Following the release of the "30th Celebration" series marking the 30th anniversary of the Pokémon Trading Card Game, prices for some popular single cards dropped rapidly. Online, suspected resellers voiced complaints, with some claiming they are considering legal action against Pokémon.
This commemorative series attracted collectors and resellers before its release, with some rare cards commanding high prices in advance. After the official launch, player pack-opening results suggested that high-rarity cards appeared more frequently than in recent series; as more cards entered the secondary market, asking prices for certain singles subsequently declined.
According to player pack-opening data, high-rarity cards comparable to SARs appeared on average once every 18 packs, while AR-level cards appeared roughly once every 5 packs. By contrast, high-rarity cards in some recent international series sometimes appeared only once per nearly 100 packs. These figures are based on player statistics and are not officially published pull rates.
Taking the high-rarity versions of Mew ex and Mewtwo ex as examples, pre-release listings on eBay ranged from $850 to $1,400, with some exceeding $3,000. About five days after launch, related listings had dropped to around $120, and items priced above $100 began struggling to find buyers.
The price changes sparked various online comments. One user, suspected of being a reseller, stated they were seriously considering legal action against Pokémon, citing the company's failure to disclose exact print runs, pull rates, and supply volumes in advance. Another self-identified "secondary market distributor" argued that resellers have long supported Pokémon, while others claimed they had maxed out their credit cards buying this series.
As these comments spread, some Japanese netizens expressed dissatisfaction with the resellers' complaints, hoping card prices would continue to fall. Currently, The Pokémon Company has not stated that increasing the pull rate of high-rarity cards was intended to combat reselling, nor has it officially confirmed claims that this series set a record for card print volume.