Giovanni's Machop

Giovanni's Machop is card 72 of 132 in Gym Challenge, released in October 2000, a Common. It is a Basic Fighting-type with 50 HP.

As a Basic Pokémon, Machop needs no prior evolution to put into play, which made it a practical card in the era's decks.

Giovanni is the Ground-type Gym Leader of Viridian City and the secret boss of Team Rocket. Giovanni's Machop is part of that themed lineup.

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.

A Fighting-type humanoid Pokémon. Small but disproportionately strong. Base Set Common with thin demand.

Giovanni's Machop is a Common, so raw copies trade for very little and most of the print run survives. The only real value is in pristine, high-grade copies, where even a Common can reach low triple digits in 1st Edition PSA 10. See the live price above for the current figure by grade.

Gym Challenge shipped in 1st Edition and Unlimited, with no Shadowless print. The trainer-prefix naming runs across the set, and the 1st Edition Giovanni's Machop carries the Edition 1 stamp and a premium over Unlimited in matching grade.

Giovanni's Machop is the most forgiving tier to grade in the set. Centering on the framed border is the usual cap, and the soft Wizards-era cardstock picks up edge whitening easily, but high print runs keep clean copies affordable.

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