Energy Removal 1st Edition Base Set: The Energy Denier
Reviewed by Caleb Stapel · Collector · Updated September 2026
Energy Removal is the quiet cornerstone of the 1999 Base Set: a Common Trainer by Keiji Kinebuchi that stripped one Energy from an opposing Pokémon with no coin flip and no drawback. It appeared in the earliest Trainer Deck B prototypes, was judged too strong for the game, and eventually gave way to the coin-flipping Energy Removal 2. A raw near-mint copy trades near $20, while a PSA 10 gem commands about $700.
This page covers the 1st Edition printing specifically — the stamped, shadowless-stock version from the original January 1999 run. If you are unsure which of the Base Set Energy Removal printings you own, the 3-second test below settles it before you read any further.
| Grade | Market Price | Share of graded copies |
|---|---|---|
| Ungraded (raw) | $20 | — |
| PSA 7 (NM) | $32 | 9.5% |
| PSA 8 (NM-MT) | $40 | 21.2% |
| PSA 9 (Mint) | $133 | 44.6% |
| PSA 10 (Gem Mint) | $700 | 17.1% |
| Grade 6 or below | — | 7.6% |
Prices and population shares: the Cards Worth Chasing ranking, PSA only, September 2026. Shares are of all PSA-graded copies of this card, so they sum to 100% with the grade-6-and-below row. Grading cost basis $59.99 (PSA Standard). Comps move — verify current sold prices before transacting.
Live Now on eBay: 1st Edition Energy Removal
What the card is actually being offered for right now. Every listing below is filtered to the genuine 1st Edition card — no repacks, mystery slabs, card skins, or multi-card lots. These are asking prices, not sold comps, so treat them as the top of the market rather than what copies are changing hands for. Buying through these links supports the site at no extra cost to you.
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Which One Do You Have? The 3-Second Test
Most people who say “I have a 1st Edition Energy Removal” don’t. Retail packs in 1999–2000 were overwhelmingly Unlimited printing — and that’s fine, it’s the same iconic card. The fast check, in order:
- Right edge of the art box: a dark drop shadow = Unlimited or 4th Print. No shadow = keep going.
- Left of the art box: a black “Edition 1” stamp = 1st Edition. No stamp + no shadow = Shadowless.
- Bottom copyright line: ©1999-2000 = 4th Print. The font weight is the tiebreaker — thin text means an early print.
Energy Removal is an Trainer, illustrated by Keiji Kinebuchi. Inspect a raw copy for the black Edition 1 stamp just left of the artwork and the extra '99' in the copyright line — Trainers never received the art-box drop shadow that separates Shadowless from Unlimited, so those two markers carry the weight.
The four printings of Base Set each have their own price and history: 1st Edition · Shadowless · Unlimited · 4th Print.
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PSA 8 prices from PriceCharting sold-comp data, September 2026. Unlimited and 4th Print look nearly identical — the copyright year is the difference. Each printing is its own card with its own price and history; see every printing: 1st Edition · Shadowless · Unlimited · 4th Print.
About This Card and Set
Energy Removal was already fully formed when the Pokémon TCG left the prototype stage — early CoroCoro and alpha playtest material lists it unchanged, making it one of the few Base Set Trainers whose wording was never revised before the set reached print. It arrived in the Japanese Expansion Pack in 1996 and in the English Base Set in January 1999 as card 92/102, a Common Trainer illustrated by Keiji Kinebuchi, the same artist behind Gust of Wind, Potion, Switch and most of the set’s non-Pokémon cards. Its reach is the story: it stripped one Energy from an opposing Pokémon outright, so Wizards shipped it in the limited-run Trainer Deck B, Misty’s Deck, handed to prototype league Gym Leaders — cards with red borders and Trainer Deck B backs, never sold publicly.
Energy Removal returned in the Japanese Squirtle Deck of the Intro Pack and, in English, in Base Set 2 as 119/130 in 2000 — a reprint bearing the Base Set 2 symbol, with no 1st Edition or Shadowless run. The English card exists in four printings: 1st Edition (the Edition 1 stamp), Shadowless (no stamp, extra '99' in the copyright), Unlimited, and the 1999-2000 fourth print reading ©1999-2000. As for the card itself, its blunt one-for-one denial was judged too powerful by Wizards, and the game’s replacement — Energy Removal 2 — added a coin flip, quietly demoting the original to a museum piece. Time has been kind: the 1st Edition now anchors nostalgia sets and even complete Base Set collections.
How Rare Is This Card?
Start with the number that describes the whole card: roughly 1,118 graded copies exist in total, and ~191 of those are PSA 10s. That is a gem rate of about 17.1% — and the gem rate, not the raw population, is what a collector should actually be reading. High-grade supply is what the market pays for.
| Card | PSA 10s | Total graded | Gem rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy Removal 1st Edition (1999) | ~191 | ~1,118 | ~17.1% |
| Charizard ex #199, S&V 151 (2023) | 29,679 | 102,490 | ~29% |
PriceCharting population data, September 2026. The modern row is a combined PSA + CGC count; the 1999 row is PSA, the way it is normally quoted.
Energy Removal’s gem rate is the demanding part: only about one in six graded 1st Edition copies reaches PSA 10.
That narrow top grade against a plain, widely printed common is the whole reason the card is worth grading at all.For scale, a comparable modern chase card converts to a gem grade at roughly 29%. Modern cards grade far better than vintage ones — not because they are better cards, but because a 1999 card was printed before grading was mainstream and then spent two decades in a binder.
Source: the PSA-only figures behind the Cards Worth Chasing ranking, September 2026. Two caveats stay attached to every population figure on this site. Graded counts are submission tallies, not unique cards — resubmissions inflate the total. And the census is a floor, not a final number.
Known Error Cards
None of the four standard references — Bulbapedia’s Error cards page, PSA’s Pokémon Error Guide, the PokeBeach error/misprint database, and the Elite Fourum English Base Set Master Misprint Guide (thread 41753) plus its Unlimited-only companion (thread 25307) — document an Energy Removal-specific error, and the Unlimited-only list (Blastoise, Gyarados, Wartortle, Diglett, Vulpix, Water Energy) does not include it. What a 1st Edition copy can carry is the set-wide 1st Edition stamp family: as a 1st Edition common, Energy Removal falls in the class that shows gray or low-ink stamps, mirrored back stamps, white stamps, and smeared or misaligned front stamps, all caused by stamp ink not drying before sheets were stacked. These are 1st Edition phenomena; the Unlimited print is not affected by them.
What Makes This Card Collectible?
Few Base Set Commons carry as much design history as the Trainer that made one-for-one Energy denial standard, and was then retired for it.
- The prototype print. Trainer Deck B copies carry red borders and a red Trainer Deck B back, handed to prototype league Gym Leaders and never sold publicly.
- Too strong to keep. Wizards judged the original Energy Removal too powerful and answered it with the coin-flipping Energy Removal 2.
- Reprint reach. It returned in the Japanese Squirtle Deck and in English Base Set 2 as 119/130, a printing with no 1st Edition or Shadowless run.
Together these make a humble Common a genuine cross-section of the set’s first year.
The Artist: Keiji Kinebuchi
Keiji Kinebuchi is one of the illustrators who defined the look of the original English Pokémon TCG, and Energy Removal is one of their Base Set contributions. This section will carry their full numbers when the artist guide lands.
Caleb's Collector Verdict
For collectors of Base Set history rather than raw power, Energy Removal 92/102 is a quietly essential piece.
People Also Ask
Is my 1st Edition Energy Removal real or fake?
The 1999 Base Set cards are the most counterfeited in the hobby, and for a raw copy worth real money you cannot settle it from a photo. The checks that catch most fakes: the light test (a genuine card is essentially opaque — a faint dark core line between the layers; cheap fakes glow through), the stamp rule (a real 1st Edition stamp is crisp and sits under the ink, and counterfeiters add stamps to Unlimited cards — read it with the drop shadow and the 1995-99 copyright line, never alone), and the back (fakes perfect the front and neglect the Poké Ball, the blue tone and the repeated text). Above a few hundred dollars, a raw copy should get professional pre-authentication. The full fake-detection walkthrough covers all of it.
Should I grade this card?
Grading makes sense mainly at the top of the scale: a raw near-mint copy runs about $20, while a PSA 10 gem is around $700. The gem rate is the catch — only about one in six PSA-graded 1st Edition copies earns a 10 (roughly 191 of about 1,088), so raw copies should already show strong centering and corners. Below gem grade the value spread narrows sharply, making submission a bet on the ten alone.