Lt. Surge's Pikachu

Lt. Surge's Pikachu is card 84 of 132 in Gym Challenge, released in October 2000, a Common. It is a Basic Lightning-type with 40 HP.

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

Lt. Surge is the Electric-type Gym Leader of Vermilion City, a former soldier nicknamed the Lightning American. Lt. Surge's Pikachu is part of that themed lineup.

Illustrated by Atsuko Nishida. Nishida is the original designer of Pikachu and many Gen 1 Pokémon, and her card work has a soft, rounded warmth that suits the friendlier creatures.

The franchise mascot. An Electric-type rodent with red cheeks, a lightning-bolt tail, and a vocabulary limited to its own name in the anime. The most-printed Pokémon card in history. The Base Set print has a famous yellow-cheeks variant that commands a premium over the standard red-cheeks 1st Edition.

Lt. Surge's Pikachu 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 Lt. Surge's Pikachu carries the Edition 1 stamp and a premium over Unlimited in matching grade.

Lt. Surge's Pikachu 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 Lt. Surge's Pikachu are inexpensive enough that grading rarely pays unless you have a clearly pack-fresh example. For set completion, a clean sleeved Lt. Surge's Pikachu is the practical move.