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Check your printing13 different Empoleon printings exist — is this your card? BW Black Star Promos #BW56
Empoleon BW Black Star Promos #BW56 Pokémon card
Promo

EmpoleonPR-BLW BW56 · BW Black Star Promos Price & Value

2011 · Illustrated by Shin Nagasawa
140 HPWaterPokémonStage 2

Market value · Near Mint

$11.67
LiquiditySells regularly
Confidence45 · low22 raw sales in 90 days, prices spread across conditions, last sale 7 days ago.
Sales · 90 days22
Range$5$12
Cert-verified5 PSA sales
Sold prices, not asking. Near Mint estimate from 23 completed sales of this exact card, each adjusted for the condition it sold in. A typical copy fetches about $6 because most that trade are played, not mint. Updated 9 September 2026. Estimate, not an appraisalhow we price →

Why prices differ

TCGplayer market asking prices$11.75
Recent sold median 22 completed sales$6.39−45%

TCGplayer's figure is what sellers are asking on their marketplace, not what copies sold for — an asking price sits above a completed sale because it is the start of a negotiation, not the end of one. Our price comes from those same completed sales, adjusted to Near Mint — the median below mixes every condition together, and most copies that change hands are played rather than mint. How we weigh them →

Make sure you have the right card

Every price on this page is for BW Black Star Promos #PR-BLW BW56, 2011. Check yours against the tells below before you buy, sell or grade.

Holofoilpriced on this page
The illustration window

The picture itself is foiled and the card body is flat. This is the standard holo.

What's your copy worth?

What's your copy worth?
Not sure which condition? Grade it from a photo

See the completed sales behind these figures

Is it worth it?

An AI market read of this card — value, momentum, grading economics, liquidity. It lays out the data; you decide.

Sign in to analyse

Empoleon is a Promo Pokémon card from BW Black Star Promos (#BW56, released 2011), illustrated by Shin Nagasawa. It's a Stage 2 Water-type Pokémon with 140 HP, evolving from Prinplup, weak to Lightning ×2. Prices below are aggregated across marketplaces — raw and graded, updated daily and shown in your local currency.

Prices last updated 9 September 2026.

Empoleon price history & recent sales

Price history · Raw

12 Jun 20269 Sept 2026
Latest
$11.67
Period high
$18.37
Period low
$9.33
Change
10.6% · 90d
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Verified sales history

Medium confidence

22 sales in 90 days, but prices vary widely. · Very liquidSells often

Range$0.99$19.99Rawlowest to highest sale
Sales9 / 22last 30d / 90d, every grade
Sales rate4.3/mo27 recorded, every grade
Latest sale7d agoRaw22 in 90 days
Momentum+7%Raw30d vs 90d median
Where it sells100% eBayRawlast 90 days
Demand70/100sales rate, trend & buzz
DateSold viaGradeCertPrice
2026-05-15eBayPSA 6#122804850$19.00
2025-08-07eBay · auctionPSA 8#116135715$15.50
2025-02-23eBay · auctionPSA 9#73626836$19.92
2024-06-30eBay · auctionPSA 3#79076738$2.25
2023-07-10eBay · auctionPSA 9#68757868$5.50

Click a cert number to verify the exact card, grade and serial on psacard.com.

4 of 5 verified sales were competitive auctions — this price reflects real bidding, not asking prices. A graded copy trades roughly every 281 days (median gap between cert-verified sales).

Last sold
$15
Raw · 2 Sep 2026
Typical Raw
$6
Sales · last 90 days
22
How often it sells
Sells often
every 3 days · 9 in last 30 days
Worn-condition sales — shown for context, not price-forming
These listings claimed play wear in the title (LP/MP/played/damaged), so they sell below the Near Mint price above and are excluded from it.

Real completed eBay sales, refreshed periodically. Grade read from the listing title. Implausibly priced listings (lots, proxies, empty slabs) and wrong-variant sales are filtered out. Links to eBay are affiliate links — we may earn a commission.

Recent Raw sales

From 27 completed sales recorded between Jun 29, 2024 and Sep 2, 2026. Sold prices only — asking prices are never counted. The range is wide because these sales span different printings and conditions — 1st Edition, Shadowless and Unlimited copies all carry this card's name, and they trade at very different levels. Each sale above is labelled with what its listing claimed, so you can see which ones describe the same object. Treat the median as the typical copy, not the range.

By grade

  • Raw$6.3925 sales · 22 in 90d, sells regularly
  • PSA 6$19.001 sale
  • PSA 3$2.001 sale

Is Empoleon worth grading?

Not worth grading

Most copies come back PSA 8worth $16 against the $82 you put in, a $66 loss. The money is in the 1 in 3 that reach PSA 9 or 10 and sell for $42$105. Averaged over every outcome that is $55 a card.

You put in$82card + fees
Most likelyPSA 8$16 ($66)
Break even atPSA 10or better
Best case1 in 36PSA 10 · $105
Average per card$55across every grade

That is the average submitted copy. Tell us about yours and the verdict re-prices — most cards stop being worth grading here. Not sure? Grade it from a photo →

These are set to a flawless copy — the answer above. Change any of them to re-price it for the card in your hand.

Compare graders, and the live market

The verdict above is PSA's — the grader the population report, the ROI table and the price ladder on this page all use. Trader prices all three graders against each other and adds what the asking market is doing right now.

  • PSA, CGC and Beckett side by side — each on its own population and its own fees, with Beckett scored on the 9.5 its market actually pays for.
  • Lightly and moderately played — the same expected return for a copy that cannot gem.
  • Ask vs sold — what the live listings want, against what copies have really closed at.
  • Momentum — the 30-day median against the 90-day, per grade.
  • Where it sells higher — the Fanatics-versus-eBay premium, with the sale counts behind it.
  • Population history — the weekly PSA census, so you can see how fast 10s are arriving before you post the card.
Trader plan and above

The odds

Empoleon is a Commoncard — a guaranteed slot in every pack, not a rarity gamble, so there's no pull-odds figure for it.

PSA 10 (gem mint)2.8%1 of 36
PSA 936.1%13 of 36
PSA graded so far36
Gem Mint 101
Total graded36

Estimates only. Pack odds come from CardTrack's pack model (the same one behind the pack simulator) — not an official rate. Grading odds are the real cumulative PSA population, which skews toward nicer, resubmitted copies, so it overstates the true first-submission gem rate. Full grade-by-grade breakdown below.

Grade-by-grade ROI & risk-adjusted outcomesNet vs raw per target grade, plus the probability-weighted distribution
Target gradeEst. valueGrading feeNet vs rawMultiple
PSA 10$105.36$71+$239.0×

⚖️ Risk-adjusted return

Best case isn't the whole story. Weighting every grade by how often it actually happens, across 36 PSA-graded copies:

OutcomeChanceValue
PSA 102.8%$105.36
PSA 936.1%$42.00
PSA 8typical38.9%$15.50 †
PSA 72.8%$11.67
PSA 611.1%$19.00
PSA 52.8%$11.67
PSA 35.6%$2.00

Priced from PriceCharting's graded ladder — we hold no completed sale of our own at that grade. Every other row is our own sold data.

Net = graded value − raw value − grading cost (tier fee + ~$20 round-trip shipping), using PSA fees as of 2026-08-26; the paused PSA Value tier is excluded so this isn't overstated. Gem rate is estimated from cumulative PSA population, which skews toward nicer, resubmitted copies — so it overstates the true grade rate. Treat it as a guide, not a guarantee.

Population across gradersPSA, CGC, BGS & TAG — every grade, with gem rates

1 of the 36 PSA-graded Empoleon copies came back a gem-mint 10 — 2.8%. The rest graded lower.

PSA36 gradedPSA 10 · 1 · 2.8% gem

Bar length is relative to this grader's most common grade; the figure on the right is the share of all 36.

1012.8%
91336%
81439%
712.8%
6411%
512.8%
325.6%
TAG1 gradedTAG 10 · 0 · 0% gem

Bar length is relative to this grader's most common grade; the figure on the right is the share of all 1.

41100%

Real graded population from PSA, CGC, BGS & TAG — a lower gem rate means a Empoleon 10 is harder to pull.

Copies for sale right now

Buying this card on eBay? The free CardTrack extension shows our value and a deal verdict right on the listing. Add to Chrome →

Affiliate links — we may earn a commission. Prices shown are sold-based, not sponsored placements.

All grades & conditions

Every grade we pricePSA / CGC / BGS ladder with per-grade population
Graded prices
Ungraded (raw)$11.67
PSA graded price estimates by grade
GradeRelative valuePrice
PSA 10pop 1modelled$105$105$105
PSA 6pop 4modelled$19$19$19
PSA 3pop 2modelled$2$2$2
“Sold” = median of real recent sold listings at that grade (eBay or Fanatics Collect — hover a badge to see which). “Modelled” = no verified graded sale behind the figure; it is derived from the raw price and reference guides, so treat it as a ceiling to check, not a price to quote. Confidence reflects source backing and price spread — not PSA-official values.
Raw condition ladderNM → damaged, with real sold medians where we have them
Raw price by condition
Holofoil · NM = our estimate, lower conditions use TCGplayer condition ratios · how we price played copies
NMNear Mint$11.67
LPLightly Played$5.31
MPModerately Played$4.17
HPHeavily Played$2.52
DMGDamaged$1.24
7-day
30-dayflat
90-day 10.0%
All-time high$18
All-time low$4
What NM / LP / MP actually mean — and how much they cost
Market dataCross-market spread, EU price, momentum & community buzz

Cross-market prices

135% spread
PriceCharting · cheapest$5
TCGplayer · dearest$12

Currently 135% cheaper on PriceCharting than TCGplayer. These are independent market prices for the same card — a wide gap can mean a buying opportunity. Informational only, not arbitrage advice.

Market signal

Volatility · 90dModerate ±15%
Cross-marketMarkets disagree 135% gap
90d low $12near its low$18 high

Derived from this card's 90-day price history, recent trend and cross-market price gap. Informational, not advice.

Card textAttacks, abilities, weakness / resistance / retreat

Evolves from Prinplup.

Fury Attack30×
Water

Flip 3 coins. This attack does 30 damage times the number of heads.

Cold Crush70
Water · Colorless · Colorless

You may discard an Energy attached to this Pokémon. If you do, discard an Energy attached to the Defending Pokémon.

Weakness Lightning ×2Retreat 2

If anyone were to hurt its pride, it would slash them with wings that can cleave through an ice floe.

About the PokémonSpecies, generation, evolution line
Emperor PokémonGEN IVPiplupPrinplupEmpoleon

The three horns that extend from its beak attest to its power. The leader has the biggest horns.

Card detailsSet, rarity, artist, Pokédex & specs
Number#BW56
RarityPromo
Released2011
SupertypePokémon
SubtypesStage 2
TypeWater
HP140
Evolves fromPrinplup
WeaknessLightning ×2
Retreat cost2
National Pokédex#395
Card IDbwp-BW56
SourceAggregated marketplaces

Other Empoleon cards

There are 13 different Empoleon printings — make sure you're valuing the right one. This is BW Black Star Promos #BW56 (Promo). The most valuable 7 are below.

More from BW Black Star Promos

Frequently asked questions

How much is Empoleon (BW Black Star Promos #BW56) worth?

As of 9 September 2026, Empoleon from BW Black Star Promos is worth approximately $11.67 ungraded (near-mint), and around $105 in PSA 10 gem mint. Values are blended from real Cardmarket, eBay sold and TCGplayer prices and update daily.

What is the PSA 10 price for Empoleon?

A PSA 10 (gem mint) Empoleon from BW Black Star Promos is worth around $105 — roughly 9× the raw ungraded value of $11.67.

Should I grade my Empoleon?

Grading is worth it when the PSA 10 premium comfortably beats the grading fee and the card is clean enough to have a real shot at a 10 — the "Should you grade it?" estimate above works that out per grade, net of the current fee.

Is Empoleon rare?

Empoleon is a Promo card from BW Black Star Promos (card #BW56).

How do I know if my Empoleon is Holofoil?

The illustration window: The picture itself is foiled and the card body is flat. This is the standard holo.

Cite & embed this card

Free to use with attribution to CardTrack.

Citation
Empoleon (BW Black Star Promos #BW56) — Pokémon market value $11.67, PSA 10 $105.36. Source: CardTrack, https://cardtrack.com/pokemon/card/bw-black-star-promos/empoleon-bw56
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<iframe src="https://cardtrack.com/embed/card?id=bwp-BW56" width="100%" height="160" style="border:0;max-width:460px" title="Empoleon price — CardTrack" loading="lazy"></iframe> <p style="font:12px system-ui">Source: <a href="https://cardtrack.com">CardTrack</a></p>