The Best Pokemon Packs to Buy Right Now
There are so many different Pokemon sets to buy from. Where do you start? How do you know which set will have valuable cards and which contain the Pokemon that you are looking for?
Luckily, I have compiled a list of reasonable and not so reasonable sets to choose from!
The Best Pokemon Packs to Buy Right Now
The best Pokemon packs to buy right now is Scarlet & Violet 151 (Pokemon 151), Evolving skies, and Crown Zenith. This is because they are a mix of high value, great pull rates, and nostalgia.
Are you looking for valuable cards? Are you looking for rare cards? Either way, I have compiled a list of 9 sets (in no particular order) that will meet all of your needs.
Try not to overcomplicate your search. Pokemon collecting is suppose to be enjoyable and not stressful!
Anyone that ranking sets is giving you their personal opinion. I am going to provide you my opinion on which sets contain value and which sets have cards that are overwhelming fan favorites!
Table of Contents
Crown Zenith
What makes this set part of the Best Pokemon Packs To Buy list?
Lets start off with Crown Zenith. This set is FUN. How do we determine a fun set? PULL RATES. Crown Zenith boasts amazing pull rates. Often, collectors want to pull rare cards and Crown Zenith has plenty.
The downside? The value of the cards don’t tend to hold very high values. Giratina is the set’s most valuable card and has a market price of about $75 at the time of writing.
Pick it up here.
Crown Zenith is a specialty set. Pokemon (english) specialty sets don’t come out in booster boxes (36 packs.) Rather, they come in things like Elite Trainer Boxes (ETB), tins, collection boxes and blister packs.
This set was released on January 20th, 2023.
Crown Zenith features:
- Over 160 cards
- 3 Additional Radiant Pokemon: Radiant Charizard, Radiant Charjabug, and Radiant Eternatus
- 5 Pokemon VMAX
- 8 Pokemon VSTAR, including Zacian VSTAR, and Zamazenta VSTAR
- 17 Pokemon V
- 70 cards with special artwork in the new Galarian Gallery, including Mewtwo VSTAR, Darkrai VSTAR, and Hisuian Zoroark VSTAR
- Most Expensive Card Currently? Giratina
Here are some pictures of product and some personal pictures of Crown Zenith that I’ve collected!
Chilling Reign
Chilling Reign also know ask “Chilling Pain,” is the opposite of a set like Crown Zenith. Chilling Reign is a set from the Sword & Shield era that boasts extremely poor pull rates. It was released June 18th, 2022.
The set does however feature some incredible art! You will have to be lucky to get these amazing cards due to the poor pull rates. Currently, a booster box is averaging $150. I do expect this set to rise in value.
What makes this set part of the Best Pokemon Packs To Buy list?
Chilling Reign has a TON of alternative art (Alt Art’s) cards that can be quite valuable. For instance, the amazingly drawn Blaziken Vmax. This card is worth a whopping $165 at the time of writing.
Pick it up here.
Chilling Reign features:
- Over 190 cards
- 8 Pokemon VMAX
- 15 Pokemon V
- 26 Full art Pokemon V
- 28 Trainer Cards
- 13 Full art supporter Cards
- 3 special energy cards
- Most Expensive Card Currently? Blaziken Vmax
Here are some pictures of product and some personal pictures of Chilling Reign that I’ve collected!
Brilliant Stars
Brilliant Stars is a set that features Charizard, Arceus, Moltres, Zapdos and more. Pull rate’s in this set is fair, meaning you’ll get lucky fairly often! I would consider the value in this set at the time of writing is average.
Don’t let that discourage you because the set is extremely fun to collect.
What makes this set part of the Best Pokemon Packs To Buy list?
Brilliant Stars has a great pull rate and some beautiful cards. Although I would rank the value of these cards as average, the amount of rare cards are worth buying the set!
Furthermore, a booster box is around $140 at the time of writing, making this set worth getting.
Pick up a booster box here.
Brilliant stars has rainbow cards, gold cards, and some spectacular alt arts! The set features “trainer galleries. ” The Trainer gallery is mostly comprised of character rare’s, but also includes full art Trainers.
Brilliant Stars released on February 25th, 2022.
Brilliant Stars features:
- 151 regular cards
- 35 secret rares
- 30 Trainer Gallery Cards
- Most Expensive Card Currently: Charizard V Alt Art
Here are some pictures of product and some personal pictures of Brilliant Stars that I’ve collected!
Lost Origins
Lost Origins was released on September 9th, 2022. There are 196 cards in the main set and the Trainer Gallery subset features 30 Special Art cards.
What makes this set part of the Best Pokemon Packs To Buy list?
The chase in this set is the Giratina V. At the time of writing this card is worth a whopping $240! Lost Origin’s pull rate for the Giratina V is very low, making this set a collector’s item of the future.
Pick it up here.
Also, this set is incredibly useful for playing the trading card game (TCG) and will be for the foreseeable future.
Lost Origins contains rainbow and gold cards that are simply magnificent. This is truly a set that is valuable and rare.
If you’re looking to break into the trading card game (TCG), the lost zone mechanic is wreaking havoc on players.
For TCG players, the Lost Zone mechanic, which was last seen in Sun & Moon – Lost Thunder from 2018, returned in Lost Origins. Similar to the discard pile, the Lost Zone contains cards that can’t be retrieved while the game is being played.
This set is incredibly useful for playing the trading card game (TCG) and will be for the foreseeable future.
Lost Origins Features:
- Over 190 cards
- 3 Radiant Pokémon
- 6 Pokémon VSTAR
- 14 Pokémon V and 1 enormous Pokémon VMAX
- 30 cards with special art in the Trainer Gallery subset
- More than 15 Trainer cards
- Most Expensive Card Currently? Giratina Alt Art
Here are some pictures of product and some personal pictures of Lost Origins that I’ve collected!
Silver Tempest
What makes this set part of the Best Pokemon Packs To Buy list?
The chase in this set is the Lugia V (alternate full art). At the time of writing this card is worth a stunning $130! The drawing depicts a man on a boat staring as Lugia appears in a sky full of thunder.
Pick it up here.
Unfortunately, the next closest card of value is the Rayquaza Vmax which is worth about $27 at the time of writing.
Nonetheless, pulling the Lugia V was very difficult. I have high hopes that the card will be extremely valuable in the future.
The rest of the rest contains gold, rainbows, and some pretty awesome trainer cards like Candice, Serena, and Friends in Galar.
Silver Tempest was released on November 11th, 2022.
Silver Tempest Features:
- This set features 195 cards in the main set
- The Trainer Gallery subset features 30 Special Art cards.
- Most Expensive Card Currently? Lugia V Alt Art
Here are some pictures of product and some personal pictures of Silver Tempest that I’ve collected!
Astral Radiance
Inspired by the ‘Pokemon Legends: Arceus’ video game, Astral Radiance features various Hisuian Pokemon and card art that showcases the Hisui region.
The main chase card in this set is Machamp V. I found this card extremely difficult to pull! At the time of writing, this card is worth about $88.
Pick it up here.
However, my favorite card is the Dialga V alt art. It features Dialga flying high in the sky and is truly a beautfiul card.
What makes this set part of the Best Pokemon Packs To Buy list?
Astral radiance may not have a ton of valuable cards but is isn’t an expensive set and it’s artworks are amazing!
Astral Radiance features:
- 189 main set cards
- 30 trainer gallery cards
- 7 Pokemon VSTAR
- 3 Radiant Pokemon
- More than 20 Trainer cards
- 19 Pokemon V
- 2 Pokemon VMAX
- Most Expensive Card Currently? Machamp V Alt Art
Here are some pictures of product and some personal pictures of Astral Radiance that I’ve collected!
Paldea Evolved
On June 9th, Pokemon Paldea Evolved released. It is a massive set featuring over 279 cards!
There are so many hits! The chase card in this set is Iono. A “waifu” card worth about $80 at the time of writing. What makes this set special is the amount of pretty art work’s. There are so many hits in this set.
Pick up Iono here.
My favorite artwork is Magikarp. A truly stunning card.
What makes this set part of the Best Pokemon Packs To Buy list?
The sheer amount of hits! The set is cheap and booster boxes are around $100 at the time of writing. The affordability and pull rate is great. Even if there aren’t a lot of high-value cards.
Paldea Evolved Features:
- 93 cards in the main set,
- 36 Illustration Rares
- 26 Special Illustration Rares
- 15 Ultra Rares (“full arts”),
- and 9 Hyper Rares (“gold cards”)
- Most Expensive Card Currently? Iono
Here are some pictures of product and some personal pictures of Paldea Evovlved that I’ve collected!
Pokemon 151 (Scarlet & Violet -151)
How nostalgic and FUN it is to open Pokemon 151. If your part of the original generation, you get to re-live the awesome moments of seeing the original Pokemon.
What makes this set part of the Best Pokemon Packs To Buy list?
Pokemon 151 is purely nostalgic. If you grew up with Pokemon, this set is a MUST have. Pulling the Charizard bring so much joy. It’s also worth about $100 at the time of writing!
Pick up the Charizard here.
Did I mention the pull rates are pretty good?
My wife and I opened 2 Pokemon 151 Ultra Premium Collection’s (UPC). We went pack for pack and opened 2 Charizard’s back to back! This is our 3rd one together and is the chase of the set!
Unfortunately, you can’t buy a booster box of 36 packs. Scarlet & Violet – 151 only comes as a speciality set.
Scarlet & Violet – 151 officially released September 22nd, 2023.
Scarlet & Violet 151 (Pokemon 151) features 207 cards:
- 165 in the main set
- 42 secret rares
- Originaly 151 Pokemon
- Nostalgia!
- Most Expensive Card Currently? Charizard EX
Here are some pictures of product and some personal pictures of Scarlet & Violet 151 (Pokemon 151) that I’ve collected!
Evolving Skies
Last but not least is the incredible set of Evovling Skies. I know this is no surprise to many of you but Evolving Skies is an astonishing set.
Dubbed the “Moonbreon” The chase of this set is a incredibly detail Umbreon reaching for the moon lit sky.
What makes this set part of the Best Pokemon Packs To Buy list?
Besides the Moonbreon, the set features all variants of Eevee, a fan favorite. Most of the rare evolving skies cards are over $50 including many that are over $100.
Oh, the Umbreon cost about $600 at the time of writing!
Pick up the Umbreon here.
Affordability? not good. Due to the difficult nature of pulling good cards, the rare cards in Evolving Skies are truly RARE.
Trying to win over your partner with a truly amazing set? Evolving Skies is it. However, you’ll pay an average of $400+ per booster box (36 packs) at the time of writing.
Evovlving Skies Features:
- 203 cards
- 18 Pokémon V and 15 Pokémon VMAX
- 33 full-art Pokémon V
- 5 full-art Supporter cards
- Dragon-type Pokémon returned
- Single Strike and Rapid Strike cards
- 24 Trainer cards and a Special Energy card
Here are some pictures of product and some personal pictures of Evolving Skies that I’ve collected!
