What grading companies do Courtyard packs contain?

Mostly CGC and PSA. Across every indexed pull, CGC is 38.6%, PSA 10 is 21.0%, PSA 9 is 20.0%, other PSA grades are 10.3%, sealed product is 8.0%, BGS is 1.2% and SGC is 0.1%. The mix is heavily weighted toward the two largest graders.

Is a CGC card worth less than a PSA card?

Inside Courtyard packs, consistently yes. The median CGC pull is $18.20 against $56.25 for a PSA 10 and $27.20 for a PSA 9. That is a measurement of what comes out of these specific packs, not a judgement about grading accuracy — CGC grades plenty of valuable cards, they are simply not what these pools are stocked with.

What is the most valuable grade on Courtyard?

BGS by average, at $228.97, and it holds the largest pull ever indexed — a 2003 Michael Jordan autograph in BGS 8.5 at $17,500.90. But BGS is only 1.2% of pulls and its median is $33.00, so the average is carried by a handful of enormous cards rather than by BGS slabs generally being worth more.

Does a PSA 10 guarantee a good pull?

No. PSA 10 has the strongest median at $56.25, but on a $50 pack that is still roughly break-even before the buyback haircut, and half of PSA 10 pulls come in below it. The grade improves your odds; it does not decide the outcome.

How do I verify a Courtyard card is really graded?

Use the certification number printed on the slab label. PSA, BGS and CGC each publish a free lookup that returns the card, the grade and how many examples exist at that grade. It is the only element of a pull you can verify from outside the platform without taking anyone's word for it, and it takes under a minute.

Why is a PSA 10 worth so much more than a PSA 9?

Scarcity at the grade rather than any difference in the card. A popular card might have tens of thousands of PSA 9s and only hundreds of PSA 10s, so the gem-mint price reflects the population gap. In our pull data the step from PSA 9 to PSA 10 roughly doubles the median, while lower steps move it far less.

What does gem mint mean on a graded card?

Gem mint is the top grade on the PSA 1 to 10 scale — a 10. It denotes a card with effectively no visible flaws in centring, corners, edges or surface. The equivalent labels are BGS 10 Pristine and CGC 10 Gem Mint, though each company applies its own standards.

PSA, CGC or BGS — what Courtyard packs actually contain

By PullValue Research · Updated September 18, 2026 · Numbers computed per our methodology

Before a Courtyard pack tells you which card you pulled, the label on the slab has already told you most of what it is worth. Across 37,436 indexed pulls, the grading company is one of the strongest single predictors of value available — and the mix is not what most buyers picture.

38.6%

Of all pulls are CGC slabs

$18.2

Median CGC pull

$56.25

Median PSA 10 pull

3.1x

How much more a PSA 10 is worth

What grading companies are in Courtyard packs?

Seven distinct categories account for essentially every pull. Two of them — CGC and PSA — account for nine in ten.

Fig. 1

Share of every indexed pull, by grading company

Grades parsed from the item name on 37,436 indexed pulls. "Sealed product" is unslabbed booster packs; "ungraded / other" is raw cards and non-card items. Measured 18 September 2026.

CGC is the single most common thing in the catalogue, at 13,986 pulls. PSA in all its grades accounts for 18,612. BGS is rare at 1.2%, and SGC is close to absent. If you rip Courtyard packs regularly, you are overwhelmingly collecting CGC and PSA slabs whether or not that was the intention.

The grade gap: CGC is common and cheap, PSA 10 is neither

The share chart above is only half the story. Put value beside it and the two most common categories sit at opposite ends.

Fig. 2

Median pull value by grading company

Median rather than mean, because the mean on thin categories is carried by single enormous cards — BGS averages $228.97 on a $33 median. Measured 18 September 2026.

A PSA 10 pull has a median of $56.25. A CGC pull has a median of $18.2. That is a 3.1× difference in the typical outcome, decided by which company graded the card. The step down from PSA 10 to PSA 9 is almost as sharp — $56.25 to $27.2, a little over half — which is the well-known gem-mint premium showing up in pack data.

Two honest qualifications. First, this is a measurement of these pools, not a verdict on grading companies. CGC grades plenty of expensive cards; they are simply not what Courtyard has stocked these packs with. Second, the ungraded row has the highest median of all at $190 — but it is 0.9% of pulls and includes non-card items, so it is dimmed above rather than ranked.

Why BGS looks best on average and is not

BGS shows a mean of $228.97, comfortably the highest of any slab category. Its median is $33. That gap is the biggest in the entire dataset, and it has a single cause: BGS holds the largest pull we have ever indexed — a 2003 Ultimate Collection Michael Jordan autograph in BGS 8.5, valued at $17,500.90.

One card, 424 pulls, and the category average jumps sevenfold above its typical outcome. It is the clearest live demonstration of the point made in why average EV lies: in a long-tailed distribution the mean is a fact about the pool and the median is a fact about you.

The certification number is the part you can check

Every slab carries a certification number printed on its label, and each grading company publishes a lookup for it. PSA calls its database the population report; BGS and CGC publish equivalents. Entering the number returns the card, the grade and — crucially — how many examples of that card exist at that grade.

This matters on Courtyard for a specific reason. Everything else about a pull is an estimate: the FMV is Courtyard's algorithm, the EV is our calculation, the buyback is a rule they set. The certification number is the one element that is externally verifiable by you, for free, in under a minute — and it confirms the two facts that matter most, that the card exists and that the grade on it is real.

Population data also explains the value gaps above better than the grade alone does. A PSA 10 commands a premium not because the plastic is different but because the population at that grade is small relative to demand — a card with 40,000 PSA 9s and 900 PSA 10s prices the scarcity, not the condition. That is why the step from PSA 9 to PSA 10 roughly doubles the median pull in our data while the step from PSA 8 to PSA 9 does far less.

What this changes about buying packs

Read the pack's recent pulls, not just its EV. Two packs at the same cash-out ratio can be stocked very differently, and a pack running mostly CGC will deliver a very different collection over twenty rips than one running mostly PSA — even where the arithmetic matches. Every pack page lists real recent pulls with their grades for exactly this reason.

Grade explains value inside a pack, not across packs. A high PSA 10 share is a good sign, but it does not override the cash-out ratio — a pack full of PSA 10s priced above what they return is still a bad buy.

The grade travels with the card. Whether you take the 84.6% buyback or redeem the physical slab, you get the graded card as it is — Courtyard is not regrading anything, and the certification number on the label is the same one you can look up in the grader's population report.

The compact version: CGC is what you will usually pull, PSA 10 is what you want to pull, and BGS is a lottery ticket inside a lottery ticket. None of that is visible on a product page, and all of it is countable from the public feed.

Quick answers

What grading companies do Courtyard packs contain?: Mostly CGC and PSA. Across every indexed pull, CGC is 38.6%, PSA 10 is 21.0%, PSA 9 is 20.0%, other PSA grades are 10.3%, sealed product is 8.0%, BGS is 1.2% and SGC is 0.1%. The mix is heavily weighted toward the two largest graders.
Is a CGC card worth less than a PSA card?: Inside Courtyard packs, consistently yes. The median CGC pull is $18.20 against $56.25 for a PSA 10 and $27.20 for a PSA 9. That is a measurement of what comes out of these specific packs, not a judgement about grading accuracy — CGC grades plenty of valuable cards, they are simply not what these pools are stocked with.
What is the most valuable grade on Courtyard?: BGS by average, at $228.97, and it holds the largest pull ever indexed — a 2003 Michael Jordan autograph in BGS 8.5 at $17,500.90. But BGS is only 1.2% of pulls and its median is $33.00, so the average is carried by a handful of enormous cards rather than by BGS slabs generally being worth more.
Does a PSA 10 guarantee a good pull?: No. PSA 10 has the strongest median at $56.25, but on a $50 pack that is still roughly break-even before the buyback haircut, and half of PSA 10 pulls come in below it. The grade improves your odds; it does not decide the outcome.
How do I verify a Courtyard card is really graded?: Use the certification number printed on the slab label. PSA, BGS and CGC each publish a free lookup that returns the card, the grade and how many examples exist at that grade. It is the only element of a pull you can verify from outside the platform without taking anyone's word for it, and it takes under a minute.
Why is a PSA 10 worth so much more than a PSA 9?: Scarcity at the grade rather than any difference in the card. A popular card might have tens of thousands of PSA 9s and only hundreds of PSA 10s, so the gem-mint price reflects the population gap. In our pull data the step from PSA 9 to PSA 10 roughly doubles the median, while lower steps move it far less.
What does gem mint mean on a graded card?: Gem mint is the top grade on the PSA 1 to 10 scale — a 10. It denotes a card with effectively no visible flaws in centring, corners, edges or surface. The equivalent labels are BGS 10 Pristine and CGC 10 Gem Mint, though each company applies its own standards.

PullValue is independent and not affiliated with Courtyard. This guide is statistics and education, not financial advice. See live numbers on the pack rankings.