Entei and the ex★ Buying Window: What the Gold Star Price Gap Reveals About ME07
By Dexhaul Team · September 28, 2026
The three Legendary Beasts of Johto each received Gold Star cards in EX Unseen Forces, numbered 113, 114, and 115 consecutively as the set's final three cards.
Entei's version costs roughly $65 raw. Raikou's costs around $114. Suicune's exceeds $1,200.
Same set, same rarity tier, same 2005 print window. The gap is worth understanding before ME07 Aura Seeker launches Entei ex★ and resets the collector conversation entirely.
Three Gold Stars, One Set, Three Price Points
EX Unseen Forces was a 115-card English set released in August 2005. The Gold Stars occupied the three highest-numbered slots: Entei ★ 113/115, Raikou ★ 114/115, and Suicune ★ 115/115, with Suicune holding the final position in the entire set.
Placing the three prestige characters at the extreme end of the numbering was a structural signal. Gold Stars pulled at equivalent rates within EX Unseen Forces. The price divergence visible in 2026 is entirely a product of 20 years of collector demand accumulating differently for each character.
Suicune ★ at $1,200+ has become a significant vintage ceiling for the GS era. Raikou ★ at $114 carries a roughly 2x premium over Entei.
Entei ★ at $65 raw trades below some graded SV-era Special Art Rares currently in production, for a card from 2005 that is genuinely scarce in high grade. For collectors watching the ex★ window, that compression is the starting point.
Why Entei Trails Raikou in Gold Star Value
The fire-type Beast has historically commanded lower collector demand than its electric-type sibling. Some of this traces to competitive history.
Raikou's competitive footprint in the HGSS and Call of Legends era, particularly in Lost Link and Twins formats, gave it a collector-crossover profile that brought competitive grinders into the vintage market alongside character collectors. Entei's competitive presence from the same period was lighter: useful in Fire-type builds, but without a format-defining role to anchor long-term demand.
Character appeal reinforces the gap. Entei is the Legendary Beast of fire, revived by Ho-Oh from the Brass Tower alongside Raikou and Suicune.
It had a prominent movie moment in Pokémon 3: The Spell of Unown (2000), but that film's Entei was a wish construct created by the Unown's power, not the canonical roaming legendary. The ambiguity may cap its nostalgia ceiling in a way that Suicune's Crystal version role does not have.
The practical read for 2026: Entei ★ is currently the cheapest entry point into the EX Unseen Forces Gold Star tier for the Legendary Beasts. Raikou's 2x premium over Entei reflects competitive heritage and character demand, not any difference in scarcity from the original print run.
The Legend Format: When Two Beasts Shared One Card
Before ex★ gives each Beast its own above-ceiling card in ME07, the most structurally interesting Entei product from the HGSS era treated Entei and Raikou as inseparable.
The Entei and Raikou Legend from HeartGold and SoulSilver Unleashed (2010) split across two cards: the top half (90/95) and bottom half (91/95). Both halves had to be in play simultaneously to use the card's attack, making a complete copy structurally harder to acquire than a standard Ultra Rare. The top half lists at $75-$80 at current shops; the bottom runs $67-$207 depending on condition.
The split mechanic made Entei and Raikou interdependent as collector items for the first time. ME07 Aura Seeker will give each Beast a separate, distinct ex★ card, separate numbering, and a separate price track. That structural independence is new to the modern era for this pair.
The Modern-Era Bridge: Entei V VSTAR Universe SAR 213/172
The most direct current-era read on Entei collector demand is the Entei V Special Art Rare from VSTAR Universe (S12a, 2022). Numbered 213/172, it sits 41 positions above the set ceiling, using the same above-set-ceiling numbering logic that the ex★ tier in ME07 will adopt.
Raw copies trade at $27-$44 from multiple independent shops, with the $44 floor representing the clean near-mint range. For comparison, Raikou V SAR 218/172 from the same set trades at $36-$39.
The gap at the VSTAR Universe SAR tier is around $5-$10, within variance and far below the 2x Gold Star divergence. The modern era appears to have compressed the character premium between the two Beasts relative to the EX era spread.
The VSTAR Universe SAR is the practical pre-ME07 entry point for Entei TCG collectors. It uses above-ceiling numbering, carries premium art, and is available from multiple shops without the scarcity premium attached to 2005 Gold Stars. Whether it holds its current price once ex★ creates a new above-ceiling card for Entei is the question ME07 will answer.
Entei Collectibles Beyond TCG
The character's collectible range extends past cards. For collectors building an Entei shelf, two plush formats represent the main current options.
The Sanei All Star Collection PP63 Entei measures 9 inches and is the collector-grade plush format for the final-form Beast, currently trading at $43-$57 depending on shop. It is the standard format Sanei uses for legendary Pokémon and covers the full character form rather than a chibi simplification.
For a lower-cost entry, the Pokémon Fit Entei is available at $17-$24 from multiple shops. Pokémon Fit covers nearly the full Pokédex at a consistent scale, and Entei's fire-type coloring reads clearly in the format. Both plush options are available from independent importers, not the Pokémon Center directly.
What ME07 Changes
Entei ex★ is confirmed for ME07 Aura Seeker, launching in Japan in November 2026.
The Gold Star data gives a useful baseline. Entei has historically priced as the most compressed of the three Beasts at the prestige tier, despite sharing structural origin with Raikou and Suicune. The VSTAR Universe SAR data from 2022 suggests the modern era compressed that gap, with Entei and Raikou trading within $10 of each other at the SAR level.
Ex★ is a higher-stakes test than any prior rarity tier. Its above-ceiling numbering, confirmed limited character roster, and ME-series positioning create conditions for demand concentration.
Whether Entei ex★ breaks from the historical fire-type compression or whether Raikou and Suicune capture disproportionate demand again is the collector question ME07 will answer. The VSTAR Universe SAR at $27-$44 is the price benchmark to watch as the pre-order window opens.
Browse current Entei cards, plush, and sealed products from independent shops at DexHaul's Entei search. DexHaul is independent and unofficial, not affiliated with The Pokémon Company or any manufacturer listed here.