Methodology

How MasterSet.io decides what belongs in a master set, where card values come from, and how often everything updates.

What a master set is

A master set is every card that shares a theme. MasterSet.io has four kinds:

• Characters: Every card featuring a single Pokémon — one master set per character, from Bulbasaur to Pecharunt.
• Expansions: Complete printed sets — Base Set, Jungle, Evolving Skies, and more — every card and variant in the expansion.
• Artists: Career-spanning sets for Pokémon TCG artists — every card credited to Mitsuhiro Arita, Ken Sugimori, and more.
• Promos: Black Star Promos and other promotional series — the hardest-to-track cards, organized into master sets.

Master sets cover English-language cards only, for now.

Expansions

An expansion’s master set is every card printed in it, secret rares included, plus every parallel version such as reverse holos. Some modern sets print two reverse holo patterns, and both count. We check each checklist against the set’s official card list, so its size matches the real set.

Cards that belong with an expansion but aren’t part of its printed set have their own companion master sets: promos released alongside it (prerelease, staff, Prize Pack and similar) and, for vintage sets, separate print runs such as Base Set 1st Edition, Shadowless and Unlimited.

Characters

Every card featuring one Pokémon: the cards where it’s the subject, including its staff, prerelease and league-stamped copies, and cameo cards, where it appears in another card’s artwork. Edit Rules can add trophy cards, which were only handed out at a single event or to the players who placed at a championship, or take the cameos away.

Artists

Every card credited to one illustrator, across their whole career.

Promos

Black Star Promo series and other promotional runs, each as its own master set.

Every printing is its own card

A card’s reverse holo, its 1st Edition and its prerelease-stamped copy are different collectibles with different prices, so each gets its own row. A row is defined by its finish (normal, holo, reverse holo, and special patterns such as Poké Ball or Master Ball reverses), its edition (1st Edition, Shadowless, Unlimited) and any stamp (prerelease, staff, league or a tournament placement).

We list a version only when there’s evidence it was printed, such as the official card list or a real market for it. We never add one because a set “should” have it. Older sets especially are checked card by card.

Customizing a checklist

Character master sets have Edit Rules, which chooses the kinds of cards that count toward completion: the Pokémon’s own cards, cameo cards and trophy cards. Your choices are saved on this device. Every other kind of master set shows every card.

How card values work

Every card has a market value for an ungraded copy of that exact printing, based on established price guides that track completed sales. It’s worked out in this order:

1. A value we’ve set by hand, for example to correct a price a bad listing has thrown off, always wins.
2. Otherwise, the current retail value of an ungraded copy, or its recent sale price.
3. If a card has never sold ungraded, which is common for rare promos, we use its lowest graded value instead and treat that as a lower-confidence estimate.
4. A handful of one-of-a-kind cards with no public market show N/A rather than a guess.
5. Anything else shows no price until one exists.

Card pages also show graded values from PSA 7 to PSA 10, and target buy and sell prices (what a dealer typically pays for, and charges for, an ungraded copy), where they’re available.

Prices are matched to the exact printing and set. A reverse holo never borrows its plain version’s price, a 1st Edition never borrows the Unlimited’s, and a reprint never borrows the original’s. When we can’t match a card with confidence, we leave it unpriced rather than guess.

Set values and cost to complete

A master set’s value is the total of its cards’ market values, counting the cards its checklist shows by default. Your collection value totals the cards you’ve marked owned, and cost to complete totals the ones you haven’t. A card without a price counts as zero, so finishing a set with unpriced cards will cost at least what’s shown.

Each master set’s value is recorded every night, which is where its 30-day trend comes from. Whenever a card’s price changes we record that too, building the price history chart on its card page, graded values included.

Buying cards

Buy Now on a card page opens an eBay search for that card. Card pages also show live eBay listings, each scored for how well it matches:

• High: the title names the card and its number (or its stamp, for a stamped card), with no red flags.
• Medium: the name and set details match, but the exact number is missing.
• Low: only the name matches, the listing is for another language, or the title includes words like proxy, fake or custom.

We show high and medium matches and hide low-confidence ones unless you ask to see them. When there are no good listings, we link to a search on eBay or TCGplayer instead. We may earn a commission when you buy through these links; see our Affiliate Disclosure.

Find Your Master Set

Find Your Master Set scores every eligible master set against your answers (your goal, experience, budget, the kind of set you want and the cards you pick) using live data on each set’s size, cost to complete, price spread, era and look. Questions you skip don’t count for or against any set. To be recommended, a set needs at least 8 cards and mostly complete prices and images.

Card images

Card photos come from official card data and marketplace product photos. We check that an image actually loads before we use it, and avoid showing one printing’s photo for another.

Keeping it accurate

Checklists are built from official set lists and checked against real market listings. Automated matches that can’t be confirmed are held back for review instead of published. It isn’t perfect: if a card is missing, wrong or in the wrong set, report a correction. Every report is reviewed by hand.

How often data updates

Your collection

Cards you mark are saved in your browser, with no account needed. Sign in with your email and your collection syncs to your account, so it follows you across devices. See our Privacy Policy.

Why values differ from real sales

Condition, grading, centering, where a card is sold and when all move what it actually sells for. Treat our numbers as a planning estimate, not an appraisal.

MasterSet.io is an independent collector tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, or any marketplace provider.