Chien-Pao ex #261 value & price
Reviewed by Mumbles · Updated 4 Sept 2026Related Chien-Pao ex & chase cards
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Chien-Pao ex #261 is one of the standout special illustration rares from Paldea Evolved, the 2023 set that gave this icy legendary a kodama illustration collectors still talk about. If you're trying to pin down Chien-Pao ex value right now, the short answer is that a raw copy sits at $25, but where this card really gets interesting is once you start looking at graded copies. It's the kind of card that rewards a little research before you buy, sell, or send one off to grading, which is exactly why we built this page.
Price history
InteractiveRaw value is $24, up 28% over the past year, with an all-time high of $32 in June 2023.
Recent pulls of Chien-Pao ex
Real pulls of this card across the tracked pack-opening sites, data no price guide has.
$2.54Ultra RareNovice PackTilt Rips · 5m ago$2.54Ultra RareRookie PackTilt Rips · 8m ago$2.54Ultra RareRookie PackTilt Rips · 18m ago$2.54Ultra RareNovice PackTilt Rips · 28m ago
$1.51Ultra RareRookie PackTilt Rips · 34m ago$1.51Ultra RareRookie PackTilt Rips · 39m ago$2.54Ultra RareRookie PackTilt Rips · 46m ago
$8.11RawCatch 'em All - Paldean FatesPacks · 1h ago
Chase Chien-Pao ex yourself
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Chien-Pao ex price at every grade
Market value at each grade, with how many exist (population). 4,662 graded, only 2,437 are PSA 10.
| Grade | Value | Population | PSA / CGC |
|---|---|---|---|
| PSA 10 (Gem Mint) | $111 | 2,437 | 2,436 / 1 |
| PSA 9 | $32 | 1,965 | 1,963 / 2 |
| PSA 8 | $22 | 213 | 213 / - |
| PSA 7 | $9.99 | 25 | 25 / - |
| PSA 6 | $8.00 | 14 | 14 / - |
| PSA 5 | $6.00 | 5 | 5 / - |
| PSA 4 | $5.00 | 3 | 3 / - |
| PSA 3 | $4.00 | - | - / - |
| PSA 2 | $4.00 | - | - / - |
| PSA 1 | - | - | - / - |
| Raw / Ungraded | $24 | - | - |
Prices & population from PriceCharting. Value shown is the PSA-grade market price; population is split by grading company (PSA / CGC).
Card details
- Card number
- 261 of 279
- Rarity
- Special illustration rare
- Type
- Water
- HP
- 220
- Stage
- Basic
- Weakness
- Metal ×2
- Retreat cost
- 2
- Illustrator
- kodama
- Released
- 2023
Attacks
- Hail Blade60×Water · Water
You may discard any amount of {W} Energy from your Pokémon. This attack does 60 damage for each card you discarded in this way.
Where to pull Chien-Pao ex
Rip real, graded Pokémon packs live on the top pack-opening sites, the same ones PackSpy tracks. Our #1 pick right now is LastPack.
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The collector's take on Chien-Pao ex
Is Chien-Pao ex worth grading?
Here's the honest math on grading Chien-Pao ex: a raw copy runs $25, a Grade 9 comes in at $31, and a PSA 10 jumps to $117, which works out to 4.7 times the raw price. That's a real gap, and it's tempting. But grading costs money upfront, takes time, and there's no guarantee your copy comes back gem mint, centering and edges on illustration rares can be unforgiving. The population numbers actually offer some encouragement here: of the 4,662 copies graded so far, 2,437 landed a PSA 10, so more than half of submissions hit the top grade. That's a better return rate than a lot of cards see, but it's still not a sure thing, and you're paying grading fees either way, win or lose. If your copy looks clean under a loupe, corners sharp, no whitening, it's worth considering. If it's got soft edges or print lines, save your money and enjoy it raw.
How rare is Chien-Pao ex?
With 4,662 total graded copies on record, Chien-Pao ex isn't a card you'd call scarce in the way some older chase cards are, but the split between grades tells its own story. Of those graded, 2,437 sit at PSA 10, meaning gem mint copies actually make up a solid chunk of the population rather than a tiny sliver. That matters for how you think about value: it's not brutal rarity driving the PSA 10 price up to $117, it's more that grading itself adds trust and liquidity, plus there's always a portion of the population sitting at Grade 9 or below that keeps the top grade feeling special even when it's not vanishingly rare.
Where can you pull Chien-Pao ex?
We've tracked Chien-Pao ex being pulled 46 times across packs, collector-crypt, courtyard, lastpack, and tilt-rips, which gives a real picture of where this card actually shows up rather than just where price guides say it should. The biggest recorded pull came in at $1,392, a reminder that pack odds can occasionally hand you a copy worth far more than the going raw price. Products where we've logged it include Catch 'em All - Paldean Fates, Elite Pokémon Gacha Pack, Pokémon Pro Pack, rookie, and Pokémon Starter Pack. Worth saying plainly: opening packs chasing a specific card like this is a gamble, and most rips don't cover their cost, so treat any Chien-Pao ex pull as a nice surprise rather than the plan.
Questions people ask
How much is Chien-Pao ex worth?+
A raw, ungraded Chien-Pao ex is worth $25 right now. Graded copies climb from there, with a Grade 9 at $31 and a PSA 10 reaching $117. Which price applies to you depends entirely on the condition and whether the card has been graded.
Is Chien-Pao ex worth grading?+
It can be, since a PSA 10 sells for 4.7 times the raw price. With 2,437 of the 4,662 graded copies landing at PSA 10, gem mint isn't rare for this card, but grading still costs money and only makes sense if your copy is genuinely clean.
What set is Chien-Pao ex from?+
Chien-Pao ex #261 comes from Paldea Evolved, released in 2023. It's a special illustration rare illustrated by kodama, which is part of why it's become such a popular pull from that set.
Other Chien-Pao ex cards & values
Every Chien-Pao ex card we track, ranked by value.
More Paldea Evolved chase cards
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Mumbles built PackSpy so pack-opening data would not be a guessing game. We track real pulls and live card prices across the top pack sites and show what is actually happening, no hype, just the numbers. Every price and population figure here is pulled from live market data. More about Mumbles.
Open a pack that holds Chien-Pao ex
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