Dark Machamp · Team Rocket, what to know.
About the Dark Machamp card
Dark Machamp is card 27 of 83 in Team Rocket, released in April 2000, a Rare. It is a Stage 2 Fighting-type with 70 HP.
As a Stage 2, it evolves from Dark Machoke, which places Dark Machamp deeper in its line and means most collectors hold it alongside the cards it evolves from.
Team Rocket darkened Machamp under its control for the set's villain arc, a grittier repaint of the familiar Pokémon with an altered attack profile.
Illustrated by Mitsuhiro Arita. Arita painted the Base Set Charizard and much of the early holo run, and his work has a painterly weight that set the visual tone of the Wizards era.
The Pokédex entry printed on Dark Machamp reads: "It is almost impossible to defend against a Machamp's four powerful arms."
About Machamp in the Pokémon world
The Fighting-type final form of the Machop line. Four arms. Base Set holo Machamp is the only holo card guaranteed to appear in 1st Edition Base Set starter decks (the Bulbasaur preconstructed deck). Its 1st Edition print is dramatically more common than other Base holos in 1st Edition because of this. The Unlimited print population mostly came from booster packs and is much smaller.
What is Dark Machamp worth?
Dark Machamp is a non-holo Rare. In Team Rocket, value concentrates in the holo rares, so a Dark Machamp trades modestly, though a clean, well-centered 1st Edition copy in PSA 10 is scarcer than the print run suggests and carries a real premium. Check the live price above for the figure by grade.
Print variants and how to spot them
Team Rocket shipped in 1st Edition and Unlimited, with no Shadowless print. The 1st Edition Dark Machamp 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.
Grading and condition
Non-holo Rares like Dark Machamp are easier on surface but no kinder on centering. Wizards-era cards were less protected than the holos, so high-grade Dark Machamp survivors can be scarcer than expected, with edge whitening the usual cap.
If you are collecting Dark Machamp
For Dark Machamp, check centering by eye, edge whitening on all four sides, and surface under angled light. Non-holo Rares from this era are cheap enough that a PSA 10 submission on a clean Dark Machamp can make sense.
Three prints, three markets.
Edition 1 stamp under the artwork. Trades above Unlimited in matching grade.
No stamp. The standard, more affordable print.
