Latias and Latios GX Alternate Full Art
Quick take
- Top chase card of the entire Sun and Moon era for many collectors
- TCGPlayer market around $2,495 raw, PSA 10 above $5,000
- Sanosuke Sakuma illustration with full-bleed sky composition
- Tag Team GX mechanic debut card from Team Up (2019)
Collector's readWhat it means for your master set
Set landscapeWhere this card sits in SM - Team Up
VariantsCard variants
Holofoil 170/181 · $4499.66 — the only variant this card was printed in (no reverse holo or special pattern), so a master set needs just this one copy.
The storyThe Eon Tag Team Alt Art That Defines Team Up
Team Up (sm9, February 2019) introduced the Tag Team GX mechanic. Two Pokemon on a single card, shared HP pools, signature attacks that paid off the partnership theme. Latias and Latios were the centerpiece. The Eon duo from Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire (2002) had spent seventeen years as quietly beloved Dragon-types, popular with collectors who prefer elegant over dramatic. Team Up gave them the headline slot the design always deserved.
“Top chase card of the entire Sun and Moon era for many collectors”
The Alternate Full Art at #170 is the chase card of the entire SM era. Sanosuke Sakuma's composition places the two Pokemon mid-flight against a stylised sky, the duo's distinctive blue-and-red colour scheme catching light at different angles. The illustration treats them as a single subject, not two separate Pokemon sharing real estate. That commitment to the Tag Team premise is what made the card resonate.
Pricing has held grail tier for seven years. TCGPlayer market around $2,495 raw, with PSA 10 graded copies pushing past $5,000 in clean condition. Limited print runs from the SM era combined with the card's permanent display-piece status have kept supply tight while demand from Latias/Latios collectors stays consistent.
By the numbersMarket analysis
Around $2,495 raw on TCGPlayer at last sync. Among the priciest non-Charizard cards from the entire Sun and Moon era. PSA 10 graded copies trade north of $5,000 in clean condition. The card has been a grail tier hold for the SM era since 2019.
Stable to slowly appreciating. The SM era's limited print runs have kept the supply pool tight. Latias and Latios specifically benefit from a permanent collector base that survives market cycles. The 2020-2021 pandemic spike pushed peaks above $4,000 raw before correcting back to the current $2,500 range, but the card has not dipped below $1,500 raw at any point in the past five years.
Solid fundamentals. The Eon duo has a permanent collector base that survives generation cycles. The Tag Team mechanic is closed (Sword and Shield dropped it), which gives this card historical-keystone status. Print run is fixed. PSA 10 graded copies are the cleanest long hold. Main risk is broader SM-era softening if a new wave of Sun and Moon nostalgia doesn't materialise, but the floor has held above $1,500 raw for years.
PSA 10 copies trade at 2-2.5x raw, around $5,000-6,000. The Tag Team format had specific centering challenges (the two-Pokemon layout puts more visual weight on one side). Graded copies with strong centering on both axes are scarce relative to the broader population. Submit only on near-perfect copies. The grading economics clear submission costs by a wide margin.
SM-era Tag Team GX Alt Arts pulled at roughly 1 in 280-400 packs across the Tag Team rarity tier. The Team Up set has multiple Tag Team cards, so per-Latias-Latios odds work out to around 1 in 1,500+ packs. Sealed Team Up booster boxes have become scarce on the secondary market, which further compounds the pull difficulty.
Among the rarest pull-tier cards from the entire Sun and Moon era. Comparable in pricing to Charizard and Reshiram Tag Team Alt Arts but with a smaller print population due to Team Up's earlier release in the SM era. SM9 sealed product has been collector-only for years.
ArtworkWhy the art matters
Sanosuke Sakuma is a contemporary Japanese illustrator with multiple alt art and Tag Team credits across the Sun and Moon era. The Sakuma style favours sky-based compositions with dynamic motion, well-suited to flying or Psychic-type Pokemon. The Latias and Latios alt art is the most-cited Sakuma work in modern collector culture.
Latias and Latios in mid-flight against a stylised sky. The Eon duo's blue-and-red colour scheme is rendered against warm sky gradients, with both Pokemon angled toward each other in a partnership pose. Background suggests altitude through cloud formations and light gradient rather than rendered landscape. The composition reads as a single unified scene rather than two separate Pokemon sharing a card.
Full-bleed textured holofoil. The Tag Team layout uses dual energy symbols and a wider HP bar to accommodate two Pokemon. Texture follows the contours of both bodies and the sky gradient. The blue-red colour combination interacts with the holofoil in a way that emphasises the duo's signature palette.
Most Tag Team cards from the SM era treated the two Pokemon as separate subjects squeezed onto one card. Sakuma's Latias and Latios commits to the partnership premise. They are flying together, not standing next to each other. That compositional choice is what elevates this card above the rest of the Tag Team rarity slot.
BackgroundAbout Latias and Latios GX Alternate Full Art
Latias debuted in Pokemon Ruby (2002) and Latios in Pokemon Sapphire (2002). National Pokedex #380 and #381. Dragon/Psychic dual type. The Eon duo are version mascots for the Gen III sister games, occupying the same narrative slot Lugia/Ho-Oh did in Gen II. Latias and Latios appeared together in the Eon Ticket event that let players access both legendaries regardless of version. The Pokemon Heroes (2003) movie centred on the duo and gave Latios a famous death scene. Latias and Latios have had multiple TCG appearances across the franchise's history but the SM9 Tag Team alt art is the headline modern card.
- ›Generation III version mascots for Ruby and Sapphire
- ›Pokemon Heroes movie (2003) with the famous Latios sacrifice scene
- ›Eon Ticket event mechanic that made the duo accessible regardless of version
- ›Dragon/Psychic dual type combined with sleek aircraft-inspired designs
- ›Permanent collector base across both casual and competitive audiences
- ›Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire (2002) as version legendary mascots
- ›Pokemon Heroes the Movie (2003)
- ›Multiple subsequent main series games as roaming legendaries
- ›Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (2014) as story-relevant Pokemon
- ›Tag Team Latias and Latios GX from Pokemon TCG Team Up (2019)
Latios has held competitive viability across multiple generations as a Dragon/Psychic Special Attacker with Soul Dew item boost. Mega Latios and Mega Latias in Gen VI Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire pushed offensive ceilings further. The Tag Team GX has been a relevant Standard format card in its time, though the Tag Team mechanic rotated out long ago. The Alt Art is universally a display piece at this price.
Own it wellCollector guide
The Tag Team layout puts visual weight asymmetrically across the card. Centering on the long axis (left-right) is where this card most often fails grade. The blue-red palette is generally forgiving on minor surface marks but the foiled sky background can reveal print inconsistencies under angled light. Inspect carefully, the card is now seven years old.
Grade clean copies only. PSA 10 premium runs 2-2.5x raw, $5,000-6,000 on a $2,495 raw card. Submission economics clear comfortably but the centering threshold is tighter than for modern alt arts. Verify 60/40 or better on both axes before sending. PSA is the canonical grader for SM-era Tag Team alts; the population data is mature. Read the grading guide →
Perfect-fit sleeve immediately, rigid top loader or magnetic case for raw copies. Graded slabs are the gold standard at this price tier. The 2019 print is now seven years old and condition varies significantly across the population, climate-controlled storage matters for long holds. See the storage guide →
Direct purchase only at this price tier. eBay's PSA market is the deepest pool for graded copies. TCGPlayer Direct works for raw but the inventory is thin. For graded copies, only buy from sellers with strong feedback and detailed photographs. Expect to wait for the right listing rather than buying the first available copy. See the singles buying guide →
At this price tier, authentication is non-negotiable for raw purchases. The Tag Team format is well-documented enough that counterfeit examples have surfaced in the market. Verify weight, foil pattern, cardstock thickness, and back centering against a known authentic copy. Graded slabs from PSA, CGC, or BGS eliminate most of the risk for serious purchases.
Protect your card
High Chase Score — protect and consider grading. · Amazon affiliate links · Storage guideWord on the streetCommunity sentiment
Universally positive. Latias and Latios GX Alt Art is treated as the definitive SM-era chase card outside of the Charizard space. Discussions about whether this is the most beautiful Tag Team card ever printed are recurring on Reddit and Twitter. The 'I want one card from the SM era and it's this one' sentiment is common.
- ›Recent TCGPlayer market around $2,495 raw
- ›PSA 10 graded comps consistently in the $5,000-6,000 range over the past 18 months
- ›Pandemic-era peaks above $4,000 raw and $8,000 PSA 10 in 2021
Constant. The card features in nearly every 'best alt art' ranking, 'most beautiful Pokemon card' video, and 'SM era chase tier' discussion. Sanosuke Sakuma's name appears in artist-collector content frequently because of this card specifically. The Eon duo's fanbase keeps engagement high across multiple collector communities.
Good to knowFrequently asked questions
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