Top 10 rarest official English Pikachu TCG cards

[xliveandplay]

What are the 10 rarest official English Pikachu cards, in terms of both release and market availability? I am only referring to officially released English Pikachu TCG cards, excluding any stamp variations, error cards, unofficial/released cards, misprints, signed cards, or thin/thick stamp variants.

Any updates for 2024/2025 would be appreciated!

[Ratequaza]

@Quuador, your turn

[hermit]

[pfm]

Assuming you’re excluding worlds trophy cards

It’s funny because I can name so many Japanese ones but there are not really many rare English Pikachu outside of art academy

Here’s the only other one i could think of

Maybe rainbow chonkachu and cheese hat pikachu make the list too

[Quuador]

@pfm Kinda hit the nail on the head. The first five in the top 10 are defintely the Art Academy cards. Each of those only have 100 copies given to the winners, with roughly 15 extra copies each floating around. I’d argue they’d be in this order based on how hard they are to find:

1. Art Academy Pikachu by Ashley:

2. Art Academy Pikachu by Me!:

3. Art Academy Pikachu by Rhivern:

4. Art Academy Pikachu by Meli:

5. Art Academy Pikachu by Xime:

I think Scott is still right with the WB Kids Pikachu being sixth place, which had 5250 copies made:

6. 5/5 WB Kids Pikachu

But after that it’s more difficult to give a certain order. There were some rare English Pikachu cards when I originally acquired them, like:

• The Futsal 001/005 Pikachu that was originally only given in England at the Futsal tournaments, but later on also distributed in stores in England (with different insert card), which made it a lot easier/cheaper to get.
• The SwSh 065/202 Cosmos Holofoil with League stamp, originally only given at Worlds 2022 in London by beating Raid Battle judges. But later on they were also given to shops in the UK and US, making them a lot easier to find.

So for places 7 to 10, I’m not sure about the proper order, but my guess would be these four Pikachu TCG cards:

Red Cheeks E3-stamped Base Pikachu:

1st Edition Ivy promo Pikachu:

Pikachu Vmax with League stamp from the Prize Pack Series One:

Pikachu Vmax Hyper Rare:

Also, honorable mentions:

101 SVP promo Pikachu with Asia Championship Series 2023-24 stamp and 190 SVP promo Pikachu without stamp, which were both exclusively released in Asian countries (both in Singapore; Malaysia; The Philippines; and the 101 was also released in Hong Kong):

Sweden-exclusive non-holo 035 promo:

Of course if we’d include unofficial releases and errors, the inverted stamp and no stamp WB promo come to mind as well, and there are also some protoype/test Pikachu prints in English, but for official Pikachu TCG cards only, I’d say it’s the above ten cards.

Greetz,
Quuador

[WailordEnthusiast]

@Quuador

The Futsal 001/005 Pikachu that was originally only given in the UK at the Futsal tournaments, but later on also distributed in the US at stores, which made it a lot easier/cheaper to get.

I believe it was only ever given out in England specifically and never in the rest of the UK or the US, even in stores.

Edit: As far as I know you can also tell apart the first (rare) wave of promos from the second wave that was distributed in stores in a sealed state with the first wave printed in the US and the second in Belgium

[Quuador]

Woops, you’re completely right! I glanced over them too quickly in my checklist. Both were indeed marked as ‘England exclusive Futsal promo’, but with ‘UK insert’ and ‘US insert’. You’re indeed right they were only distributed in stores in England, even though those second batches were printed in the US instead of Belgium:

I’ve edited my post above.

Greetz,
Quuador

[niece]

I wonder if the 7-11 World Collection promo would take the #10 spot over the VV HR?

[xliveandplay]

Okay, so for now, it would look something like this. However, I’m not a big fan of adding a stamped card to the list. At least we know for sure the quantity released for the first six Pikachu cards, which makes them easier to rank on this list. These 6 cards also have a unique design compared to the last 4.

[xliveandplay]

And if we include the English Trainer Trophy cards, even though they’re not technically Pikachu cards but since Pikachu is still the main Pokémon featured, the 12 cards would come first before the AA cards in this order I guess :

[Quuador]

You’re right, but they’re trophy/Trainer cards, not actual Pikachu cards. There is also the Katy Perry V where Pikachu is the main Pokémon.

Greetz,
Quuador

[xliveandplay]

By the way if someone has that card, I’m looking for one

[Quuador]

Lol. Good luck with that. It’s a one-of-one card in possession of Katy Perry herself.

Greetz,
Quuador

[Charmeleonaire]

Going to put one out there for one my favorites that goes ‘under the radar’, which I think is rarer than the modern VMAXes.

Betty Crocker X Nintendo ‘Snack Rolls’ Promo circa 1998 print – about five or so listed for sale.

[Quuador]

I assume you mean these cards: Official Nintendo Promo Cards?

Although defintely among the rarer English cards, even more true for the gen 2 one, this thread asked about TCG cards specifically.

Greetz,
Quuador

[Charmeleonaire]

I see. Oversight on my part. Well then, it will most certainly be all TCG promos then rather than simply TCG cards, given print levels in most sets.

[banks]

What set does the 010/025 number refer to?

[tealdawn]

So maybe like 10 extra copies owned by a Pokémon employee that will slowly surface over the next 10 years and fetch ridiculous prices at auction?

[thsigma]

Her birthday

[banks]

That is a very cool detail