It finally happened. One of, if not the rarest Yu-Gi-Oh! card in history is officially up for auction—and it is already cracking numbers that could see it become the highest recorded sale in the history of the game.
Tyler The Great Warrior is a card that was designed and printed as a one-of-one Yu-Gi-Oh! card as a gift for Tyler Gressle after he was diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer and had to undergo serious treatment for it.
In 2002, the Make-A-Wish Foundation worked with Yu-Gi-Oh! developers Konami and 4Kids Entertainment to turn Gressle’s original art into a now legendary card.
Many Yu-Gi-Oh! collectors call Tyler The Great Warrior the “holy grail.” Gressle has maintained possession of the card since 2002 despite getting sizable offers that exceeded $75,000. However, as part of a recent mini-documentary, Gressle confirmed he would be auctioning off the card—and it went live on eBay for a 10-day bid war on April 19.
As it stands Tyler The Great Warrior was listed, in its recently Beckett graded slab, for a starting bid of $0.99. Within a few minutes, the first official bid was placed and the price immediately soared to over $34,000, making it one of the biggest Yu-Gi-Oh! auctions in recent months instantly.
Related: The most expensive Yu-Gi-Oh! cards
Within the first hour, Gressle’s prized card already reached $100,000 and will likely climb well beyond that in the days leading up to the bidding closing on April 29. Then the card will officially change hands for the first time in two decades, which is part of why he decided to sell it in the first place.
“It was one of those things where they told me when I got the card, cherish it, don’t sell it, hang on to it, it’s the only one,” Gressle said. “I’ve cherished it for a really long time and I think it would be nice for others to be able to cherish it in a public space or by someone who is going to really, truly value that card and the history and everything that kind of came to create it.”
As of now, the eBay listing only shows the Tyler The Great Warrior card on the auction page. It is unclear if the original art Gressle sent to Konami or the concepts Yu-Gi-Oh!’s late creator, Kazuki Takahashi, drew for him to pick between for the final card will also be included in the sale.
Yu-Gi-Oh! fans can follow the 10-day auction on eBay here.
