1999 Pokemon Base Set 1st Edition Blastoise #2 Holo PSA 10

The first card in English

When Wizards of the Coast prepared the English version of the Pokemon Trading Card Game, the first card it test-printed was Blastoise. The test print, discovered in 2020, carries the identifier 009/165R. Wizards made five prototype versions before settling on the final design: one with a black border like its own Magic: The Gathering cards, then four yellow-bordered cards trying different layouts.

A separate pair of Blastoise test cards, with a 'galaxy star' holofoil, was made as a presentation piece to persuade Nintendo to let Wizards publish the English game. Only two were printed, and the whereabouts of one is unknown; the other, graded CGC 8.5, sold at auction for $360,000 in January 2021.

The finished English Base Set went on sale January 9, 1999, a translation of the Japanese set Media Factory had released on October 20, 1996. Blastoise is card #2 of 102 and one of three Pokemon, with Charizard and Venusaur, on the English booster pack art.

Ken Sugimori's water cannon

Ken Sugimori drew the card. Blastoise is a Stage 2 Water Pokemon with 100 HP. Its Rain Dance power let a player attach Water Energy cards to Water Pokemon as often as they liked during a turn, and its Hydro Pump attack did 40 damage plus 10 more for each extra Water Energy, up to 20 more.

Before the English launch, a version without holofoil, with a red border and 'Trainer Deck B' printed on the back, went to prototype Pokemon Leagues. In Japan, a Blastoise promo with different Sugimori art was offered by mail in the 1998 'Trade Please' campaign, as one of three choices alongside Charizard and Venusaur.

Pokemania

The English cards arrived at the height of a craze. The cartoon premiered in U.S. syndication on September 8, 1998, moved to Kids' WB in February 1999, and by November 1999 was reaching half the boys aged 6 to 11 watching TV at 10 a.m. Early in 1999 Wizards sold 400,000 packs in less than six weeks.

The boom faded fast. The card market crashed within about a year, Wizards laid off 100 employees, and in June 2003 the license moved to The Pokemon Company.

Logan Paul's box and the PSA 10 market

By one collector-market account, Blastoise sits just behind Charizard in demand among the set's holos. At the 2021 peak a 1st Edition PSA 10 sold for $31,334 in April 2021. That year YouTuber Logan Paul opened a sealed 1st Edition Base Set box valued at $1 million.

A Blastoise from that box, graded PSA 10 and labeled with its 'Logan Paul Break' provenance, sold at auction on February 16, 2026, for $138,880.

Other PSA 10s have sold for far less. PSA's own record of auction results lists PSA 10 copies at $40,250 on May 25, 2025, and $17,605 on July 25, 2025. The spread, from under $20,000 to more than $138,000 within a year, shows how much provenance, eye appeal and timing can move the price of the same grade.

How to identify it

A 1st Edition Blastoise has the black '1st Edition' stamp at the lower left of the art, no drop shadow along the right and bottom of the art window, and thin HP and attack text. The unstamped Shadowless run shares the thin text and missing shadow; the Unlimited run adds the shadow. Only English 1st Editions are shadowless: foreign-language 1st Editions have the drop shadow.

Some Blastoise copies carry printing quirks collectors track: a few lack the word 'Stage' in the upper right, and a few have a red ink dot above Hydro Pump's Energy cost. PSA's census, as fetched in October 2026, lists 101 PSA 10s, 717 PSA 9s and 653 PSA 8s out of about 4,100 graded.

The numbers

Set

Pokemon Base Set (English), 102 cards: 69 Pokemon (16 holo rares), 33 Trainer and Energy

Card

#2 of 102, holofoil rare; Stage 2 Water, 100 HP; Rain Dance power; Hydro Pump, 40+ damage

Print run

1st Edition, first of four English runs; size never disclosed

PSA 10 population

101 (PSA census as fetched October 2026)

PSA 9 population

717 (same census)

PSA 8 population

653 (same census)

Total graded by PSA

About 4,100 (same census)

Timeline

1. Oct 20, 1996

   The original Pokemon card set is released in Japan with Ken Sugimori's Blastoise.

2. 1998

   Japan's 'Trade Please' mail-in campaign offers a Blastoise promo with new Sugimori art (February 10 to July 31).

3. Jan 9, 1999

   Wizards of the Coast releases the English Base Set; Blastoise is card #2 and appears on the booster art.

4. 2000

   The first card craze collapses.

5. Jun 2003

   The card game license moves from Wizards of the Coast to The Pokemon Company.

6. 2020

   Collectors learn the first English test print was a Blastoise, identifier 009/165R.

7. Jan 2021

   A Blastoise presentation test card, one of two, sells at auction for $360,000.

8. Apr 2021

   A 1st Edition Blastoise PSA 10 sells for $31,334.

9. 2021

   Logan Paul opens a sealed 1st Edition Base Set box valued at $1 million.

10. May 25, 2025

    A 1st Edition Blastoise PSA 10 sells at auction for $40,250.

11. Jul 25, 2025

    A 1st Edition Blastoise PSA 10 sells at auction for $17,605.

12. Feb 16, 2026

    A PSA 10 from Logan Paul's box break sells at auction for $138,880.

The world in 1998

• Sep 8, 1998

  The English-language Pokemon cartoon premieres in U.S. syndication, 20 days before the Pokemon Red and Blue video games reach North America.

• Feb 1999

  The Pokemon cartoon moves to Kids' WB as a Saturday morning show.

• Feb 12, 1999

  The Senate acquits President Bill Clinton on both impeachment charges.

• Mar 31, 1999

  The Matrix opens in theaters.

• Jul 10, 1999

  Brandi Chastain's penalty kick beats China and wins the Women's World Cup for the United States.

• Nov 10, 1999

  Pokemon: The First Movie opens in North America; it takes $85.7 million in the U.S.

• Dec 31, 1999

  The United States hands administration of the Panama Canal to Panama.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, 1999 Pokemon Base Set 1st Edition Blastoise #2 Holo PSA 10 is number 18 of 100 in the trading cards entries of the FLOAT 100. 97 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (76 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Blastoise was the first card Wizards of the Coast test-printed for the English game, coded 009/165R.
• One prototype Blastoise had a black border like a Magic: The Gathering card.
• A Blastoise presentation card made to win Nintendo's approval sold for $360,000 in 2021.
• Some Base Set Blastoise cards are missing the word 'Stage' in the upper right corner.
• Blastoise, Charizard and Venusaur are the three Pokemon on the English Base Set booster art.
• German copies of the card wrongly say Water Energy can be attached to any Pokemon.