CGC Trading Cards Featured Card of the Month: Neo Genesis Lugia 9

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Game: Pokémon

Set: (2000) Neo Genesis Unlimited and 1^st Edition

Card: Lugia 9

What makes it special? Lugia is one of the most recognized Legendary Pokémon, right behind the likes of Mewtwo and Rayquaza. It quickly became a fan-favorite after its debut in “Pokémon: The Movie 2000” and has since appeared in many other places in the franchise, including as a box art Legendary for Pokémon Silver, Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness and Pokémon SoulSilver.

The Lugia 9 Holo is Lugia’s first appearance in the TCG. It immediately became one of the set’s chase cards for its beautiful tri-color design and powerful Elemental Blast attack. Some collectors even venture to call it the “Base Set Charizard” of the Neo sets due to its popularity. Even though it's over 20 years old, this particular card is still a massive fan favorite.

Did you know? Lugia was not conceptualized by Game Freak’s design team. Instead, the Legendary was developed by head anime writer Takeshi Shudo for the purpose of starring in “Pokémon: The Movie 2000.”

Total graded by CGC Trading Cards: As of mid-August 2022, there are 979 examples of the Lugia 9 from the Unlimited English edition in the CGC Population Report. There are also 368 from the 1^st Edition English set.

CGC Trading Cards median grade: CGC 7.5 for Unlimited and CGC 8 for 1st Edition

CGC Trading Cards highest graded: CGC 9.5 (4 total) for Unlimited and CGC 9.5 (10 total) for 1st Edition

Sales highlights: A Lugia 9 1^st Edition graded CGC 9.5 recently realized $5,640 in a Heritage sale in June 2022. Another 1st Edition example graded CGC 9 realized $4,080 in a Heritage sale in November 2021.

CGC Trading Cards Registry: As of August 2022, there are examples of Lugia 9 in the top seven Neo Genesis Unlimited sets in the CGC Trading Cards Registry. These include a CGC 7 in the top set, NEO GENESIS – UNLIMITED – MASTER SET by Zeig. There is also a CGC 9 example in the top 1^st Edition set, Neo Genesis 1^st Edition by Joker785.  

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