One Piece card rarity: the codes, the alt arts and the manga rares

One Piece cards print their rarity in letters, next to the card number: C, UC, R, SR, SEC and a few special codes. That makes the first half of identification easy — and leaves the second half, the one that decides the price, to the artwork.

The reason is on Bandai’s own card list. Alternate-art versions appear under the same card number and the same rarity code as the standard card: OP17-005 is listed twice, both times as SR. The code tells you the rarity; it does not tell you which version you hold.

The rarity codes#

For scale, Bandai’s page for Emperors in the New World (OP-09, December 2024) lists the whole set: 6 Leaders, 45 Commons, 30 Uncommons, 26 Rares, 10 Super Rares, 2 Secret Rares, 10 Special Cards, 1 Treasure Rare and 1 DON!! card.

The code tells you the rarity. The artwork tells you the version — and the version is what collectors pay for.

The versions that share a number#

These are the cards that make One Piece collecting hard and the reason two cards with the same number can sell for very different amounts. The names below are the ones Bandai uses on its product pages.

The SP card is the trap. A card numbered OP05-067 might be the original from Awakening of the New Era or an SP reprint pulled from Emperors in the New World a year later. Same number, different card, different price.

How to identify the exact card you hold#

1. Step 1

   Read the card number

   Booster cards use the set and a number, such as OP17-118; starter decks use ST, extra boosters EB, premium boosters PRB, and promos P. It names the card, not the version.

2. Step 2

   Read the rarity code

   C, UC, R, SR, SEC, L, SP CARD or TR. It narrows the version but, for alt arts, does not settle it.

3. Step 3

   Compare the artwork

   Check the official card list for that number. If it shows more than one image, match yours — standard, Alt-Art, Super Alt-Art or SP.

4. Step 4

   Note the language

   English, Japanese and other language prints are separate cards to a buyer, and the price gap between them can be large in either direction.

The block number is not a rarity#

Since 1 April 2026 every card also carries a block number in the lower right corner. Bandai introduced it on 23 July 2025 to manage tournament legality: the first four booster sets form block 1, the next four block 2, and so on. It does not grade rarity.

One detail is useful to collectors: newly released Super Parallel cards, and cards sharing their number, are given the block letter X, so a card marked X is a special version by definition.

Rarity is not the record#

The most expensive One Piece cards ever sold did not come from packs at all — they were tournament prizes. The verified sales are on the most expensive One Piece cards page. Pokémon cards mark rarity differently, with a symbol rather than a code; that system is on the Pokémon rarity symbols page.

Reference prices and math, not appraisals. Market prices here come from TCGplayer and Cardmarket via TCGdex and describe a card in general, not your copy. This site does not appraise or authenticate cards; every other number is one you enter or one we quote from a dated source.

TCGValuer is an independent site and app. Not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Nintendo, Creatures, GAME FREAK, The Pokémon Company, Bandai, Shueisha, Toei Animation, Konami, Studio Dice, Wizards of the Coast, Hasbro, Disney, Ravensburger, PSA, Beckett, CGC, SGC or TCGplayer. Product names are used descriptively to identify the cards and services being discussed.