Miriam Special Illustration Rare
This is the Miriam everyone’s talking about…and they should be! It’s one of the most stunning, beautifully designed cards the TCG has ever seen, a masterful piece of art by Akira Komayama.
Komayama has been designing cards since 2011’s Call of Legends, and recently gave us the striking Toadscool that’s currently in Crown Zenith. He’s a reliable regular, often designing all-important starter Pokémon cards, but art like this on the Miriam is a whole new diversion, and such a welcome one.
I love that it almost looks Cubist, despite bearing more in common with ‘50s pop art, the whole piece encapsulating the college experience. It’s also such a pleasure to see it out-performing the waifu version, with Miriam depicted here without some dumb, clichéd pose.
It’s worth noting that the price of this card has crashed hard in the first two weeks of sale, beginning at an absolutely ludicrous $240, and now fetching a much more sensible (although still enormous) $85. The bizarre original price is likely due to an expectation that it would prove as popular as the Japanese version of the same art, which is still right now selling for $800 raw, and $1,250 at PSA 10. Which is insane!
A PSA 10 on the English-language version still enters crazy territory, currently selling for $690, making this by far the most expensive and sought-after card in the Scarlet & Violet base set. So if you happen to pull it, and you think it’s in perfect condition, getting this graded could fund your Pokémon purchases for months.
