The Special Illustration Rare card Team Rocket's Moltres has already begun to fall in value, after a new Premium Collection box was revealed which includes it as a promo card.
Every copy of the $120 box, which releases in November 2025 according to Pokébeach, contains a version of the SIR card depicting the Legendary Pokémon. This is not typical for premium collections, which usually feature regular versions of ex cards as promos, or occasionally a full art ultra rare.
While it's not the most expensive rare Pokémon card in Destined Rivals (Rocket's Mewtwo takes that accolade) Team Rocket's Moltres is valuable, and easily in the top five. But soon, we might have to say it was in the top five, as its price has already started to drop.
It's impossible to know quite how severe an impact this new product will have on the card's price. Certainly, the promo version will be much easier to get hold of. But while the artwork is the same, the promo does have a conspicuous stamp covering a small portion of it, so it's possible some collectors would still pay top dollar for the original.
Many will be satisfied to just have some version of the card in their binder, however, and on TCGPlayer we can see that Team Rocket's Moltres ex is already selling for less than it was a few days ago. On August 19, before the box was revealed, copies were going for $160, but on August 22, they were selling for $130-140, a significant drop in such a short time frame.
For a box stamped with a big Team Rocket 'R', the Team Rocket's Moltres ex Ultra Premium Collection has remarkably few Destined Rivals packs. Of the 18 booster packs in the Premium Collection, only two look to be from the Team Rocket Pokémon set, with the other 16 being packs coming from other sets of the Scarlet & Violet era.
Alongside the SIR Rocket's Moltres, you'll actually get two more versions of the bad bird: a regular copy, and the ultra rare version. Both will sport the same promo stamp. It'll also feature the usual gubbins you expect in this kind of box like unique dice, a coin, and condition markers.
I wonder if we'll start seeing more SIR cards in premium collections like this one. That'd definitely make people think twice before forking over hundreds of dollars for a single card. Actually, who am I kidding? No it wouldn't.
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