Champion's Path Set Guide

Overview

Champion's Path came out between Darkness Ablaze and Vivid Voltage as a special set: 73 cards up to the printed total and seven secret rares above it (74 to 80).

Its Pokémon V and VMAX include Drednaw, Gardevoir and Alcremie, and its Supporters include Professor's Research, Marnie, Kabu and Piers. Two Charizard cards above the printed total hold most of its value: the top three cards make up 88% of the set's cost.

Cards and rarities

Champion's Path has 80 cards. Every card shows its number over the printed total along the bottom, as in "001/073", next to the set code CPA.

The printed total is 73, so the 7 cards from 74 to 80 are secret rares. Set completion in TurnZero HQ counts a set against its printed total and keeps the secret rares apart, so finishing the main set and chasing the cards above it read as two separate goals. How set completion works →

Headline Pokémon

A Pokémon V gives up two Prize cards when Knocked Out, and a Pokémon VMAX, which evolves from it, gives up three. Three of this set's:

Gardevoir VMAX

Champion's Path #17

320 HP VMAX. Max Cure does 180 and heals 50 damage from it.

Drednaw VMAX

Champion's Path #15

320 HP VMAX. Solid Shell: it takes 30 less damage from attacks.

Alcremie VMAX

Champion's Path #23

310 HP VMAX. Adornment attaches a Psychic Energy from your deck to each of your Benched Pokémon.

Trainers worth knowing

Two Supporters from the set:

Professor's Research (Professor Magnolia)

Champion's Path #62

Supporter. Discard your hand and draw 7 cards.

Marnie

Champion's Path #56

Supporter. Each player puts their hand on the bottom of their deck; you draw 5 cards and your opponent draws 4.

The chase card: Charizard V

Charizard V

Champion's Path #79

Rarity Rare Secret

Card number 079/073

Market price, October 22, 2026 $256.30

Illustrator 5ban Graphics

Champion's Path's chase card is Charizard V, numbered 079/073, a Rare Secret, illustrated by 5ban Graphics, at $256.30 on October 22, 2026.

The Rare Rainbow Charizard VMAX (074/073) was second at $197.36 and the Rare Rainbow Gardevoir VMAX (076/073) third at $17.27.

Charizard V is printed only once in Champion's Path, here.

Only the exact version is worth its price. The number at the bottom of the card and the rarity symbol beside it tell you which one you pulled. Reading the number and rarity symbol →

Chase cards and prices

The two Charizard cards are far ahead of the rest; nothing else reaches $20.

These are each card's headline TCGplayer market price on October 22, 2026. Prices can move a long way, most of all in a set's first months, so treat them as a snapshot. Each card's page shows today's price for every variant and its 90-day chart. How Pokémon card prices work →

What a complete set costs

One copy of every card in Champion's Path, bought as singles, cost $535.38 on October 22, 2026. That is the 11th most expensive of the seventeen sets in the Sword & Shield series.

The three most valuable cards, Charizard V, Charizard VMAX and Gardevoir VMAX, come to $470.93, or 88% of the total. Without them the set costs $64.45. Of the 80 cards, 66 were under $2.00, together $24.82; the other 14 add up to $510.56.

Each card is counted at its cheapest priced variant, a Normal copy rather than a Reverse Holofoil where both exist, at its TCGplayer market price. This is what it costs to buy the set as singles. It is not what opening packs returns, and not what a complete set would sell for, which after fees and the many cards worth cents would be noticeably less.

Playing it

Champion's Path cards carry the D regulation mark, and Standard has allowed only H, I and J since April 10, 2026, so none is Standard-legal as printed. Every card in Champion's Path is legal in Expanded, which takes every set from Black & White on.

A reprint with a legal mark makes older printings of the same card legal again, so check a card's name before you rule it out.

Standard, Expanded and deck building rules →

Frequently Asked Questions