Standard rotation hits the Pokémon TCG on the 10th April. This means that all cards with the regulation mark G in their bottom left hand corner (in other words, cards released between the March 2023 set Scarlet and Violet and the January 2024 set Paldean Fates) will no longer be playable. Despite this, many variants of the rotating Charizard ex card from the August 2023 set Obsidian Flames have spent the last month increasing in value.
Just like other Charizard cards from basically all Pokémon sets, Charizard ex from Obsidian Flames has a wide variety of different artistic treatments.
There's the Special Illustration Rare print from Obsidian Flames, which has, according to data from TCG Player, gone from an $84 (£64) price tag to $115 (£87) in the last month.
The Special Illustration Rare reprint of the card from Paldean Fates has seen an even more dramatic price shift. It gained more than $50 (£38) in value over the last month, rising from an average price point of $226 (£171) to $279 (£211).
This pattern bears out across other versions of the card as well, including its Ultra Rare and Hyper Rare printings, which are now each worth a handful of dollars more than they were in March.
The only iteration of Charizard ex that has dipped in value is its regular art treatment, which has fallen from $6.47 to $5.16.
This demonstrates a widely known truth about the Pokémon TCG, that competitive players and the collector's market exist in parallel worlds that rarely intersect. Tournament players running Charizard decks have lost interest in the most affordable version of the card as it's about to rotate and they'll no longer be able to include it in their decks. Meanwhile, collectors are still keen to grab as many foil Charizards as they can, and they don't need to worry about rotation since the card will be going into a binder or a PSA case rather than a deck box.
How is rotation impacting your Pokémon TCG decks? Let us know in the Wargamer Discord.
If you're curious about some timeless staples that never need to worry about rotation, have a look at our list of rare Pokémon cards.