Pokémon TCG Crown Zenith in 2026: The Final Sword & Shield Set, Explained
By Dexhaul Team · August 20, 2026
Crown Zenith is the only Sword & Shield expansion that shipped with its own 70-card gallery built in.
Released on January 20, 2023, Crown Zenith carries the set code SWSH12.5, marking it as a special mid-series release rather than a numbered expansion. It closed out the entire Sword & Shield era. The cover legendaries are Shiny Zacian V and Shiny Zamazenta V, and the main set contains 159 cards. Alongside those 159 cards sits the Galarian Gallery: a self-contained subset of 70 cards numbered GG01/GG70 through GG70/GG70.
That Gallery is the reason collectors still pay attention to Crown Zenith three years later. It is also the reason the set's buying calculus is different from every other Sword & Shield release.
The Galarian Gallery: What Makes Crown Zenith Distinctive
The Galarian Gallery celebrates the Galar region's most visually distinctive contribution to Pokémon: its regional forms.
The 70 Gallery cards feature Pokémon in stylized full-art illustrations emphasizing the Galarian variants introduced in Sword & Shield. Galarian Articuno, Galarian Zapdos, and Galarian Moltres anchor the subset's most recognizable pieces. This is not incidental: those same three Galarian Legendary Birds are the subjects of the Crown Zenith Collection Tins, the cheapest sealed entry point into the set.
Gallery cards are pulled from Crown Zenith boosters alongside base-set cards, but their rarity within any given pack reflects their premium subset status. Collectors who want specific Gallery singles often find that buying directly is more cost-efficient than pulling for them from sealed product.
Lapras GG05/GG70 illustrates what the Gallery does well: a full-art scene with room to breathe, priced at $30–$36 from independent sellers. Cards featuring the Galarian Legendary Birds and more popular Pokémon command higher prices on the secondary market.
Collection Tins: The Galarian Birds Entry Point
Crown Zenith shipped with three Collection Tins: Galarian Articuno, Galarian Zapdos, and Galarian Moltres.
Each tin features one of the Galarian Legendary Birds on its lid, contains a promo card for that Pokémon, and includes two Crown Zenith booster packs. This makes the tins the lowest-cost sealed format for the set. They are also the most widely available Crown Zenith product in the secondary market.
Secondary market prices have climbed since retail. The Galarian Zapdos tin lists for $110 to $156 USD from independent sellers, a reflection of both the set's age and continued Gallery demand.
One practical note: the Crown Zenith tins feature the Galarian Birds, not Zacian or Zamazenta. Collectors who want the Shiny Zacian or Shiny Zamazenta promos need the Premium Figure Collections.
Booster Bundles: The Only Way to Buy Boosters in Volume
Crown Zenith has no traditional 36-pack booster box.
This is unusual for a Pokémon TCG expansion and it matters for collectors used to buying booster boxes as their primary sealed product. Instead, the set was sold in Booster Bundles of six packs each. On the secondary market, that means six-pack bundles are the closest format to a conventional booster box, and prices reflect that scarcity.
Six-pack bundles now list between $170 and $205 USD from independent sellers, working out to roughly $28–$34 per pack. Buyers who want to crack Crown Zenith packs in volume should weigh that per-pack cost against buying Gallery singles directly.
Elite Trainer Boxes: Standard vs. the Pokémon Center Exclusive
Crown Zenith had two Elite Trainer Box versions, and the price gap between them is one of the starkest in recent Sword & Shield history.
The standard Elite Trainer Box included Crown Zenith booster packs, sleeves, and accessories in the familiar ETB format. Secondary market prices for the standard ETB sit in the $330–$345 USD range from most sellers.
The Pokémon Center Exclusive ETB Plus is a different product entirely. It contained more packs than the standard ETB, exclusive full-art foil versions of the Shiny Zacian V and Shiny Zamazenta V promos not found in any other Crown Zenith format, and additional accessories. Independent sellers list the ETB Plus at $540–$605 USD, roughly 60–75% more than the standard version.
That gap reflects genuine scarcity: the ETB Plus promos exist in that finish only in that one product. Collectors who missed it at retail are paying for format exclusivity, not just branding.
Premium Figure Collections: The Top of the Crown Zenith Range
Two Premium Figure Collections shipped with Crown Zenith: one featuring Shiny Zacian and one featuring Shiny Zamazenta.
Each collection included a poseable figure of the featured Pokémon, exclusive foil promo cards, and Crown Zenith booster packs. A combined set containing both figures was also released, aimed at collectors who wanted Zacian and Zamazenta together.
The combined Shiny Zacian and Zamazenta set lists at $388 USD from secondary sellers, while individual figure collections for a single Pokémon start around $319 USD. These are primarily display-and-collection products: the figures are detailed, and the exclusive foil promos serve as the focal point for anyone building a dedicated Crown Zenith display.
The individual collections each include a Pokémon-exclusive promo variant. Completeness-focused collectors may want both individual boxes rather than the combined set, since the promo art differs between versions.
Buying Singles from the Galarian Gallery
For collectors who want specific Gallery cards without the variance of cracking packs, singles are the direct path.
Gallery singles range widely. Lower-tier Gallery holographics like Lapras GG05/GG70 sit in the $30–$36 USD range. Mid-tier Gallery cards featuring the Galarian Legendary Birds or more popular Pokémon command higher prices, and the top Gallery cards involving chase pulls from the subset can run significantly more depending on condition and whether the card has been graded.
One thing worth knowing: the Gallery subset numbering (GG01–GG70) is distinct from the main Crown Zenith set numbering (1–159 plus secret rares numbered beyond 159). When searching for singles, using the "GG" prefix in your search helps separate Gallery cards from their base-set counterparts.
Which Format Is Right for You
If you want the cheapest way into Crown Zenith sealed product: the Galarian Bird Collection Tins give you two boosters and a promo card at the lowest per-pack entry cost.
If your goal is the Gallery specifically: singles are more efficient than cracking sealed product at current pack prices. Target the cards you want by name rather than pulling for them.
If you want the full sealed experience and plan to display the product: the Premium Figure Collections are the strongest visual pieces in the lineup. The combined Zacian and Zamazenta set makes a complete display.
If you missed the ETB Plus at retail: secondary market prices are substantially higher than the standard ETB. The exclusive promos it contains are the only version of those cards in that finish, so the premium reflects genuine format exclusivity rather than arbitrary collector markup.
Browse all Crown Zenith formats currently listed by independent sellers at DexHaul's Crown Zenith search, where products from across the collector market are aggregated in one place. DexHaul is independent and unofficial, and is not affiliated with The Pokémon Company or Nintendo.