Gastly

Gastly in the anime: Pokémon Tower's pranksters

Gastly's signature anime role is in "The Tower of Terror", where Ash goes to Lavender Town's Pokémon Tower to catch a Ghost type for his rematch with Sabrina. A Gastly, a Haunter and a Gengar spend the night scaring him and Team Rocket, and the episode shows Gastly forming hands out of its own gas. Ash realizes the ghosts only want to play and decides not to catch them, but the Haunter follows him out of the tower anyway, setting up the next episode's rematch with Sabrina.

Gastly on cards: Base Set to Temporal Forces

Gastly's first card is Base Set #50 from January 1999, illustrated by Keiji Kinebuchi, whose art returned in Base Set 2 and Evolutions. Fossil added a second Gastly the same year, drawn by Mitsuhiro Arita. The Gym series printed three Sabrina's Gastly cards in 2000, one in Gym Heroes and two in Gym Challenge, and the WOTC era closed with e-Card Gastly in Expedition Base Set and Skyridge.

From there Gastly has been a steady basic in almost every era, nearly always as a common. The exceptions are an XY Black Star promo by Shigenori Negishi, a 2019 McDonald's Collection card and Temporal Forces' illustration rare (2024) by Mousho, the only Gastly in our catalog above uncommon rarity. Keiji Kinebuchi, Mitsuhiro Arita and Ken Sugimori have three Gastly credits each.

Why collectors follow Gastly

Thirty of Gastly's 35 printings are commons, so the appeal is the art rather than scarcity. Following one small ghost across Kinebuchi's Base Set card, Sugimori's Gym cards and a modern illustration rare shows how differently the card game has drawn the same Pokémon, and it is the natural first stage for anyone building a Gengar line.

Cards to know

• Gastly (Base Set #50)

  Gastly's first card, illustrated by Keiji Kinebuchi in January 1999.

• Gastly (Fossil #33)

  Gastly's second 1999 card, an uncommon illustrated by Mitsuhiro Arita.

• Sabrina's Gastly (Gym Heroes #93)

  The first of three Sabrina's Gastly cards, illustrated by Ken Sugimori.

• Gastly (Skyridge #57)

  Gastly from Skyridge, the last WOTC-era set, illustrated by Kyoko Umemoto.

• Gastly (Temporal Forces #177)

  An illustration rare from 2024, illustrated by Mousho.