One Piece OP-09 Emperors in the New World: What to Grade

One Piece OP-09 Emperors in the New World: What to Grade

Emperors in the New World released on December 13, 2024 with 162 cards and two Manga Rares that account for nearly all the collector value in the set. The Gol.D.Roger Manga Rare (OP09-118) sits at $5,500 raw. The Shanks Manga Rare (OP09-004) sits at $1,795 raw. Everything else in the set is priced at a fraction of those numbers.

That concentration makes the grading decision simple. OP-09 is not a set where you weigh a dozen cards against each other. You are answering one question per pull: does this Roger or Shanks copy hold a PSA 10?

What Emperors in the New World Is

The set name tells you the cast. Shanks occupies the Leader card slot at the low end of the card list (OP09-004), the traditional position for a set's anchor Leader. Gol.D.Roger lands at the high end of the list (OP09-118), the typical position for a chase Character card. Two characters, two Manga Rares, one very clean value story.

162 cards is standard for a One Piece main booster. The set does not introduce new rarity types, so the chase structure is familiar: Manga Rares at the top, Secret Rares below them, then SP parallels and standard rarity cards running down to bulk. Roger and Shanks are the only two cards confirmed with significant catalog pricing, which means the collector market has spoken loudly on what this set is actually for.

Gol.D.Roger: The $5,500 Card

The Roger Manga Rare is currently the most valuable card in the OP-09 catalog. $5,500 raw.

Roger is the Pirate King in One Piece lore, the man whose execution began the era of piracy and whose treasure drives the entire story forward. His narrative weight is permanent and independent of any competitive format, which is why his card prices carry differently from most OPCG chase cards. Players rarely put him in a deck. Collectors want him on a wall. That difference matters for grading: there is no meta-rotation risk that suddenly drops the Roger Manga Rare to bulk overnight. Demand is biographical.

The grading challenge is the art itself. Manga Rares use full-art panels from the original manga, reproduced with a glossy foil coat. Roger's card is dark-dominant, with heavy black inking across most of the surface. That is the worst condition for PSA 10 surface reads: print lines that are completely invisible to the naked eye show up under a grading lamp, and they trace directly through the darkest areas of the card. A Roger Manga Rare that looks pristine when you pull it can scan into a PSA 9 because of two hairline artifacts you cannot see without magnification.

What a PSA 10 actually needs here:

• Surface clean of print lines on the dark sections (which is most of the card)
• Centering at roughly 55/45 or tighter, both axes
• All four corners without whitening on the foil edge
• Edges without chip marks from pack handling

At $5,500 raw, the PSA 10 multiplier is real. Low graded-pop plus high raw price is exactly the condition where a confirmed PSA 10 commands a substantial premium. Run a scan with ZeroPop before committing to a submission fee. A borderline scan is a borderline fee.

The standard Gol.D.Roger (OP09-118) prices at $25.14 raw. The art is distinct from the Manga Rare version and the glossy foil coat is absent. This is the budget entry to the OP-09 Roger chase: a PSA 10 standard Roger at genuinely thin pop could reach a meaningful multiple of $25.14, but the math requires both a near-perfect copy and sustained collector demand. It is a speculative submission. For a clean framework on whether under-$50 raws justify a submission fee, see best cards to grade under $50.

Shanks: The $1,795 Leader

The Shanks Manga Rare at OP09-004 is the set's second chase and the one with the broader audience.

Shanks is OPCG's most consistently demanded character across both the competitive and collector communities. Competitive players run Shanks-based decks across multiple formats. Collectors want every new Shanks treatment regardless of format relevance. That dual demand creates a floor under Shanks Manga Rare prices that pure-collector cards like Roger do not have, because a meta-relevant character has two buyer types instead of one.

$1,795 raw is the current catalog price.

The grading nuance specific to this card: the Leader card frame has more visible white border than a standard Character card. That sounds like an advantage (more white border means centering is easier to see and easier to grade), but it is actually a disadvantage in one sense. A centering offset that would be hidden under a Character card's art bleeds reads visually obvious on a Leader's wider frame. The tolerance for PSA 10 is tighter on a Leader than the millimeter numbers suggest, because the error is amplified visually.

Shanks Manga Rares are dark-art cards but not as fully-dark as the Roger, so the surface read is slightly more forgiving than a Roger submission. The four corners and edges still need scrutiny before sleeving. OPCG cardstock is thinner than modern Pokemon, and Leaders especially can arrive with corner impressions from pack insertion that a quick visual check misses.

The Price Breakdown

Card	Card Number	Raw Price	Primary Grade Risk
Gol.D.Roger (Manga Rare)	OP09-118	$5,500	Surface on dark full-art, centering
Shanks (Manga Rare, Leader)	OP09-004	$1,795	Centering on Leader frame, surface
Gol.D.Roger (standard)	OP09-118	$25.14	Corners from pack handling

All three prices are from the ZeroPop catalog, pulled on August 26, 2026. SP parallels and other rarity cards in the set show no current pricing in the catalog, which does not necessarily mean they have no secondary market value. If you pulled an SP featuring a character with a strong fan base, check recent sold listings before assuming the card has no grade value.

Grading OPCG Manga Rares: What the Camera Misses

The full breakdown is in the One Piece TCG grading guide. For OP-09 specifically, three things matter most.

Print lines on dark art. The most common reason an OP-09 Manga Rare lands at PSA 9 instead of PSA 10 is a print artifact on the dark sections of the art. These are invisible to the naked eye and invisible on a standard smartphone photo. They show up under a grading lamp and under ZeroPop's scan analysis. There is no way to know they are there without a real scan. Do not pay a submission fee based on a photo.

Centering on Bandai's cut. Bandai's manufacturing tolerances run wider than The Pokemon Company's. A pack-fresh OP-09 Manga Rare at PSA 10 centering is closer to 1 in 8 than 1 in 3. The centering check is the first filter: if the margins are obviously off, the rest of the card does not matter.

Pack-opening edges. Thin cardstock picks up edge nicks from the pack pull itself. Check all four edges under good lighting the moment you open the pack, before sleeving. A chip you find before sleeving is information. A chip you find after submission is a PSA 9.

PSA vs CGC for OP-09

PSA 10 carries the price premium on high-value OPCG singles, full comparison in PSA vs BGS vs CGC. For the Roger and Shanks Manga Rares, PSA is the standard recommendation because buyer premiums for PSA 10 on chase OPCG cards consistently outrun CGC Pristine 10 equivalents in the secondary market.

The one scenario where CGC makes sense for OP-09: if turnaround time matters more than maximum resale value, and the card is a Shanks at $1,795 rather than a Roger at $5,500. The premium gap between PSA and CGC is proportional to the card's value; on the Roger, the difference in realized price between the two services is large enough to wait for PSA. On the standard Roger at $25.14, the graded market is thin enough that neither service has a meaningful edge yet.

What the Set Tells You About When to Submit

OP-09 has been in the field since December 2024. Eight months of secondary-market activity means the Roger and Shanks Manga Rares have established price floors. The speculative peak that happens in the weeks right after release, when demand is high and pop counts are zero, is past. What remains is the sustained collector demand floor.

That is not a bad time to submit. Low pop counts on graded Manga Rares from a December 2024 set in August 2026 means the PSA 10 you receive is still a relatively rare grade. Collector demand for Roger and Shanks is not cyclical or format-dependent, so there is no meta rotation that drops these prices overnight.

Submit now if the scan is strong. Hold raw if the scan is borderline and wait for no particular reason. The demand is not going anywhere, but a PSA 9 on a $5,500 raw card is not the outcome you want from a $100 submission fee.

For context on the broader OPCG grading landscape and where OP-09 fits among recent sets, the World's Strongest Warriors (OP-17) guide and the Time of Battle (OP-16) guide cover the current meta on grading expectations for newer main boosters.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the most valuable cards in One Piece OP-09 Emperors in the New World?

The top two cards are the Gol.D.Roger Manga Rare (OP09-118) at $5,500 raw and the Shanks Manga Rare (OP09-004) at $1,795 raw, both confirmed from the ZeroPop catalog on August 26, 2026. The standard Gol.D.Roger (OP09-118) is the third-priced card at $25.14 raw. The rest of the 162-card set sits below current catalog pricing thresholds.

Is the OP-09 Roger Manga Rare worth grading?

Yes, if your copy scans into a projected PSA 10. The population on graded Roger Manga Rares is thin, and $5,500 raw means a confirmed PSA 10 at low pop carries a real multiplier. The risk is surface: black-dominant Manga Rare art shows print lines under a grading lamp that are invisible to the naked eye. Scan it with ZeroPop before paying a submission fee. Do not guess based on appearance alone.

Why is Gol.D.Roger so valuable in One Piece TCG?

Roger is the Pirate King and the founding figure of the One Piece story. His in-universe significance means collector demand is not tied to any competitive format or meta rotation. He was never a competitive Leader in OPCG, but collectors want the card regardless, which is why his Manga Rare commands prices that other high-powered competitive cards cannot sustain long-term.

What makes Shanks different from other Leader Manga Rares in OP-09?

Shanks has both competitive and collector demand, which is unusual. Players run Shanks-based decks in active formats, so the card has a player-base floor in addition to pure collector demand. That dual-audience dynamic means price support from two independent communities rather than one. Most Manga Rares from sets this old have settled into pure collector territory by now. Shanks has not.

What grade service should I use for OP-09 Manga Rares?

PSA 10 is the recommended service for Roger and Shanks because it commands the strongest resale premium on high-value OPCG chase cards. CGC Pristine 10 is a reasonable alternative if turnaround time is the priority, but the price differential between services is proportional to card value. On a $5,500 Roger, the difference matters. The full comparison is in PSA vs BGS vs CGC.

Are there other OP-09 cards worth submitting?

The catalog currently prices three cards above zero in OP-09: Roger Manga, Shanks Manga, and standard Roger. SP parallels of popular characters may have secondary-market value not yet reflected in catalog scans, since community submissions on SP rares from sets this old are sparse. If you have an SP from OP-09 featuring a fan-favorite character, check recent sold listings before assuming it is bulk. Do not assume catalog silence means market silence.