Best Sword & Shield Cards to Grade
The Sword & Shield cards worth grading, ranked by expected profit per submission — every grade outcome weighted by how often the card actually receives it — after current grading fees. The PSA 10 best case is shown on every row but does not decide the order. Top pick: Gengar at an expected +$216.
Ranked by expected profit 9
| # | Card | Raw | PSA 9 | PSA 10 | Cost | Best case | Gem rate | Expected | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Expected +$216 per submission: 30.2% of 789 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($899), and only a PSA 10 covers the $97 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample. | $8 | $60 | $899 | $89 | +$802 | 30.2% | +$216 | 789 high |
| 2 | Expected +$9 per submission: 69.9% of 592 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($140), and only a PSA 10 covers the $94 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample. | $13 | $20 | $140 | $81 | +$45 | 69.9% | +$9 | 592 high |
| 3 | Expected +$6 per submission: 63.8% of 1,790 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($159), and only a PSA 10 covers the $111 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample. | $29 | $45 | $159 | $82 | +$48 | 63.8% | +$6 | 1,790 high |
| 4 | Expected loss −$1 per submission: 78.3% of 5,256 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($204), and only a PSA 10 covers the $177 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample. | $95 | $85 | $204 | $82 | +$27 | 78.3% | −$1 | 5,256 high |
| 5 | Expected loss −$7 per submission: 78.7% of 851 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($111), and only a PSA 10 covers the $100 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample. | $19 | $28 | $111 | $81 | +$11 | 78.7% | −$7 | 851 high |
| 6 | Expected loss −$17 per submission: 75.7% of 2,478 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($98), and only a PSA 10 covers the $96 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample. | $15 | $19 | $98 | $81 | +$2 | 75.7% | −$17 | 2,478 high |
| 7 | Expected loss −$24 per submission: 20% of 549 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($230), and only a PSA 10 covers the $91 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample. | $9 | $36 | $230 | $82 | +$138 | 20% | −$24 | 549 high |
| 8 | Expected loss −$34 per submission: 55.9% of 2,740 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($100), and only a PSA 10 covers the $100 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample. | $19 | $25 | $100 | $81 | +$0 | 55.9% | −$34 | 2,740 high |
| 9 | Expected loss −$80 per submission: 13.4% of 246 graded copies came back PSA 10 ($170), and only a PSA 10 covers the $139 you have in it — a 9 loses money. Confidence high on that sample. | $57 | $30 | $170 | $82 | +$32 | 13.4% | −$80 | 246 high |
Best case only — no gem-rate evidence 1
Fewer than 10 graded copies in the PSA and CGC population reports. They clear the grading cost if they gem — that is all the numbers support.
| # | Card | Raw | PSA 9 | PSA 10 | Cost | Best case | Gem rate | Expected | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | $55 | — | $189 | $82 | +$52 | — | — | none <10 |
Expected = every grade outcome weighted by its share of the card's graded population, minus the raw price and the grading cost (PSA tier fee for the graded value plus ~$20 round-trip shipping, fees as of 2026-09-26). Best case is the PSA 10 leg alone. Gem rates come from a self-selected population — collectors grade their cleanest copies — so read them as an upper bound. Raw is a blended market price, not a sale of your copy. Full method and filters on the grading index.
How to read the Sword & Shield ranking
Every Sword & Shield card listed here clears one bar: its PSA 10 price beats its raw price by more than the cost of grading it. 10 cards from the set pass. 9 of them (90%) have a gem-rate sample of at least ten graded copies in the population reports, and 3 of those keep a positive expected value once every grade outcome is weighted by how often the card actually receives it.
The order is expected profit, not the PSA 10 best case, which rewards the widest raw-to-gem gap whether the card gems one time in two or one in fifty. Here the top row, the Gengar from Sword & Shield, gems 30.2% of the time across 789 graded copies: +$216 is what a long run of submissions would average, $802 is what one lucky copy returns.
The median gem rate across the sampled Sword & Shield cards is 63.8%. More than half of submitted copies came back PSA 10, and no row here covers raw price plus fee at PSA 9, so the gem rate decides whether a submission pays. Of the 9 ranked cards, 9 need a 10 to break even and 6 lose money on expectation. 9 rest on a hundred or more graded copies.
1 card sits below the ranking with a best case only, fewer than ten graded copies. The largest best case among them is the Snorlax VMAX from Sword & Shield at +$52.
Before you submit a Sword & Shield card
Grading pays on condition. The four things every grader scores — centering, corners, edges and surface — can be checked at home before paying a fee, and a copy that is visibly off-centre or has a whitened corner will not gem whatever the population says. Those gem rates come from a self-selected population of clean copies, so a random copy does worse.
The cost column assumes a PSA submission at the tier covering the card's PSA 10 value, fees as of 2026-09-26, and raw is CardTrack's blended near-mint price, not a sale of your copy: pay more, or hold a lighter copy, and the break-even moves against you. Test a card with your own numbers in the ROI calculator, see the printings that fail the bar on the Sword & Shield card list, or see how gem-mint premiums run across the whole catalogue on the PSA premium index.