Magneton

Magneton in the games: three Magnemite, one Pokémon

Magneton debuted in Pokémon Red and Blue as three Magnemite held together by magnetism. Magnemite evolves into it at level 30, and Magneton evolves into Magnezone, a Generation IV addition, when leveled up in a special magnetic field or exposed to a Thunder Stone. It was a pure Electric type until Gold and Silver introduced the Steel type and made it Electric and Steel. It stands 1.0 meter tall and weighs 60.0 kilograms.

Its abilities are Magnet Pull, which stops Steel-type opponents from escaping, and Sturdy, which lets it survive a one-hit knockout from full HP; its hidden ability, Analytic, powers up its move when it attacks last.

Magneton on cards: a Wizards-era holo regular

Magneton's first card is Base Set #9 (1999), one of the set's holo rares, illustrated by Keiji Kinebuchi. Fossil followed later in 1999 with a Ken Sugimori Magneton, and 2000 brought Dark Magneton in Team Rocket and a holo Lt. Surge's Magneton in Gym Heroes. Team Rocket's Dark Pokémon are Team Rocket-raised versions of a species rather than Dark types, and Dark Magneton is still an Electric Pokémon. Skyridge (2003) printed two different Magneton cards, one by Hajime Kusajima and one by Kouki Saitou, each as a regular rare and an H-numbered holo.

Later eras mostly used Magneton as a Rare or Uncommon: the EX era printed it nine times, including Holon's Magneton in Delta Species (2005), and the Sun & Moon era five times, among them a Shiny rare in Hidden Fates' Shiny Vault (2019). Ken Sugimori holds the most Magneton credits in our catalog (5), and no other illustrator has more than three.

Why Magneton's card history looks the way it does

Fifteen of Magneton's 46 printings come from the Wizards of the Coast era, more than any other era in our catalog, with the EX era (9) next. Magneton has not had an EX, GX, V or ex card of its own, so the cards collectors single out are its early holos, Dark Magneton and Lt. Surge's Magneton, plus the Shiny Vault printing.

Cards to know

• Magneton (Base Set #9)

  Magneton's first card, a 1999 Base Set holo rare illustrated by Keiji Kinebuchi.

• Dark Magneton (Team Rocket #11)

  A 2000 Dark Pokémon from the Team Rocket set, illustrated by Miki Tanaka.

• Lt. Surge's Magneton (Gym Heroes #8)

  A 2000 holo rare tying Magneton to the Vermilion City Gym Leader.

• Magneton (Skyridge #H19)

  The holo version of Kouki Saitou's Skyridge Magneton (2003).

• Magneton (Hidden Fates Shiny Vault #SV28)

  A 2019 Shiny rare from the Shiny Vault subset of Hidden Fates.