What Are Pokemon Chase Cards?
What Is a Chase Card in Pokemon?
A chase card is the one you are actively hunting. In the Pokemon Trading Card Game, the term describes any card rare enough to drive purchasing behaviour - the card collectors circle on the checklist before a set launches, the one streamers are hoping to pull on camera, the one that defines whether a box feels like a hit or a disappointment.
Every booster pack contains mostly common, uncommon, and standard rare cards. Chase cards are the exceptional pulls at the top of the rarity ladder - rarer, more visually striking, and significantly more valuable than everything else in the set. In modern Pokemon, the chase tier has expanded to include multiple sub-types of premium cards, each with its own visual identity, pull rate, and price range.
Understanding which cards are chase-tier in any given set, and why they command the premiums they do, helps collectors make better decisions about what to pursue in the secondary market versus what to open product for. Track your chase card pulls on CollectionPlnr.
The Modern Pokemon Rarity Hierarchy
The Pokemon Company (TPC) does not publish official pull rates, but the collector community has established reliable estimates through mass-opening data. Here is the current rarity hierarchy in Scarlet and Violet era sets:
| Rarity Tier | Symbol | Approx. Pull Rate | Visual Characteristic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common / Uncommon / Rare | Circle / Diamond / Star | Every pack | Standard card with art box border |
| Double Rare (RR) | Two stars | ~1 in 1-2 packs | Ex cards in standard framing |
| Ultra Rare (Full Art) | Three stars or similar | ~1 in 2-3 packs | Full art treatment, character art extends to card edge |
| Illustration Rare (IR) | One star (black) | ~1 in 8-10 packs | Full borderless illustration, landscape/scene art style |
| Special Illustration Rare (SIR) | Two stars (black) | ~1 in 15-20 packs | Watercolour-style full art with unique commissioned illustration |
| Hyper Rare (HR) | Three stars (gold) | ~1 in 40-60 packs | Full gold texture treatment across entire card face |
The true chase tier in modern Pokemon begins at the Illustration Rare level and peaks at the Hyper Rare. A standard booster box (36 packs) will typically yield approximately 3-5 Illustration Rares, 1-2 Special Illustration Rares, and 0-1 Hyper Rares on average.
Special Illustration Rares - The Primary Chase Cards
Special Illustration Rares are the dominant chase cards of the current Pokemon era and the main reason certain sets generate outsized secondary market demand. An SIR is not simply a higher-rarity version of a card that already exists - it features completely unique commissioned artwork created specifically for the SIR version, typically in a watercolour or hand-painted illustrative style that is visually unlike anything else in the game.
SIRs come in two flavours:
- Pokemon SIRs: Feature the Pokemon character in an elaborately illustrated environmental scene. A Charizard emerging from volcanic rock surrounded by embers. A Gardevoir in a misty forest. A Pikachu in a late-evening park. The art direction for Pokemon SIRs is consistently high quality and the cards function as miniature art prints as much as game pieces.
- Trainer SIRs: Feature human characters from the Pokemon games in similarly detailed illustrated scenes. Trainer SIRs of beloved characters - Iono, Nemona, Cynthia, and Lillie have generated some of the highest Trainer SIR values - carry premiums driven by fan affection for those characters that go beyond pure rarity considerations.
What Makes a Chase Card Valuable?
Pull rate alone does not determine value. The following factors combine to determine a specific card's position in the market:
- Subject Pokemon: Charizard is the single most consistent value driver in all of Pokemon collecting. A Charizard SIR or Hyper Rare will be worth 3-10x the same card type featuring a less popular Pokemon. Pikachu, Eevee, Umbreon, Gardevoir, and the main starter Pokemon of any generation carry premium demand from their fan bases. Meanwhile, a Hyper Rare of a Pokemon with no passionate fan base may be worth far less than the rarity alone would suggest.
- Artwork quality: Among cards at the same rarity, those with particularly dramatic, emotionally resonant, or visually striking illustrations command premiums. The community recognises exceptional artwork and prices it accordingly.
- Trainer popularity: Trainer SIRs featuring characters with dedicated fan followings benefit from fandom economics similar to character-driven collectibles in any medium.
- Set nostalgia: Sets celebrating beloved game generations - Pokemon 151 (celebrating the original 151 Pokemon from Red and Blue) drove sustained demand well above the average for new sets - carry premium interest from collectors who grew up with those games.
- Condition: A PSA 10 SIR of a popular Pokemon can be worth 3-10x a raw copy in ideal condition. PSA 10 rates for modern Pokemon are higher than vintage cards but still meaningful - perhaps 50-70% of submitted modern cards achieve PSA 10. For Hyper Rares, the gold texture treatment is particularly susceptible to surface scratches during shipping and handling, making pristine examples genuinely scarce.
Notable Recent Chase Card Values
| Card | Set | Approximate Raw Value | Approximate PSA 10 Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charizard ex SIR | Obsidian Flames | $80-$150 | $300-$600 |
| Umbreon ex SIR | Shrouded Fable | $60-$110 | $200-$450 |
| Pikachu ex SIR | Surging Sparks | $50-$100 | $150-$300 |
| Iono SIR | Paldea Evolved | $60-$120 | $200-$500 |
| Charizard ex Hyper Rare | Obsidian Flames | $60-$100 | $200-$400 |
| Mew ex Hyper Rare | 151 | $30-$70 | $100-$250 |
Values fluctuate with new set releases, secondary market supply, and broader collector sentiment. These are approximate ranges based on 2025-2026 market data.
Chase Cards and the Pack-Opening Experience
Chase cards are the engine of Pokemon's pack-opening culture. The possibility of pulling an SIR or Hyper Rare transforms each pack into a meaningful event. This is not accidental - TPC designs rarity structures specifically to maintain this tension. A Hyper Rare rare enough to be absent from most boxes is exciting precisely because it is exceptional. An SIR rare enough to require 15-20 packs on average means most boxes yield one or two, keeping pulls achievable while maintaining real value.
For collectors who prefer not to gamble on pulls, the secondary market provides every chase card at its current market price. Many serious collectors identify the specific SIRs or Hyper Rares they want from a set and purchase them directly, treating the card as a collectible to acquire rather than a prize to win. This approach eliminates variance and is typically more cost-efficient for a specific target card than opening product, where box expected value often falls below retail cost.
Whether you pull them or purchase them, add your chase card acquisitions to CollectionPlnr to track your collection value and condition over time.