Futuristic Rares are the headline new art treatment introduced in the Pokémon TCG’s 30th Celebration set. Cards in this art style are depicted as though they’re made of chrome, with the energy card symbols displayed in the background behind them. Only four Futuristic Rare Pokémon cards currently exist, and only two of them have been released: Mew and Mewtwo ex (the two Futuristic Rare Pikachus are debuting in the 30th Celebration Ultra-Premium Collection, which releases in November). Yet, for all of the hype behind this new card type, both Mew and Mewtwo are now available for cheaper prices than their full art counterparts.
It’s hard to overstate how incredibly hyped members of the Pokémon TCG community were for Futuristic Rares. Data from TCGplayer demonstrates that when price tracking for these cards first began on August 10th, Mewtwo ex had an expected value of $1000 (£755), while Mew ex was valued at $3.2 thousand dollars (£2.4 thousand pounds).
More than a month separated these cards getting listed, and their release, as 30th Celebration came out on September 16th. Because of this, the values assigned to these cards were highly speculative. It’s natural that the prices of cards dip once the set they are included in comes out, and more copies make their way into the hands of players, but in this instance the values of Futuristic Rare Mew and Mewtwo ex took a dramatic tumble.
At the time of writing, Futuristic Rare Mew has a market price of $62 (£46), while Futuristic Rare Mewtwo has a market price of $50 (£37). In both instances, this represents a drop of more than 95% compared to their anticipated value prior to release. Not only that, but it also gives them a price lower than their Special Illustration Rare (SIR) counterparts. SIR Mew ex is currently valued at $88 (£66), while SIR Mewtwo ex has a market price of $57 (£43).
This isn’t the first time that a fancy new art treatment has been upstaged by the reliable charm of full art cards. The shining Gold Mega Hyper Rares, introduced at the start of the Mega Evolution series in September of 2025 famously did not retain their position of monetary pre-eminence for long, and are now routinely less valuable than their SIR counterparts.
What kind of extravagant art treatments would you like to see in the future? And do you think that Special Illustration Rares will ever be upstaged as the premier option? Tell us your views in the Wargamer Discord.
Source: Wargamer
