Journey Together will be releasing on March 28, 2025 and is the first main Pokemon TCG set since the days of Gym Challenge to include Trainer’s Pokemon.

Which cards will be the most expensive?

Luckily, as this set’s sister set in Japan, Battle Partners, has already released, we have a solid understanding of which cards will be the ultimate chase.

You can bet that these cards will be highly sought after especially the current Pokemon TCG craze kicked off by the massive popularity Surging Sparks and Prismatic Evolutions saw.

Below, let’s look at the most expensive Journey Together Pokemon TCG cards.

#1 Iono's Bellibolt ex – Special Illustration Rare

Coming in at number one (and my best guess for most expensive card in Journey Together) is this Iono’s Bellibolt ex SIR card. Iono is an iconic trainer, and SIR cards featuring her have done incredibly well in the past.

One interesting thing to note about these trainer’s Pokemon is that they count as their own distinct Pokemon. Just like there’s only one Ash’s Pikachu in the show, you can’t evolve a trainer’s Pokemon from any ordinary Pokemon. Iono’s Bellibolt ex will need to evolve from Iono’s Tadbulb.

#2 N’s Zoroark ex – Special Illustration Rare

Another popular trainer, N’s Zoroark should fair very well on the secondary card market. Not only does it feature exciting artwork seeing these two fan favorites getting ready to face off against their competition, Zoroark itself features a powerful mechanic that should do very well competitively. N’s Zoroark has the powerful Trade ability – one that lets you discard one card to draw two more cards. This is especially relevant for Pokemon TCG players in a post-rotation world without the likes of Radiant Greninja – a card which was once the most popular card to ever see play on Pokemon TCG Live.

#3 Salamence ex – Special Illustration Rare

Like most Dragon type Pokemon, Salamence is a very memorable Pokemon. Unlike some of the other top chase cards on this list, Salamence isn’t a trainer’s Pokemon. It’s just a good old fashioned regular Pokemon.

Despite not having a trainer to do battle with, this powerful psuedo-legendary Pokemon will likely be worth quite a bit. Rare, beautiful and powerful, it’s got the hallmarks of a top chase, even if he’s not necessarily the most memorable of all Pokemon. One thing it does have going for it is the fact that it hails from the highly memorable Ruby/Sapphire generation of the Pokemon VGC. I’m sure plenty of trainers like myself remember grinding out experience for their Shelgon to get this guy to evolve.

Additionally, Salamence does look like he could fair pretty well in the game. What with its powerful 300 damage dealing attack and a first attack that enables you to attack the bench, its got a lot going for it – assuming you can find the energy to power these high cost attacks up!

#4 Articuno – Illustration Rare

While Articuno’s lower level of rarity likely bars it from making the upper echelons of this list, it’s certainly going to be a valuable card, and likely a top chase for many more nostalgia-drive collectors. Indeed, this card is one of the most beautiful Articuno Pokemon cards we’ve ever had, and denotes a returned to a more realism-based artwork design that’s welcome in the current retinue of more abstract/symbolic background artworks.

#5 Lillie’s Clefairy ex

You know a Trainer is Popular when the Pokemon company bases a tournament collection after them. That’s just what we’re getting with Lillie. However, in this card Clefairy is the real star of the show, and she’s got an ability that has already turned a lot of heads in anticipation. Essentially, Clefairy leans into the fairy type weakness dragon Pokemon have in the games. While there is no fairy type in the Pokemon TCG, Clefairy ex has an ability that turns the weakness of dragon type Pokemon into psychic. This makes Clefairy an optimal counter to any dragon deck out there.

This is worth noting as previously dragon Pokemon have largely gone unchecked in the Pokemon TCG meta, with top tier dragon decks partly making their way there due to their lack of weakness.

Will Clefairy have its own deck or simply be teched into other psychic decks like Gardevoir ex? Hard to know right now but what we do know is that this special illustration rare card is worth its weight in Pokemon gold!

#6 Hop’s Zacian ex

While Zacian was once a killer Pokemon in the Sword and Shield days of the Pokemon TCG, we’ve not seen a meta relevant Zacian since then. And while this card doesn’t possess anything that screams “play me,” many will still appreciate this legendary Pokemon painted against a beautiful and contemplative backdrop that brings to mind an almost Studio Ghibliesque illustration quality. Here, of course, Zacian is portrayed alongside the well-known Hop trainer who is also from the same generation as the legendary.

#7. Meowth – Illustration Rare

Journey Together continues the Scarlet & Violet era tradition of including a few super nostalgic cards alongside more contemporary characters and Pokemon. This set we don’t just get Articuno hailing from the early days of Pokemon history – we also get a gorgeous Meowth Illustration Rare.

As a card, this Meowth speaks for itself. Apart from this iconic Pokemon, I appreciate the backdrop which clearly calls to mind the design of the buildings in the early Pokemon games like Red, Blue, and even Gold and Silver.

#8 & 9 – Trainer Pokemon Gold Cards

In this set, we’re also getting two hyper rare versions of two key trainer Pokemon: N’s Zoroarkroark ex and Iono's Bellibolt ex. We’ve seen that hyper rare cards have the potential to do very well value-wise in the Scarlet & Violet era of the Pokemon TCG, with a great example being the Pikachu gold card found in both Surging Sparks and Prismatic Evolutions.

While these cards aren’t likely to fetch near the same price as the SIR versions, they’re a solid pull to be proud of, especially given the uniqueness of this set to feature Trainer Pokemon.

#10 Volcanion ex – Special Illustration Rare

Last but not least we have Volcanionion ex SIR! Once again in this artwork we have a return to the hyper-realistic design that was a keynote of previous Scarlet & Violet sets like Temporal Forces. This works very well in this card that just emotes action. You can almost feel the heat of the volcano and the power of its eruption in this expertly crafted illustration.

The mythical Pokemon itself is also so photo realistic it almost appears CGI, complete with a pair of blue eyes looking directly at you.

While Volcanion is not a trainer Pokemon, it’s a rare card and also has some competitive merits. I could see this card faring well in Poison control decks given its powerful burn effect that could be used in tandem with other special condition effect cards to quickly dominate the game.

The 10 Most Expensive Journey Together Cards