This is specifically about sealed product, let´s say a boosterbox.
What do you think is the rarest set that isn´t Gen 3? (This is because EX Deoxys and Team Rocket Returns seem to be agreed upon as being the rarest).
I´d argue either Neo Revelation or Neo Destiny, as this was the point where the popularity really fell off and box numbers of these sets, as well as POP numbers, seem extremely low, often having total POP´s (all grades) of less than 1000 for popular cards.
non platinum diamond and pearl sets that arent base.
Skyridge
Nobody knows with certainty what the shortest-printed sets were so we really only have consensus anecdote to rely on, which typically points towards the e-series era. Skyridge is considered to have had the lowest supply of the three e-series sets due to it coinciding with the “peak decline” of interest in the TCG (low sales; no incentive for further print runs) alongside the impending license termination with Nintendo resulting in an early cancellation of its original print cycle. From a personal anecdote: I purchased a Skyridge booster box in the UK in 2012. It was over £300, and I had to import it from Collector’s Cache in the US. It was the only box I could find available to purchase online at the time. There were 0 in the UK, and it was the second most expensive booster box I could purchase at the time, next only to 1st edition base. A tiny data point, but price reflected the scarcity of the box at the time.
Are you talking about least printed boxes or boxes with the lowest remaining supply? For gen 3 I think Emerald and Team Magma Team Aqua were actually printed less, however Deoxys and Team Rocket Returns are rarer now as a lot of the supply was burned by people chasing gold stars in the early 2010s.
Skyridge is famous for having a cut print run and definitely seems to be the least printed WOTC set. It’s hard to say how much DPP/HGSS was printed in comparison and I don’t follow that era as closely but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was pretty low. We’ll never know for sure unless they release some actual print run data but it’s fun to speculate.
Do we count specific variations of sets (e. g. rare Japanese unlimited print runs)? Otherwise I’ll go with Dragon Vault as a rather insignificant special set from a low popularity era.
Following boxes for a while I’d probably agree that 1st Ed destiny is the box I’ve seen the least of outside of gen 3
That´s a good point. Let´s say both contribute to the overall rarity.
Yeah, if there´s no boosterbox, I´d say so.
Id imagine VS is pretty damn difficult to find a booster box of.
I agree with the others, who already provided a lot of interesting points. I’ll just add my personal experiences from back in the day, when I was still a kid actively collecting: early or mid- ex era definitely felt more available than aquapolis/skyridge. E-series really felt like a blip, here in Europe at least.
I never saw other kids carrying many of those cards, and the difference in abundance compared with Expedition was significant.
I thought you northern Europeans had bunkers stacked with e series boxes?
That is @c0ll3ct0r I’m southern European, so no bunkers 
As an outsider who will never own some of these boxes, you bet I’m picking up mint cards for a quarter in some boxes. Closes I’ll ever get to a pack fresh card 
I barely remember last time when someone even spoke about Lost Link, sealed packs appear randomly here and there but whole box is different thing.
Orders of magnitude in difference here but these spring to mind. Most were hoardable at 0.5-5x MSRP for ~ a decade after release.
Here’s an example of a 4th print Base box with 4th print holos:
If it wasn’t Skyridge before this current boom, it’s Skyridge now
There are 2 that stand out after 6 years of trying to document and find every Base set pack ever made.
I purchased an empty box. I have never seen a sealed one. I own 6 packs and have never seen any others surface other than one several years back. I believe these are the rarest version of Base set ever produced with production numbers potentially being so small it was never distributed publicly.
I am planning to rip one at some point to confirm the cards are unique inside. I have only found 1 card which matches with other USA made cards out of 300 I checked. My estimates may be way off but it took me 3 years to even find a picture of one existing.
I believe this will be in top 5 for sure.
This. This is awesome.
probably some unlimited japanese set from gen 5 or something. Maybe a Korean or Polish or Brazilian Portuguese set? Hard to know.
Ya gotta specify “English/Japanese mainline release” on a question like this or you’ll get a flood of random products that are rare for rarity sake
Throwing my hat in the ring for unlimited Dutch Fossil!
