Altaria ex #253 — Paradox Rift Pokémon card

Altaria ex #253 Value

Name: Altaria ex #253 — Paradox Rift
Brand: Pokémon

Paradox Rift · Card 253/266 · Special illustration rare · 2023

Altaria ex #253 is one of those special illustration rares from Paradox Rift, the 2023 set, and it's easy to see why collectors keep coming back to it. Jiro Sasumo's artwork gives this Altaria a dreamy, cloud-soft quality that stands out even in a binder full of other SIRs. If you're trying to pin down Altaria ex value, the short answer is that a raw copy runs $60, but where it goes from there is the interesting part.

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Market value & price

Raw / Ungraded

$60

Grade 9

$69

PSA 10

$365

PSA 10 is 6.1× the raw price7,361 graded worldwideonly 2,304 in PSA 10

Value by grade

Where it drops

Pulled 135× on PackSpy across Tilt Rips, Lastpack, Courtyard, Collector Crypt, Packs · biggest hit $37.

Found in packs: Pokemon Mini Pack · explorer · Pokémon Basic Pack · Pokémon Starter Pack · Starter Pokémon Gacha Pack …

Want to pull Altaria ex?

Rip a live pack on the sites that drop cards like this:

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PriceCharting history ↗eBay sold listings ↗PSA price guide ↗

Altaria ex price history

Ungraded value is $60, up 44% over the past year, with an all-time high of $62 in June 2026.

Market value over time by grade. Hover for any month; tap a grade to toggle its line.

Altaria ex price at every grade

The market value at each PSA grade, with how many exist (population). 7,361 graded copies exist — only 2,304 are PSA 10.

Grade	Value	Population	PSA / CGC
Raw / Ungraded	$60	—	—
PSA 10 (Gem Mint)	$365	2,304	2,033 / 271
Grade 9	$69	3,771	3,597 / 174
Grade 8	$52	1,115	1,045 / 70
Grade 7	$45	127	114 / 13
Grade 6	$36	24	23 / 1
Grade 5	$29	14	13 / 1
Grade 4	$16	5	5 / –
Grade 3	$13	–	– / –
Grade 2	$12	–	– / –
Grade 1	–	1	1 / –

Prices & population from PriceCharting. Grade values are PSA-based; population is split by grading company (PSA / CGC).

Card details

Set: Paradox Rift
Card number: 253 of 266
Rarity: Special illustration rare
Type: Dragon
HP: 260
Stage: Stage1
Retreat cost: 1
Illustrator: Jiro Sasumo
Released: 2023

Attacks

Light Pulse140
Water · Metal
During your opponent's next turn, prevent all effects of attacks used by your opponent's Pokémon done to this Pokémon. (Damage is not an effect.)

Altaria ex — collector's take

Is Altaria ex worth grading?

So is it worth grading? Here's the honest breakdown. A raw, ungraded Altaria ex sits at $60, a Grade 9 nudges up to $69, and a PSA 10 jumps to $365, which works out to about 6.1x the raw price. That's a real gap, and it's tempting. But gem mint isn't a given, this card has to come back with sharp corners, clean edges and centering that holds up under a loupe, and Altaria ex's dark border can be unforgiving on that front. Grading fees, turnaround time and the chance your copy comes back a 9 instead of a 10 are all part of the math. If you've got a raw copy that already looks flawless to your eye, it's worth considering. If it's got soft corners or a visible print line, save yourself the fee and enjoy it as is.

How rare is it?

Right now there are 7,361 graded copies of Altaria ex on record, and of those, 2,304 have earned the coveted PSA 10 label. That's actually a fairly healthy slice landing at gem mint, which tells you this card isn't impossible to pull off cleanly, but it also means the population of true 10s is large enough that scarcity alone isn't driving the $365 price, quality and demand for the artwork are doing a lot of that work too. For collectors, that population data is useful context: it shows you're not chasing something vanishingly rare, but you are chasing something that takes a genuinely clean copy to hit the top grade.

Where to pull it

This is where PackSpy's own data comes in handy, since we track real pulls across pack sites rather than just quoting a price guide. We've recorded Altaria ex pulled 136 times across tilt-rips, lastpack, courtyard, collector-crypt and packs, with the biggest recorded pull value coming in at $37. It's shown up in a mix of products, including Pokemon Mini Pack, explorer, Pokémon Basic Pack, Pokémon Starter Pack and Starter Pokémon Gacha Pack. Worth remembering though: opening packs is a gamble, and most rips don't come close to covering what you paid in, so if you're specifically hunting Altaria ex, buying a known raw or graded copy is often the steadier route, while pack pulling stays the fun, riskier lottery ticket.

Questions people ask

How much is Altaria ex worth?

A raw, ungraded Altaria ex is valued at $60. Grade 9 copies bring $69, and a PSA 10 sits at $365, roughly 6.1 times the raw price. Value depends a lot on condition and whether it's been graded.

Is Altaria ex worth grading?

It can be, given the jump from $60 raw to $365 for a PSA 10. But gem mint copies are genuinely hard to hit, only 2,304 of the 7,361 graded copies have reached PSA 10, so grade honestly before you send it in and factor in the grading fee itself.

What set is Altaria ex from?

Altaria ex #253 comes from Paradox Rift, released in 2023. It's a special illustration rare featuring artwork by Jiro Sasumo, one of the standout pulls for collectors chasing that set.