Deep Dive #1: Back to the OG Base Set!

Introduction

The first Deep Dive of Collexy will be about the very first Pokémon TCG factory set, the Base Set. Please check our previous article to brush up on the terminology we will use in Deep Dives. This article will only cover the English structure of the Base Set; the Japanese structure, Chinese structure, Korean structure and Indonesian structure will not be covered by this article but will be covered in the future in a separate set of Deep Dives. There are only two structures, the Chinese (Simplified) structure, Korean structure and Indonesian structure did not exist yet.

In this article, we will provide an incredibly detailed overview of English structure of the set, the different “standard” variants of the cards in Base Set and the “unique” variants of the cards.

Let’s dive in!

Structure

Factory Set

The Base Set was released in English on the 9th of January 1999. The Base Set is the very first Pokémon TCG set and is part of the Wizards of the Coast era (“WOTC era”), which ran from 1999 to 2003. Base Set is the first set of this era.

The Base Set consists of 102 cards, for our purposes Masters. The 102 Masters consist of 69 Pokémon cards, 26 trainer cards and 7 energy cards. These can be further differentiated based on the 5 rarities: Holo Rare (16 Masters), Rare (16 Masters), Uncommon (32 Masters), Common (32 Masters), and No Rarity (6 Masters).

Card

The Base Set contains three kinds of cards: Pokémon card, Trainer card and Energy card. We will run through the setup of each kind of card.

A Base Set card always meet the following criteria: no set symbol and the set number in the bottom right corner is /102.

Pokémon card

The Alakazam (1/102) above is an illustration of what a Pokémon card in the Base Set looks like. As you can see, in the middle on the right there is no set symbol and in the bottom right corner the number is /102. The number 102 refers to the amount of cards, or Masters, in that specific set.

1. Art box

In the picture we highlighted the art of the Pokémon in the square box on top half of the card. The box is referred to as the art box. For the art box itself, this could be holofoil or non-holofoil.

As Alakazam is a Holo Rare, every variant of the Master is finished with a holofoil background just like the other 16 Holo Rares. This does not apply for the Masters that have the rarity Rare, Uncommon, Common or No Rarity as there is no holofoil background.

2. Evolution information

In the picture we highlighted the evolution box (picture format) and evolution description (text format). This does not apply for all Pokémon cards, some Pokémon do not evolve from another Pokémon, in which case the evolution box and evolution description are absent.

For Alakazam, a picture of Kadabra is included (and also mentioned by its name above the name of Alakazam) which is the Pokémon from which Alakazam evolves.

3. Name

In the picture we highlighted the name of the Pokémon, as shown in the art box, on top of the art box on the left side.

The name of the Pokémon can differ based on the language in which the card was printed.

4. HP

In the picture we highlighted the health points of the Pokémon on the right above the art box. Alakazam has 80 HP.

This terminology changes depending on the language of the variant: English (HP), Dutch (IP), German (KP), French (PV), Italian (PV), Spanish (PI), Portuguese (PS), Korean (HP) and Chinese (HP)

5. Type

In the picture we highlighted the type of Pokémon. Alakazam has as type Psychic as indicated by the energy symbol for psychic Pokémon and the color of the card (purple).

6. Edition

In the picture we highlighted the edition of the card. Under the art box, on the left-hand side you can find the edition of the card. Either it contains the “1^st edition”-symbol *or the space is empty. If the space is empty, the card is an unlimited edition.

The word “edition” in the symbol also changes depending on the language of the variant.

7. Pokémon Power / Attacks / Weakness / Resistance / Retreat Cost

In the picture we highlighted the area that includes the Pokémon Power of the Pokémon (if applicable, not ever Pokémon has a Pokémon Power), the Attacks of the Pokémon (could be one or more), and the Weakness / Resistance / Retreat Cost (indicated by energy symbols). The text of the card can differ based on the language of the variant.

The Pokémon Power and the attacks also differ depending on the language of the variant.

8. Illustrator

In the picture we highlighted the illustrator of the artwork in the art box of the Pokémon, in this case of Alakazam, which is Ken Sugimori.

9. Nintendo Copyright Years

10. Wizards of the Coast Copyright Years

11. Rarity symbol

In the picture we highlighted the rarity symbol of the card. The rarity symbols are as follows: Star (Holo Rare and Rare), Diamond (Uncommon), and Circle (Common).

Trainer card

The explanation above for Pokémon cards is very similar for Trainer cards.

Below we will only highlight where Trainer cards differ from Pokémon cards.

The Computer Search (71/102) above is an illustration of what a Trainer card in the Base Set looks like. As you can see, in the bottom right there is no set symbol and in the bottom right corner the number is /102.

In the picture we highlighted the edition of the card. In the bottom left you can find the edition of the card for Trainer cards. Either it contains the “1^st edition”-symbol or the space is empty. If the space is empty, the card is an unlimited edition.

Energy card

The Fire Energy (98/102) above is an illustration of what an Energy card in the Base Set looks like. As you can see, in the bottom right there is no set symbol and in the bottom right corner the number is /102.

In the picture we highlighted the edition of the card. In the top right you can find the edition of the card for Energy cards. Either it contains the “1^st edition”-symbol or the space is empty. If the space is empty, the card is an unlimited edition.

For the rest, Energy cards are very similar to Pokémon cards and Trainer cards.

Variant Parameters

1. Language

The Base Set (English structure) was printed in 9 different languages. The following 9 languages followed the English structure of the Base Set (as explained in the introduction the other structures like Japanese are not covered):

English
Dutch
German
French
Italian
Spanish
Portuguese
Korean
Chinese (Traditional)

2. Edition

The following languages have one single 1st edition-variant and one unlimited edition-variant:

Dutch
German
French
Italian
Portuguese
Korean
Chinese (Traditional)

English (all Masters) and Spanish (Rare, Uncommon, Common and No Rarity Masters) have multiple 1st edition-variants and multiple unlimited edition-variants.

3. Holofoil pattern

The Base Set has 16 Masters with the rarity Holo Rare, which means all variants of these Masters should, in principle have a holofoil pattern. There are two variants (one Machamp variant and one Blastoise variant) to which this principle does not apply, see below under Special Variants.

The holofoil patterns of the variants of the Master can differ between Starlight Holofoil pattern, a holofoil pattern with stars, and Cosmos Holofoil pattern, a holofoil pattern with circles. The variant on the left has the Starlight Holofoil pattern and the variant on the right has the Cosmos Holofoil pattern.

As a general rule, the Starlight Holofoil is used in the following languages:

English
German
French
Spanish
Portuguese

And the Cosmos Holofoil is used in the following languages:

Dutch
Italian
Korean
Chinese

There is one exception to these general rules, namely one English variant of Machamp has a cosmos holofoil, even though all other English variants of Holo Rare Masters have a Starlight Holofoil! This variant will be discussed later in Special Variants.

4. Subrarity

Every English Master has at least 4 different variants, mainly due to the difference between the unlimited edition variants of which one has the Shadowless-subrarity and another the Shadowed-subrarity.

The variant on the left is the variant with Shadowless-subrarity.

The variant on the right is the variant with the Shadowed-subrarity.

The two main elements of differentiation between the Shadowless variant and Shadowed variant are:

the lack of a shadow on the right side and bottom side of the artbox for the shadowless variant, while the right side and bottom side of the artbox do have a shadow for the shadowed variant.
at the bottom of the card, the Nintendo copyright years are “© 95, 96, 98, 99” for the shadowless variant, while the Nintendo copyright years are “© 95, 96, 98” for the shadowed variant.

There are two additional ways to distinguish between Shadowless variants and Shadowed variants:

the thin “HP” text on shadowless variants, compared to the bold “HP” text on shadowed variants.
the color of the card is lighter on shadowless variants, compared to a darker color for the shadowed variants.

As Trainer cards and Energy cards have no different art boxes, do not have “HP” and as the lighter shades of the color of the cards is difficult to establish sometimes, the best way to differentiate Shadowless variants from Shadowed variants is the Nintendo copyright years.

5. WOTC Copyright years

Only for the English variants and the Spanish variants, there are variants with different Wizards of the Coast Copyright years.

For the English variants, the WOTC Copyright Years differentiate between the third print run, which is the unlimited print run with WOTC Copyright Years © 1999, and the fourth print run, which is the last unlimited print run with WOTC Copyright Years © 1999-2000.

For the Spanish variants, for the Masters with the rarity Holo Rare there are only variants with the WOTC Copyright Years © 1999. For the Spanish Masters of all other rarities, there are two 1st edition-variants, one with WOTC Copyright Years © 1999 and another with WOTC Copyright Years © 1999-2000, and two unlimited-variants, one with WOTC Copyright Years © 1999 and another with WOTC Copyright Years © 1999-2000. The WOTC Copyright Years are determined by the geographical release as variants with the WOTC Copyright Years © 1999 were released in Latin America, while variants with the WOTC Copyright Years © 1999-2000 were released in Spain.

Print runs

The Base Set was, due to the large demand, printed in 8 different print runs. However, generally speaking, these print runs did not result in 8 different variations but in 4 different variations. As there are only 4 different English variants, these variants are commonly referred to as “print runs”.

Except for Spanish, all other languages only have two variants: 1st edition and unlimited edition.

The four print run variants discussed below are only for the English language.

First Print

The first print is the first edition variant. This can be distinguished from the unlimited edition variant as the first edition variant has a “1^st edition”-stamp on the left side under the art box. These were the first printed Base Set cards. For English, all first edition variants are also shadowless. For all other languages following the English structure, the first edition variants are not shadowless but are the first prints.

In English, German, French, Spanish and Portuguese, the “first edition” variants have a Starlight Holofoil and have the WOTC Copyright Years © 1999 on the bottom of the card. For the Spanish variant with WOTC Copyright Years © 1999, these variants were released in Latin America.

In Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Korean and Chinese (Traditional) the “first edition” variants have a Cosmos Holofoil and have the WOTC Copyright Years © 1999-2000 on the bottom of the card. For the Spanish variant with WOTC Copyright Years © 1999-2000, these variants were released in Spain (except for the Holo Rare Masters wish were only released with WOTC Copyright Years © 1999). The Spanish variants with different copyright years are not considered a different print run, but were the result of the different geographical distribution between Latin America and Spain.

Second Print

The second print is the shadowless variant. These were only printed in English but without the first edition stamp. All other languages following the English structure do not have a shadowless variant.

Third Print

The third print is the unlimited edition variant. These are the most common prints of the Base Set cards.

In English, German, French, Spanish and Portuguese, these unlimited variants have a Starlight Holofoil and the WOTC Copyright Years © 1999 on the bottom of the card. For the Spanish variant with WOTC Copyright Years © 1999, these variants were released in Latin America.

In Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Korean and Chines (Traditional) these unlimited variants have a Cosmos Holofoil and have the WOTC Copyright Years © 1999-2000 on the bottom of the card. For the Spanish variant with WOTC Copyright Years © 1999-2000, these variants were released in Spain (except for the Holo Rare Masters which were only released with WOTC Copyright Years © 1999). The Spanish variants with different copyright years are not a different print run, but were the result of the different geographical distribution between Latin America and Spain.

Fourth Print

The fourth print is the unlimited edition variant that is commonly referred to as “Base © 1999-2000”. These were only printed in English with the WOTC Copyright Years © 1999-2000 on the bottom right of the card.

How to differentiate between the variants?

First, you have to determine the language on the variant.

Second, determine whether the variant is a 1^st edition or an unlimited edition.

If the variant is Spanish, determine whether the variant is part of a Master that has as rarity Holo Rare. If the variant has Holo Rare as rarity, then there is only one variant with WOTC Copyright Years © 1999. If the variant has another rarity, then check whether the variant has WOTC Copyright Year © 1999 or WOTC Copyright Years © 1999-2000.

If the variant is English, determine whether the variant is a shadowless variant or shadowed variant. If the variant is of a shadowed variant, determine whether the variant has as WOTC Copyright Year © 1999 or © 1999-2000.

Special variants

We have now discussed the English structure of the Base Set, the concept of Masters and Variants and the different Variations that exist for every Master. We have concluded that there are at least 20 variants per Master in the Base Set.

For some Masters, there are more Variations which we will now discuss.

Trainer Decks

The first variant stems from Trainer Deck A and Trainer Deck B. These were distributed to card shops that were holding Pokémon Leagues where the Pokémon TCG would be played. These decks were not intended for distribution, but rather for so-called Gym Leaders, whom would guide the Pokémon League and help player where needed, to use during the Pokémon League. The Trainer Decks were released with the Base Set expansion, but were considered a prototype product to help introduce the trading card game.

To revert back to the variants, these cards were only produced in English and have the same layout on the front as the third print, which means that this is the unlimited edition with WOTC Copyright Years © 1999. However, these variants are different from the print run as they have a red border on the back with the red text “Trainer Deck A” or “Trainer Deck B”.

There is a discussion on the rarity of each deck. From what we have seen is that the Trainer Deck A was more common than Trainer Deck B. From the current supply and availability, this could be considered accurate as the Trainer Deck B is less available than Trainer Deck A. For a long time, it was also though the only Trainer Deck A existed.

Trainer Deck A

Trainer Deck A is also referred to as the “Brock”-deck. This deck contains cards with a red border and the “Trainer Deck A”-deck on the back.

Only one rare card is included in Trainer Deck A, the Machamp card. This card is normally a Holo Rare with a holofoil and 1st edition stamp, but the Trainer Deck A variant of Machamp is a non-holofoil variant. This means that the Trainer Deck A Machamp differs not only due to the red border and red “Trainer Deck A”-text, but also because of the lack of holofoil and the lack of 1^st edition.

Trainer Deck B

Trainer Deck B is also referred to as the “Misty”-deck. This deck contains cards with a red border and the “Trainer Deck B”-text on the back. Trainer Deck B contains 4 rare cards, Blastoise, Pidgeotto, Computer Search and Pokémon Trader.

Just like Machamp, Blastoise is normally a Holo Rare with a holofoil, but the Trainer Deck B variant of Blastoise is a non-holofoil variant. This means that the Trainer Deck B Blastoise differs not only due to the red border and red “Trainer Deck B”-text from the unlimited WOTC Copyright Years © 1999 variant, but also because of the lack of holofoil.

Blastoise 2/102

Stage Error variant

Blastoise has three other variants in addition to the Trainer Deck B variant.

The first variant called the “Stage Error”.

As highlighted in the top right corner of the variant, the text “Put the Blastoise in the Stage 1 card” is not fully printed as the word “stage” is omitted from the text.

This is the only way to distinguish this variant.

Red Dot Error variant

The second variant is called the “Red Dot Error”.

This variant is very similar to the English variant in unlimited edition with shadowed-subrarity, Starlight Holofoil and WOTC Copyright Years © 1999, but above the energies next to the attack a red dot can be seen which is likely a printing error.

Illustrator Error variant

The third variant is called the “Illus. Error”.

This variant is very similar to the English variant in unlimited edition with shadowed-subrarity, Starlight Holofoil and WOTC Copyright Years © 1999., but in the bottom left corner of the card the word “Illus.” in front of the illustrator Ken Sugimori is omitted.

Machamp 8/102

Machamp, Master with number 8/102, is only printed in 1^st edition with the exception of the Trainer Deck A-variant below. There are no unlimited Machamps with a holofoil pattern.

Machamp was a card that could only be found in the 2-Player Starter Set, the 2-Player CD-ROM Starter Set and Trainer Deck A. Machamp could not be found in Base Set boosterpacks. Nevertheless, Machamp is part of the Base Set.

Machamp Variant 1

This variant has its provenance in the 2-Player Starter Set.

Machamp Variant 2

This variant has its provenance in the 2-Player Starter Set.

Machamp Variant 3

This variant has its provenance in the 2-Player CD-ROM Starter Set.

Machamp Variant 4

This variant is the only unlimited edition variant, non-holofoil and with WOTC Copyright Years © 1999. As discussed earlier with respect to Trainer Deck A, this variant also had the letter “Trainer Deck A” in red on the back and a red border.

This variant has its provenance in the Trainer Deck A.

Machamp Variant 5

This variant has its provenance in the 2-Player Starter Set.

Machamp Variant 6

This variant is a Shadowed variant with a Starlight Holofoil with WOTC Copyright Years © 1999. There are four non-English variants in total that meet these variant parameters, i.e. German, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

This variant has its provenance in the 2-Player Starter Set.

Machamp Variant 7

This variant is a Shadowed variant with a Cosmos Holofoil and with WOTC Copyright Years © 1999-2000. There are four non-English variants in total that meet these variant parameters, i.e. Dutch, Italian, Korean and Chinese (Traditional).

This variant has its provenance in the 2-Player Starter Set.

Ninetales 12/102

No Damage Ninetales

This variant is called the No Damage Ninetales. This variant is very similar to the English variant in unlimited edition with shadowless-subrarity, starlight holofoil and WOTC Copyright Years © 1999, but the damage amount (which should be “80”) is absent. This is called the No Damage Ninetales.

These variants were found in some Bushfire Theme Decks.

Raichu 14/102

This variant is one of the most obscure variants, the Prerelease Raichu. This variant is very similar to the English variant in unlimited edition with shadowed-subrarity, Starlight Holofoil and WOTC Copyright Years © 1999.

This Raichu variant is not unanimously accepted as there was a lot of uncertainty about this variant for a long time.

The first official prerelease card was Clefable of the Jungle Set, that was distributed at Pokémon Leagues to participants. However, due to an error several sheets of the Base Set Raichu ended up on the printer and the “Prerelease”-symbol was printed on some Base Set Raichu’s. The majority of these cards were destroyed by Wizards of the Coast, but some Raichu’s ended up in the hands of some of their employees. This makes it an officially printed product, but an unofficial release. This is the first example of such unofficial release.

Beedrill 17/102

This is the D.efending variant of Beedrill. Beedrill has one extra variant that is very similar to the English variant in unlimited edition with shadowed-subrarity. In this variant, the description of the second attack has a mistake in the word “Defending” as there is a dot between the “D” and “efending”.

Wartortle 42/102

This is the Evolution Box error of Wartortle. This variant is very similar to the English variant in unlimited edition with shadowed-subrarity. In this variant, the evolution box wrongly shows Wartortle while the evolution box should show Squirtle. What is interesting is that the evolution text is correct as it correctly refers to Squirtle.

All Portuguese variants have this error.

Diglett 47/102

This is the 90° Symbol error variant of Diglett. This variant is very similar to the English variant in unlimited edition with shadowed-subrarity. In this variant, the symbol next to the first attack is a fighting symbol that is rotated 90 degrees dubbing it the name Fighting Symbol Error.

This variant could only be found in the 2-Player Starter Set.

Pikachu 58/102

Pikachu is the last Master that has several variants in English. There are no less than 8 additional variants of Pikachu Base Set.

The first set of variants are very similar to the English variant in 1^st edition with Shadowless-subrarity. First, we have the red cheeks-print. Second, we have the yellow-cheeks print. Finally, some 1^st edition stamps were not printed properly resulting in a partial 1^st edition stamp which has been dubbed the “Ghost Stamp Error”. The Ghost Stamp Errors could only be found in Zap Theme Decks.

The second set of variants are very similar to the English variant in unlimited edition with Shadowless-subrarity. First, we have the red cheeks-print. Second, we have the red-cheeks print with a a stamp saying “E3” referring to the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) Convention in Los Angeles held from 13-15 May 1999. Finally, we have the red cheeks-print with a stamp saying “E3” referring to the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) Convention in Los Angeles held from 13-15 May 1999.

The third and final set of variants are very similar to the English variant in unlimited edition with shadowed-subrarity. First, we have the yellow cheeks-print with a stamp saying “E3” which was distributed in the Nintendo Power Magazine in September 1999. Second, we have the variant with the “PokéTour 1999”-stamp on the top right of the art box.

Conclusion

The Base Set is one of the most intriguing and complicated sets due to the enormous amount of different variants, all with their own historic value. There are many error print variations, with stains and ink errors, but we have focused on the variants that were reproduced more often than a single print as these can be considered as real variants. One-off variants cannot be considered variants for the purposes of this guide and the Collexy databases.

If there is any error, omission or unclarity, please send let us knowby sending an e-mail to [email protected] and we will take a look at it!

That’s it for now Collexians, I genuinely hope you enjoyed this guide. See you at the next Deep Dive, this one will be about the Jungle Set!

Tom