Pokémon TCG glossary

The terms collectors actually use, defined in plain English. Skim before your next pack-opening stream or before you list a card for sale.

Grail

The single most-wanted card in a collector's chase list. Often a high-grade vintage holo, an alternate-art secret rare, or a one-of-one promo. The reason the GrailBinder app is named the way it is.

Binder

A physical sleeve-page album used to display and store cards. In digital tools, a 'binder' is the equivalent logical group — a curated subset of a collection, often by set, theme, or chase list.

Slab

The sealed, tamper-evident plastic case a card sits in after being graded by PSA, CGC, BGS, or another grading service. Includes the grade label.

Raw

A card that has not been professionally graded. Sold and priced based on the seller's stated condition (Near Mint, Lightly Played, etc.) rather than a numeric grade.

Pop report

A public count, maintained by a grading company, of how many copies of a specific card have been graded at each grade. Lower pop at PSA 10 = scarcer = higher premium.

Pull rate

The probability of pulling a specific card (or rarity class) from a sealed booster pack. Set-dependent and disclosed inconsistently — community-aggregated data is usually more reliable than official numbers.

Reverse holo

A version of a common or uncommon card where the card border (not the art) has a holographic foil treatment. Same illustration, different print run, often a small premium over the non-holo.

Alternate art (alt art)

A secret-rare version of a card with a completely different full-bleed illustration, usually by a guest artist. Highest demand cards in modern sets are almost always alt arts.

Secret rare

A card numbered above the printed set total (e.g., 173/172). Includes rainbow rares, gold rares, alt arts, and other chase cards beyond the base set list.

Promo

A card printed outside the regular booster-pack distribution. Sources include collection boxes, special events, magazine inserts, and pre-release tournaments. Promo prints often carry distinct stamps or set codes.

Sealed product

Any product still in its original factory shrinkwrap — booster boxes, elite trainer boxes, booster bundles, special collections. Sealed prices appreciate differently than singles and are valued per pack EV (expected value) plus sealed premium.

Comp

A comparable sale, used to value a card. Strong comps are recent (within the last 7–14 days), condition-matched, and from public marketplaces (TCGPlayer, eBay sold, CardMarket).

TCGPlayer

The dominant North-American marketplace for trading card singles. Publishes a market price (rolling average of recent sales) used as a reference across the hobby.

CardMarket

The dominant European marketplace for trading card singles. Pricing is in EUR and the active buyer base skews EU, so values can diverge from TCGPlayer for certain cards.

PSA

Professional Sports Authenticator. The market-leading card grading company for Pokémon TCG; PSA 10 cards typically carry the highest market premium among the three major graders.

CGC

Certified Guaranty Company. A grading company that grew rapidly in TCG; generally faster turnaround and lower fees than PSA but historically a smaller market premium per grade.

BGS

Beckett Grading Services. Known for issuing four subgrades (centering, corners, edges, surface) in addition to the overall grade, and the rare 'Black Label' BGS 10 for perfect subgrades.

Centering

How evenly the printed card image is positioned within the card stock. Measured as a ratio (e.g., 55/45). Centering is one of the four BGS subgrades and a common reason PSA-9-vs-PSA-10 outcomes diverge.

Pack EV

Expected value of a single booster pack, computed by weighting every possible pull by its pull rate and price. Used to decide whether buying sealed product is a positive-expected-value bet vs. buying singles directly.

Etalon

Reference / benchmark in the grading and sealed-product world. An 'etalon' card or sealed copy is the reference example everyone else's grade or condition gets compared to.