Pokémon TCG Value Watch: Darkness Ablaze In December 2022

The Pokémon TCG is an ever-changing and unpredictable market. Over the past two years, we’ve seen renewed interest in the hobby due to a number of factors, including the 25th Anniversary, strong Sword & Shield-era sets featuring stunning Alternate Arts, influencers, box breaks, COVID-19 lockdown pushing people to find hobbies, and more. For a time, sets and cards that were readily available quickly became difficult to find. Now that the hype is settling down, let’s see where modern sets stand. Every month, I will do an installment of this series, Pokémon TCG Value Watch. This series is not financial advice but is rather a way to help collectors know the trajectory of a card’s availability so that Pokémon TCG completionists like myself know when to strike. Today, let’s see how the cards of Sword & Shield – Darkness Ablaze, which came out in August 2020, are doing now in December 2022.

Here are the top valued cards of Pokémon TCG: Sword & Shield – Darkness Ablaze with market values observed on TCGPlayer as of this writing:

1. Charizard VMAX 020/189: $41.16
2. Capture Energy Gold Secret Rare 201/189: $9.87
3. Salamence VMAX Rainbow Rare 194/189: $8.78
4. Eternatus VMAX Rainbow Rare 192/189: $7.69
5. Scizor VMAX Rainbow Rare 193/189: $7.60
6. Charizard V 019/189: $7.47
7. Butterfree VMAX Rainbow Rare 190/189: $6.73
8. Shiny Rillaboom Gold Secret Rare 197/189: $6.66
9. Shiny Coalossal Gold Secret Rare 198/189: $5.54
10. Big Parasol Gold Secret Rare 199/189: $4.41

Not many changes here. The Charizard VMAX is interestingly above $40 again after it had dipped into the mid $30s. Outside of that card, there isn’t even a single additional card including all Secret Rares in this set that is valued over $10. This makes Darkness Ablaze the most affordable set to buy in singles. When you compare it to sets like Sword & Shield – Evolving Skies, there are single cards in that set that would cost more to buy than it would to complete this entire set and buy the binder in which to showcase it.