Umbreon VMAX’s value bucks trends as Evolving Skies card nears $1,000

The Pokemon Sword and Shield era’s most expensive card continues to climb despite downward trends from some of its top peers.

Umbreon VMAX, Evolving Skies’ prized alternate art card, hit $934 in TCGplayer market value to open the week — just $28 off an all-time high hit back in May of this year.

Over the last three months Umbreon is up 6.5%. That’s while Evolving Skies’ Rayquaza VMAX has dropped 12.9% over that same span; Lost Origin’s Giratina V sank 15%; and Silver Tempest’s Lugia plummeted 16.7%.

So it’s starting to beg the question: Is the Moonbreon simply unstoppable?

Well, a couple of common sense reasons explain how this one continues to climb.

Released in 2021, Evolving Skies is growing tougher to find but still in high demand, much in part thanks to Umbreon and its fellow Eveelutions. But when TCGplayer opened more than 8,000 Evolving Skies packs, it found the chances of pulling a specific alternate art VMAX card is 1 in 1,994.

That’s one per 55 booster boxes — booster boxes that now go for $690 — all in hopes that they include the Umbreon.

Is that a way of saying $934 for this card might be a bit of a steal?

Additionally, quality control is high on Umbreon VMAX, which according to Price Charting sells at an average of $1,275 in a PSA 10. That’s only 28% more than raw value, because the majority of Umbreons graded come back as 10s — 13,171 of them and counting.

This isn’t to say every Sword and Shield alt art is headed down. Fusion Strike’s Gengar VMAX has risen 8% over the last three months to reach $284. Gengar and Umbreon share some vital qualities possessed by many cards with staying power.

Both have established popularity, standout artwork and rarity. Those factors come together to make for cards that can become immune to market trends.