Author:
Rune
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Surging Sparks Turns Two
Scarlet & Violet—Surging Sparks launched at participating retailers worldwide on November 8, 2024, according to The Pokémon Company’s press release and the official set page. The set has 191 cards in its main numbering, and secret rares run past that number. The five cards below are numbered 236 through 240. All are Special Illustration Rares (SIRs), and we confirmed the rarity of each against the Pokémon TCG API card data.
These five are a selection. We’re not claiming they’re the set’s most valuable cards or its only SIRs.
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Five SIRs: Raw Now vs. November 2024
Card | Raw (ungraded), Nov 7, 2026 | Raw, Nov 2024 monthly sample | Change | PSA 10 estimate, Nov 7, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
$222.86 | $465.93 | −52.2% | $705.00 | |
$154.49 | $193.50 | −20.2% | $395.00 | |
$93.78 | $88.00 | +6.6% | $245.56 | |
$28.54 | $78.75 | −63.8% | $98.00 | |
$27.49 | $24.45 | +12.4% | $101.79 |
Source: PriceCharting card pages, captured Nov 7, 2026 (about 8:06 a.m. ET). USD. “Nov 2024” is the first monthly point on each card’s ungraded price chart. It isn’t a launch-day or exact release price. Prices on the live pages may have changed since.
What the November 2024 Number Is (and Isn’t)
The comparison point is a monthly sample: the November 2024 value on PriceCharting’s ungraded price chart for each card. It’s the earliest point the chart shows, and it falls in the set’s release month.
It isn’t the price on release day, and it isn’t what any single collector paid. A single monthly figure can’t show how prices moved within that month. Treat it as a reasonable reference point for “around release,” not as a precise starting price.
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Three Lessons From Five Different Paths
1. The exact card matters, even within one rarity
All five are SIRs from the same set, released on the same day. Over the same two years, the raw changes run from −63.8% (Hydreigon ex) to +12.4% (Durant ex). Knowing a card is “a Surging Sparks SIR” tells you very little. The name and the number (238/191, not just “Pikachu ex”) are what connect you to the right price history. The set has four Pikachu ex cards, numbered 57, 219, 238 and 247 in the Pokémon TCG API, so the collector number keeps you on the right one.
2. Raw and PSA 10 are different markets
Every PSA 10 estimate in the table is well above the raw figure for the same card. How far above varies from card to card. For Durant ex, the PSA 10 estimate is more than three times the raw price. For Pikachu ex, it’s a little over three times. For Milotic ex, it’s about two and a half times.
Two cautions:
Raw means ungraded, not a guaranteed Near Mint copy. Ungraded prices cover cards in a range of real-world conditions.
A PSA 10 estimate isn’t a guaranteed sale. It reflects copies that have already been graded 10. It doesn’t promise that any particular raw card would earn that grade.
If you’re checking your own card, compare raw with raw, or the same grade from the same grader with that grade. Mixing them is the fastest way to misread a price.
3. The time frame changes the story
The two-year view hides a lot. On PriceCharting’s ungraded monthly chart, Pikachu ex 238 slipped from $305.00 in July 2026 to $222.86 in November 2026. Durant ex 236 climbed from $20.15 in February 2026 to a September high of $33.14, then eased to $27.49. Durant’s two-year change is positive, but its last two months were declines.
So “up since release” and “down lately” can both be true of the same card. Before you draw a conclusion from a percentage, check which window it covers.
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What This Doesn’t Tell You
History describes what happened. It doesn’t explain why prices moved, and it doesn’t predict where they’ll go. We haven’t tied any of these moves to a specific cause, and nothing here suggests what a card will be worth next year. Monthly samples also leave out the detail between data points, and different price guides use different data and methods, so their numbers won’t always agree.
How to Check Your Own Surging Sparks Cards
Confirm the card: name, set, and collector number (for example, 238/191), plus printing and language.
Be honest about condition, and keep raw and graded prices apart.
Pick your time frame on purpose: release month, a year ago, last few months.
Use sold-based prices with dates attached, and note when you looked.
Rune is built around that kind of context. A price tells you how much. Rune helps you understand why. That means a card’s history, movement and stability, not proof of what caused a move. According to its App Store listing, the Rune iPhone app lets you scan and identify cards, track your collection with printing and condition, and see current values alongside historical movement. The figures in this post come from PriceCharting, not Rune.
Two years in, Surging Sparks is a good reminder that one set can hold very different stories. Know Your Cards.
Built for collectors who want to know more.
Recognize. Understand. Navigate. Evaluate.
