Dark Electrode

Dark Electrode is card 34 of 83 in Team Rocket, released in April 2000, an Uncommon. It is a Stage 1 Lightning-type with 60 HP.

As a Stage 1, it evolves from Voltorb, which places Dark Electrode deeper in its line and means most collectors hold it alongside the cards it evolves from.

Team Rocket darkened Electrode under its control for the set's villain arc, a grittier repaint of the familiar Pokémon with an altered attack profile.

Illustrated by Ken Sugimori. Sugimori is the lead character designer of Pokémon itself, so his card art carries the tight, on-model look that defined how the creatures appear in the games.

The card's flavor text gives Electrode a line of lore: "Some researchers hypothesize that Electrode may actually be a form of energy instead of having an actual body."

The fully evolved Voltorb. Inverted color scheme. Jungle holo Electrode has thin demand outside set completionists.

Dark Electrode is an Uncommon, so raw copies are inexpensive and easy to find. The value is in condition: a genuine PSA 10, especially 1st Edition, can still reach a surprising figure for an otherwise common card. The live price above breaks it down by grade.

Team Rocket shipped in 1st Edition and Unlimited, with no Shadowless print. The 1st Edition Dark Electrode carries the Edition 1 stamp under the artwork and trades above the Unlimited copy in matching grade. The set is also home to Dark Raichu, the first Secret Rare ever printed.

Dark Electrode grades forgivingly, but the same centering and edge standards apply. Pack-fresh raw copies are easy to find, which makes a clean PSA 10 submission a low-cost way to learn how the cardstock behaves under grading.

Raw copies of Dark Electrode are inexpensive enough that grading rarely pays unless you have a clearly pack-fresh example. For set completion, a clean sleeved Dark Electrode is the practical move.