The Special Illustration Rare Pokémon card Raging Bolt ex from the most recent TCG set Prismatic Evolutions has seen a pretty huge price spike over the past month. This card wasn’t really on anyone’s radar as the set approached, but by February it was worth about $120 – going by TCGPlayer prices.
That’s a fair hunk of cash for a modern Pokémon card, but it’s significantly lower than the price tag it commands today – a whopping $160.
Of course, the SIR Eeveelution cards from the newest Pokémon set go for higher prices still, but it’s notable how many other cards from this expansion, whose names don’t end in ‘-eon’ have also been soaring in value. While Umbreon’s ridiculous value seems to have come down a little, other cards like Palafin ex continue to soar. We’ll be keen to track these cards over the next 12 months and see if these, perhaps rather inflated, prices come down at all.
As for interest in this card specifically, well who wouldn’t be interested in such a radical depiction of a tiger dinosaur thing? Raging Bolt doesn’t get us much attention as its Salamence-like brother Roaring Moon, but the ex looks resplendent here, orange lightning crackling round it as it runs, purple mane flowing behind it. The card’s art is great, full of action and movement, while also drawing inspiration from Japanese woodcut art.
Raging Bolt ex isn’t just a stylish-looking card though, mechanically it’s also among the best Pokémon cards of recent years. Originally released in the Pokémon expansion Temporal Forces last year, it really shined once Teal Mask Ogerpon ex came out a couple of months later.
That’s because Raging Bolt ex’s attack, Bellowing Thunder, deals more damage for each basic energy card you discard from your Pokémon. So if you run something like Ogerpon that can pull energy onto itself quickly, you end up with a card that can rapidly dish out huge amounts of damage.
The only problem with the card is that it’s easily countered. It has a straightforward game plan with little room for trickiness. If an opponent can take out your Ogerpon ex, it’s game over.
Though Raging Bolt ex doesn’t see much play anymore it had a great performance in last year’s world championships, taking sixth place. It still shows up in smaller tournaments here and there. So it’s likely there are many players with a soft spot for the card, who’d like a blinged up version for their collection.
Prismatic Evolutions continues to be the most desirable Pokémon TCG set in years, and price spikes like these demonstrate fans’ insatiable appetite for its coolest cards.
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Source: Wargamer
