👇 Explore every card in the set
Browse every tracked card in Base Set with live prices, 24h moves, and collector details. Use Hits and Chase when you want a focused view of the set.
Release date, card count, chase cards and how it compares with the WOTC era.
Base Set belongs to the WOTC era of the English-language Pokémon TCG and anchors the Base series, released as an expansion on January 9, 1999 under the set code BS. It carries 102 cards, with Grass, Water, Colorless and Fire the types it leans on. What defines it is the Rare tier, where the starter evolution lines and the early Psychic heavyweights sit: Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, Mewtwo and Alakazam are the headline cards, and the set's identity comes from them. Only four illustrators worked on the run, led by Ken Sugimori and Keiji Kinebuchi.
The pull ladder in Base Set is short: 38 commons, 32 uncommons and 32 rares, with 16 cards counted as chase tier. There are no secret cards above the printed 102. The Rare slot holds all the value, led by Charizard, illustrated by Mitsuhiro Arita, then Blastoise from Ken Sugimori, Arita's Venusaur and Sugimori's Mewtwo. Alakazam rounds out the top five. Those five cards alone hold 67 percent of the set's total card value, so the value sits in a handful of Rares and the rest of the card list is comparatively cheap.
Base Set was released January 9, 1999.
Base Set has 102 cards.
Base Set is part of the WOTC era.
16 cards in Base Set sit at one of its hit rarities. See this set's hits page for the full breakdown by rarity.
As of October 2026, Base Set holds the 14th highest total card value of the 16 comparable WOTC sets and 66th across the whole game, at about 0.5 times the era median. Its single most valuable card ranks 5th in the era, and it ranks 1st for trading activity. At 102 printed cards it is about the same size as the era median of 108. It sits ahead of Jungle, which holds more total value. Its cards first appeared in Japan in Expansion Pack, released October 20, 1996, which shares 101 of its cards, and in the No Rarity variant of that set.
| Measure | This setBase Set | Next setJungle |
|---|---|---|
| Release date | Jan 9, 1999 | Jun 16, 1999 |
| Printed cards | 102 | 64 |
| Master set value | — | $2,516.81 |
| Most valuable card price | — | $272.28 |
| Priced cards | — | 64 of 64 |
A complete Base Set means 102 printings, and all 102 are priced. Because the top five cards carry 67 percent of total card value, the cost of a full run is driven by a few Rares rather than by the commons and uncommons that fill most of the card list. For sealed product the page lists 16 items, mainly decks, booster boxes and booster packs, which makes the release date a useful anchor when sorting what is genuinely from the original print window.
Market comparisons as of October 2026.
Sealed Base Set: all 16 products with prices
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