Professor Oak

Professor Oak on cards: from Base Set to Professor Oak's Setup

Oak was in the first English set: Base Set (1999) includes Professor Oak, an Uncommon Trainer that discards the hand and draws seven cards, and Impostor Professor Oak, a Rare. Both were reprinted in Base Set 2, and Neo Destiny (2002) added Impostor Professor Oak's Invention.

Supporters followed once the card type existed: Professor Oak's Research in Expedition Base Set (2002) and Dragon Frontiers (2006), Professor Oak's Visit in Secret Wonders (2007) and Arceus (2009), Professor Oak's New Theory in HeartGold SoulSilver (2010) and Call of Legends (2011), and Professor Oak's Hint in Evolutions (2016), all with Ken Sugimori art. Cosmic Eclipse (2019) printed Professor Oak's Setup as an Uncommon by Megumi Mizutani and a full art Ultra Rare by Nabana Kensaku, and Celebrations (2021) portrayed him on two versions of Professor's Research.

How collectors approach Professor Oak's cards

Ken Sugimori drew every card bearing Oak's name from the 1999 Base Set through Evolutions in 2016, so most of his run shares one look. The Cosmic Eclipse Setup cards and the Celebrations holo Professor's Research by KIYOTAKA OSHIYAMA are the departures. No Pokémon card has been named as Oak's; all of his cards are Trainers.

Cards to know

• Professor Oak's Research (Expedition Base Set #149)

  His first Supporter, from the 2002 set that introduced the card type, by Ken Sugimori.

• Professor Oak's Visit (Secret Wonders #122)

  The 2007 Supporter that was reprinted in Arceus (2009).

• Professor Oak's New Theory (HeartGold SoulSilver #101)

  A 2010 Supporter, reprinted the following year in Call of Legends.

• Professor Oak's Hint (Evolutions #84)

  A Supporter from the 2016 set that revisited the original Base Set.

• Professor Oak's Setup (Cosmic Eclipse #233)

  A full art Ultra Rare by Nabana Kensaku (2019).