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Rune
001
Start With Set, Number and Rarity
Before you compare any Charizard ex, confirm the set, collector number and rarity. Cards that share a name can sit in different sets, different rarities and different price histories. Once you have the exact printing, decide which timeframe you’re looking at: a recent high, a year-long view and a few recent months can each tell a different story.
Scarlet & Violet alone has several Charizard ex printings. Five of them make a useful practice set: two from Obsidian Flames, two from 151, and one from Paldean Fates. None of them is “the” Charizard. Each one is its own card.
Same name, five different products:
Charizard ex, Obsidian Flames 223/197 — Special Illustration Rare. Released with Obsidian Flames on August 11, 2023.
Charizard ex, Obsidian Flames 228/197 — Hyper Rare (the gold card). Same set and release date, different rarity and artist.
Charizard ex, 151 199/165 — Special Illustration Rare. Released with Scarlet & Violet—151 on September 22, 2023.
Charizard ex, 151 183/165 — Ultra Rare. Same set as 199/165, different rarity and number.
Charizard ex, Paldean Fates 234/091 — Special Illustration Rare. Released with Paldean Fates on January 26, 2024.
Notice what changes: the set name, the collector number (including the printed total), the rarity, and even the artist. Obsidian Flames alone has two Charizard ex chase cards that look nothing alike once you read the number and rarity. The same is true inside 151: 183/165 and 199/165 are not interchangeable.
Write those four details down first: name, set, full collector number, rarity (and language, if it isn’t English). Only then does a history comparison mean anything.
002
Match Condition Before You Compare
Once the printing is right, the copy still has to match. An ungraded Charizard ex, a lightly played raw copy and a PSA 10 of the same number trade as different markets.
Two habits keep the comparison honest:
Raw with raw, grade with grade. Don’t read a graded story onto a raw card in your binder.
Raw is not Near Mint by default. “Ungraded” describes encapsulation, not condition. Check corners, edges, surface and centering before deciding where a raw copy sits.
Recording condition when you add the card to your collection makes later comparisons cleaner. When you look back at a peak or a drawdown, you want the history that matches what’s actually in the sleeve.
003
What a “High” Actually Means
Collectors often talk about a card being “off its high.” That phrase only means something once you define the window.
A high over the last year is not the same as a high over the last three months, and neither is an all-time peak. The starting month of a sample also shapes the result: if the window begins at an unusual high or low, the whole percentage moves with it. Two printings of Charizard ex can both sit below a recent high and still have gotten there differently. One may have eased off for several months. Another may have held a narrow band after an earlier peak. Same direction relative to a high, different recent shapes.
Three cautions when you look at peaks and pullbacks:
Name the window. “This year’s high,” “the spring high” and “last month” are different claims.
A pullback is not a cause. Charts show that a card moved away from a sampled high. They don’t show why, and they don’t forecast the next move.
Thin data deserves more caution. Cards with fewer sales can swing harder on a small number of transactions.
The educational point is simple: don’t treat “off its high” as a single fact that travels with the name Charizard. Attach it to a printing, a condition and a timeframe.
004
Questions Before You Decide What It Means
When you’re looking at any Charizard ex printing, or any chase card:
Is this the exact card? Set, number, rarity, language.
Is this the right condition? Raw vs. graded, and the same grade.
Which high am I talking about? A year, a season, a few weeks.
Does the recent shape match that annual picture? If not, both belong in the story.
How much data sits behind it? Thin histories need wider margins of caution.
What decision am I making? Understanding what you own, adding a printing, or comparing two copies. Each one leans on a different window.
This is the kind of context Rune is built around. A price tells you how much. Rune helps you understand why, meaning history, movement and stability around a price, not proof of what caused a move. Its App Store listing describes scanning and identifying cards, searching cards and sets, tracking a collection with printing and condition, seeing current market values alongside historical movement and ranges, and discovering how a card has been behaving. Premium includes watching cards and receiving alerts; those alerts aren’t part of the free experience.
Same Pokémon. Different cards. Know Your Cards.
Built for collectors who want to know more.
Recognize. Understand. Navigate. Evaluate.
