POP Series 8

What POP Series 8 is

POP Series 8 is the eighth special set released through Pokémon Organized Play events and affiliated products, distributed from September 2008 to March 2009. It has 17 cards: 5 rares, Heatran 1, Lucario 2, Luxray 3, Probopass 4 and Yanmega 5, 6 uncommons including the Trainers Night Maintenance 9, Rare Candy 10 and Roseanne's Research 11, and 6 commons from Chimchar 12 to Turtwig 17, with Heatran on the booster design.

It was the third Organized Play set of the Diamond & Pearl era and, like POP Series 6, contains several reprints, though it also brought new cards, all drawn from the Japanese DP-P Promotional cards. It was the first POP set with 3 cards per pack instead of 2, because each pack added an Energy card for the 2008 to 2009 season's focus on Energy.

What makes POP Series 8 different

• Yanmega and Luxray holos The Cosmos Holofoil Yanmega 5 from the Collector's Poster Box 2 and Luxray 3 from the Double Value Pack are the two most valuable cards in the set in PSA 10 by a wide margin over every other print.
• Format Trainers Rare Candy 10, Roseanne's Research 11 and Night Maintenance 9 gave players staple Trainer cards in a POP set for the first time, and Roseanne's Research ranks in the set's top fifteen in PSA 10.
• 29 cards counting variants Six cards received Cosmos Holofoil versions and six more received Cracked Ice Reverse Holo versions like the Rotom cards of Rising Rivals, making POP Series 8 the biggest POP set so far at 29 cards, with only Turtwig 17 and Piplup 15 lacking a holo variant.

How POP Series 8 arrived

POP Series 8 began distribution in September 2008, after Legends Awakened on August 20, 2008 and ahead of Stormfront on November 5, 2008, and it ran through March 2009. Its holographic versions arrived over the following year: Lucario 2 in the Collector's Poster Box of November 19, 2008, Heatran 1 in the Platinum Blisters of February 11, 2009, Yanmega 5 in the Collector's Poster Box 2 of March 2009, Luxray 3 and Probopass 4 in the Double Value Pack of April 2009, the Cracked Ice Reverse Holo cards in the Pokémon Trainer's Collection and Trainer's Challenge Box of late 2009 and Happiny 14 in the Arceus Blisters of November 4, 2009.

POP Series 8 products

POP Series 8 was never sold in booster boxes. Packs were handed out at leagues and events and bundled in value packs and boxes, and the sealed table above tracks loose packs.

Collecting and grading POP Series 8

The holographic Yanmega 5 leads the set in PSA 10, with the holographic Luxray 3 second, then the regular Luxray 3, the holographic Chimchar 12, Piplup 15, the holographic Happiny 14, Luxio 8 and Lucario 2, Probopass 4 and the regular Lucario 2. The live chase list above ranks every tracked card by PSA 10 value.

Organized Play packs were thin and rarely sleeved, so PSA 10 copies of every card are scarce and the gap between PSA 9 and PSA 10 is very wide, even on the commons. Cosmos Holofoil, Cracked Ice Reverse Holo and regular prints are graded and priced separately.