Ever since day one, Charizard has always ranked among the biggest fan favorites in the entire Pokémon franchise. When Shiny Pokémon were introduced in the second generation, Charizard’s Shiny form once again proved to be tremendously popular—so much so that to this day, many Pokémon fans have a visual preference for its black Shiny variant.

That’s just one of the reasons why, like other Shiny Charizard Pokémon TCG cards, the Charizard GX card from GX Ultra Shiny [SM8b] has been such a massive hit.

With a rarity of Shiny Secret Rare (SSR), this Charizard GX card is one of the rarest and most valuable of the entire seventh generation of the Pokémon TCG. The card’s Full Art illustration by 5ban Graphics does everything possible to spotlight Charizard GX itself. Rays of light appear to be emanating behind Charizard GX, while the Pokémon itself is outlined in light blue to further bring out its features and unique color scheme.

As implied by the name of its set, the GX Ultra Shiny [SM8b] set focused on the Shiny versions of various Pokémon. Often, just belonging to a themed or “novelty” set can help to jack up a card’s value—that’s likely the case here as well.

In addition, the sparkles surrounding Charizard GX are an additional detail alluding to the Pokémon video games. When leaving their Poké Ball and entering the field of combat, Shiny Pokémon have sparkles around them.

During its time as a legal card in tournament play, this Charizard GX card saw a decent amount of use as well. Considering all these factors, it’s little wonder why this card recently saw a significant price hike.

The English version of this card is card SV49/SV94 in the Hidden Fates set.

Following its recent price increase, one copy of a Charizard GX (GX Ultra Shiny [SM8b] 057/071) card sells for 127,000 JPY (~US$821).

In other TCG-related news, check out the Technical Machine: Crisis Punch card from Shiny Treasure ex [SV4a]. Alternatively, you can also head over to the SNKRDUNK App via the banner below and find the top trending and latest single cards and boxes.