The 5 Most Iconic and Valuable Pokémon Cards From 2004 EX Team Rocket Returns
The Pokémon TCG can never be complete without the iconic Team Rocket sets scattered throughout generations. From the very first release in 2000, Team Rocket, to the most recent offering in 2025, Destined Rivals, anything that has the Team Rocket name attached has always garnered a lot of interest from the community.
And honestly, why would the case ever be different?
The Team Rocket members have a certain kind of charm and charisma that no other characters in the world of Pokémon have. On top of that, their Pokémon are incredibly powerful and generally designed to have a strong cool factor. Put that together into one TCG product, and you get an absolute masterpiece.
Between the holy grails of the earliest ex era to Gold Star cards that will never go out of style, here are the cards that defined 2004's EX Team Rocket Returns.
Rocket's Snorlax ex
Recent PSA 10 Price: $52,500
Recent PSA 9 Price: $6,900
Recent Raw Price: $1,000 (on average, NM condition)
Total Population of PSA 10: 109
Total Population of PSA 9: 327
Snorlax belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of beloved Pokémon, and you can argue a wall if you think otherwise. He's goofy, somewhat relatable, and completely likable even as a Team Rocket-allied Pokémon. On top of that, every single Snorlax card looks incredible — especially the one from EX Team Rocket Returns.
Rocket's Snorlax ex from this set is one of the absolute grails of any Snorlax collector, and really any Pokémon TCG collector. This card goes for around $1,000 in decent condition, and even Heavily Played copies still hit the $200-300 mark with ease. Simply put, the demand and appreciation for this card heavily outweigh what kind of condition it could be in.
Snorlax's card market is absolutely no joke, and the Rocket's Snorlax ex is right on top of this list with other gems. A PSA 10 copy sold last June for a whopping $66,000 and became the fourth-most expensive Snorlax card in history.
Rocket's Mewtwo ex
Recent PSA 10 Price: $6,200
Recent PSA 9 Price: $4,250
Recent Raw Price: $400 (on average, NM condition)
Total Population of PSA 10: 84
Total Population of PSA 9: 311
The Rocket's Mewtwo ex card from EX Team Rocket Returns has been overshadowed in recent years not only by its Japanese equivalent (which fetches significantly higher prices), but even by the Special Illustration Rares from both Destined Rivals and Ascended Heroes.
That being said, it's still one of the top chases in the entire EX Team Rocket Returns set and makes for a great mid-tier pick for anyone's Mewtwo collection.
The most amount of money ever paid for an English copy of Rocket's Mewtwo ex was $9,600 back in September 2025 for a PSA 10 copy. For comparison, its Japanese counterpart in the exact same grade once fetched $13,000 a few months ago.
Gold Star Hoenn Starter Trio
The absolute cream of the crop from the 2004 EX Team Rocket Returns set aren't even Pokémon ex that belong to Team Rocket, but rather Gold Star cards of the Hoenn starter trio that are all priced among the highest tier of collecting.
Recent PSA 10 Price: $20,400
Recent PSA 9 Price: $17,500
Recent Raw Price: $3,000-4000 (on average, LP-NM condition)
Total Population of PSA 10: 42
Total Population of PSA 9: 283
The cheapest of the bunch is the Gold Star Mudkip, and honestly the prices for this card are still no joke despite being the on the lower-end of the spectrum. The latest publicly known sale for a PSA 10 Gold Star Mudkip happened way back in December 2024 for a final sum of $20,400
Based on how the market has reacted since then, there's absolutely no way that the price would stay that low should even one of the 42 PSA 10-graded copies ever surface.
Recent PSA 10 Price: $53,680 (All-time record)
Recent PSA 9 Price: $17,500
Recent Raw Price: $3,000-4000 (on average, LP-NM condition)
Total Population of PSA 10: 52
Total Population of PSA 9: 286
Treecko was an exceptional starter Pokémon back in the day, and this card is no joke either. With art that makes him quite literally jump out of the usual borders, in Shiny form nonetheless, it's really one of those cards that you don't have to go to great lengths to explain what makes it special.
The most valuable Gold Star Treecko of all time is the one that sold most recently, with a $53,680 price tag for a PSA 10 copy auctioned off by Goldin.
Recent PSA 10 Price: $35,000
Recent PSA 9 Price: $22,000
Recent Raw Price: $3,000-4000 (on average, HP-MP condition)
Total Population of PSA 10: 19
Total Population of PSA 9: 233
The Gold Star Hoenn starter to end all Gold Star Hoenn starters, this Torchic is the #1 card that came out of 2004 EX Team Rocket Returns by a wide margin. It's already cool on its own, but once you remember how awesome Blaziken was to use in the video games, every other card truly pales in comparison to this one.
Most modern sales of the Gold Star Torchic that have been graded PSA 10s have been in Japanese, with the most recent English sale being in December 2024 for a $35,000 price tag. The ultimate record for any Gold Star Torchic sale, however, belongs to a CGC 10 copy that fetched a whopping $117,800 at auction.
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Joaqin is a journalist with a strong passion for the Hobby. He has published work for HLTV.org, Rappler.com, and DLSU Sports. A decade-long Pokémon TCG collector, he recently shifted into sports cards to collect Lakers, Dodgers and Chargers players with growing PCs of Shohei Ohtani and Justin Herbert.