Delta Reign is the next Pokémon TCG set on the slate, bringing everyone’s favorite emerald green dragon type legendary back to the card game, with a November set headlined by Rayquaza’s Mega Evolution form.
Often, when we get a big famous Pokémon at the head of a new set, the result is that other cards featuring that Pokémon become more expensive and harder to get hold of.
With that in mind, if you want to beat the rush, here are six of the best Rayquaza Pokémon cards you might want to have your eye on this summer.
Rayquaza V
Current price: $470
Evolving Skies is well-remembered as a banger of a set, with a tragically low pull rate, and Rayquaza V is one of its very best cards. While the artwork puts more focus on the trainer (Zinnia from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire) that just helps to show the sheer scale of this Legendary Pokémon.
Rayquaza ex δ
Current price: $170
The Delta species from the mid-2000s was a great innovation for the Pokémon TCG. Taking regular Pokémon and muddling up their typings, it was sort of like Tera Pokémon, only way better.
This card is one of several Delta species Rayquaza released throughout this era of the TCG. We also got a Metal and Lightning type from the first set EX Delta Species, and EX Holon Phantoms treated us to both a fire type Rayquaza and a Water/Metal type.
But it’s the Delta Pokémon’s swansong set, EX Dragon Frontiers, that gives us our next entry on this list: an ultra rare lightning type version of the big green dragon, with a strangely disgruntled expression.
Rayquaza Ex (Ex Dragon)
Current price: $315
An oldie but a goldie, this Ex Dragon card from all the way back in 2003 is actually the very first card Rayquaza appeared on. Represented as a colorless card, it would be another nine years before dragon type was officially added to the game.
Rayquaza EX (Dragons Exalted)
Current price: $282
Dragons Exalted has a few different Rayquaza worth celebrating – including a shiny form that you might want to look up. I’ve chosen to include this underrated full art, however, for one simple reason: it’s cool. The art really fills every centimeter of space, and Rayquaza looks great against that fiery background.
Rayquaza VMAX (Evolving Skies)
Current price: $961
For a short while, it looked like Rayquaza VMAX would be the main chase card of Evolving Skies, and in any ordinary set it would have been. But this was where we got one of the modern TCG’s holy grails: the coveted Moonbreon.
Still, this remains a massively pricey card, one that’s ballooned in value over the last few years. It makes sense, who wouldn’t want an enormous Rayquaza radiating red Dynamax energy? Fun fact: the artist behind this card also did a bunch of Pokémon pack art during the Sword & Shield era.
Rayquaza Star
Current price: $5,200
The most ludicrously expensive version of this Pokémon passed the $1,000 mark in late 2024 and just blasted upwards. Someone at Gamefreak had their head screwed on when they decided to make shiny Rayquaza black to contrast the brilliant yellow markings on the original.
Rayquaza remains one of the most recognisable legendary shinies to this day, and this is its first appearance in the TCG. It’s a cool card and a real collector’s item, in fact if you check our rare Pokémon cards guide, you’ll see that a PSA 10 copy can sell for up to $50,000.
This is probably one not to buy – should you really be spending $1000s on a single cardboard rectangle, even if it is a piece of Pokémon history? The thought makes me a little queasy. Still, no best Rayquaza list would be complete without it.
There are loads of great Rayquaza cards printed throughout the game’s history – but why do they all look so angry?
Source: Wargamer
