For beginners and seasoned veterans alike, Crown Zenith is a GREAT Investment and today I’ll explain why.
Key Takeaways
- Final yellow-borders sets
- A very deep set with great top hits
- Unlikely to see another reprint
- Opening experience is unmatched
An Introduction to the Set
Crown Zenith, also known as SWSH 12.5, was the final set released as part of the Sword & Shield era. It is a specialty set meaning there is no booster box. This means the most sought after sealed products have been the regular ETBs, which were the first of its kind to feature a promo card, and the booster bundles.
When we look at the cards in the set, there are many fan favourites including Giratina, Mew, Mewtwo, Pikachu, and even some Eeveelutions like Leafeon and Glaceon. These are all Pokemon I’ve discussed before as some of the ones to keep an eye out for when deciding to invest in a certain set.
As of writing this post, Crown Zenith has:
- (1) Card over $200
- (3) Cards over $100
- (5) Cards over $50
- (14) Cards over $20
Needless to say, this is a very deep set with sought after cards.
No More Reprints
Crown Zenith was released on January 20, 2023. The set is over two years old, and has already been hit numerous times with reprints. We saw ETB reprints back in late 2023 slashing the price of the box down to $35.
I recently covered Crown Zenith on my YouTube channel and, although I think 151 is proving to be a more dominant set, the price point of the regular ETBs means Crown Zenith is a great investment currently. I would much rather pay $100-$110 for a regular Crown Zenith ETB, than $180-$200 for 151 since I believe the sets are much closer in my opinion.
151 does have a better promo card (Snorlax 051) than Crown Zenith, which is something to consider, but Crown Zenith is a much older set with similar value for the top hits while being 40% cheaper to buy on the open market.
An Excellent Opening Experience
Rip-and-ship culture has taken over Pokemon and everyone is opening packs. We can presume that people paying lots of money to open these packs want to get some type of return on their investment.
This is where Crown Zenith shines. With decent pull rates, and a Galarian Gallery allowing for double-hits out of a single pack of cards, people continue to turn to Crown Zenith over others packs of similar value like Astral Radiance, Twilight Masquerade, or even Fusion Strike.
In the future, sure, there will be people that want to open sets like Evolving Skies or Lost Origin that have better chase cards and worse pull rates, but there will still be many people that value better odds at pulling hits, even if they aren’t the most valuable of the era.
Only Up From Here.
The Pokemon card hobby is in a weird state. There is a clear shortage of product available on the market, leading many investors and collectors to believe large reprints are coming. There is also an equally large amount of people that believe Pokemon will not keep up with demand.
Whatever you believe, the best way to put your money to work now and hedge against either outcome is by buying Sword and Shield sets like Crown Zenith. The reprint window is over. No more Crown Zenith product is coming to market. If we get large scale reprints of Surging Sparks, Prismatic Evolutions, Paldean Fates, etc., we may see Crown Zenith slow down a bit. If we don’t see reprints of these newer sets, Crown Zenith is going to continue climbing at it’s ridiculously rate and I would not be surprised to see the ETBs break the $175 price tag by the end of the year.
Either way, Crown Zenith is a GREAT investment and will go down as one of the most popular and enjoyable sets of the modern era.