Charizard V Alt Art From Brilliant Stars Is Down 19%: I Am Buying, but I Think It Gets Cheaper

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Key Takeaways

• The Brilliant Stars Charizard V Alternate Art (154/172) is down about 19%, with raw copies at $261.52 on PriceCharting as of October 25, 2026.
• A PSA 10 is valued at $710, about 2.7 times the raw price, while a PSA 9 costs about the same as a raw copy.
• PSA has graded 30,701 copies, and about 51% of them are PSA 10, so the card is not scarce.
• I am buying, but I expect more downside and am looking to buy in around $220.
• If you already own it, I would hold rather than sell into the drop.

The Charizard V Alternate Art from Brilliant Stars (154/172) has pulled back about 19% by my count, and I think that makes it a good card to buy. I also don’t think the drop is finished. I see no sign yet that it is about to stop, so I am treating this as a buy zone, not a moment to throw all my money in at once.

PriceCharting has the raw card at $261.52 as of October 25, 2026. When the card first came out it sat around $200. Brilliant Stars has been out for close to five years, and over that time a modern Charizard has held its value. That is why I think the next five years could bring a fairly large gain.

Where the price stands

These are PriceCharting’s current values for the card in each grade, as of October 25, 2026:

One thing stands out. A raw copy and a PSA 9 cost almost exactly the same right now ($261.52 vs. $260.54). PSA 7 and PSA 8 copies sell for less than raw. So buyers pay for the chance that a raw card grades 10, and they won’t pay extra for a slab that tells them it didn’t.

What the recent sales show

The 19% figure is my own read of the card’s drop. The sold listings on PriceCharting tell the same story, even if your number depends on where you start counting.

• Raw: By my count of the raw sales PriceCharting lists, the median sale was about $290 in August and about $291 in September. It has fallen to about $260 so far in October.
• TCGplayer market price: PokemonWizard, which tracks TCGplayer data, showed a market price of $287.50 on October 4. That is roughly $26 above today’s PriceCharting raw value.
• PSA 8: PSA 8 sales on PriceCharting had a median of about $280 in April and May. October sales are running near $218.
• CGC 10: The median CGC 10 sale was about $430 in August and about $268 in October.

The decline is spread across grades, not stuck in one corner of the market. Raw, mid-grade slabs and CGC 10s are all moving down together. That is why I expect more downside before this levels off.

PSA 10 copies are also slipping. PriceCharting’s PSA 10 value dropped $13.02 in its latest update, and the October PSA 10 sales it lists have a median close to $705. Card Ladder recorded a PSA 10 sale at $685 on October 19. Volume is healthy: PriceCharting estimates about two PSA 10 sales a day and one raw sale a day. This card is easy to buy and easy to sell.

Raw vs. graded: is grading worth it?

The PSA 10 sells for 2.7 times the raw price. That is the main reason to buy raw and grade.

Here is the cost. PSA’s Value tiers have been closed to new submissions since June 2, according to The Card Shop Finder’s October 2026 fee guide, which cites PSA’s own pricing page. The cheapest open level is Standard at $59.99 a card, with a $1,000 maximum value and an estimated 90-100 business day turnaround. A $710 PSA 10 fits under that cap.

• Raw card plus Standard grading: about $321.51 before shipping and supplies.
• If it comes back a PSA 10 at today’s price: about $388 more than you paid, before selling fees.
• If it comes back a PSA 9: you have spent about $60 on grading and hold a slab worth what the raw card was.

PSA’s population numbers, as shown on PriceCharting, put 15,569 of 30,701 graded copies at PSA 10. That is about 51%, with another 38% at PSA 9. Those odds are better than a coin flip, but treat them with care. People only submit copies they think are clean, so a random raw copy bought online will not hit 10 that often. If you buy raw to grade, buy cards you can inspect closely, or pay up for a PSA 10 that is already graded.

The gaps between grading companies matter too. On PriceCharting, a CGC 10 ($332.50) sells for less than half of a PSA 10 ($710). A TAG 10 ($945.17) and a BGS 10 ($2,016.81) sell for more. If you are buying graded copies to hold for years, the PSA 10 is the most liquid choice.

Supply: this is not a rare card

This is the most graded card in Brilliant Stars, and the supply numbers are large:

• PSA has graded 30,701 copies and CGC has graded 3,760, for 34,461 in total, according to PriceCharting’s population report. PriceCharting updates those counts monthly.
• Card Ladder currently lists the PSA 10 population at 16,658, higher than PriceCharting’s figure. The pop is still growing.

A PSA 10 population that keeps climbing caps how fast the slab can rise. The card has more than 16,000 PSA 10 copies, so its growth has to come from demand. Scarcity won’t do it. That is the trade-off with this card. Plenty of people want it, and plenty of copies exist.

Why I like it over the next five years

• It’s Charizard. Charizard is the strongest name in the hobby, and collectors keep buying the best Charizard cards from each era.
• The art. Ryota Murayama’s alternate art shows Charizard fighting Venusaur. It is one of the best-loved alt arts of the Sword & Shield era and the set’s top chase card.
• The set is getting older. Brilliant Stars came out in English on February 25, 2022, with 172 cards in the main set plus 14 secret rares and a 30-card Trainer Gallery subset, according to Serebii. Every year more copies get opened, graded or lost, and the set moves further from the shelf.
• It has already proved itself. I remember this card at around $200 at release. Even after this pullback, it is trading above that. A modern card that holds and then gains through close to five years of new sets is the kind I want to own.

The risks

• The drop may not be done. I said it myself: I see no sign yet that this is stopping. If you buy today, you may see lower prices next month.
• High supply. A PSA 10 population above 16,000 and still rising means the slab will not climb fast just because copies are scarce.
• Grading costs and wait times. With the Value tiers paused, grading starts at $59.99 and takes 90-100 business days. The price can move a lot while your card is at PSA.
• The wider market. Several modern cards have cooled this fall. If the whole market keeps sliding, this card will likely slide with it.

What I Am Doing

I am buying the Charizard V Alternate Art. It is a great buying opportunity at current prices, and I like where it can be in five years.

But I am not rushing. I think this one gets even better from here, so I am being patient and letting the price come to me rather than paying up today. I am looking to buy in at around the $220 mark. 

How I would buy it:

1. Raw, for the long hold or for grading: Raw copies sit around $261.52 on PriceCharting. If you plan to grade, buy only copies you can check closely for centering and surface wear.
2. PSA 9 instead of raw: A PSA 9 costs about the same as a raw copy. If you want a protected, verified copy and don’t plan to gamble on a 10, the PSA 9 is the better deal right now.
3. PSA 10: At $710 it carries a 2.7x premium over raw. It is the most liquid version, but more than 16,000 copies exist, so I would wait for the drop to play out before paying up for slabs.

If you already own it, I would hold. Selling into a 19% drop, when I think the five-year picture is strong, is the wrong side of this trade.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is the Charizard V Alt Art from Brilliant Stars worth?

As of October 25, 2026, PriceCharting has a raw copy at $261.52 and a PSA 10 at $710. A PSA 9 sells for about the same as raw, at $260.54.

How much is a PSA 10 Charizard V 154/172?

PriceCharting values the PSA 10 at $710, and the October PSA 10 sales it lists have a median close to $705. Card Ladder recorded a PSA 10 sale at $685 on October 19.

Is it worth grading the Charizard V Alt Art?

A PSA 10 sells for 2.7 times the raw price. A raw card plus PSA Standard grading at $59.99 comes to about $321.51 before shipping. If it grades a 9, you have spent about $60 on grading and hold a slab worth about what the raw card was, so only grade copies you can inspect closely.

How many PSA 10 Charizard V Alt Arts are there?

PriceCharting’s population data puts 15,569 of 30,701 PSA-graded copies at PSA 10, about 51%. Card Ladder lists the PSA 10 population at 16,658, and that number is still growing.

Is the Brilliant Stars Charizard V Alt Art a good investment?

I am buying it for a five-year hold, because it is Charizard, it is one of the best-loved Sword & Shield alt arts, and it is still trading above its roughly $200 release price. The main risks are high supply and a drop that may not be finished, so I am waiting to buy around $220.