of e5 unlimited and dragon frontiers booster boxes left that have been on the market in years. So neo 4 would jump to place 6 for sure as far as Pure rarity of the cards goā¦ Ide even say theyd jump quite a bit further if I added more PCG sets to the list. But lets get one thing straightā¦ No rarity will always be the rarest by far, both by print run, condition, and difficulty to contain in mint let along gem mint. then its hard to chose between some pcg and neo shinings as far as gem mint 10s go, but because of the amount of mint copies out there, theres always going to be a chance for another copyā¦ SO wait round and youll get one eventually to grade 
I aint promising anythingā¦ take this advice with a large amount of saltā¦ Im just some idiot on the internetā¦ YOu could end up with 10 copies at 40kyen for charizard and still not get a 10ā¦ you could get 4 psa 10s for thar price. Dont listen to anything im saying and run wayā¦ Prepare to roll in many salt as you buy and grade dozens of perfect shining and no rarity, and drgon frontier mews copies only to get psa 8s 
One of the rarest is the 29 card Japanese PokĆ©mon-e Starter Deck set. It takes a minimum of 6 e starter decks to complete the set. The decks are harder to find these days. Only a couple full sets have been available for sale on Ebay in the last 10 years.These are the decks that needed 3 proof of purchase seals to be sent in to participate in the āStarter Triple Get Campaignā. The lottery winners got the P promo cards(Charizard,Venusaur,Blastoise) or (Meganium,Feraligatr,Typhlosion).
Those arnt sets though are they? there more competition tingz.
I havernt even herd of them if they are setsā¦
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
now me wantā¦ MUST HAVEā¦ not aloud to not be in my coolection.
pm and sell em lol.
shows my scrubness 
Thanks for the detailed response idiot on the internet! 
)
Of course the set leading the charge is the no rarity but theyāre errors, also thereās not a lot of information as of yet as to how to pull them from packs which is one of my interests (Iām aware a massive $$$ sink). So unlimited PCG is rarer than 1st ED PCG, the same going for e5? I havenāt seen any booster boxes for neo4 listed recently nor have I seen any of the others youāve listed, only the occasional packs of which Iāve tried to purchase all assuming theyāre from a reputable seller. Heck, I havenāt even seen booster packs for Offence and Defence of the Furthest Ends in either UED or 1st ED, itās made me extremely sad to say the least. In terms of the cards themselves from the sets and them appearing graded Iāve seen a few here but I still want the packs to go alongside.
Also, if you were given the choice between a Masaki PSA 10 and a card from one of the aforementioned packs which would you take personally? Iām having trouble deciding whether to invest in a full set of Masaki PSA 10s or to complete a full PSA 10 Shining + Gold Star Japanese set in Japanese (Either 1st ED or UED, preferably whatever is rarer/more desired - Already started with the 3rd Gen starters) 
I like your style buddy.
Now. FOr the answerbz to the questionairsā¦
Well you seeā¦ With the PCG, Certain sets and certain cards are rarer then there 1st edition pcg counter parts.
and visa verber.
So Like the pcg2 for instance is terribly unrare compared to the 1st ed as far as unlimited psa 10 copies go, and there seems to be an equal to larger amount of boxes leaking to the 1st ed.
But the unlimited pcg offense 1st ed charizard are of much higher pop then the unlimited, and I dont see very many unlimited. The mew whether its unlmimited or 1st ed is still low as hell pop. Again pop isnt everything, but also I see 1st ed charizards pop up more often then the unlimited ones, and i see 1st ed packs sometimes, but Ive seen very few unlimited dragon frontiers packs.
As for neo4ā¦ Yes alot of them ā¦ probably most have been openedā¦ But they have come out for hiding, and when there is multiple packs and boxes that have sold, im sure there is more in peoples collection ect. As they were printed without a 1st ed variant so the print run was quite large. I still feel they are one of the rarest and thats why i put them in place 2,3, and 4ā¦ as this is regardless of whether your trying to get them in psa 10 or sealed. But yeah comparing them to some pcg furthest ends, neo4 will loose in the sealed department because like you said theres been absolutely no sealed booster frontiersā¦ IF one appeared ide try and get it for sure and im not a sealed collector. You said that there isnt really any neo4 sealedā¦ that is correct, I have seen them about 2 years ago and still havent actually seen the dragon frontiers box sealed, so thats why another reason I put these together into 2,3, and 4. JUst because i put them after the no rarities, this does not mean there not insanely rare out of the main set cardsā¦ hell noā¦ They are! just not number 1.
Ide definitely go after the gold stars and shinings over all man, but one day try and get the masakis to. You cannot beat the artwork of them shinings and gold stars. Unless its base set of courseā¦ but i dont think thats a fair comparison, or something that should be compared because base set was the original, the 1stā¦ Its kinda like apple to oranges to coffeeā¦ there is no better when comparing those 3 types of cars / sets. I dont even feel like comparing all these tbh, there all amazing, but I have to layout my personal experiences and what I see others experience.
As an adultā¦ the Gold stars are so important to me, but as a nostalgic thingy the base set will always be biggest.
Oh shucks, donāt make me blush
So Clash of the Blue Sky is rarer 1st ED, whereas Offence is rarer in UED and much the same with __? You see, if Iām honest Iām not entirely sure what marks the PCG era either, which makes my understanding a little sketchy. I was looking at purchasing some Split Earth and Mysterious Mountains packs but they were in 1st ED. From what youāre saying theyāre not really that rare in comparison to their UED counterparts? (Iām going on a limb saying that from what you said in your previous post)
Ultimately at this point in time Iām either looking at purchasing a Shining Mewtwo Japanese PSA 10 for around 500, purchasing a PSA 10 Omastar Masaki for around 600-650 or purchasing the aforementioned booster packs in either their 1st ED or UED form. Iāll also look at other shinings and gold stars however Mewtwo is probably my favourite shining while removing Charizard from the considerations due to its price range. I could also consider Celebi or Raichu to be up there with Mewtwo though. I have some of the booster packs, namely a Neo4 pack (looking to get another soon), Rocket Gang Strikes Back (1st ED) and 1st ED Mysterious Mountains. I also have a couple of 1st ED Neo Destiny ENG packs and LC Packs but at this point in time care a lot more about the Japanese stuff.
Itās all so overwhelming 
Thats it man, you got itā¦ it is strange but thats how it is with the unlimited and 1st ed depending on the set lol.
The thing is with these shinings is buying psa 10 is probably just as good option. I reckon prices will get bigger, so its definitely worth it for now as you might spend that much trying to get them ungraded anywayā¦ most likely as the auctions go high in japan for shinerbz. There is nothing like earning your own card and scoring a psa 10 though compared to buying it.
That rare moment where everything @pokemonsyndicate said makes sense and is easy to read 
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Lordy. Now I have to make the decision between the Masaki Omastar, the shining and the packs. This is a nightmare 
I think itās probably best for me to look into the Shining Mewtwo or the Masaki most likely. I could also get a PSA 10 1st ED Gold Star Metagross with perfect centering and perhaps some packs if I chose to but not as likely. I know this isnāt the thread for that but just quickly I may as well ask your thoughts on which of the two cards you believe would retain/increase in value the most. Thereās something about the Masaki set thatās so alluring. Anyway, thank you for all the information and help!
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I would have to say, from what I have encountered so far, the UED World Champions Pack and UED Base Expansion Pack (E Series 1). I have seen less than 5 cards from both sets combined.
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Surely the rarest is the unlimited version of the Legend era cards? I mean some cards are just impossible to find arenāt they?
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I agree with both of you. Personally I donāt think any UED Base Expansion Packs even exist. Iāve only seen pictures of the Ponyta, Charizard and Pichu non-holos promos here on the forum, and rumors of the Alakazam, but Iāve never seen any other. Apart from those fake pictures from the same YJ seller who lists 1st with UED pictures (not only for the Base Expansion, but he did the same for Skyridge which I bought once without looking at his description).
The UED World Championship packs are indeed pretty rare as well, although I do have the Pikachu (still looking for the Seviper, though).
As for L1-L3 UED, I have yet to find any sign of the Pikachu and Pikachu Reverse Holoā¦ The only one I see pretty regularly are those Legend pairs of two. Iāve seen multiple of those in UED, although they arenāt less desirable. I know @tonysandlin has been able to find the Voltorb and Electrode for his collection (although heās still looking for the Reverse Holo ones), and @supersaiyanampharos currently collects them and has a few (how many do you have now?)
Although the opposite is true for English sets, Japanese cards in UED are in almost all cases much rarer than 1st edition. (The only exception are the Theme Decks, where the 1st edition is usually rarer than the UED. I have yet to find a 1st edition Pikachu from the Raichu Starter Deck. Although Iām not 100% sure it exists, as with a lot of the Pikachus I have yet to find and havenāt even seen a single picture of yetā¦)
Greetz,
Quuador
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ahhh this guyā¦ doing the tingz like with the officeworks epsoon scan and stuffā¦ COmpletly forgott about this set.
I feel with this set someday a bunch of boxes will leak though, and when they doā¦ imma grab em all and make it impossible for everyone who ever wanted them to get them and ill take all there money and use it to fund my own selfish endevours, because i care about people.
Its all just a matterb of time.
I kind of feel the same way abut korean unlimited, thought there not japanese i feel theyl leek one day like some of the e5 did a while back.
Im gonna get those l1 in psa 10ā¦ Theres no such thing as impossible. 
This summer when I go through my Japanese bulk, I promise I will find some Ued cards, Iām fairly confident I have a few reverse holos, primes and legends unlimited. I think I know where the unlimited cards/packs from that era come from, but they will literally be more expensive than the 1st ed packs.
and grade those ued ultra rares and sell my pop 1ās for an infinite amount of zimbabwe dollars !!! Muahahahaha
I also think I will have some ued dragon frontiers cards to grade in 10 
and I think I saw on ebay in the last year, 250 for 1st ed pack, 175 for ued
@festa get that Mewtwo shining psa 10, shinings are the best!!!
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The only experience I have with Japanese cards is from my Voltorb collection and I have to say that the unlimited Legend sets are incredibly difficult to find. Every so often Iāll see a reverse holo.
If you find any Voltorb or Electrode from Legend 3 in reverse, please remember me!
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Are you only looking for UED for those reverse holos, because I know for sure that I have a reverse Electrode L3, likely 1ed though
Yeah, just UED. Those are the only 3 I need in Japanese at the moment.
@pieterpie Keep an eye out for L1 Gyarados please 
Unlimited L series and now recently E1 would be my choice, it is amazing we can still find new cards to this day! I am just glad that Gyarados was not in E1 lol @charchu you must have been over the moon I know I would have been! Canāt remember the thread if yoy mentioned it was psa 9 quality? But I guess it doesnt even matter I know I would not care lol
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What is the L series set? I canāt find any specific details
@pieterpie, Iāll look into the shining instead then if thatās what the consensus of people would say I should lean towards. Iām just scared the Masaki set will one day increase in price all of a sudden and be worth more than the shinings and so on
Iām actually quite happy this post got so much discussion going on, it feels good to create something!
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