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Full Heal [1st Edition] #82 from Pokemon Base Set delivers a jaw-dropping 1,418% ROI when graded—the highest return on any Full variant in the market. At just $9.66 raw, you're buying into one of the oldest printings of a support staple that grades at 13.6% gem rate to PSA 10, where it commands $526, netting $491 profit per card. The comparison across three eras tells a story: older doesn't always mean better ROI, but a neglected 1st edition with razor-thin raw prices and astronomical PSA 10 comps is exactly the arbitrage the data rewards.
Why Base Set Full Heal Crushes the Field
Full Heal is a nondescript trainer card—no character art, no hype. It sat in billions of booster packs. But because it's a support card in Base Set 1st Edition, it never saw the collector premium that holos command. The raw price ($9.66) reflects that indifference. Meanwhile, the PSA 10 comp ($526) reflects the brutal rarity of high-grade 1st editions from 1999–2000. That spread—a 5,344% gap from raw to slab—is the opportunity.
The gem rate is brutal: only 13.6% of the 1,698 copies ever graded came back PSA 10 or higher. That low population floor keeps the PSA 10 price inflated for investors and collectors hunting complete 1st edition sets. At 149 sales per year, the card moves steadily enough that you're not stuck holding an illiquid slab—it's Base Set, so it'll find a buyer.
The Modern Comparison: Dream League vs Cosmic Eclipse
Lillie's Full Force is a newer support Supporter card (not a trainer—mechanically different, but comparable in collector perception as a utility card). The Japanese Dream League version (#68) sits at $186.23 raw with a 56.5% gem rate and PSA 10 comp of $421. That's a 99.3% ROI—respectable, but one-fourteenth the Base Set return. The raw price is 19x higher, and while the gem rate is four times better, the PSA 10 price doesn't scale with it. Why? Supply. 15,987 copies have been graded. High volume kills arbitrage.
Cosmic Eclipse's Lillie's Full Force (#230) is even worse: 77.7% ROI on a $169.99 raw. It has 2,711 total gradings and a 45.6% gem rate—the worst of the three—because it's a more recent set. The PSA 10 comp ($346.54) is lower than Dream League, but you're paying more raw. Population growth continues; as more copies surface and get graded, the gem rate will likely stay flat or decline, and the PSA 10 price will compress.
The Data: Full Variants Ranked
| Card | Raw | PSA 10 | Gem Rate | Net Profit | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Heal [1st Edition] #82 | $9.66 | $526.00 | 13.6% | $491.34 | 1417.6% |
| Lillie's Full Force #68 | $186.23 | $421.00 | 56.5% | $209.77 | 99.3% |
| Lillie's Full Force #230 | $169.99 | $346.54 | 45.6% | $151.55 | 77.7% |
| Pikachu [Full Art] #708 | $18.34 | $106.91 | 76.0% | $63.57 | 146.7% |
| Full Face Guard #231 | $2.60 | $45.01 | 50.0% | $17.41 | 63.1% |
Numbers assume PSA Value Bulk at $25 grading cost.
Why the Gap Exists—and When It Closes
Base Set 1st Edition cards benefit from three tailwinds: scarcity (fewer were printed, fewer survived), population lock-in (1,698 gradings is a stable floor—unlikely to spike in the next 12 months because the card is already old and mostly has been graded), and collector demand (people chasing 1st edition sets want every card, not just holos). The PSA 10 price is held up by that demand, while the raw price stays suppressed because most players don't recognize the upside.
The gem rate (13.6%) is the key. It means PSA 10s are rare enough that you won't get buried if you hit one—you'll pocket the full spread. If you grade 10 copies and one comes back PSA 10, you've covered your cost and then some on that single slab. The other nine? Sell them as PSA 8s and 9s, which still move because it's Base Set.
Modern cards like Lillie's Full Force and Full Face Guard compress that spread because (a) higher gem rates mean more PSA 10s hit the market, driving the comp down over time, and (b) raw prices are higher, so the raw-to-PSA-10 gap narrows. Pikachu [Full Art] from Chinese Gem Pack sits in the middle: $18.34 raw, 76% gem rate, 146.7% ROI. It's approachable but not explosive—good for a bulk play, not a home run.
The Grading Play Right Now
If you're chasing maximum ROI per card, Base Set 1st Edition Full Heal is the outlier. But it's also the riskiest: you need that gem rate to cooperate. At 13.6%, you're gambling on a one-in-seven shot per card. That's a legitimate play if you're buying 7–10 copies and can hold them; you expect one PSA 10, a few 9s, and the rest paying for the grading cost.
If you want consistency, Pikachu [Full Art] from Chinese Gem Pack offers a 76% gem rate and 146.7% ROI with lower variance. You'll grade mostly 10s and 9s, reducing the downside. Dream League's Lillie's Full Force is still +99% ROI, so if you can acquire copies under $150, it's worth slabbing.
The through-line: older, non-holo support cards from early sets are the data's best-kept secret. They fly under the radar because collectors obsess over Charizards and Blastoise, leaving raw prices artificially low. Once the raw price climbs—as Base Set attrition and grading volume push awareness—the ROI evaporates. That window is open now. Check our grading profit calculator for any card to model your own copies, and if you're serious about screening dozens of variants, the top cards to grade right now, ranked by EV is where the ranked ROI numbers live.
What "Full" Really Means in the Data
This comparison spans three card types that share "Full" in the name but are mechanically and rarity-wise distinct: a 1st edition trainer (Base Set), a Supporter with full-art treatment (Dream League, Cosmic Eclipse), and a Pokémon with full-art framing (Chinese Gem Pack). The data doesn't care about semantic overlap—it cares about which Full variant gives you the biggest spread per dollar deployed. The answer is unambiguous: 1st edition, non-holo, 25-year-old trainer that no one cares about. That's the play.
How we calculate this
EV (Expected Value) = the sum, over all possible grades, of P(grade) × PSA 10 comp price × (1 − 12% marketplace fee) − raw cost − $25 grading fee. Net Profit = EV − raw cost (shown separately for clarity). ROI = Net Profit ÷ raw cost × 100%. Gem Rate is the percentage of that card's total PSA population that graded PSA 10 or higher, based on live PSA population data. Learn more at Should You Grade's methodology.