Charizard Rebounded. The Wider Picture Is Split.

Four games leaned lower. Yu-Gi-Oh! went the other way.

Across 991 comparable exact-printing pairs, 472 price references moved lower, 391 moved higher and 128 were unchanged. Seven of the 998 retained products lacked a usable pair and were left out of that comparison.

Yu-Gi-Oh! was the clear exception: 122 references rose and 63 fell, with 14 unchanged. Pokémon had 81 rises against 98 declines. One Piece and Magic also had more declines than increases: 112 against 63 in One Piece, and 103 against 77 in Magic.

Lorcana’s sample adds a different texture. It had 96 declining references, 48 rising ones and 50 unchanged—about one in four of its 194 usable pairs. A flat reference does not by itself tell us how actively a card traded, so that quieter-looking portion of the sample is a limit on the picture, not an explanation of collector interest.

For someone keeping up with several games, the main read is the split itself. A strong showing in one game can sit alongside a softer balance elsewhere. These counts describe how many tracked references changed direction; they do not measure the total value, demand or sales volume of a game.

Charizard’s rebound ran against the Pokémon backdrop

The anniversary-marked Charizard from 30th Celebration Classic Collection is one example of why the broader picture needs familiar card stories alongside it. This is the English Near Mint Holofoil, 4/102, shown here with its anniversary mark.

Its dated reference rose from about $142 to $166, putting it above the roughly $144 early-October reading as well. That was a meaningful recovery within a Pokémon sample where declining references still outnumbered rising ones.

For a collector who last checked during the October dip, the picture had changed. Yet the September reference near $210 remained higher. Charizard had recovered part of its recent path; the latest step did not turn either the whole Pokémon sample or the card’s longer history into one uninterrupted rise.

Opening Read’s other standout shows the opposite latest step

Magic’s The Theorist, Jace Beleren (Showcase) from Reality Fracture supplied a useful contrast. The identified English Near Mint Foil reference slipped from about $127 to $111, while remaining above its earlier October reading near $93.

That is why Opening Read paired a rebound with a pullback. Jace’s latest move was lower, but its October path still included a substantial climb. The two observations can sit together without making the card a success or failure on the strength of one price change.

A greener Yu-Gi-Oh! sample did not complete every recovery

Dark Magician of Destruction from Maze of Muertos illustrates the other side of the breadth story. The pictured purple Fusion card is the English Near Mint 1st Edition, identified by MZMU-EN001.

Its reference recovered from about $55 to $63. That move sat inside the more positive Yu-Gi-Oh! sample, yet it left the card roughly $16 below the earlier October reading near $79.

A collector following the game could therefore see both a broad tilt toward higher references and a familiar card still working back from an earlier decline. The category context helps place the rebound; it does not complete the individual card’s recovery for it.