Charizard

Charizard sits at #11 in XY Evolutions, released in November 2016. XY Evolutions is part of the modern English Pokémon TCG era and uses the standard contemporary card frame and rarity tiers. Illustration by Mitsuhiro Arita. Arita was the original Pokémon TCG illustrator and the artist behind the Base Set Charizard. His vintage-era art has a painterly quality that distinguishes it from the cleaner reference-style work of the Sugimori cards. In the games, Charizard evolves from Charmeleon, which makes it a late-stage card in the line.

The flavor text on the card reads: "Its wings can carry this Pokémon close to an altitude of 4,600 feet. It blows out fire at very high temperatures." Pokédex entries from this era are short and often quirky, written by the original Japanese localization team for a specific stat-block layout that no longer exists in modern cards.

The fire-flying final form of the Charmander line, and the unofficial mascot of the franchise outside of Pikachu. Massive dragon-shaped silhouette, wings, tail-flame. The single most-recognized trading card of the modern era. Its Base Set holo print drove the entire vintage Pokémon market and continues to set the comp price for every other Wizards-era holo.

XY Evolutions shipped in standard Holofoil and Reverse Holo prints. No 1st Edition; that convention had been retired years before. The set reuses original Base Set artwork inside modern XY-era card frames, which makes the Evolutions Charizard a popular modern reprint chase despite the small price gap to other 2016 cards.

For graded buyers, modern cards have cleaner cardstock than the Wizards-era prints, so the grading bar is higher. A PSA 10 on a modern holo or alt-art requires close to flawless centering and pristine surface. PSA 9 populations are large; PSA 10 populations on the marquee chases (Special Illustration Rares, alt arts) are the cards that actually move price. Submission math favors clear PSA 10 candidates and stays away from PSA 8 or 9 outcomes.

If you are buying this card, the order of operations is rarity tier first, then condition. Confirm whether you are looking at the standard holo, an alt art / Special Illustration variant, or a Hyper Rare; the price spread between tiers is often 10x or more. For raw purchases on chase-tier modern cards, insist on photo or video showing the holo surface and edges. Modern cardstock is stiffer than Wizards-era stock but the high pull rates mean PSA 10 supply is large; price your buy against PSA 10 population reports.