Energy Retrieval #81 value & price
Reviewed by Mumbles · Updated 27 Aug 2026Related Energy Retrieval & chase cards
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Energy Retrieval is one of those quiet workhorse cards from the original 1999 Base Set, an Uncommon trainer card illustrated by Keiji Kinebuchi that most collectors remember shuffling into their deck long before they ever thought about its Energy Retrieval value. It never had the flash of a holo rare, but that's exactly why it has become a fun, affordable piece of Base Set history to track down. If you're asking how much is Energy Retrieval worth, the short answer is that it lives in an approachable price range with real upside if you land a sharp copy.
Price history
InteractiveRaw value is $1.49, down 1% over the past year, with an all-time high of $18 in December 2020.
Recent pulls of Energy Retrieval
Real pulls of this card across the tracked pack-opening sites, data no price guide has.
$0.19UncommonPokemon Dime PackTilt Rips · 5m ago$0.19UncommonPokemon Dime PackTilt Rips · 24m ago
$97UncommonPokemon Expert PackTilt Rips · 50m ago
-PSA 5Pokémon Trainer PackPackz · 1h ago$97UncommonPokemon Expert PackTilt Rips · 1h ago-PSA 5Pokémon Starter PackPackz · 1h ago$0.19UncommonPokemon Dime PackTilt Rips · 1h ago
-PSA 5Pokémon Starter PackPackz · 1h ago
Chase Energy Retrieval yourself
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Energy Retrieval price at every grade
Market value at each grade, with how many exist (population). 1,372 graded, only 272 are PSA 10.
| Grade | Value | Population | PSA / CGC |
|---|---|---|---|
| PSA 10 (Gem Mint) | $133 | 272 | 196 / 76 |
| PSA 9 | $29 | 460 | 326 / 134 |
| PSA 8 | $15 | 333 | 135 / 198 |
| PSA 7 | $12 | 141 | 45 / 96 |
| PSA 6 | $10 | 80 | 18 / 62 |
| PSA 5 | $8.00 | 54 | 15 / 39 |
| PSA 4 | $6.20 | 22 | 5 / 17 |
| PSA 3 | $5.00 | 8 | - / 8 |
| PSA 2 | $5.00 | 2 | 1 / 1 |
| PSA 1 | - | - | - / - |
| Raw / Ungraded | $1.49 | - | - |
Prices & population from PriceCharting. Value shown is the PSA-grade market price; population is split by grading company (PSA / CGC).
Card details
- Set
- Base Set
- Card number
- 81 of 102
- Rarity
- Uncommon
- Illustrator
- Keiji Kinebuchi
- Released
- 1999
Where to pull Energy Retrieval
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The collector's take on Energy Retrieval
Is Energy Retrieval worth grading?
So is Energy Retrieval worth grading? Right now a raw, ungraded copy sits at $1, while a PSA 10 commands $143, which works out to roughly 96.1x the raw price, and a Grade 9 lands at $28. That's a genuinely striking jump for a common trainer card, but it comes with a catch: hitting a true gem mint 10 on a 1999 card means finding one that dodged whitening, edge wear, and print defects for over two decades, which is not easy. Grading fees and turnaround time are real costs, so if your copy has any visible wear, it likely makes more sense as a raw keeper than a gamble on a PSA 10 label.
How rare is Energy Retrieval?
Energy Retrieval carries an Uncommon rarity tag from the original Base Set print run, which puts it a notch above the most common cards but nowhere near the scarcity of the set's holo rares. That middle-tier rarity is part of why raw copies stay easy to find and cheap to buy, while genuinely pristine, high grade examples are the ones that actually move the needle on price. The $143 PSA 10 figure reflects just how few copies survive in that condition compared to the number that were originally printed and played with.
Where can you pull Energy Retrieval?
PackSpy has tracked 67 pulls of Energy Retrieval across pack sites, spanning tilt-rips, general packs, courtyard breaks, and mnstr, with the biggest recorded pull hitting $111. It's shown up in products like the Pokemon Dime Pack, Catch 'em All Chaos Rising, the Pokémon Starter Pack, the Pokémon Pro Pack, and Pack 1, so if you're chasing one from a live break rather than a marketplace listing, those are the kinds of packs where it's actually been seen landing in real hands. That said, opening packs for a specific card is always a gamble, and most rips don't come close to covering what you spent, so treat any pull as a bonus rather than a plan.
Questions people ask
How much is Energy Retrieval worth?+
A raw, ungraded Energy Retrieval from Base Set is valued at $1 right now. Graded copies climb from there, with a Grade 9 at $28 and a PSA 10 reaching $143, so condition makes a real difference here.
Is Energy Retrieval worth grading?+
It can be, but only if your copy is genuinely clean, since a PSA 10 sells for about 96.1x the raw $1 price. Grading costs money and time regardless of outcome, so it's worth grading mainly when you're confident the card can actually hit that gem mint 10.
How much is a PSA 10 Energy Retrieval worth?+
A PSA 10 Energy Retrieval is currently valued at $143, compared to just $1 for a raw copy and $28 for a Grade 9. That gap shows how much collectors are willing to pay for a top population, gem mint example of this Base Set uncommon.
Other Energy Retrieval cards & values
Every Energy Retrieval card we track, ranked by value.
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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 Energy Retrieval
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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