Team Rocket Returns Card Values: The Complete Guide
Team Rocket Returns' raw Gold Star market is thin and volatile, but graded copies set records: a PSA 10 Torchic sold for $2.7 million and a PSA 10 Mudkip for $1.02 million in September 2026.
Team Rocket Returns concentrates almost all of its value in three Gold Star cards, the first the English-language Pokemon TCG ever printed. Their raw market is thin: as of September 27, 2026, Torchic is the only one with a TCGplayer market price, $1,200.00, after swinging as high as $4,500.00 earlier in the month.
Graded copies tell a clearer story. A PSA 10 Torchic sold at auction for $2.7 million in September 2026, more than twenty times either of the two August 2026 PSA 10 Treecko results, and a PSA 10 Mudkip cleared $1.02 million the same month.
Below the Gold Stars, eleven Rocket's Pokemon-ex cards run from $206.00 to $899.99. The rest of the 111-card set, the base Rares, Uncommons and Commons, trades mostly under $30.
TCGplayer raw market price $1,200.00 as of September 27, 2026. A PSA 10 copy of this card sold for $2.7 million at Alt's August 28-September 10, 2026 auction, which Alt called the most expensive English-language Pokemon card sale on record.
EX Team Rocket Returns released in North America on November 1, 2004, per TCGplayer's set listing and the set's official Pokemon.com expansion page. It carries 111 English-language cards: 109 numbered cards plus two secret rares, per Bulbapedia's set breakdown, which also documents this as the expansion where the Pokemon (Gold Star) rarity debuted.
That structure splits into four price tiers, and reading them in order shows how top-heavy the set is.
Tier
Card numbers
Cards
TCGplayer raw price range
Common and Uncommon
029 to 095
67
$0.48 to $41.23, median $4.04
Rare (holo and non-holo mixed)
001 to 028
28
$1.90 to $164.43, median $28.04
Rocket's Pokemon-ex
096 to 106
11
$206.00 to $899.99, median $380.00
Gold Star and secret rares
107 to 111
5
$115.62 (Charmeleon) to $1,200.00 (Torchic); Treecko and Mudkip have no current market price
All figures above are TCGplayer market prices as of September 26, 2026, except Torchic (September 27, 2026). TCGplayer lists cards 001 through 014 as Holo Rares and all fourteen of 015 through 028 as non-holo Rares, so "Rare" does not mean "holo" everywhere in this set.
The Gold Star tier, raw
Three Generation III starters, Mudkip, Torchic and Treecko, each appear once in the set as a Gold Star card, a holofoil rarity numbered 107 through 109, the last slots of the numbered set. As raw cards on TCGplayer, their markets are thin enough that a single sale can move the price by thousands of dollars.
Torchic ☆ (108): $1,200.00 as of September 27, 2026. TCGplayer's price history shows it at $4,500.00 from mid-July to mid-September, then moving between $1,200.00 and $4,500.00 before its latest read.
Treecko ☆ (109): no current market price. It held at $2,400.00 from at least early July through mid-September 2026, then TCGplayer stopped showing a market price for it from September 21.
Mudkip ☆ (107): no usable TCGplayer market price and no active listings.
TCGplayer market price $2,400.00 from at least early July through mid-September 2026; no market price shown from September 21, 2026.
Mudkip's gap is not a data error. It is the clearest liquidity signal in this entire set: a card can carry real, even extraordinary, value while having no working raw market to price it against.
Graded, the Gold Stars set records
PSA 10 auction results give the Gold Stars a firmer ranking than their raw prices can. PSA 10 results from August and September 2026 put Torchic first, Mudkip second and Treecko a distant third.
Gold Star PSA 10 auction results, 2026
Torchic ☆ (Alt, Sep 10)2,700,000USD
Mudkip ☆ (Fanatics Collect, Sep 21)1,020,000USD
Treecko ☆ (Aug 2026, high)132,000USD
Auction records reported by Alt and Fanatics Collect via ComicBook.com and Readdork. Mudkip figure includes buyer's premium.
A PSA 10 Torchic Gold Star sold for $2.7 million at Alt's auction running August 28 through September 10, 2026, which the auction house called the most expensive English-language Pokemon card sale on record. PSA lists only 19 copies of this card at Gem Mint 10, per coverage of the sale. The prior public benchmark for a PSA 10 Torchic was $25,400, set in December 2020.
A PSA 10 Mudkip sold for $1.02 million, including buyer's premium, on Fanatics Collect on September 21, 2026, after 48 bids. PSA lists 42 copies at Gem Mint 10, more than double Torchic's 19, yet the card still cleared seven figures. The same platform had sold a different PSA 10 Mudkip for $20,400 in December 2024, a gain of roughly 4,900% in under two years.
Treecko comes in a distant third graded. Two separate PSA 10 copies sold for $132,000 and $114,000 in August 2026, both well under a tenth of Torchic's result. Treecko's PSA 10 population is not tracked here, but Mudkip's larger population still commanded a seven-figure result, so population alone does not settle the ranking.
The Rocket's Pokemon-ex ladder
Eleven Rocket's-branded Pokemon-ex cards, numbered 096 through 106, form the set's second value tier. Every one is a full Pokemon-ex Rare, and all eleven carry a holofoil finish.
Card
Number
TCGplayer market price
Rocket's Zapdos ex
106/109
$899.99
Rocket's Mewtwo ex
099/109
$550.00
Rocket's Entei ex
097/109
$503.99
Rocket's Moltres ex
100/109
$498.88
Rocket's Snorlax ex
104/109
$400.00
Rocket's Articuno ex
096/109
$380.00
Rocket's Scyther ex
102/109
$351.99
Rocket's Scizor ex
101/109
$349.18
Rocket's Sneasel ex
103/109
$339.99
Rocket's Suicune ex
105/109
$325.70
Rocket's Hitmonchan ex
098/109
$206.00
All eleven prices are TCGplayer holofoil market prices as of September 26, 2026. Rocket's Zapdos ex leads the tier by a wide margin, at roughly 64% more than Rocket's Mewtwo ex in second place, and the remaining nine cards sit within about $300 of each other.
Two secret rares above the numbered set
Two cards sit above the 109-card numbered set entirely: Charmeleon at 110/109 and Here Comes Team Rocket! at 111/109. Both are secret rares, and TCGplayer prices both as holofoils.
Here Comes Team Rocket!, a Trainer card, carried a TCGplayer market price of $326.30 as of September 26, 2026. Charmeleon carried a holofoil market price of $115.62 on the same date, about a third of the Trainer's price but still in line with the set's priciest non-ex Rares.
TCGplayer holofoil market price $115.62 as of September 26, 2026. A secret rare numbered above the set's own 109-card base count.
The rest of the set
Outside the chase tiers, Team Rocket Returns behaves like most vintage EX-era sets. The 28 non-ex Rares, fourteen holo and fourteen non-holo, ran $1.90 to $164.43 with a median of $28.04 as of September 26, 2026. Dark Marowak led that group; Qwilfish sat at the bottom.
The 67 Commons and Uncommons, numbered 029 through 095, ran $0.48 to $41.23 with a median of $4.04 on the same read. Pow! Hand Extension, an Uncommon Trainer card, was the single highest price in that group, ahead of every other Common and Uncommon.
What this guide does not price
Three things are deliberately absent. PSA's population report for this set as a whole could not be read from a Tier-1 source, since psacard.com blocks automated reads, so only the Torchic and Mudkip Gem Mint 10 counts reported alongside their sales appear here. Sealed product, the Team Rocket Returns booster box and booster pack, carries no tracked price in Cardboard Alpha's ledger and returned no usable figure from TCGplayer directly, so it is left out rather than estimated.
Raw prices for Treecko and Mudkip stay absent for the reason stated above: TCGplayer shows no current market price to read. Apart from the Gold Star price histories above, every price here is a single dated read, not a trend.
The set's underlying shape, three Gold Star chase cards with thin raw markets and record graded results, an eleven-card ex tier led by Rocket's Zapdos ex, and a base set that trades mostly in pocket change, is the part that holds. You can browse the full Team Rocket Returns catalog for every card's live price, or screen the wider vintage EX-era universe for how this set compares to its neighbors.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most valuable Team Rocket Returns card?
Graded, it is Torchic star: a PSA 10 copy sold at Alt's auction for $2.7 million in September 2026. Raw, Torchic star is also the only Gold Star with a current TCGplayer market price, $1,200.00 as of September 27, 2026, though that figure swung as high as $4,500.00 earlier in the month.
Why did a PSA 10 Torchic star sell for $2.7 million?
PSA lists only 19 copies of Torchic star graded Gem Mint 10, per press coverage of the sale. The sale, at Alt's August 28-September 10, 2026 auction, was called the most expensive English-language Pokemon card sale on record by the auction house. The card's own prior benchmark was $25,400 in December 2020.
Is Mudkip star or Treecko star more valuable?
Graded PSA 10, Mudkip star is far ahead: a PSA 10 Mudkip sold for $1.02 million, including buyer's premium, in September 2026, against $132,000 and $114,000 for two PSA 10 Treecko copies in August 2026. Raw, neither currently carries a TCGplayer market price; Treecko's last one was $2,400.00 in mid-September.
How many cards are in the Team Rocket Returns set?
The English-language set contains 111 cards: 109 numbered cards plus two secret rares, Charmeleon at 110/109 and Here Comes Team Rocket! at 111/109, per Bulbapedia's set breakdown.
Why is Charmeleon 110/109 valuable?
Charmeleon is a secret rare, numbered above the set's own 109-card base count, and TCGplayer prices it as a holofoil. Its holofoil market price was $115.62 as of September 26, 2026, in line with the set's priciest non-ex Rares.
Are the set's commons and uncommons worth collecting?
Mostly for completing the set rather than for value. The 67 Commons and Uncommons numbered 029 through 095 carried a TCGplayer median price of $4.04 as of September 26, 2026, with a high of $41.23 for the Uncommon Trainer card Pow! Hand Extension.
Sources
Pokemon team-rocket-returns Price Guide, TCGplayer Official / primary source · accessed September 27, 2026
Treecko Star - EX Team Rocket Returns - Pokemon, TCGplayer Official / primary source · accessed September 27, 2026
Torchic Star - EX Team Rocket Returns - Pokemon, TCGplayer Official / primary source · accessed September 27, 2026
Rocket's Zapdos ex - EX Team Rocket Returns - Pokemon, TCGplayer Official / primary source · accessed September 27, 2026
Jackie Chung covers the Pokémon TCG secondary market for Cardboard Alpha, with a focus on grading economics and set value guides. She spends most of her research time in population reports and grade-spread data, tracing how submission volume, print runs, and grading-company standards shape the premium between a raw card and its graded counterparts across different eras. Her set guides are built the same way: grounded in published pricing and pop data first, with market narrative kept separate from the numbers behind it.
Jackie Chung's articles describe market history and mechanics using published population and pricing data. They are informational and are not personalized investment advice.
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