A chase card is the most sought-after card in a set, the one collectors hope to pull when they crack open a pack. It is usually the flashiest card in the print run: a big holographic, a secret rare numbered past the set total, or a special-art version of a popular Pokemon. Because these cards land at very low rates, almost everyone wants one and almost nobody pulls one. That gap between demand and supply is what turns an ordinary rare into a chase.
What makes a card a chase card?
A chase card earns the label through low pull rate paired with heavy collector demand. Print scarcity alone is not enough, because a rare card nobody wants stays cheap. The card also has to be one people actively hunt, which is why the chase of a set is almost always its most talked-about pull.
Collectors use a few loose terms for these premium cards, and the words get swapped around a lot. Here is what each one actually points to so you can follow any pack-opening conversation.
- +Hits: any premium card worth pulling, the ones that make a pack feel worth the money.
- +Secret rares: cards numbered above the printed set total, like 201/200, that sit at the top of the checklist.
- +Special and alternate arts: full-art or illustration versions of a card with different, rarer artwork than the standard print.
Not every expensive card is a chase card, and not every chase card is expensive on day one. The chase is about attention. It is the card printed on the box art and shown off in the reveal trailers, the one pull that can make an opening video go viral. That spotlight pulls buyers toward the set long before prices settle.
The chart below shows the rough shape of that scarcity. Premium pulls are not a little rarer than commons, they are dramatically rarer. The very top tier can sit many times deeper than the ultra rares just below it.
Illustrative example numbers to show relative scarcity, not official rates.
| Tier | What it is | How often it shows up |
|---|---|---|
| Common holo | Standard shiny card of a regular rare | Frequently, often one per few packs |
| Ultra rare | Full-art trainers, premium Pokemon cards | Occasionally, a handful per box |
| Secret rare | Cards numbered above the set total | Rarely, sometimes one per box or fewer |
| Alternate art | Special illustration variants | Rarely, the true chase of many sets |
Those tiers are guidelines, not guarantees. Pull rates shift set to set, and a card that is only moderately rare can still become a chase if the artwork or the Pokemon catches fire with collectors. Demand can override the odds.
You can usually spot a set's chase card before you buy a single pack. Check which card sits on the booster box art, then scan the set list for anything numbered above the total. The card also carrying the highest early asking prices is almost always your chase.
Why are chase cards so rare?
Chase cards are rare by design. The maker seeds them at low pull rates on purpose so the thrill of hitting one stays real, and that thrill is what keeps people buying sealed product.
Scarcity does a lot of quiet work in the hobby. When a single card is hard to pull, its secondary-market price climbs while the rest of the set stays cheap as bulk. Buyers then chase that one card instead of gambling on packs, and sealed boxes hold value because the dream inside is still locked away. The rarer the card and the more beloved the Pokemon, the steeper the premium climbs.
Rarity also compounds over time. Sealed product keeps getting opened while graded copies get locked into long-term collections, so the pool of clean, high-grade examples shrinks year after year. A card that felt merely hard to pull at release can become genuinely scarce a few years later, which is why early chase cards from popular sets tend to trend upward.
Two forces set a chase card's price: how many exist in collectable shape and how many people want one at any given moment. Supply barely moves once a set stops printing, so demand does most of the swinging. A new tournament result or a nostalgia wave can send interest up fast, and the chase card feels it first.
A chase card combines low pull rate with high demand. Scarcity without demand is just a rare card nobody wants, and demand without scarcity is just a popular card that stays cheap. You need both.
Every set is designed to make you want one card you will almost never pull.
Buying the chase card outright is almost always smarter than ripping packs to chase it, and the real edge is buying when the hype cools rather than at the peak. Prices spike on release and then dip once supply catches up, which rewards the patient buyer who sets a target and waits. Set a price watch on the chase card you want in GrailHawk, and you will get an alert the moment a listing drops into your range instead of refreshing eBay all day.