Charizard ex
Quick take
- Headline card of the first English Terastal set
- A rare Darkness-type Charizard, not the usual Fire
- Painted full-art by Akira Egawa
- The keystone purchase for an Obsidian Flames master set
Collector's readWhat it means for your master set
Set landscapeWhere this card sits in Obsidian Flames
VariantsCard variants
Holofoil 223/197 · $94.52 — the only variant this card was printed in (no reverse holo or special pattern), so a master set needs just this one copy.
The storyObsidian Flames put Charizard on the box, and this is the card people actually wanted
Obsidian Flames launched in August 2023 as the first English set built around the Terastal mechanic. Tera Pokemon get a crystalline shell that changes their type, and Charizard ex headlines the set as a Darkness-type instead of its usual Fire. The set art, the booster boxes, the marketing all leaned on this Charizard. The Special Illustration Rare at 223/197 is the version collectors chased.
“Headline card of the first English Terastal set”
Charizard always moves product, but this one had extra pull. The rare-type twist and the Egawa art combined with the simple fact that a Charizard SIR is a guaranteed long-term hold. For most people opening Obsidian Flames, this was the card they wanted.
For master set builders, 223/197 is the keystone of the Obsidian Flames secret-rare run. You can finish almost the whole set on a reasonable budget, then spend the bulk of your money on this single card. Plan the binder around it.
By the numbersMarket analysis
Sits at the very top of the Obsidian Flames set, well clear of every other card in it. As a Charizard SIR from a mainline modern set, it trades like a blue-chip modern chase, a strong three-figure raw card with graded copies climbing from there.
Settled into a stable modern-chase range after the early hype cooled. It has shown the usual Charizard pattern of periodic upward pushes when attention returns to the set, then consolidation. This is not a card that goes quiet for long.
Charizard SIRs from mainline sets are about as safe as modern gets, which is to say still volatile but with deep, durable demand. Reprints are not a concern for this exact print. The main risk is buying during an attention spike. If you want it, buy a clean copy and sit on it rather than chasing a green candle.
Gem-mint graded copies command a clear step up over raw, and the gap widens at the top grade. SIRs show edge whitening and surface scratches easily, so high grades are scarcer than the print run suggests and buyers pay for that.
In Scarlet & Violet sets the rarity ladder runs roughly one Double Rare per five packs, one Illustration Rare per twelve, one Ultra Rare per fifteen, and about one Special Illustration Rare per ninety packs. That last figure covers any SIR. Pulling this specific Charizard runs far longer, since each set has several SIRs and you are hunting one of them, which pushes the realistic odds for this exact card into the hundreds of packs. Most people buy the single rather than open for it.
Plenty of SIRs exist across the era, but a Charizard SIR is not interchangeable with the rest. Demand concentrates on this card the way it always does with Charizard, so it commands a premium over other SIRs in the same set despite a comparable print rate.
ArtworkWhy the art matters
Akira Egawa is one of the painterly illustrators the Scarlet & Violet era leaned on for its top chase cards. The style is bold and hand-painted, a deliberate move away from the digital, computer-rendered Charizards of earlier sets. When a Charizard ex carries Egawa's name, collectors take notice.
Charizard is mid-roar, body wreathed in flame, with the Terastal crystal shell wrapping its wings into faceted, gem-like panels. The whole frame is full-art, no white border, with Charizard breaking out of the card edges. It reads as motion and heat rather than a static portrait.
Special Illustration Rare, so the texture and foil treatment cover the full card face rather than sitting behind a window. The crystalline wing detail plays well with the SIR holo pattern, catching light across the faceted shapes. Full-bleed art, with the card number 223/197 placing it in the secret-rare range above the set's printed 197.
Here the art twist and the chase status line up. A Dark Tera Charizard painted by hand, on the headline card of a Charizard-fronted set. That combination is why this one stuck.
BackgroundAbout Charizard ex
Charizard is the original poster Pokemon, the Base Set holo that built the hobby and the one name that reliably moves cards three decades on. Every era produces a flagship Charizard, and in Obsidian Flames this Tera ex was it.
- ›Decades of nostalgia stacked on a single Pokemon
- ›Reliable resale, Charizard cards rarely struggle to find a buyer
- ›The Tera Darkness type made this a fresh take on a familiar face
- ›Set-defining card, impossible to miss if you opened the product
- ›Strong on-card stats made it a real deck piece at release
- ›Headline ex and box-art Pokemon for Obsidian Flames (2023)
- ›330 HP Darkness-type with the Infernal Reign ability and Burning Darkness attack
- ›One of the marquee Tera ex cards from the first English Terastal set
At release it was a genuine competitive card. Infernal Reign pulls up to three Basic Fire Energy from the deck when you play it to evolve a Pokemon, and Burning Darkness does more damage the more Prize cards your opponent has already taken. It saw real play before rotation moved the format on.
Own it wellCollector guide
SIRs are fragile on the edges, and the textured surface picks up scratches and print lines under raking light. Check the corners and the holo face carefully. Centering varies on these full-bleed prints, so look at the art alignment top-to-bottom and left-to-right before paying a premium.
Worth grading if you have a clean copy, since the graded premium on a top-grade Charizard SIR is meaningful. Inspect under good light first. If you can see surface lines or edge whitening with the naked eye, it likely will not hit the top grade and may not clear the grading cost. Read the grading guide →
Penny sleeve plus a snug toploader or a one-touch at minimum. Keep it out of direct light and away from humidity swings. The textured foil scuffs against itself, so do not stack raw SIRs loose in a box. See the storage guide →
Buy the single rather than ripping product, the pack math does not favor you here. For raw copies, inspect centering and surface in hand or from clear photos. For higher spend, buy already graded from a reputable seller so you are not paying gem-mint money for a card that grades a point lower. See the singles buying guide →
Modern SIRs are faked less than vintage holos, but counterfeits exist. Check the texture, since real SIRs have a consistent embossed feel across the art, and compare the holo pattern and font weight against a known-good copy. For graded cards, verify the cert number on the grader's site.
Protect your card
High Chase Score — protect and consider grading. · Amazon affiliate links · Storage guideWord on the streetCommunity sentiment
Broadly liked. The Egawa art drew praise as a cleaner, more painterly Charizard than the CG-heavy chase cards that came before, and the Dark Tera twist landed well with collectors who appreciated something other than another orange Fire Charizard.
Steady Charizard chatter rather than a one-off spike. It comes up whenever Obsidian Flames or Charizard chase cards get discussed, and it is a common target card in master set and binder-building threads.
Good to knowFrequently asked questions
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