Obsidian Flames: chase cards, pull rates and most valuable cards

Obsidian Flames is a Pokémon Trading Card Game expansion in the Scarlet & Violet Series, released on August 11, 2023. It introduced type-shifted Tera Pokémon ex, led by a Darkness-type Charizard ex instead of the usual Fire type. The main set has 197 cards and 33 more are numbered above it (198/197 to 230/197), for 230 in all. This page shows the cards collectors chase, ranks them by sold prices as of November 11, 2026, and compares the published pull-rate counts. It is a reference, not buying advice.

Set facts

The chase cards

The grid shows the twelve single cards with the highest ungraded prices as of November 11, 2026, counting only the regular set versions. Charizard ex #223, the Special Illustration Rare drawn by AKIRA EGAWA, leads at $87.00 raw and $610.50 in PSA 10, about 2.6 times the next card. Charizard ex is in the grid three times, as the full art Ultra Rare (215), the Special Illustration Rare (223) and the gold Hyper Rare (228); the regular Double Rare is #125. Eight of the twelve are Illustration Rares, among them Pidgey and Pidgeotto, which the same artist, Jerky, drew alongside the Pidgeot ex Special Illustration Rare.

• Charizard ex#223/197 · Special Illustration RareUngraded $87.00 · PSA 10 $610.50
• Charizard ex#228/197 · Hyper RareUngraded $33.06 · PSA 10 $246.42
• Cleffa#202/197 · Illustration RareUngraded $30.65 · PSA 10 $400.00
• Ninetales#199/197 · Illustration RareUngraded $30.53 · PSA 10 $332.50
• Charizard ex#215/197 · Ultra RareUngraded $20.00 · PSA 10 $180.00
• Gloom#198/197 · Illustration RareUngraded $19.26 · PSA 10 $326.95
• Pidgeot ex#225/197 · Special Illustration RareUngraded $15.87 · PSA 10 $131.25
• Scizor#205/197 · Illustration RareUngraded $13.05 · PSA 10 $392.50
• Pidgey#207/197 · Illustration RareUngraded $12.00 · PSA 10 $210.00
• Houndour#204/197 · Illustration RareUngraded $10.91 · PSA 10 $145.00
• Pidgeotto#208/197 · Illustration RareUngraded $10.64 · PSA 10 $194.55
• Lechonk#209/197 · Illustration RareUngraded $10.39 · PSA 10 $236.76

The rarity tiers

Above the 197-card main set sit four tiers with 33 cards. TCGplayer's comparison explains why the Charizard is easier to find than many chase cards: Paldea Evolved had 36 Illustration Rares, 15 Special Illustration Rares and nine Hyper Rares, Obsidian Flames has 12, six and three, while the chance of a card of each tier stayed about the same. So a Special Illustration Rare pulled here is the Charizard one time in six, against one in 15 for a given card in Paldea Evolved.

Most valuable cards

Ranked by ungraded price, the value of a raw copy as pulled from a pack, with the PSA 10 value. Prices come from recent sold listings and change daily. All values as of November 11, 2026.

• One card stands apart. Charizard ex #223 is the only regular set card above $35 raw. The gold Charizard ex #228 follows at $33.06, just ahead of the Cleffa and Ninetales Illustration Rares at about $30.
• The PSA 10 order is different. By PSA 10 value the Charizard SIR still leads, but Cleffa ($400.00), Scizor ($392.50), Ninetales ($332.50) and Gloom ($326.95) all come ahead of the gold Charizard ($246.42). Scizor #205 is the widest gap: $13.05 raw against $392.50 in a 10, about 30 times.
• What is left out. Sealed products, the jumbo and Prize Pack versions of Charizard ex #125, and stamped or store versions such as Umbreon [EB Games] #130 ($77.42 raw) and Geeta [Regional Championships Staff] #188 are not ranked here.
• Graded vs raw. Whether a PSA 10 price is worth chasing depends on the odds of getting one and on the fees; Is it worth grading? works through the method and PSA 9 vs PSA 10 covers what separates the two grades. Other Charizard ex printings are compared on the Charizard cards page, and the gold #228 on gold Pokémon cards.

Pull rates

The Pokémon Company does not publish pull rates. Two separate counts were found. TCGplayer's Authentication Center opened more than 8,000 booster packs to prepare for the August 11, 2023 release; its article by Peter Day (updated November 9, 2026) gives per-pack rates with 95% confidence ranges. DigitalTQ counted 500 booster packs (November 7, 2023). Both are estimates per pack, not guarantees.

1. Double Rare: TCGplayer 13.61% ± 0.72% of packs, about 1 in 7 packs; DigitalTQ 14.2%.
2. Illustration Rare: TCGplayer 7.60% ± 0.56% of packs, about 1 in 13 packs; DigitalTQ 8.4%.
3. Ultra Rare: TCGplayer 6.63% ± 0.52% of packs, about 1 in 15 packs; DigitalTQ 6.0%.
4. Special Illustration Rare: TCGplayer 3.13% ± 0.37% of packs, about 1 in 32 packs; DigitalTQ 3.6%.
5. Hyper Rare: TCGplayer 1.92% ± 0.29% of packs, about 1 in 52 packs; DigitalTQ 2.0%.

What the counts say, and where they differ

• The two counts agree closely. DigitalTQ's 500 packs land within about one percentage point of TCGplayer for every tier. Its Special Illustration Rare (3.6% vs 3.13%) and Illustration Rare (8.4% vs 7.60%) figures sit slightly above TCGplayer's ranges and its Ultra Rare figure (6.0% vs 6.63%) slightly below; a sample one sixteenth the size carries a much wider margin of error.
• The Charizard SIR. TCGplayer puts Charizard ex #223 at about 0.52% of packs, roughly 1 in 192. DigitalTQ found it twice in 500 packs (0.4%) and the gold #228 three times, but warns that its per-card numbers are not reliable because single cards are so rare.
• A third figure is not a third count. TCGTalk's value guide (November 2026) gives the same five rates as TCGplayer and cites an 8,000-pack aggregate, so it does not add independent evidence.
• Against later sets. TCGplayer judged 151, released six weeks later, as generous as Obsidian Flames; the figures for the next main set are on the Paradox Rift page.

Checklist before you rely on a number here

• ☐ The price has a date: everything above is as of November 11, 2026, and prices move daily.
• ☐ You are comparing like with like: ungraded with ungraded, PSA 10 with PSA 10, and the right card number (Charizard ex is 125, 215, 223 and 228; Pidgeot ex is 164, 217 and 225).
• ☐ The card is the regular set version, not a stamped, Prize Pack or jumbo print with its own price.
• ☐ Pull rates are averages over many packs; a single box can land well above or below them.
• ☐ Before grading, check the card against the modern pre-grading checklist.