FIVE OLD PROMOS ON OUR BUY LIST, CHECKED SALE BY SALE: BUY MAGIKARP 22 AND HO-OH 52, WAIT ON THE OTHER THREE
TL;DR: Five vintage Pokemon promo cards hit our BUY signals at once, up 26 to 44 percent in 90 days per the page. Only two have the Near Mint sales behind the move. My call: BUY one gradable Magikarp 22 Toys R Us promo at $50 or less and one Ho-oh 52 at $57 or less, and WAIT on the other three. Prices observed October 31, 2026.
The Numbers Behind the Five Promos
- Magikarp, Generations 22/83, Toys R Us stamped holo promo, raw Near Mint: $49.38 TCGplayer Market Price on October 31, 2026, up from $38.47 in the week of August 3, on 26 Near Mint sales in 90 days.
- Ho-oh, WoTC Black Star Promo 52, unstamped, raw Near Mint: $58.42 TCGplayer Market Price on October 31, 2026, up from $46.28 in the week of August 3, on 15 Near Mint sales in 90 days.
- Pikachu, Mysterious Treasures 94/123, 2008 Burger King reverse holo with the Diamond & Pearl stamp, raw Near Mint: $121.80 TCGplayer weekly Market in the week of October 26, 2026, on 3 Near Mint sales in 90 days.
- Rainbow Energy, HeartGold SoulSilver 104/123, Pokemon League stamped reverse holo, raw Near Mint: $58.54 TCGplayer weekly Market in the week of October 26, 2026, up from $40.58 in the week of August 3, on 3 Near Mint sales in 90 days.
- Raichu, Burning Shadows 41/147, League Challenge 1st Place stamped reverse holo, raw Near Mint: $55.79 TCGplayer weekly Market in the week of October 26, 2026, with no Near Mint sale since October 1.
- PSA Value tier: $39.99 per card since it reopened on October 29, 2026.
Five vintage Pokemon promo cards landed on our BUY signals list at the same time. The page, updated October 29, 2026, has a Burger King Pikachu at number 17, a League Rainbow Energy at 35, the WoTC Ho-oh 52 at 36, a 1st Place Raichu at 40 and the Toys R Us Magikarp at 45. All five are up 9 to 15 percent in 30 days and 26 to 44 percent in 90.
Out of print is where the money goes while new sets fall, and old promos are the cheapest door into it. You can own a WotC era card for under $60. That is the pitch, and I agree with it.
But a signals page does not tell you how many copies actually sold. So I pulled every Near Mint sale on TCGplayer for all five over 90 days, checked eBay through PriceCharting, and matched every stamp. Two of these cards have real sales behind the move. Three do not.
PokeInsider is reader supported. Some links are affiliate links and may pay us a commission at no cost to you. Prices are observed on the dates stated and change daily. Nothing here is financial advice; every call is our opinion.
Holding one of these promos and not sure which stamp you have? Write to the editor at pokeinsiderinfo@gmail.com with a photo and I will tell you how I would play it.
Magikarp 22 Toys R Us Is the Lead, With 26 Near Mint Sales
Magikarp leads because it trades the most. This is the Generations 22/83 Magikarp printed as a holo with a Toys R Us stamp and handed out for Pokemon Day, February 27, 2016. The GAME 20th Anniversary stamp and the XY Black Star Magikarp are different cards. Check the stamp.
Near Mint copies sold 26 times on TCGplayer in the 90 days to October 31, 2026, in eight separate weeks. That is real volume for a promo. The Near Mint Market went from $38.47 in the week of August 3 to $49.38 on October 31, up 28.4 percent, and from $42.21 on October 2, up 17.0 percent.
The sales back the climb. Twelve Near Mint copies sold from October 3 to 28 at a median of $44.67, and the last three ran $71.00 on October 26, $99.98 on October 27 and $71.30 on October 28. Our page showed $48.40, which was TCGplayer’s October 27 Market. The move is real; the last week just got hot.
Here is the part nobody else is telling you. This promo came sealed in a wrapper, and plenty of copies still are. On eBay, “sealed” Magikarp copies sold for $83.13 on September 11 and $80.00 to $95.00 on September 24 and 26, per PriceCharting. That is why PriceCharting’s ungraded value reads $64.01 on October 31, 2026, well above loose Near Mint. Even this promo has a sealed premium, and sealed stays the core.
The Grading Math Works on Magikarp
A loose Near Mint copy at $50.00 plus PSA‘s $39.99 Value tier is $89.99 before shipping. PriceCharting valued a graded 9 at $125.00 and a PSA 10 at $965.63 on October 31, 2026. On eBay, PSA 9 copies sold for $90.00 to $222.60 across 2026, the high one on August 6.
Among vintage Pokemon promo cards under $60, that is the cleanest grading setup I found: a 9 covers the cost and leaves about $35. The 10 is where the money is, and PriceCharting logs only about three PSA 10 sales a year. I am not promising a 10. I am saying the downside of a 9 is paid for, and that is rare at this price.
Ho-oh 52 Is the Second Buy, and Our Number Matches to the Cent
Ho-oh is WoTC Black Star Promo 52, spelled “Ho-oh” on the card. The unstamped English copy came with the November 2002 Nintendo Power. A Pokemon Center New York stamped version also exists and sells for more, so name which one you are buying.
Our page’s $58.42 is TCGplayer’s Near Mint Market for the unstamped card, exactly. It was $46.28 in the week of August 3 and $50.86 on October 2, so the 90 day and 30 day moves of 26.2 and 14.9 percent reproduce on TCGplayer’s own numbers.
Fifteen Near Mint copies sold in those 90 days, at a median of $50.00. Three prints stand out: $149.99 in the week of September 21, then $98.48 on October 22 and $97.49 on October 23. Set those aside and the other twelve sold at a $47.50 median. October’s two regular Near Mint sales were $54.36 on October 21 and $56.56 on October 23.
That is a steady card with a couple of loud buyers on top. PriceCharting puts the unstamped Ho-oh at a $41.31 ungraded value on October 31, 2026, which blends in the played eBay copies that sold for $14.99 to $75.00 in October. I am not printing a graded number for this one, because the graded 9 sales on that page are Pokemon Center New York copies. Buy it Near Mint and hold it raw.
The Burger King Pikachu Moved on One $200 Sale
This Pikachu is the Mysterious Treasures 94/123 card printed as a mirror reverse holo with a “Diamond & Pearl” stamp. It was one of 12 cards in the Burger King Kids Meal toys from July 7 to August 12, 2008. It is the priciest of the five and the top ranked on our list.
It is also the thinnest. The $121.80 on our page is TCGplayer’s weekly Near Mint Market, and only three Near Mint copies sold in 90 days: $89.99 in the week of September 7, $100.00 in the week of September 28 and $200.00 in the week of October 19. That last sale is the 37 percent move.
Look further back and it gets worse for the chart. Near Mint copies sold for $129.99 and $130.98 in the week of April 13, 2026, $121.99 in May and $120.00 in June. September’s $89.99 and $100.00 were lower than all of them. The real sales went down while the Market went up. I will wait until two Near Mint copies sell at $121.80 or more in separate weeks.
Are vintage Pokemon promo cards a good investment right now?
The ones with sales are. As of October 31, 2026, Magikarp 22 and Ho-oh 52 rose on 26 and 15 Near Mint TCGplayer sales, and both trade under $60. Pikachu 94, Rainbow Energy 104 and Raichu 41 moved on three sales or none, so the screen is ahead of the buyers.
That split is the whole story for vintage Pokemon promo cards, and it fits what we found on October 19. In our top 15 gainers scan, 13 of the 15 cards that rose came from out of print sets while 170 of 244 liquid cards fell. Old cards with real buyers keep climbing. Old cards with one buyer just look like they are.
Rainbow Energy 104 Has Three Sales and Three Listings
The League Rainbow Energy is the HeartGold SoulSilver 104/123 card with a Pokemon League stamp, as a reverse holo. Its weekly Near Mint Market went from $40.58 in the week of August 3 to $58.54 in the week of October 26, 2026. That is the 44.3 percent in my headline, and it is the biggest move of the five.
It came on three Near Mint sales: $49.99 in the week of August 17, $57.75 in the week of September 14 and $75.00 in the week of October 12. One sale a month. Only three copies were listed on October 31, the cheapest at $65.00. Each sale was higher than the last, which I like, but three is not a market. I want two more Near Mint sales at $58.54 or better before I buy.
Raichu 41 Rose With No Sale at All
The 1st Place Raichu is the Burning Shadows 41/147 card with the League Challenge 1st Place stamp, as a reverse holo. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th Place stamps are separate cards that sell for less, so read the stamp.
Its weekly Near Mint Market rose from $50.31 in the week of September 28 to $55.79 in the week of October 26, 2026, and no Near Mint copy sold on TCGplayer after October 1. The last one went for $49.71. Most of its 90 day volume came in one week in early September, when ten copies sold in five orders at $54.98 to $120.00.
On eBay, PriceCharting’s last raw sale for this exact stamp was $46.21 on June 24, 2026. Nothing since. I wait until a Near Mint copy sells at $55.79 or more.
How I Am Buying the Two
One clean copy each. That is it. This is a side bet next to sealed, not a replacement for it, and the pair costs about $107 at my levels.
Magikarp at $50.00 or less. That sits just over the $49.38 Market and under the $71.00 to $99.98 prints of the last week. If the late October buyers are real, you are early. If they are not, you paid about the Market for a card that sold 26 times in 90 days.
Ho-oh at $57.00 or less, between October’s $54.36 and $56.56 Near Mint sales and under the $58.42 Market. Ask for photos of all four corners and the back on both. A 2016 holo scratches and a 2002 promo shows edge wear, and a played copy will not grade.
I expect these vintage Pokemon promo cards to keep pulling buyers into the holidays, because a $50 card is an easy gift. That is my read, not a number. Buy the two with the sales and let the other three prove it.
Are you grabbing the Magikarp at $50, or holding out for the Burger King Pikachu to come back under $100? Tell me in the comments what you paid.
More calls on out of print singles and sealed live in our Investment Guides.
I Am Buying Magikarp 22 and Ho-oh 52 and Waiting on the Other Three
My call is BUY one gradable Near Mint Magikarp 22/83 Toys R Us promo at $50.00 or less and one Near Mint Ho-oh 52 at $57.00 or less. A weekly TCGplayer Near Mint close under $42.71 on Magikarp, or under $50.86 on Ho-oh, turns that card to WAIT. This is a two year plus hold, and sealed stays the core.
WAIT on Pikachu 94 Burger King until two Near Mint sales at $121.80 or more, on Rainbow Energy 104 until two more at $58.54 or more, and on Raichu 41 until one at $55.79 or more. The risk is thin tape on all five; a few buyers can move any of them. I will post the next Near Mint sale on each on our Facebook page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the Magikarp 22/83 Toys R Us promo worth?
A raw Near Mint Magikarp 22/83 Toys R Us promo reads $49.38 on TCGplayer’s Market as of October 31, 2026, after 12 October Near Mint sales at a $44.67 median. Copies still sealed in the wrapper sold for $80.00 to $95.00 on eBay in September, and PriceCharting values a PSA 10 at $965.63.
Which Ho-oh 52 promo is worth more, stamped or unstamped?
The Pokemon Center New York stamped Ho-oh 52 is worth more: PriceCharting values it at $115.00 ungraded on October 31, 2026, against $41.31 for the unstamped Nintendo Power card. On TCGplayer the unstamped card reads $58.42 Near Mint. Check for the stamp under the art before you buy.
