The Mouse That Broke the Frame
Released in May 2006 as part of the EX Holon Phantoms expansion, Pikachu ★ is one of only 27 Gold Star cards ever printed in the English Pokémon TCG. Gold Stars were the crown jewels of the EX era — the first cards in the game's history to feature artwork that burst beyond the card's border, and the first to depict Pokémon in their alternate "shiny" coloring on a trading card.
What makes Pikachu ★ extraordinary isn't just rarity — it's convergence. This is Pikachu, the most recognizable Pokémon in existence, rendered in the most prestigious card treatment of its era, by the only artist who ever illustrated Gold Stars. The result is a card that sits at the intersection of nostalgia, scarcity, and iconic design.
The pull rate was brutal: approximately 1 Gold Star in every 72 booster packs, or roughly one per two booster boxes. And unlike modern ultra-rares, this was during an era of dramatically lower print runs. The EX era (2003–2007) coincided with a significant dip in Pokémon's popularity in the West — meaning fewer boxes were produced, fewer were opened, and fewer Gold Stars entered circulation.
The artwork shows Pikachu in its shiny orange-tinted form, leaping energetically outward, its body breaking past the card's illustration frame — a signature Gold Star technique that wouldn't become standard in the TCG until the XY era nearly a decade later. Every Gold Star was illustrated by a single artist, Masakazu Fukuda, giving the entire 27-card series a remarkable visual cohesion.
For collectors who chase the complete Gold Star set — all 27 cards in PSA 10 — only 17 complete sets are believed to exist. The Pikachu is consistently one of the most difficult and expensive pieces to acquire in top grade.