Could add this to the 1000+ list
Hey, could add these to the list of 1,001+ cards.
HeartGold Collection L1 Ho-Oh Legend
(Upper Half) 015/070
(Lower Half) 016/070
SoulSilver Collection L1 Lugia Legend
(Upper Half) 029/070
(Lower Half) 030/070
5000 of each released via a promo lottery in 2010. They were never released in the set via packs unlike the other Legend cards in L2, L3 and L4.
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Great resource. Thanks a lot!
Some things that could be added:
Professor program promos
I’d guess at the very least the full art Supporters, Voltorbs and placement stamped (Top 8, Top 4 etc.) promos should be under 1,000 copies. If we just go by pop reports and how many listings with cards for sale there are I’m sure many of the other promos also qualify. More information on the topic here: Professor Program Promos Master Set List
Victini ex Asian tournament promo
Similarly to the already included Charizard VMAX definitely under 1,000 copies per language as only tournament winners (or second placed people for the full art) got the card. More information here: Raging Surf Sealed Battle Tournament Promos - Victini ex (TW/HK, Thai, Indonesian, Korean)
Asia English tournament prizes (Chien-Pao & Ultra Ball)
For Chien-Pao there should be exactly 12 copies per country (countries should be counted separately since the stamps are different), for the Ultra Ball one should also be able to calculate the numbers with the number of Regionals in combination with the placement stamps. More information here: https://www.pokebeach.com/2023/12/rarest-ever-english-stamped-promos-releasing-in-southeast-asia
And to be honest if we’re at it, probably any other trophy card from Asian championships that hasn’t been included yet would likely make the cut for the list as well, here is a topic about them: Collector's Guide to Pokémon Asia Championship Series Promos (Part 1: Past System)
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Traditional Chinese might have a chance to have more than 1000 copies if we try to explain the rules literally (but definitely under 3000 copies).
First of all there are a total of 657 events scheduled across Taiwan and Hong Kong:
And for Traditional Chinese events, the distribution criteria was 3 Swiss wins + 1 head-to-head win to get the SAR (not the overall champion), and the event size can be 16 to 64 participants: 即將舉辦「比克提尼爭奪戰」！ | 訓練家網站
Which leaves room for large events like this (32 slots) to distribute more than 1 SAR per event. So theoretically there can be more than 1000 copies if there are enough larger events. However it’s also possible to drop below 1000 due to shops cancelling scheduled events (local E4ers in Indonesia told me that a lot of stores got lazy and cancelled many events in Indonesia, not sure if that’s also the case in other Asian regions).
You just reminded me that I should also try to figure out how many non-English trophies were distributed. I’ll update the article to reflect that.
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Well I really should have posted this after I got all the cards myself, but here goes:
All non-trophy/indexed Simplified Chinese promotional cards with a known distribution count of 3000 or lower (as of 2024/end of SWSH)
- 037/SM-P Pikachu (Holofoil)
- 028/S-P Pikachu (Holofoil)
- 066/S-P Pikachu (Holofoil)
Holofoil copies of these are only found in Volkswagon ID.3 Gift Boxes which are limited to 2000 units each, thus there should be 2000 copies for each of them. Non-holofoil copies are mass produced and distributed as event participation packs.
(Official announcement deleted)
- 049/SM-P The Masked Royal
- 133/S-P Olivia
Given out to winners of Battle of Kings tournaments during season 1 and 2. Since there are 300 events per season, these cards are also capped at 300 copies each.
However, The Masked Royal is much higher in demand and therefore commanding extremely high prices due to it being only the 3rd language ever released and it’s premium status in all released languages.
- 135/S-P Kahili
- 137/S-P Mina
Given out to winners of Battle of Kings tournaments during season 3. Half of the 300 events in season 3 gave out Kahili and the other half Mina, so the distribution counts for them are also halved to 150 copies each.
- 175/S-P Charizard V
Given out to winners of Start Deck 100 Win-it-all battle events during season 1 and capped at the number of events during the season which is 100 copies, making the Simplified Chinese copy the rarest of all languages. In contrast, Charizard VMAX Rainbow Rare was released in China as a gift box promo and became the easiest to obtain of all languages.
- 211/S-P Gengar VMAX
Released as one of the prizes in Gengar’s Surprise Treasure Box lottery event. 2000 copies were announced against a total of 2 million draws (0.1% win rate).
Note that although there was a season 2 of Win-it-all battle which featured Gengar, this card was never released as a prize from the season like the previously-mentioned Charizard V was. PSA mistakenly states this on their labels which we are currently filing CRC requests asking for corrections.
- 217/S-P Lugia V
Given to customers who purchased gift boxes in 2024 Shenzhen Masters. While the distribution criteria doesn’t look limited, officials had announced the distribution counts to be 1500 during the tournament and an additional 500 in a remote pop-up store, adding up to 2000 copies in total.
1500 copies:
500 copies:
- 220/S-P Zeraora VSTAR
Released as one of the lottery prizes in Plasma Gale - Lightning Storm Star Crossover event. 3000 copies were announced against a total of 3 million draws (0.1% win rate).
- 003/SV-P Mew ex
Released as the prize of a series of 10 lotteries held on the 15th of every month between March and December 2025. For each lottery, only members of the official Pokémon TCG Member WeChat app who met all the requirements below are eligible to enter:
- The member must participate in at least 15 organized competitive events.
- The events must be held by at least 3 different Gyms or venues (i.e. participating in 15 Gym battles in the same one or two Gyms doesn’t count).
- Only events held within 151 calendar days prior to the lottery count.
- Members who won in previous lotteries are excluded from future lotteries.
151 winners will be drawn from each lottery, adding up to a total of 1510 copies to be distributed.
https://www.bilibili.com/opus/1025509568923303940
All non-trophy/indexed Simplified Chinese promotional cards whose distribution status is UNKNOWN (as of 2024/end of SWSH)
Yes, just like other languages we also have promotional cards in Simplified Chinese which are revealed somewhere in official sources but couldn’t verify whether they had been actually distributed or not. Any information on these are very appreciated!
- 029/S-P Raichu GX (Non-holofoil)
- 067/S-P Pikachu V (Non-holofoil)
Non-holofoil copies of these are listed in the official card list along with holofoil copies. However while holofoil copies can be pulled from both Volkswagon ID.3 Event Promo Packs and Gift Boxes, non-holofoil copies were excluded from both sources.
Their Vol. 1 equivalent - 040/SM-P Alolan Golem GX - had its non-holofoil copies given out instead as event participation packs when stores ran out of 037/SM-P Pikachus. Non-holofoil copies of the said cards may be reserved for the same role of substituting Pikachus in Vol. 2 and Vol. 3, however the events failed to attract enough visitors in those following waves to give out all Pikachus, and the replacements - if planned - never happened.
There are reports of the cards listed in marketplaces demending extraordinary prices whose sources were never confirmed.
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It was a lot easier to stay on track with updates when I still had a vyvanse prescription 
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Nationals Charizard (ex dragon) given at Nationals 2004 should be included.
As far as my lists go there were around 750 players worldwide who did play this event.
Each player got 1, All other copies should have been distroyed by the distributors (who were running those events).
Yes distroyed, that was the rule for left over promocards those days.
About the Dutch player at the TMB. I only know he took the rare cards from his deck and left all others behind. His name was Cheng or Chang. I think he got English language ones, not Dutch.
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Just to add a remark. The Organizer had to distroy the copies not used/given out.
I should have some paperwork from back in those days to proof TPCI really wanted all remaining copies to be distroyed.
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I totally believe you, but that’s kind of crazy then in light of how many copies are accounted for. There are 16 copies listed on eBay + 97 in the CGC/PSA pops (excluding the ones listed on eBay). And I have a copy in my gen 3 binders + there are 5 on TCGPlayer.
That’s 119 copies out of the ~344 in existence that are easily accounted for (35%). And I’m sure there are others on this forum with raw copies of the card, too. That’s an abnormally high proportion, I think. I wonder if some of the tournament organizers didn’t follow TPCi’s instructions.
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For the magikarp description it says “shares art with 2001 series” which is true but not really relevant to anything. Shouldnt it say “awarded to the winners of the summer Tamamushi University tournament winners in Osaka Japan” or something along those lines? Thanks for putting together a list btw!
Could be very good possible some organizers didn’t follow that “distroy” rule. But for Nationals I doubt it. However Stadiums challenges were done by PTO’s. To long story to explain.
Back in the days you could go into the tournament website and see how many people participated at certain tournament. I pulled a lot of numbers a that time, but mostly Nationals attendance. That’s why I’m pretty sure the Charizard are not that wide available and 1000 copies could be around.
As for the Metang, perhaps 200 given to distribute each tournament soundd fair for the size of tournaments those days.
If the info is correct it will be another quite rare card
Edit: koala is always faster, apparently the amount is true as stated in another thread
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Distro count is true - the source was TCG’s official post on Bilibili.
Updated the Chinese < 3000 post above to include details and source link.
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