Hey everyone! I recently became more active in this community, and I’m sure some of you by now have figured out what my favorite card is. I had another member reach out to me this morning to tell me that this is also their favorite card, and that they achieved a PSA 9 of this card, which is no small feat! Then, they posed a question. Is it even possible to get this card in a PSA 10?
Now, I’ve been tracking the pop on not only this card, but also the other cards in this set (Beat of the Frontier), so I took some time to really dive into this question and look at the data. Most of the text after this is just a copy and paste from my response, but since I took some time to craft it, I figured why not share it! Especially since I haven’t created a topic in a long time lol.
For the question, I have a short and long answer.
Short answer: Yes, it is possible. There are PSA 10s that exist of this card, so that tells us it IS achievable.
Long answer: I think this card is very difficult, maybe even borderline impossible, to get a 10 in. Factors such as whether it is 1st Ed. or Unlimited also play a part. On top of that, the current PSA 10s that exist might be weak 10s. And of course, good old luck plays a part as well!
First, let’s look at the pop report:
Most Japanese sets in this era usually have a higher 1st Ed. PSA 10 pop compared to Unlimited. For whatever reason, this card has twice the amount of PSA 10s, which is VERY unusual. Even when you compare it to the shiny Pokemon from other DPt sets, Unlimited PSA 10 pops are generally much lower than 1st Ed.
So, why is this important? Well, I have a theory as to how this is even possible. I believe that the 1st Ed. printings of Beat of the Frontier had a lower standard of quality compared to the Unlimited printing. The reason I say this is that MANY of the 1st Ed. secret rare cards from this set seem to have horrible centering, and that’s on top of the infamous corner issues that every set from this era already had. To support this argument, let’s look at the legendary bird reprints in this set:
The Articuno just has straight up more PSA 10s in Unlimited. While the Zapdos and Moltres have less PSA 10s, the percentage is much higher compared to 1st Ed… Zapdos Unlimited PSA 10 percentage of 33% vs 8% for 1st Ed. and Moltres Unlimited PSA 10 percentage of 11% vs 5% for 1st Ed.
Now, if we’re making direct comparisons to the other two shiny Pokemon in the set, the same exact thing can be observed with Yanma. Funny enough though, the Relicanth does not have a single PSA 10 in Unlimited. I chalk that down to a lack of popularity to an already niche set of cards.
The conclusion to this data; it is more difficult to receive a PSA 10 of this card, and the other secret rares in the set, in 1st Ed., and your best bet is Unlimited. Unfortunately, I wasn’t collecting in 2009 so I can’t speak on how much of this set was in 1st Ed. vs Unlimited, but I have very rarely seen Unlimited packs pop up over the years. Anecdotal, sure, though I think it’s safe to say the printing was very short for Unlimited.
Piecing this all together, even though you have a higher chance at a PSA 10 with an Unlimited printing, they are still obviously difficult to come by. On top of that, this card and others in this era are considered very niche to this day. To find copies in either printing that are in good enough condition to grade is a challenge, let alone going for Gem Mint.
Now the last bit I’ll get into, and likely the most subjective. There is a decent chance some of the current PSA 10s are weak 10s. And well, honestly, pretty weak. There is currently a PSA 10 1st Ed. on PWCC for $15,000, and let’s just say she isn’t the prettiest looking lol.
3 out of the 4 corners have chipping on the front. The back has edgewear and corner whitening as well. I personally don’t think this deserved a 10, and I have copies of my own that are an 8 that I think look better than this. Of course, this delves into the topic of buying the card vs the grade, which I think both have merits to them. Me personally, I tend to go for the card most of the time.
As of now this is the only 10 I’ve seen pop up, at least that I can remember. We’ll have to wait and see if the other ones are similar. So, at the very least we can say that half of the 1st Ed. 10s are weak lol. A trend I’ve seen on these secret rare DPt cards is that many of them, even in PSA 10s, will have a tiny bit of front corner chipping. Again, anecdotal here, but it makes me wonder if PSA considers it known factory damage for this era, and is perhaps a little bit more lenient with that? Honestly, I have no idea lol.
Anyways, thanks for coming to my Ted Talk on my favorite card in the TCG. I’m sure most people probably won’t be as interested, but I thought it would be fun to share with at least a couple of people. 
