author

Rochelle Lee

Contributing Writer

Rochelle Lee writes price guides and set coverage for Cardboard Alpha. Rochelle works in sales as an account executive serving escrow and mortgage teams, a field where a price means little without comparable sales behind it, and brings that comps-first instinct to cards: what individual cards are worth, how whole sets and eras have held their value, and how a card's sold history differs from what sellers are currently asking. Each guide is built from published pricing and population data first, cites every source inline, and is fact-checked against those sources before it is published.

Credentials

Contributing Writer, Cardboard Alpha
Sales background as an account executive serving escrow and mortgage teams
Focus areas: price guides, sets and eras
Research grounded in published pricing and population data, cited inline

Rochelle Lee's articles describe card and set values using published pricing and population data. They are informational and are not personalized investment advice.

Articles by Rochelle Lee

A photograph of a smiling girl in a red cape holding a pink card binder decorated with a gold medal on a rooftop at sunset, with flat hand drawn pokeball-red illustrations of a medal and sparkles drawn over it.

Price Guides

Ascended Heroes Card Values: The Complete Guide

Ascended Heroes' value sits in its secret rares: 22 Special Illustration Rares hold 79.7% of the set's cost. This guide prices the top 15 cards on Cardboard Alpha's evaluated prices for October 20, 2026, sets every rarity tier against TCGplayer's pull odds, and compares the set with the five other Mega Evolution Series expansions from Mega Evolution to Pitch Black.

8 min read

A photograph of a smiling young woman with her arms folded on a sunlit table behind a row of cream chess pieces, with flat hand drawn pokeball-red illustrations of swords on her pink sleeves, a lightning bolt, sparkles drawn over it.

Price Guides

Destined Rivals Card Values: The Complete Guide

96.1 percent of Destined Rivals' value sits in its 62 secret cards. This guide prices the top 15 cards on Cardboard Alpha's evaluated prices for October 20, 2026, sets each rarity tier beside TCGplayer's pull rates, and compares the set with five other Scarlet & Violet sets: a one-of-each run costs 3.6 times Journey Together's.

7 min read

A photograph of a smiling woman holding a closed purple card binder to her chest in an elegant dining room beneath a sparkling chandelier, with flat hand drawn pokeball-red illustrations of sparkles drawn over it.

Price Guides

Crown Zenith Card Values: The Complete Guide

Crown Zenith's value sits in its Galarian Gallery, not its 160-card main set. This guide prices the top 15 cards on Cardboard Alpha's evaluated prices for October 19, 2026, splits all 230 cards by card type, and sets the Gallery's 89.8 percent share of value against the 30-card Trainer Galleries of four 2022 sets.

7 min read

A photograph of a woman laughing on a red sofa with an open blue card binder beside a large window, with flat hand drawn pokeball-red illustrations of swirling ribbons and sparkles drawn over it.

Price Guides

Surging Sparks Card Values: The Complete Guide

Pikachu ex 238/191 leads Surging Sparks on Cardboard Alpha's evaluated prices for October 15, 2026. This guide prices the top 15 cards, splits all 252 cards by rarity tier beside TCGplayer's measured pull odds, and ladders seven Pokémon ex from Double Rare to Special Illustration Rare, against a one-of-each cost of $1,106.66.

7 min read

A photograph of an older man in reading glasses studying a small illustrated vintage leaflet over an open book at a sunny window table, with flat hand drawn pokeball-red illustrations of question marks and sparkles drawn over it.

Sets & Eras

How to Tell a Reprint From an Original Vintage Pokemon Card

Base Set 2, Legendary Collection, Evolutions and the 2021 and 2026 Classic Collections all reprint Base Set art. This guide lists the printed marks that separate each print from the 1999 original and prices six Charizard prints on Cardboard Alpha's October 13, 2026 evaluated prices. Across five reprints the evaluated Charizard ranged from 10 to 96 percent of the Base Set Unlimited figure that day.

7 min read

A photograph of a smiling man lighting the candles on a small birthday cake at a kitchen table, with flat hand drawn pokeball-red illustrations of pokeballs and stars drawn over it.

Price Guides

Celebrations Card Values: The Complete Guide

Celebrations' value sits in its Classic Collection reprints. This guide prices all 50 cards on Cardboard Alpha's evaluated prices for October 11, 2026, compares 14 reprints with their original printings, and sets the 2021 Charizard beside the 2026 30th Celebration one.

7 min read

A gray-bearded older man in glasses and a mauve cardigan holds the strings of a bunch of red balloons in a sunny backyard, with small hand-drawn pokeballs and gold coins floating among the strings.

Price Guides

Evolving Skies Card Values: The Complete Guide

Evolving Skies' value sits almost entirely in its alternate art. This guide prices the top 15 cards on Cardboard Alpha's evaluated prices for October 7, 2026, splits all 237 cards by print type, and compares the set with three other Sword & Shield sets: a one-of-each run costs 3.1 times Crown Zenith's, Galarian Gallery included.

7 min read

A photograph of a smiling teenage boy reading an open notebook under a glowing desk lamp in a dark bedroom, with flat hand drawn pokeball-red illustrations of stars, sparkles and a pokeball-patterned cup drawn over it.

Price Guides

Hidden Fates Card Values: The Complete Guide

Hidden Fates' value sits almost entirely in its 94-card Shiny Vault, not its 69-card main set. This guide prices the top 15 cards on Cardboard Alpha's evaluated prices for October 6, 2026, splits all 163 cards by tier, and says which prices rest on recorded sales and which on a quoted TCGplayer market price.

7 min read

A photograph of a bearded man in a teal T-shirt at a table in a sunlit room lined with shelves, finger to his chin, blowing a puff of air toward a large hand drawn red and white pokeball, with a pile of hand drawn gold coins and small sparkles beside it.

Price Guides

Base Set Card Values: The Complete Guide

Cardboard Alpha's evaluated prices for September 28, 2026 put a near-mint Unlimited Base Set Charizard at $795.91, Blastoise at $172.98 and Venusaur at $140.97. This guide prices all 16 Holo Rares, the non-holo chase cards and the Trainer and Energy floor, then covers what the Shadowless and 1st Edition prints change and how often Base Set grades a PSA 10.

7 min read

A photograph of a man holding up two plain trading-card backs side by side under a desk lamp, comparing a corner of each, with flat hand drawn pokeball-red illustrations of pokeballs, percent signs, dollar signs drawn over it.

Sets & Eras

1st Edition vs Unlimited Pokemon Cards: What's the Price Gap

A 1st Edition Pokemon card comes from an expansion's first print run and carries a stamp; an Unlimited card is any later reprint without it. Base Set Charizard shows how differently that gap plays out at each price level: TCGplayer's market price for the unstamped Shadowless print is roughly 2.4 times the standard Unlimited print's, on thin sales, while the stamped 1st Edition print shows no recorded sales at all. PSA's Population Report shows a more than fourfold higher PSA 10 gem rate for 1st Edition, and a PSA 10 1st Edition copy set a new $550,000 auction record in December 2025.

6 min read

A photograph of a man arranging several graded card slabs in a row across a wooden desk, tallest price to shortest, with flat hand drawn pokeball-red illustrations of pokeballs, dollar signs, stars drawn over it.

Price Guides

Most Valuable Umbreon Pokemon Cards: A Price Guide

By raw market price, Umbreon's most valuable English-language card is a 2007 POP Series 5 Gold Star, near $4,700 ungraded, with a PSA 10 sale over $100,000. This guide tracks seven widely collected Umbreon printings by TCGplayer and market price guide data read September 26, 2026, and shows how grading premiums swing from under 2x to more than 100x raw depending on the card.

7 min read

A photograph of a man comparing two plain card backs side by side on a wooden desk under a lamp, with flat hand drawn pokeball-red illustrations of pokeballs, percent signs, upward arrows drawn over it.

Sets & Eras

Base Set Shadowless vs Unlimited: Value Differences Explained

An ungraded Base Set Shadowless Charizard reads $1,010.00 on a market price guide against $359.75 for a regular Unlimited copy, a 2.8x premium. Blastoise and Venusaur sit at 2.8x and 2.6x ungraded, but graded tiers pull the three apart, with Charizard's multiple reaching 4.2x at Grade 8.

5 min read

A photograph of a man arranging the plain backs of trading cards from oldest to newest in a fan across a wooden desk, with flat hand drawn pokeball-red illustrations of pokeballs, dollar signs, upward arrows drawn over it.

Price Guides

Most Valuable Dragonite Pokemon Cards: A Price Guide

Across ten Dragonite printings spanning 1999 to 2026, the highest raw TCGplayer market price belongs to a 24-year-old Expedition holo rare, not the newest Ascended Heroes chase card. This guide prices all ten on TCGplayer's published market data, read September 27, 2026, from a $949.79 holo down to a $1.56 Rare.

5 min read

A photograph of a man laying out seventeen plain trading-card backs in a long row across a wooden desk, comparing them under a desk lamp, with flat hand drawn pokeball-red illustrations of pokeballs, dollar signs, upward arrows drawn over it.

Price Guides

Sword & Shield Era Pokemon Cards: A Value Guide

The Sword & Shield era ran 17 English-language expansions from February 2020 to January 2023. This guide prices each set's highest-priced Secret Rare Pokemon card from TCGplayer market data read September 26, 2026, ranks them side by side, and names the Ultra Rare alternate arts that out-price their set's top Secret Rare.

5 min read