Paradox Rift Chase Cards: Is a $103 Groudon Illustration Rare Worth Grading?

Paradox Rift Chase Cards: Is a $103 Groudon Illustration Rare Worth Grading?

Paradox Rift (SV04) released on November 3, 2023, and its most expensive card is not a Paradox Pokemon at all. The Groudon 199/182 Illustration Rare sits at $103.61 raw in our catalog on October 15, 2026, and the Special Illustration Rares that sold the set are $12 to $45. This guide prices the chase list and says which cards earn a grading fee.

Paradox Rift Raw Prices on October 15, 2026

Groudon is worth 2.1 times the next card we can link, Plusle 193/182 at $49.32, and the top Special Illustration Rare is only $44.53. Prices are TCGplayer market prices from the ZeroPop catalog, pulled October 15, 2026.

Card	Rarity	Raw market	Grading call
Groudon 199/182	Illustration Rare	$103.61	Grade a clean copy
Morpeko 206/182	Illustration Rare	$61.99	Grade only if flawless
Plusle 193/182	Illustration Rare	$49.32	Borderline
Minun 194/182	Illustration Rare	$45.22	Borderline
Altaria ex 253/182	Special Illustration Rare	$44.53	Borderline
Mantyke 189/182	Illustration Rare	$34.04	Skip
Garchomp ex 245/182	Special Illustration Rare	$32.94	Skip
Roaring Moon ex 251/182	Special Illustration Rare	$31.58	Skip
Iron Valiant ex 249/182	Special Illustration Rare	$20.29	Skip
Garchomp ex 260/182	Hyper Rare (gold)	$14.55	Skip

Serebii lists 266 cards, 182 in the main numbering and 84 secret rares numbered 183 to 266. Our catalog holds 276 rows for the set. We did not pull graded sale prices, so the grading column weighs raw price against the fee, not a PSA 10 comp. Current fees are in our PSA grading cost breakdown.

Groudon 199/182: The Only Clear Submit

At $103.61 raw, Groudon is the one card in Paradox Rift where a grading fee is a small slice of the value. It is a plain Illustration Rare, not an ex, and it still outprices every Special Illustration Rare in the set by more than double.

That is the lesson of this set: the Paradox ex cards were the pack hook, and the Pokemon people kept were the ones with a story in the art. Our community feed has no Groudon scan yet, so we cannot show you one or quote a grade distribution. Check centering before anything else (method in card centering explained), because Illustration Rare art runs to the card edge and an off-center print is visible at a glance.

Plusle, Minun and Morpeko: Pairs Are Pricey, Singles Are a Gamble

Plusle 193/182 is $49.32 and Minun 194/182 is $45.22, so the pair costs $94.54 together. Morpeko 206/182 is $61.99, higher than either, though it has no card page in our catalog so we cannot link it.

Our best community scan of Plusle reads 9, and the scan of Minun we found also reads 9. That is two data points, not a trend. At $45 to $49 raw, a fee plus a 9 outcome rarely beats selling the raw card, so these are submits only when your copy looks perfect under a lamp.

Altaria ex, Garchomp ex and Roaring Moon ex: The Special Illustration Rares

The best Special Illustration Rare is Altaria ex 253/182 at $44.53, ahead of Garchomp ex at $32.94 and Roaring Moon ex at $31.58. The Paradox headliners, the ones the set is named for, are cheaper: Iron Valiant ex is $20.29 and Iron Hands ex is $11.91.

Three community scans of Altaria ex read 10, 9.5 and 9, so a 10 is reachable on this card. The artwork is a pale blue sky, which hides little: any whitening on the corners shows against the cloud tones.

Garchomp ex has a 10 in our feed as well, with two more scans at 9.5. The swirling textured foil makes surface scratches hard to see in a photo, so judge it in raking light, not on a screen.

Iron Valiant ex is the one to skip. It is $20.29 raw, and all three of our community scans read 9.5, never a 10. Paying a fee on a $20 card that tends to stop at 9.5 is a loss before the shipping label.

Hyper Rares and the Rest: Sell Raw

The gold cards are the cheapest of the chases: Garchomp ex 260/182 is $14.55, Roaring Moon ex 262/182 is $6.07 and Iron Valiant ex 261/182 is $5.33. Gold finishes show scuffs on the bottom corners first, and at these prices the card costs less than the submission.

Yveltal 205/182 ($28.58), Joltik 196/182 ($27.13) and Minior 201/182 ($26.68) are the best of the rest. Mienshao 200/182 is $9.77 and Iron Moth 187/182 is $7.19. Binder them.

Should You Grade Paradox Rift Cards? The Verdict

Grade the Groudon, and only a copy with even borders and clean corners. Treat Plusle, Minun, Morpeko and Altaria ex as submit-if-perfect, and sell every other card raw. A pack opened today is almost always bulk plus, at best, one $30 art card.

For other Scarlet & Violet sets with the same tiering, compare Temporal Forces, Twilight Masquerade and Obsidian Flames, or browse the wider Pokemon cards worth grading list.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did Paradox Rift come out?

Paradox Rift released on November 3, 2023, per Serebii and our catalog. It is the fourth Scarlet & Violet main set, hence SV04.

What is the most valuable Paradox Rift card?

The Groudon Illustration Rare, 199/182, at $103.61 raw in our catalog on October 15, 2026. Morpeko 206/182 is second at $61.99, a gap of $41.62.

Is Roaring Moon ex worth grading?

Not the 251/182 Special Illustration Rare at $31.58 raw, unless your copy is flawless. The gold 262/182 is $6.07, so a fee costs more than the card.

Are the Paradox Rift Special Illustration Rares worth more than Illustration Rares?

No. The most expensive Special Illustration Rare is Altaria ex at $44.53, below Groudon, Morpeko, Plusle and Minun, which are all Illustration Rares.

Which Paradox Rift cards hit PSA 10 in your scans?

Altaria ex and Garchomp ex each have a 10 in our community feed. Iron Valiant ex shows three scans at 9.5 and none at 10. These are small samples of a few scans per card, not population data.

How many cards are in Paradox Rift?

Serebii lists 266 cards: 182 in the main numbering plus 84 secret rares. Secret rares carry numbers past the printed total, like 253/182, so read the denominator as 182.