author · editor

Jackie Chung

TCG Market Analyst

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.

Articles by Jackie Chung

Sets & Eras

Delta Reign Preview: Illustration Rare Binder Watchlist

On October 24, 2026, Delta Reign has no English single-card market, so no Illustration Rare can be called affordable. This preview lists three English Illustration Rares confirmed in dated sources and sets them beside Illustration Rare prices from four released Mega Evolution-era sets.

7 min read

Sets & Eras

30th Celebration Artwork: Visual Threads and Binder Gems

A card-by-card check of 30th Celebration's artwork connections: the official day and night pairs, mashu's Kanto birds as one scene, OKUBO's Meowth cameos, YOSHIROTTEN's Mew and Mewtwo, the 30 Pikachu artists and a split LEGEND, with dated evaluated prices.

8 min read

Sets & Eras

Delta Reign Artwork: Connected Scenes and Hidden Details

A dated look at Delta Reign's artwork as of October 18, 2026: the three Legendary Stadium scenes, who drew them, the cameo Pokemon inside them, and what the English reveals had not yet shown.

7 min read

Price Guides

30th Celebration Card Values: The October 2026 Chase Ladder

The RGB Rare Mews top 30th Celebration on asking and guide prices, while Mew ex 152/128 leads the numbered cards backed by same-day sales. This ladder ranks the sale-backed chase cards on Cardboard Alpha's October 15, 2026 evaluated prices, shows how nine of them fell after September 22, and prices the RGB trio and the Classic Collection beside it.

7 min read

Price Guides

Affordable 30th Celebration Illustration Rares: Ten Picks

Ten 30th Celebration Illustration Rares had a Cardboard Alpha evaluated price under $6 on October 11, 2026, from Gholdengo at $1.82 to Morpeko at $5.81. Each rests on six or more recorded same-day sales, and all ten cost 28 to 61 percent less than on September 22.

6 min read

Sets & Eras

Delta Reign Chase Cards: An English Release Watchlist

As of October 8, 2026, Delta Reign's chase tiers are sized but mostly unnamed: The Pokemon Company counts 37 cards in three rare tiers and has placed only two. This watchlist adds Japan's Storm Emeralda and how three earlier English Mega sets priced their top cards that day.

7 min read

Price Guides

Prismatic Evolutions Card Values: The Complete Guide

Umbreon ex 161/131 leads Prismatic Evolutions at an evaluated raw Near Mint price of $1,167.24 on October 3, 2026. This guide prices every rarity tier, ranks the top 20 cards, shows how much of the set's $4,364.91 value the top ten hold, and prices the Poké Ball and Master Ball reverse holos.

7 min read

Grading

How Population Reports Shape Pokemon Card Grading Value

Cardboard Alpha's Grading Opportunity model prices the expected value of grading thousands of cards at once. Swapping a generic assumption for a card's real population, when there is enough of it, moved that estimate down 93 percent on one card and up more than triple on another, dated September 21, 2026.

7 min read

Price Guides

Most Valuable Mewtwo Pokemon Cards: A Price Guide

Shining Mewtwo (Neo Destiny, 2002) is the most valuable English Mewtwo card at a TCGplayer market price of $3,000.00, ahead of the Winner version of the Rocket's Mewtwo promo at $2,400.00. This guide ranks the ten highest-priced Mewtwo cards in TCGplayer's own data, read September 27, 2026, and names the PSA, CGC and auction-house data it does not cover.

6 min read

Price Guides

Expedition Base Set Card Values: The Complete Guide

Expedition Base Set's top prices sit in a 32-card Holo Rare tier topped by a $949.79 Dragonite, ahead of Charizard. This guide prices every Holo Rare in both finishes from TCGplayer data read September 27, 2026, ranks the rest of the 165-card set by rarity tier, and names the six cards where reverse holo outprices holo.

5 min read

Price Guides

Most Valuable Articuno Pokemon Cards: A Price Guide

The ten most valuable English Articuno singles ranked by TCGplayer market price on September 26, 2026: Supreme Victors 148 leads at $388.32, Rocket's Articuno ex follows at $380.00, and Plasma Storm's full art Articuno-EX and the Skyridge Holo Rare both price at $325 or more. Raw prices only; no graded figure is quoted.

4 min read

Price Guides

Team Magma vs Team Aqua Card Values: The Complete Guide

EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua's chase tier runs on more than the ex mechanic. This guide prices the 7-card ex ladder, the 12-card Holo Rare tier and the set's reverse holo premium from TCGplayer market data read September 26, 2026.

5 min read

Price Guides

Team Rocket Returns Card Values: The Complete Guide

Team Rocket Returns concentrates its value in three Gold Star cards, the first the English-language Pokemon TCG printed. On TCGplayer only Torchic currently carries a raw market price, and it swung between $4,500 and $1,200 in September 2026. PSA 10 auction results tell a clearer story: Torchic at $2.7 million, Mudkip at $1.02 million, Treecko at $132,000.

6 min read

Price Guides

Most Valuable Celebi Pokemon Cards: A Price Guide

The ten most valuable English Celebi cards, ranked from every Celebi printing in Cardboard Alpha's catalog on TCGplayer market prices read September 27, 2026. Neo Destiny's 1st Edition Shining Celebi leads at $3,000.00, the Crystal Guardians Gold Star follows at $750.00, and all ten come from 2001 to 2006 except one 2019 Secret Rare. No PSA or CGC graded figure appears because psacard.com blocked this pass's direct research.

5 min read

Sets & Eras

Base Set Charizard Price Guide by Print Run

A raw Base Set Charizard is not one price: TCGplayer puts the Unlimited print at $944.53 and the Shadowless print at $2,257.87 as of September 26, 2026, and PSA's Population Report shows the 1st Edition print gems at more than four times the Unlimited print's PSA 10 rate. This guide prices the two verifiable raw print runs, explains why 1st Edition and graded auction figures are missing this cycle, and separates PSA's Gem Mint 10 standard from CGC's updated scale.

5 min read

Price Guides

Most Valuable Crobat Pokemon Cards: A Price Guide

TCGplayer market prices read September 26, 2026 rank the ten most valuable Crobat cards, from the $549.99 Skyridge Holo Rare down to a $59.96 Destined Rivals Special Illustration Rare. Skyridge holds the top two spots outright, with two Team Rocket-era Dark Crobat prints close behind in third and fourth.

6 min read

Price Guides

Mega Evolution Era Pokemon Cards: A Value Guide

The Mega Evolution era covers six English Pokemon TCG sets released between September 2025 and July 2026, built around Mega Evolution Pokemon ex cards worth three Prize cards on knockout. This guide dates every set and compares each one's top live chase-card price using the last fully complete daily read of Cardboard Alpha's own ledger, September 26, 2026.

6 min read

Price Guides

Most Valuable Dialga Pokemon Cards: A Price Guide

Dialga's most valuable card is a 2014 Phantom Forces Secret Rare priced at $971.26 raw, roughly 1.9 times the next card in a top ten that spans six TCG eras and five different card mechanics.

6 min read

Price Guides

Most Valuable Pokemon EX and GX Cards: A Price Guide

Pokemon-EX (2012-2016 in English) and Pokemon-GX (2017-2019 in English) both give up extra Prize cards when Knocked Out. On Cardboard Alpha's evaluated-price ledger read September 27, 2026, Latias & Latios GX leads both generations at roughly $3,913.85, followed by Gengar & Mimikyu GX at $1,725.99 and M Charizard EX at $1,226.23.

6 min read

Price Guides

WOTC Era Pokemon Cards: A Complete Value Guide

The WOTC era ran 16 English-language sets from Base Set in January 1999 to Skyridge in May 2003. This guide prices each set's flagship card from TCGplayer market data published September 26, 2026, on one like-for-like basis that keeps 1st Edition prints out of the ranking, then covers 1st Edition prices on their own.

5 min read

Market Analysis

What Counts as an Inferred Sale vs an Actual Sale

A listing disappearing from eBay or TCGplayer is not proof it sold: it could have been relisted, repriced, pulled, or an auction could have closed with no bid. This piece defines the actual-sale mechanics that close a real transaction, walks the sale-verification ladder Cardboard Alpha ranks evidence on, and shows what an inferred sale candidate is and is not allowed to count toward.

6 min read

Price Guides

151 Card Values: The Complete Guide

Pokemon TCG: 151 concentrates almost all of its value in 42 secret cards. This guide prices every rarity tier from TCGplayer market data read on September 1, 2026, ranks the ten chase cards, and shows why print rarity does not set the order.

5 min read