Poliwag 1st Edition #23 value & price
Reviewed by Mumbles · Updated 8 Aug 2026Related Poliwag & chase cards
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Poliwag is one of those cards that reminds you why the early Water-type lineup is so beloved, a simple, friendly Ken Sugimori illustration on a 1st Edition #23 print from Japan's 2016 20th Anniversary set. It's listed as a common, so it was never meant to be flashy, but that 1st edition stamp still gets collectors' attention. If you're trying to pin down Poliwag value today, the short answer is that raw copies sit at $2, which makes it an easy, low-stakes card to chase for a set or a nostalgia pickup.
Price history
InteractiveRaw value is $1.74, up 21% over the past year, with an all-time high of $1.99 in February 2025.
Chase Poliwag yourself
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Poliwag price at every grade
Market value at each grade, with how many exist (population). 76 graded, only 60 are PSA 10.
| Grade | Value | Population | PSA / CGC |
|---|---|---|---|
| PSA 10 (Gem Mint) | $44 | 60 | 43 / 17 |
| PSA 9 | $12 | 15 | 11 / 4 |
| PSA 8 | - | 1 | - / 1 |
| PSA 7 | - | - | - / - |
| PSA 6 | - | - | - / - |
| PSA 5 | - | - | - / - |
| PSA 4 | - | - | - / - |
| PSA 3 | - | - | - / - |
| PSA 2 | - | - | - / - |
| PSA 1 | - | - | - / - |
| Raw / Ungraded | $1.74 | - | - |
Prices & population from PriceCharting. Value shown is the PSA-grade market price; population is split by grading company (PSA / CGC).
Card details
- Card number
- 23
- Rarity
- Common
- Type
- Water
- HP
- 60
- Stage
- Basic
- Weakness
- Grass ×2
- Retreat cost
- 1
- Illustrator
- Ken Sugimori
Attacks
- Water Gun30Water · Water
Where to pull Poliwag
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The collector's take on Poliwag
Is Poliwag worth grading?
So is Poliwag worth grading? Honestly, it depends on what you're after. A raw copy runs about $2, a Grade 9 sits at $11, and a PSA 10 jumps to $43, which works out to roughly 26.7x the raw price. That's a real multiplier for a common card, but grading isn't free, and you're paying that fee whether the card comes back a 10 or not. The population data actually works in your favor here since a good chunk of graded copies do hit PSA 10, but there's still no guarantee your specific copy is one of them, so only send in cards that look genuinely clean under a loupe.
How rare is Poliwag?
Only 68 copies of this Poliwag have been graded in total, and of those, 53 came back PSA 10. That's a pretty striking ratio, it tells you that when someone bothers to grade this card, it tends to be a strong candidate for gem mint, which keeps the population of true 1st edition Poliwag cards in top condition genuinely tight. For a common card, that kind of scarcity at the very top end is part of why the PSA 10 price holds up the way it does.
Where can you pull Poliwag?
We've tracked 200 or more real pulls of this Poliwag across tilt-rips, collector-crypt, and courtyard, so it's not a card that only shows up in price guides, people are actually opening it. The biggest recorded pull value we've logged for this card is $205, which shows how much a lucky high grade can swing things. It's turned up in Pokemon Dime Pack, Elite Pokémon Gacha Pack, Pokémon Pro Pack, Pokémon Starter Pack, and Legendary Pokémon Gacha Pack, so if you're chasing this one from packs rather than buying it outright, those are the spots worth watching, keeping in mind that opening packs is always a gamble and most rips don't beat the price of the card itself.
Questions people ask
How much is Poliwag worth?+
A raw, ungraded Poliwag from this 1st Edition #23 print is valued at $2. Graded copies are worth more, with a Grade 9 at $11 and a PSA 10 reaching $43, so condition makes a real difference on this one.
Is Poliwag worth grading?+
It can be, since a PSA 10 sells for about 26.7x the raw price of $2, landing at $43. That said, grading costs money regardless of outcome, so it's worth it mainly if your copy looks sharp enough to have a real shot at gem mint.
Why is the Poliwag 1st Edition #23 print worth more than the standard one?+
The 1st Edition stamp marks it as part of the original print run, which collectors tend to value more even on common cards like this one. With only 68 graded copies total, that scarcity adds a bit of weight to the 1st Edition version that a later reprint simply wouldn't carry.
Other Poliwag cards & values
Every Poliwag 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 Poliwag
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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