If you’ve been keeping up with our TCG Throwback series, you’ll have noticed by now that each article adheres to a specific formula. However, this time around we’re deviating from that formula. We’re approaching this one about second-generation Pokémon TCG sets Split Earth, Mysterious Mountains, and Skyridge—the English set that combined translations of cards from the previous two—from a different angle. It’ll soon be evident as to why.

Reprints, Restocks, and the Pokémon TCG Market

Before we get into our analysis of these sets, we must first discuss the effects of reprints and restocks on the Pokémon TCG market. On countless occasions, reprints and restocks of Pokémon TCG sets have caused cards, booster packs, and boxes of those sets to experience plummeting prices. This is understandable because reprints and restocks increase the number of copies of the cards involved which are being sold at any given time. The easier it is to obtain a card, the lower its value usually is.

The rates at which reprints and restocks cause card prices to fall is also impacted by the volume at which the cards in question are reprinted. Not all reprints are of the same quantity; thus, larger reprints and restocks will typically cause card prices to fall by more than smaller ones would.

However, there is one way by which reprints and restocks can actually end up driving card prices up. Almost as soon as a certain card is reprinted, it can be the case that a wealthy buyer purchases as many copies of that card as possible. This causes artificial scarcity to take place, causing that card’s price to rocket beyond what it had been before the reprint. Often, these mass buyers do so with a goal to indeed drive up the prices in order to sell all those cards at a significant profit.

Split Earth/Mysterious Mountains/Skyridge and the Lack of Reprints and Restocks

With these facts in mind, we’ll now get into our analysis of Split Earth, Mysterious Mountains, and Skyridge, the last sets of Gen 2. What do these sets have to do with reprints and restocks, you might ask? Well, it’s simply because Split Earth and Mysterious Mountains—as well as Skyridge, their combined English counterpart—only ever received one print run. The cards from these sets were never reprinted or restocked, causing their status within the Pokémon TCG community to become truly iconic.

As a consequence of this lack of a reprint or restock, cards from Split Earth and Mysterious Mountains only exist in scarce quantities today despite having first been released in August and October 2002 respectively. Additionally, six mega-rare cards across the two sets featured the Crystal Type Poké-Body (the predecessor to today’s Abilities). They made up six of only nine Crystal Type cards to ever be released—and the only ones to be part of that solitary print run.

On top of all of this, there’s a Kadabra card in Split Earth. Why is this important, one may ask? Well, it’s due to the fact that two years earlier, illusionist Uri Geller sued Nintendo, alleging that its portrayal of Kadabra constituted a misuse of his likeness due to its Japanese name as well as its psychic powers. Kadabra would not return to the Pokémon TCG until Pokémon Card 151 [SV2a] in 2023—a span lasting just under 21 years.

Finally, in the case of these sets, the English version (Skyridge) is easily more iconic and contains cards of greater value than its Japanese counterparts. This is because Skyridge was the last English set ever produced by Wizards of the Coast before the company lost its license to The Pokémon Company International (TPCi). Wizards of the Coast cards, spanning the first two generations, evoke a level of nostalgia that’s since remained unmatched except arguably by Pokémon Card 151 [SV2a] as well as 151 [MEW], its English version. Skyridge unquestionably sent the Wizards of the Coast era as well as Gen 2 into the sunset with a bang.

Rarest and Most Valuable Cards From Split Earth/Mysterious Mountains/Skyridge

As has been alluded to, there’s no doubt that the most prized catch from Split Earth and Mysterious Mountains (and thus Skyridge by extension) and one of the most valuable Pokémon TCG cards ever is (of course—what else could it be?) the Crystal Type Charizard card. The final form of the original Fire-type starter (though it’s not a Fire-type in this case) is invariably a major draw whenever it appears in any set—what more so as part of a set that only got one print run and in a form never to be seen again?

Before we proceed, take a guess at what the price of a PSA 10 Crystal Type Charizard card is.

Done? Now, keep scrolling to find out the answer.

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A PSA 10 Crystal Type Charizard card carries a price tag that almost doesn’t sound real. Each copy of this remarkable card goes for around…

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…US$13,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That’s right. Around THIRTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS for a single card. Did we not tell you that these sets and cards have been enshrined in Pokémon TCG lore for a reason?

Celebi—Gen 2’s only Mythical Pokémon, and Ho-Oh—the box Legendary of Pokémon Gold, make appearances in Crystal Type forms as well—and these unsurprisingly rank as the set’s next-most valuable cards. The Crystal Type Celebi card sells for almost US$2,700 in its PSA 10 form, but a PSA 10 Crystal Type Ho-Oh has Celebi soundly beaten, coming in at about US$4,100 for a single copy.

Even the non-Crystal Type cards fetch major cash due to the nature of the sets. A PSA 10 Gengar card can sell for close to US$4,300 per card while an Umbreon card’s PSA 10 version goes for more than US$3,500. These figures aren’t even anomalous—a large number of cards from Split Earth, Mysterious Mountains, and Skyridge obliterate the US$1,000 barrier when sold as PSA 10s.

The astronomical figures of cards from Split Earth, Mysterious Mountains, and Skyridge serve as a testament to the effect of Pokémon TCG reprints and restocks. Without further reprints and restocks that would’ve driven down the cards’ respective values, the cards remained scarce—and so their prices were allowed to steadily appreciate over time, eventually ballooning to the enormous sums we see today and becoming among the most valuable Pokémon TCG cards of all time.

So, what can we learn from this? Well, the main point is that reprints and restocks have major impacts on the prices of sets and the cards in them. In general, the more a set is reprinted or restocked, the lower its prices will become.

Split Earth, Mysterious Mountains, and Skyridge are evidently on the other end of the scale. The fact that they only ever had one print run does far more than give them an aura of mystique—it has raised their value to the point at which for many of their cards, ownership of just one copy will make the owner the envy of a great many Pokémon TCG enthusiasts.

And with that, this TCG Throwback article comes to an end. Split Earth, Mysterious Mountains, and Skyridge are truly sets like no other. Even more than two decades later, their cards remain among the most storied and desired among the Pokémon TCG community—and given the story behind them, understandably so.

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