Guardians Rising

What Guardians Rising is

Guardians Rising is the second main expansion of the Sun & Moon Series, released in English on May 5, 2017 under the set code GRI. It has 145 cards in the numbered set plus 24 secret rares, 169 in total, and combines the Japanese Islands Await You and Alolan Moonlight expansions, released together on March 17, 2017 with 62 cards each, with the Sun & Moon Strength Expansion Pack subset of January 27, 2017 and the Rockruff Full Power Deck. The set is based on Pokémon Sun and Moon and built around the island guardians Tapu Koko and Tapu Lele.

The set holds 12 Pokémon-GX with full art prints at 131 to 142, from Turtonator-GX and Alolan Ninetales-GX to Tapu Koko-GX, Tapu Lele-GX, Lycanroc-GX, Metagross-GX, Sylveon-GX, Kommo-o-GX and Drampa-GX, and full art Hala, Hau and Mallow at 143 to 145, for 26 ultra rares. The 24 secret rares run from 146 to 169: rainbow rare prints of fifteen GX including Decidueye-GX, Incineroar-GX and Primarina-GX from the base set, gold Aqua Patch, Enhanced Hammer, Field Blower, Max Potion and Rare Candy, a gold Double Colorless Energy and gold Grass, Lightning and Fighting Energy.

Tapu Lele-GX 60 is the set's most reprinted GX, with a full art at 137, a rainbow rare at 155 and an alternate art 60a in three Island Guardians GX products.

What makes Guardians Rising different

• The rainbow Sylveon-GX Sylveon-GX 158 is the most valuable card in the set by a wide margin, with the full art Sylveon-GX 140 second and the Evolution Celebration Tins alternate art 92a also in the top ten, making Sylveon the set's chase Pokémon ahead of the island guardians.
• Tapu Lele-GX Tapu Lele-GX 60 appears in more prints than any other card in the set: a full art at 137, a rainbow rare at 155 and an alternate art 60a from the Island Guardians GX Collection, Premium Collection and Premium Pin Collection.
• Gold basic Energy Guardians Rising closes with gold secret rare Grass, Lightning and Fighting Energy at 167 to 169 alongside a gold Double Colorless Energy at 166, so basic Energy cards sit among the set's secret rares.
• Base set GX as rainbows The rainbow rares include Decidueye-GX 146, Incineroar-GX 147 and Primarina-GX 149, the Alola starters from the Sun & Moon base set, alongside the twelve GX of this set.
• Mimikyu Mimikyu 58 is a rare with no GX, yet both its regular and Reverse Holofoil prints rank among the set's top cards, and a non holofoil version came in the Hidden Moon Theme Deck.

How Guardians Rising arrived

Guardians Rising released in English on May 5, 2017, three months after Sun & Moon on February 3, 2017 and two months before the McDonald's Collection 2017 promotion on July 1, 2017. In Japan, the Sun & Moon Strength Expansion Pack released on January 27, 2017 and Islands Await You and Alolan Moonlight on March 17, 2017, following the Collection Sun and Collection Moon pair.

Prereleases ran on the weekends of April 22 and 23 and April 29 and 30, 2017 with Prerelease Kits of four packs and a 23 card Evolution pack carrying one of four stamped promos: Alolan Sandslash, Oricorio, Mudsdale or Drampa. Launch day brought the Steel Sun and Hidden Moon Theme Decks with Cracked Ice Holofoil Solgaleo and Lunala, the Tapu Koko Elite Trainer Box with eight packs and 65 sleeves, blisters with Lurantis, Tsareena, Vikavolt and Turtonator promos and a Launch Display of 72 packs, eight Theme Decks and 16 deck boxes.

Three card Mini Packs reached Dollar Tree stores in early June 2017, a Two Pack Blister with Cosmos Holofoil Legendary beasts followed on July 3, 2017, and Spooky Blisters with Crobat and Alolan Persian arrived on October 6, 2017.

Guardians Rising products

Guardians Rising was sold in booster packs, booster boxes, blisters, two Theme Decks, the Tapu Koko Elite Trainer Box and Prerelease Kits. The sealed table above tracks the products still trading today.

Collecting and grading Guardians Rising

The rainbow rare Sylveon-GX 158 leads the set, with the full art Sylveon-GX 140 second among pack pulled cards, then the rainbow Alolan Ninetales-GX 150, Kommo-o-GX 159, Metagross-GX 157 and Primarina-GX 149, the full art Alolan Ninetales-GX 132 and Metagross-GX 139, the alternate art Sylveon-GX 92a and Mimikyu 58. Reverse Holofoils of Slowbro 49, Clefable 89, Rayquaza 106 and Mimikyu 58 also grade well above their raw prices. The live chase list above ranks every tracked card by PSA 10 value.

Sun & Moon rainbow rares are textured and scratch easily, so a PSA 10 Sylveon-GX 158 carries a wide premium over PSA 9. The gold Energy cards and gold Items are cheap raw but scarce in PSA 10 because their mirror surfaces show every mark.

Sealed Guardians Rising is a mid priced Sun & Moon era box, and the sealed table above tracks what boxes, packs, blisters and Elite Trainer Boxes trade for today.