Methodology

What “master set” means

A character master set is the collection of every Pokémon TCG card featuring a given character — across every English set, promo, and printing. MasterSet.io curates these checklists by hand and lets you customize the inclusion rules (English only, holos only, promos, reverse holos, and more).

How set values are calculated

Each card carries a market value. The set’s estimated value is the sum of every card’s market value; your collection value sums the cards you own; cost to complete sums the cards you’re missing. Values are estimates and will differ from actual sale prices.

How card prices are sourced

Prices follow a precedence hierarchy:

1. Manual override (a value you set by hand) — always wins.
2. A mapped pricing provider (e.g. PriceCharting), when configured and fresh.
3. Pokémon TCG API / TCGplayer pricing from enrichment.
4. The last known value, flagged as stale.
5. Unknown, when we have no reliable price.

How marketplace listings are matched

When live listings are enabled, we generate a search query from each card’s name, number, set, and foil, then score every result. A high-confidence match contains the card name and number with no exclusion terms (proxy, fake, custom). We show high and medium matches by default and hide or warn on low-confidence ones.

How often data updates

Card metadata is refreshed by our enrichment process. Prices update when a pricing provider is configured and refreshed. Marketplace listings are cached for several hours to avoid hammering external APIs.

Why values may differ from real sales

Condition, grading, printing, and timing all move prices. 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.