Hajime Kusajima: A Premium That Barely Moves the Needle

Hajime Kusajima doesn't get talked about the way the big Base Set names do, but his fingerprints are all over the e-card era, Skyridge, Aquapolis, Expedition, the works. Across 202 cards carrying his art, the artist premium sits at 1.03x. That's basically flat. The market isn't paying a Kusajima tax, it's paying for the card underneath the art.

The top of his catalog tells the real story, and it's a story about set and rarity, not brush strokes. Starmie from Skyridge leads at $575.75, a Holo Rare that was already a chase card before anyone cared who drew it. Right behind it, Mew from Expedition Base Set at $411.66, another Holo Rare riding on nostalgia for the first e-card release. Houndoom out of Aquapolis sits at $399.99, and its stablemates Steelix at $299.95 and Muk at $261.00 round out a strong Aquapolis showing under his name.

Gyarados δ from Holon Phantoms checks in at $288.99, proof his work carried into the delta species era too. Ninetales δ from Dragon Frontiers sits at $251.55, and Arcanine from Sandstorm, a plain Rare rather than a Holo, still clears $246.49 on the strength of the card alone.

What this spotlight actually shows: Kusajima's value is inherited from the sets and rarities he was assigned to, not manufactured by his name. A 1.03x premium across 202 cards means collectors are buying Skyridge Holo Rares and Aquapolis chase cards, and Kusajima happens to be the guy who painted them. That's a fine legacy. It's just not an alpha signal.

On the ledger side, the desk keeps its own report card current. The 7 day gainer signal has hit 22% of the time across 32 calls, with winners averaging +1.5%. The 7 day loser signal has hit 26% of the time across 34 calls, averaging +3.5%. Neither number is one to brag about, and I won't pretend otherwise. The scoreboard is public for a reason.

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Numbers from the TickerMint pipeline. Every call is scored publicly on the scoreboard.