Potion

What it does

Potion clears damage from a Pokémon, letting a player stabilize a beat-up attacker or Benched Pokémon. The earliest wording removed up to 2 damage counters, with the Expedition Base Set and Ruby and Sapphire wordings clarifying how to handle Pokémon that only have 1 counter. Black and White simplified this into a flat heal of 30 damage, a wording that has carried through every era since.

Printing history

Potion first appeared in Base Set in 1999 with art by Keiji Kinebuchi, who illustrated it through several EX era sets. Shin-ichi Yoshikawa took over art duties for the EX and Diamond and Pearl eras, followed by Ayaka Yoshida in Black and White, 5ban Graphics and Toyste Beach in the XY and Sun and Moon eras, and Ryo Ueda in Sword and Shield; Ayaka Yoshida returned from Scarlet and Violet through the Mega Evolution era's Perfect Order. Trainer kit products across the XY era, including the Noivern, Sylveon, Bisharp, Wigglytuff, Latias, Latios, Pikachu Libre, and Suicune kits, each carried their own Potion reprint.

Origin

Potion is named directly after the healing item from the core Pokémon video games, which heals damage. In the Base Set era it was also part of the prototype Trainer Deck A given out at pre-release Pokémon Leagues.

Cards to know

• Potion (Base Set #94)

  Base Set printing is the card's first appearance, illustrated by Keiji Kinebuchi

• Potion (Black & White #100)

  Black and White printing introduces the flat 30-damage heal wording that later prints kept

• Potion (BREAKpoint #106)

  BREAKpoint printing bumped the card to Uncommon rarity

• Potion (Perfect Order #083)

  Perfect Order printing carries Potion into the Mega Evolution era