Best English Pokémon Booster Packs to Buy for Rare Cards, by Generation: A Guide to Big Pulls, Part 2

10th April 2025 EDT FEATURES

Best English Pokémon Booster Packs to Buy for Rare Cards, by Generation: A Guide to Big Pulls, Part 2

For the best chances of landing majorly rare cards, try buying one of these.

Remember the article we recently put out about the best Japanese Pokémon TCG booster packs to buy to maximize one’s chances of pulling one or more rare cards? Well, we’re back to that topic—but this time around, we’re covering booster packs from English sets.

It may be surprising to find out that English and Japanese Pokémon TCG sets have different ratios of rare cards; however, this is exactly the case. These different ratios come about because when Japanese sets are brought into English, the English set is not a one-to-one translated copy of the Japanese one.

Once again, we’ve calculated each set’s proportion of cards with rarities beyond the basic three of Common, Uncommon, and Rare before ranking them and selecting the set with the highest percentage in each generation up to this point.

Again, we’d like to mention that this is not an exact method to determine how to select the booster packs that are most likely to contain rare cards. That being said, when there are many high-rarity cards in a set, it stands to reason that its booster packs will also likely be loaded with rare cards.

These are the sets that contain the highest proportion of rare cards among all in their respective generations. Keep in mind that these figures only apply to the English versions of the sets. We’ve also listed each set’s most expensive card.

Gen 1: Jungle (1999) (16 Rare Cards/64 Total Cards- 25.0%)

Best English Pokémon Booster Packs to Buy for Rare Cards, by Generation: A Guide to Big Pulls

Jungle Booster Pack

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Jungle was the second set of the Pokémon TCG’s first generation; as such, it was the first time that a new set was ever introduced—and it certainly delivered on the hype. The set was based on the Safari Zone of the Kanto region; it also included several cards featuring Pokémon that could not be encountered in the Safari Zone in the Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow video games.

Pokémon TCG Best Booster Packs for Rare Cards

All 16 high-rarity cards in Jungle are Rare Holos; they were all holofoil versions of other cards in the set that came in Rare. Thus, they were the first-ever English cards to come in multiple rarities in the same set, including one beyond the basic three. Standouts among these Rare Holo cards included the holofoil versions of the three original Eeveelutions—Flareon, Jolteon, and Vaporeon—but topping the list was the Rare Holo Snorlax card.

The current price of a PSA 10 Snorlax card from Jungle is approximately US$2,844.

Gen 2: Neo Revelation (16 Rare Cards/66 Total Cards- 24.2%)

Neo Revelation Booster Pack

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A set centered around the Legendary Pokémon of Gen 2, Neo Revelation, was fittingly stacked with rare cards. The set introduced Shining Pokémon—the first time that Shinies were ever made part of the TCG. In addition, the set included many Rare Holo cards, which today fetch thousands of dollars on the open market. Neo Revelation was also the first English set that did not come with Theme Decks.

The two Shining Pokémon cards in Neo Revelation were Shining Gyarados and Shining Magikarp. However, while they were the rarest of all the cards in the set, neither went on to be the most expensive. That honor instead went to the Rare Holo Entei card—likely building on the hype from the then recently-released Pokémon 3: The Movie, which heavily featured the Fire-type Legendary. Among the set’s other notable pickups are the Rare Holo versions of Suicune, Houndoom, Raikou, and Entei.

A PSA 10 Entei card from Neo Revelation sells for around US$3,895 today.

Gen 3: Unseen Forces (2005) (64 Rare Cards/145 Total Cards- 44.1%)

Unseen Forces Booster Pack

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There’s a reasonable case to be made that Unseen Forces is the most underrated English Pokémon TCG set of all time. It’s not only loaded with rare cards—some of them are also among the most valuable to ever exist. Interestingly, this set was designed as a “throwback” set—despite being a third-generation set, it was centered around Pokémon from Gen 2 as well as selected Gen 1 ‘mons, which had evolutionary links to some from the second generation.

Card-for-card, Unseen Forces has among the highest prices among all sets ever with the likes of Raikou, Celebi ex, Espeon ex, Lugia ex, and at the top of the list, Umbreon ex all selling for over US$3,000. With a rarity of Secret Rare Holo, Celebi ex was also one of the set’s two rarest cards; the other was the Rocket’s Persian ex card which somewhat surprisingly, didn’t even come close to carrying the market value of the cards just mentioned which were all Rare Holo ex cards except for Raikou, an Ultra Rare.

A PSA 10 copy of an Umbreon ex card from Unseen Forces today goes for approximately US$6,951.

Gen 4: Call of Legends (2011) (33 Rare Cards/106 Total Cards- 31.1%)

Call of Legends Booster Pack

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Creatures Inc. sent Gen 4 into the sunset in spectacular fashion—the last English set of the Pokémon TCG’s fourth generation was also the generation’s set with the highest percentage of rare cards. Call of Legends was highlighted by the following: reverse holofoil Basic Energy cards, English-exclusive artwork for certain cards, and the crown jewels: English translations of Shiny Legendary Pokémon cards, which had previously been Japanese-exclusive promotional cards.

Every high-rarity card in Call of Legends is a Rare Holo. Not surprisingly, almost all of the set’s most expensive cards are among the 11 Rare Holo Shiny Legendary cards. The highlights of these are cards depicting the Shiny versions of Rayquaza, Deoxys, Ho-Oh, Kyogre, and the biggest get of the bunch—Lugia. There is, however, one card that breaks the trend—not surprisingly, that card is Umbreon.

Today, a PSA 10 copy of a Lugia card from Call of Legends with the serial number of SL7 sells for about US$8,000.

Gen 5: Legendary Treasures (2013) (49 Rare Cards/140 Total Cards- 35.0%)

Legendary Treasures Booster Pack

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For the second successive generation, the English set with the highest proportion of rare cards came right at the end of the generation. Legendary Treasures could be regarded as something of a “bumper set” as it included English versions of cards from the Japanese EX Battle Boost set as well as those from the Mewtwo vs Genesect Deck Kit and the Radiant Collection, which featured Shiny Pokémon.

The set’s rarest cards were the five Ultra Rare Radiant Collection cards: Shaymin ex, Reshiram, Emolga, Mew ex, and Meloetta ex. Of the quintet, Mew ex emerged as the most valuable; however, its price tag, as well as that of every other card in the set, paled in comparison to the Secret Rare Reshiram card. In addition to the second Secret Rare, which was, of course, Zekrom, the set also included a slew of Rare Holo ex and Rare Holo cards as well.

A PSA 10 copy of a Secret Rare Reshiram card from Legendary Treasures sells for around US$2,661 today.

Gen 6: Evolutions (2016) (43 Rare Cards/113 Total Cards- 38.1%)

Pokemon Card Game [EN Ver.] X&Y Evolutions Booster Display Pack

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Evolutions made it a hat-trick of final sets of the generation to contain the largest proportion of rare cards. Released in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise, Evolutions was an obvious play to the nostalgia factor—in honor of the milestone, Creatures Inc. focused on Gen 1 Pokémon and even issued reprints (after accounting for powercreep) of some of the most iconic cards of Gen 1.

Nine Ultra Rare cards were the rarest of the set; the standouts among these were the Misty’s Determination card as well as the cards featuring Mega-Evolved versions of Blastoise and Charizard. The set also featured five Secret Rares as well as many BREAK Rares and Rare Holo ex cards; however, true to the set’s nostalgic element, the priciest pull of the entire set was the Rare Holo Gen 6 remake of the original Charizard card from Base Set.

The current price of a PSA 10 copy of a Charizard card from Evolutions is around US$1,482.

Gen 7: Hidden Fates (2019) (113 Rare Cards/193 Total Cards- 69.3%)

Hidden Fates Booster Pack

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With over two-thirds of Hidden Fates being comprised of rare cards, to say that Creatures Inc. raised the bar with this set would be an understatement. To turn things up another notch, Hidden Fates booster packs couldn’t be purchased individually; one could only buy Hidden Fates booster packs as part of related products. Topping it all off was the Shiny Vault—a group of 94 cards within the set that, as its name implied, placed a spotlight on Shiny Pokémon.

The Rainbow Rare Moltres & Zapdos & Articuno GX card is the set’s rarest; there are also a decent number of Ultra Rare and Secret Rare cards in Hidden Fates. However, the true standouts are the Shiny Rare GX cards from the Shiny Vault. The top picks among these cards? Some of them are Espeon GX, Sylveon GX, Greninja GX, Mewtwo GX, Umbreon GX, and the set’s most valuable card—Charizard GX. Let’s be real—it’s a Full Art card featuring a Shiny Charizard. Were we really expecting anything else?

A PSA 10 copy of a Charizard GX card from Hidden Fates currently goes for around US$911.

Gen 8: Celebrations (2021) (38 Rare Cards/50 Total Cards- 76.0%)

Celebrations Booster Pack

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Celebrations, the set released to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Pokémon TCG, might have been one of the smallest sets with just 50 cards—but as they say, “great things come in small packages”. At 76%, Celebrations holds the record for the largest proportion of rare cards in a single set—whether English or Japanese. It’s a record that’ll probably never be broken—fitting for a set created for a major milestone.

Celebrations was divided into two portions: the main part of the set and the Classic Collection, in which every card was a reprint of a well-known card from a previous set. Every card in the Classic Collection had the rarity of Classic Collection Rare. With the exception of the Secret Rare Mew card, all the rarest and most expensive cards from Celebrations were from the Classic Collection. Highlights included reprints of Mega Rayquaza ex from Roaring Skies, Umbreon ☆ from POP Series 5, and the set’s biggest pull—a reprint of the Base Set Charizard card mentioned earlier.

Today, the price of a PSA 10 copy of a Charizard card from Celebrations is about US$232.

Gen 9: Paldean Fates [PAF] (2023) (164 Rare Cards/245 Total Cards- 66.9%)

Pokemon Card Game [EN Ver.] Scarlet & Violet Paldean Fates Booster Bundle

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Paldean Fates [PAF] is the English Pokémon TCG set with the most high-rarity cards. Of its 245 cards, 164 of them have rarities beyond the basic three. A set centered around Shiny Pokémon, Paldean Fates [PAF] was primarily made up of reprints of existing cards—this time around, however, many of the Pokémon were depicted as Shinies. In total, there are 139 cards in Paldean Fates [PAF] that feature a Shiny Pokémon.

Three of these cards depicting a Shiny are among the eight Special Illustration Rares which are the set’s rarest cards. These cards are Charizard ex, Gardevoir ex, and by far the most iconic and expensive card of the entire set—Mew ex, colloquially known to the TCG community as “Bubble Mew”. Some of the set’s other impressive pickups include the Special Illustration Rare Iono card as well as the Shiny Rare Pikachu card.

Current figures place the value of a Mew ex card from Paldean Fates [PAF] at around US$909.

And with that, our list of the best English Pokémon TCG booster packs with chances of pulling rare cards is complete. Why not scroll back up and pick out some for yourself? If you ever wanted to maximize your chances of landing a rare card, there are no better booster packs for that than these.

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