Obsidian Flames Set Guide: Charizard ex and the Tera Chase

Obsidian Flames (SV3) released August 11, 2023 with the least subtle pitch of the Scarlet & Violet era: Charizard, but dark. The Terastallized dark-type Charizard ex headlined the set in three escalating rarities, and three years later the set's value picture is exactly what you'd guess — a Charizard economy with a modest supporting cast.

Set structure and card count

The main set runs 197 cards, with the secret-rare section stretching the checklist to 230. The mechanical theme is Terastallization — tera Pokémon ex with crystallized crowns and off-type twists, of which dark-tera Charizard ex is the poster child. Tyranitar ex, Eiscue ex, and Vespiquen ex fill out the tera roster, and the set also carries the Paldea mid-generation staples.

The rarity ladder for the star: Charizard ex appears as the base double rare (125/197), the full-art ultra rare, the special illustration rare (223/197), and the gold hyper rare (228/197). One Pokémon, four price points — a structure that tells you exactly who this set was printed for.

The chase cards

Raw near-mint, as of mid-2026:

Card	Number	Raw price	Notes
Charizard ex SIR	223/197	$110–140	The obsidian city skyline art; the set
Charizard ex (gold)	228/197	$60–80	Hyper rare; the budget trophy Zard
Charizard ex (full art)	215/197	$25–35	Third rung on the ladder
Pidgeot ex SIR	225/197	$30–45	Beloved art, competitive relevance helped
Tyranitar ex SIR	224/197	$25–35	Dark tera bruiser, steady
Revavroom ex SIR	226/197	$12–18	The affordable SIR slot
Charmander IR	199/197	$25–35	Baby Zard tax, always
Bellibolt IR	201/197	$8–14	Cult-favorite frog
Houndstone ex SIR	227/197	$10–16	Good boy, modest price

Below the table, the IR pool is serviceable but shallow compared to 151 or Evolving Skies — a handful of $5–12 cards, then bulk. That thin middle is the set's structural weakness: pull anything other than a Charizard-adjacent hit and your pack was probably a dud financially.

How the values have moved

Obsidian Flames followed the classic Charizard-set arc. The SIR debuted north of $200 during release hype, slid through 2024 as supply piled up (this set was printed to the moon), and found its floor in 2025 around the $100 mark, where it's sat with a slow upward drift since. As of mid-2026, it's behaving like post-hype Charizards always do: not climbing fast, never falling far. Charizard is the most liquid name in the hobby — the full history of that phenomenon is in our Base Set Charizard value guide — and modern Zards inherit a diluted version of that floor.

If you're deciding between eras: the most valuable cards of 2026 list makes the pattern obvious. Modern Charizards hold; vintage Charizards appreciate.

Pull-rate feel

Standard SV odds, with one kindness: because Obsidian Flames was a main-series set with full booster box distribution and heavy print runs, product was always available at or near retail. IR-or-better roughly every third or fourth pack, SIRs a few per case, the Charizard ex SIR rarer within the SIR pool. Boxes routinely return $40–70 in singles against a ~$130–150 box price as of mid-2026. The Charizard lottery is the only path to a profitable box.

Sealed product notes

Booster boxes retailed around $160 street price and — unusually for the SV era — still trade close to it, roughly $150–180 as of mid-2026. ETBs sit near $60 against a $50 retail. Translation: the market thinks this set was printed enough to satisfy Charizard demand for years, and it's probably right. As a sealed hold, Obsidian Flames is the tortoise: cheap to enter, slow to move. There are worse plays — heavy-print Charizard sets have historically ground upward once fully out of print — but there are faster ones too.

Singles or packs?

• You want the Charizard ex SIR: buy it. $120 on the single versus box after box of variance is not a close call.
• You want a cheap Charizard trophy: the gold at $70 or the full art at $30 are the sleeper buys — same Pokémon, same set, fraction of the price.
• You want to rip: this is one of the more affordable SV boxes, so the fun-per-dollar is fine; just calibrate expectations for a thin chase board.

Whichever route you take, scan your pulls with Cardemon — the set checklist fills itself in with live prices, and it'll tell you honestly whether that stack of tera holos moved the needle.

Grading notes

The SIR and the gold are the only clear grading candidates. Obsidian Flames had decent print quality by SV standards, but check edges — the dark borders on tera cards show whitening mercilessly. Run the numbers against fees using our is grading worth it breakdown before submitting anything below the SIR.

Verdict

Obsidian Flames is a one-Pokémon set that knows its job. The Charizard ex SIR is a legitimately great card with a durable floor, the gold is the value trophy, and everything else is filler with occasional charm. Buy the Zard you can afford as a single, skip the sealed unless you're patient, and appreciate the honesty of a set that put its entire budget into one very good-looking flame lizard.