TCGPulse

Daily · Hobby · 4 min

PSA's president tells CNBC trading card games are 50% of its business as parent Collectors is investing $200 million into PSA. Plus: Darkhold Destiny's four Commander decks have names.

· 5:00 AM CT

Pokémon and other trading card games now make up 50% of PSA's grading business. "Collectively, TCGs [account for] 50% of our current business, more than all the sports cards combined," PSA president Ryan Hoge told CNBC in a Saturday feature on card values. CNBC reports that PSA graded more than 19 million cards in 2025, up from 2 million in 2020, and that parent company Collectors is investing $200 million into PSA's operations, including hiring 1,000 new employees, to address long turnaround times. eBay's Adam Ireland said Pokémon was the most searched term in eBay's collectibles category through the first half of the year, and PSA flagged 125% more fake Pokémon cards last year than in 2024. Also: Polygon and Wargamer report the names of Magic: Marvel: Darkhold Destiny's four Commander decks. A ban-list date is on the rumor calendar. Market reference prices are unchanged.

TCG Pulse text graphic on parent company Collectors investing $200 million into PSA's grading operations
Collectors is investing $200 million into PSA's operations, CNBC reports · Graphic: TCG Pulse

How the market was

Market check: no change to our 30th Celebration reference prices. Without a new completed-sales source, we're holding the Sept. 17 bands (standard Elite Trainer Box about $150–170 vs. $49.99 retail; RGB Mew Red $6–7k / Green about $8k / Blue about $5k). Listing asks on our tracker for the standard ETB slipped to about $131 Saturday morning, further below the low end of our band. That's listing tape, not completed sales.

Day movers

  • Pokémon, 30th Celebration ETB (standard): $150–170 reference, unchanged, vs $49.99 retail (ICv2, Sep 17). Listing asks slipped further below the band; no completed-sales update yet.
  • Pokémon, RGB Mew: Red $6–7k / Green ~$8k / Blue ~$5k, unchanged (ICv2, Sep 17).

Hobby pulse

  1. Reported · Pokémon

    TCGs are now 50% of PSA's business, and Collectors is investing $200 million into PSA

    Pokémon and other trading card games now make up 50% of PSA's grading business. "Collectively, TCGs [account for] 50% of our current business, more than all the sports cards combined," PSA president Ryan Hoge told CNBC in a Saturday feature on card values. CNBC reports that PSA graded more than 19 million cards in 2025, up from 2 million in 2020, and that parent company Collectors is investing $200 million into PSA's operations, including hiring 1,000 new employees, to address long turnaround times. eBay's Adam Ireland said Pokémon was the most searched term in eBay's collectibles category through the first half of the year, and PSA flagged 125% more fake Pokémon cards last year than in 2024. ICv2 puts sales of new TCG products at $2.5 billion in 2025 and estimates the total will be close to $5 billion this year, per CNBC. At Heritage, the auction house's TCG department is now a "$50-million category," EVP Joe Maddalena said, and a first-edition Charizard is now valued by Heritage at $500,000, CNBC reports.

    Source (Reported): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/10/pokemon-card-values-grading-guide.html

  2. Reported · Magic

    The four Darkhold Destiny Commander decks, named

    Darkhold Destiny's four Commander decks have names. Per Polygon and Wargamer, the Marvel set's precons are Lords of Hel (black-red, with Hela and Dormammu), Midnight Sons (white-black, led by Blade), Gods of Asgard (red-green-white, led by Thor) and Strange Academy (white-blue-black, led by Doctor Strange). Decklists haven't been revealed. The set releases April 9, 2027, per Wizards.

    Source (Reported): https://www.polygon.com/magic-the-gathering-marvel-darkhold-destiny-commander-decks/ · Source (Reported): https://www.wargamer.com/magic-the-gathering/darkhold-destiny-commander-decks · Release date (Official): https://magic.wizards.com/en/products/marvel/marvel-darkhold-destiny

  3. Reported · Pokémon

    PSA 10 Zorua promo sells for $156,000

    A PSA 10 Zorua promo drawn by a then-6-year-old fan sold for $156,000 on Fanatics Collect in an auction that closed Sept. 27, GameRant reports; only 100 copies were printed.

    Source (Reported): https://gamerant.com/pokemon-card-6-year-old-design-auction/

Worth watching

  • Rumor (unconfirmed): MTGRocks expects Wizards' next banned-and-restricted update on Monday, Oct. 12
  • Magic: The Gathering | Marvel: Darkhold Destiny: April 9, 2027, per Wizards

Note

PSA, Heritage, eBay and ICv2 figures come from CNBC's Saturday feature; quotes are attributed to the people CNBC interviewed, and Heritage's $500,000 Charizard figure is a valuation, not a sale. Darkhold Destiny's Commander deck names come from Polygon and Wargamer and haven't appeared on Wizards' product page; the April 9, 2027 release date is from Wizards. The Zorua sale is from GameRant. The Oct. 12 ban-list date is MTGRocks' expectation and hasn't been confirmed by Wizards. Sealed Pokémon reference prices come from ICv2's Sep. 17 completed-sales report.