Fear and Panic.

2021 Pokémon Trading Card Game Fusion Strike Booster Boxes have reached a staggering $800! I remember when hobby shops struggled to sell this product for $90 because players blasted this set for its "lack of playable cards."

I'm flabbergasted at the price, considering only the following three cards in this set are presently selling for over $100:

  • Alternate Art 271/264 Gengar VMAX - $585.

  • Alternate Art 270/264 Espeon VMAX - $312.

  • Alternate Art 269/264 Mew VMAX - $132.

PSA 10 copies of the Alternate Art Gengar VMAX are selling for $1,200. Even if you pull this card in this condition, there's not a lot of room for profits.

This set is odd because it contains Alternate Arts that are not valuable as of this writing; for example, 257/264 Greedent sells for about $10, and the 252/264 Sandaconda V sells for about $4.

Individual booster packs presently sell for about $10. Although you can purchase 36-packs this way for $360 (about 55 percent cheaper than a booster box), it's risky because this product can be weighed to determine if it contains a hit.

It took my local distributor nearly three years to deplete their stash of individual booster packs. I was one of the few people still buying this product before the spike towards the end of 2024.