Delta Species Pokemon Cards Are Officially Skyrocketing

One Of The Pokemon TCG’s Best Era’s Prices Are Going Bonkers Published Nov 4, 2026, 12:01 PM EST Sam Woods is TheGamer’s Senior Reporter. He’s been in games journalism since 2020 and has undertaken a variety of roles in that time. These have included roles such as SEO Editor, Managing Editor at DualShockers, and Global Head of Gaming, and he's also been seen on the BBC. He was promoted to the Senior Reporter position in 2025 following a series of high-quality reports and exclusives for TheGamer. Since 2020, Sam has written over 3,000 articles and specializes in telling the stories of the people behind the games. He’s interviewed the biggest game directors, some of the industry’s top talents, told the stories of how indie games came to be, and spoken to players about what really makes them tick. He’s also interviewed some of the world’s biggest musical artists to find out how the medium has inspired their work, and TV and Film actors about their roles in video game adaptations. He even hosted a PAX panel in 2021 and made a documentary in 2024 surrounding the creation of a Disney game. Alongside this, Sam focuses on breaking news. He got the scoop on Perfect Dark’s cancellation, provided context on some AI drama, and revealed that Lady Dimitrescu’s actress would love to step back into the character’s giant shoes. These articles have been picked up by the biggest gaming sites, including IGN, GameSpot, and PC Gamer. He also loves to dive into the numbers behind the games. Sam’s journey in games journalism has taken him all over the world. He’s covered Gamescom in Germany, Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles, and Tokyo Game Show in Japan, each on three occasions. He’s been learning Japanese since 2024 with the intention of identifying and translating Japanese-language news and bringing it to English-language audiences first, something he’s done countless times. Sam’s first review was 2020’s Battletoads reboot, and he’s since reviewed games in The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, and Pokemon franchises. As a lifelong Pokemon Trading Card Game collector, I think the era I have the fondest memories of is Delta Species. At 13, I delivered newspapers. When I was paid at the end of each week, a buddy and I would catch a bus into our local town center and buy a tin containing packs like Holon Phantoms and ex Crystal Guardians. We'd then take these tins to the nearby Burger King and rip packs with our greasy fingers. There was something special about pulling Pokemon that weren't their original types: an Electric-type Feraligatr, a Grass-type Snorlax, or a Fire-type Arbok all spring to mind. The stamped reverse holos were just the icing on the cake. A few years back, my love for this era of cards grew so strong that I started a random collection challenge: get every card that wasn't its normal type with the reverse holo stamp from the Delta Species, Holon Phantoms, ex Crystal Guardians, and ex Dragon Frontiers sets. Some of the cards were expensive, but I could chip away at it bit by bit. That is now no longer a reality. Over the last three months, the prices of many of these cards have skyrocketed to unobtainable levels, with some increasing by as much as 400 percent. Delta Species Card Prices Are Rising By Up To 400 Percent For me, the Delta Species era focuses on four sets: Delta Species, Holon Phantoms, ex Crystal Guardians, and ex Dragon Frontiers. They include Pokemon in Delta Species forms, repping a different type, alongside some stellar exs and mighty expensive Gold Stars. I recently noticed that a few of the cards in my collection had increased in value exponentially, so I decided to dig deeper, and it's grim reading for anybody looking to buy cards from these expansions. Delta Species I started my research with the titular Delta Species expansion, first released in 2005. The set featured 114 cards, 35 of which bore the Delta Species symbol, including every Eeveelution released at the time. In the last three months alone, 12 of these cards have more than doubled in price (with many more climbing by 50, 60, or 70 percent). Of these 12 cards, the average increase was 177 percent. If you'd bought these 12 back in early August, they'd have cost you $3,916. Today, you're looking at $10,576. That doesn't factor in the other 102 cards in the set, which have all increased. Unsurprisingly, many of the cards that have skyrocketed feature some of the most popular Pokemon: Mewtwo, Rayquaza, Umbreon, Groudon, and Metagross, and this set alone has crushed my dream. You can see the data for the 12 below: Card Set Price On 4th Aug 2026 Price On 4th November 2026 Percentage Change Dragonite Delta Species $165.07 $420.05 154.47% Mewtwo (Stamped Reverse) Delta Species $461.22 $1,050.00 127.66% Mewtwo Delta Species $198.22 $746.84 276.77% Rayquaza (Stamped Reverse) Delta Species $237.47 $949.50 299.84% Salamence (Stamped Reverse) Delta Species $95.73 $300.00 213.38% Starmie (Stamped Reverse) Delta Species $49.99 $112.75 125.55% Umbreon (Stamped Reverse) Delta Species $305.96 $1,042.50 240.73% Ditto - Pikachu (Stamped Reverse) Delta Species $160.83 $322.50 100.52% Eevee (Stamped Reverse) Delta Species $68.65 $181.65 164.60% Flareon ex Delta Species $211.62 $464.42 119.46% Groudon (Gold Star) Delta Species $1,010.00 $3,000.00 197.03% Metagross (Gold Star) Delta Species $951.99 $1,985.97 108.61% Holon Phantoms I'm not sure why, but Holon Phantoms is arguably the most notable of these sets, and it's also the one with the biggest price change. Of the 111 cards in the set, once again, 12 have seen their prices double since August. A few more errant cards enter the list this time, with the likes of Mankey and Torchic both more than doubling, but some heavy hitters, including Gyarados, Raichu, and Mewtwo, make the list. In August, these 12 cards would have set you back $3,167; today, it's $70 shy of $12,000. That's 12 cards increasing by a combined $9,000 in just three months. The data is below: Card Set Price On 4th Aug 2026 Price On 4th November 2026 Percentage Change Deoxys 3 (Stamped Reverse) Holon Phantoms $124.51 $276.67 122.21% Deoxys 4 (Stamped Reverse) Holon Phantoms $52.27 $144.68 176.79% Gyarados (Stamped Reverse) Holon Phantoms $349.99 $1,735.95 396.00% Raichu (Stamped Reverse) Holon Phantoms $201.33 $467.99 132.45% Rayquaza 16 (Stamped Reverse) Holon Phantoms $387.49 $1,382.99 256.91% Latios 22 (Stamped Reverse) Holon Phantoms $109.99 $499.99 354.58% Mewtwo (Stamped Reverse) Holon Phantoms $287.50 $665.00 131.30% Rayquaza 26 (Stamped Reverse) Holon Phantoms $310.32 $1,200.00 286.70% Aerodactyl (Stamped Reverse) Holon Phantoms $65.58 $209.99 220.20% Mankey (Stamped Reverse) Holon Phantoms $13.00 $41.16 216.62% Torchic (Stamped Reverse) Holon Phantoms $65.23 $141.96 117.63% Gyarados (Gold Star) Holon Phantoms $1,200.00 $5,173.54 331.13% ex Crystal Guardians And Dragon Frontiers ex Crystal Guardians and Dragon Frontiers have yet to see major moves like Delta Species and Holon Phantoms, but more than a few cards are moving up in price. None of Crystal Guardian's big hitters have seen a +100 percent shift yet, but Pokemon like Torchic, Treecko, and Charmelon have all risen over that milestone. Eight cards have doubled in price since August, going from $219 to $529. Child's play when you think about it... Card Set Price On 4th Aug 2026 Price On 4th November 2026 Percentage Change Sableye (Stamped Reverse) Crystal Guardians $68.12 $150.84 121.43% Grovyle (Stamped Reverse) Crystal Guardians $34.73 $68.47 97.15% Loudred (Stamped Reverse) Crystal Guardians $10.59 $21.14 99.62% Charmeleon 29 (Stamped Reverse) Crystal Guardians $23.45 $96.97 313.52% Gulpin (Stamped Reverse) Crystal Guardians $5.82 $20.50 252.23% Duskull (Stamped Reverse) Crystal Guardians $13.27 $37.73 184.33% Torchic 65 (Stamped Reverse) Crystal Guardians $33.79 $68.04 101.36% Treecko 67 (Stamped Reverse) Crystal Guardians $29.04 $65.20 124.52% Dragon Frontiers saw only seven cards increase by double, but some of them are big ones. The Electric-type Feraligatr and Grass-type Snorlax I referenced earlier are both included in that. These seven have risen from $1,016 to $2,965. Card Set Price On 4th Aug 2026 Price On 4th November 2026 Percentage Change Feraligatr (Stamped Reverse) Dragon Frontiers $111.50 $292.04 161.92% Nidoqueen (Stamped Reverse) Dragon Frontiers $30.43 $76.59 151.69% Snorlax (Stamped Reverse) Dragon Frontiers $334.76 $999.97 198.71% Togepi (Stamped Reverse) Dragon Frontiers $31.99 $81.98 156.27% Natu (Stamped Reverse) Dragon Frontiers $10.59 $26.21 147.50% Dragonite ex Dragon Frontiers $226.98 $489.00 115.44% Rayquaza ex Dragon Frontiers $269.99 $999.00 270.01% This can all be attributed to the scalping and investing that is ruining the hobby, and it's something I've written about on more occasions than I can remember. These cards were released when grading wasn't particularly popular, so the volume of PSA 10s in the wild is very, very low. This has meant that Delta Species cards at PSA 9/10 have shot up in price, and therefore single-card prices have risen as investors look for gradeable versions. Franchise Pokemon Original Release Date October 20, 1996 Player Count 2 Age Recommendation 6+ Length per Game Variable Franchise Name Pokemon