Magmar 1st Edition Base Set: Blaine's Flame
Reviewed by Caleb Stapel · Collector · Updated September 2026
Magmar reached American television months after the card did: its animated debut, as Blaine’s Magmar on Cinnabar Island, aired in Japan in August 1998 and in the United States in September 1999 — so collectors met the card first. Behind it sits an unsettled piece of development trivia.
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 Magmar printings you own, the 3-second test below settles it before you read any further.
| Grade | Market Price | Share of graded copies |
|---|---|---|
| Ungraded (raw) | $29 | — |
| PSA 7 (NM) | $46 | 8.5% |
| PSA 8 (NM-MT) | $70 | 20.7% |
| PSA 9 (Mint) | $131 | 43.5% |
| PSA 10 (Gem Mint) | $1,016 | 15.6% |
| Grade 6 or below | — | 11.7% |
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 Magmar
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 Magmar” 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 HP text means an early print.
Magmar is a Basic Fire with 50 HP, illustrated by Ken Sugimori. A 50 HP Basic was played, so check corners for wear.
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
Magmar is card 36 of 102 in the English Base Set, and the printing in scope here is the 1st Edition: the first English run, struck with the black “Edition 1” stamp beneath the left edge of the artwork and produced on shadowless stock, with no drop shadow behind the art box. It is an Uncommon Fire-type Basic, filed alphabetically among the Uncommons between Magikarp and Nidorino. Ken Sugimori is the credited illustrator.
The stamp is the whole distinction. The Base Set went through four English printings, and only the first carries the mark. The Shadowless run that followed shares its borderless art box but none of its stamp, and is the variant most often mislabelled in listings. Magmar’s own print history is unusually tidy: the same Sugimori illustration was carried into Base Set 2 (51/130) in 2000 and rebuilt for the 2016 Evolutions reissue (20/108), making this one of the comparatively few Base Set artworks to survive two separate reprints.
Magmar arrived at the card game with a history older than it. Its Japanese name, Boober, belongs to the first generation of the video games, and the creature had already become a television fixture: Blaine’s Magmar debuted in the Cinnabar Gym arc, “Riddle Me This,” broadcast in Japan in August 1998 and in the United States in September 1999 — so American audiences met the card months before they met the episode.
The earliest documentation of Magmar’s design line remains genuinely unsettled. A development-era sprite sheet reproduced from a biography of Satoshi Tajiri lists a creature under the name “Buu,” a name that has been read variously as an early Magmar or an early Electabuzz. No source has settled which, and it is best treated as an open question rather than a fact.
How Rare Is This Card?
Read this card by its grade split rather than by a headline population. 15.6% of PSA-graded copies reach PSA 10, 11.7% come back grade 6 or below, and the rest land in between — which is what set the price ladder above.
Magmar sits at a 15.6% Gem Mint rate on a $29 raw.
| Card | PSA 10s | Total graded | Gem rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Edition Magmar (1999) | ~380 | ~2,434 | 15.6% |
| 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.
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
Cross-checking Bulbapedia’s “Error cards” page, PSA’s Pokémon Error Guide, the PokéBeach error and misprint database, and Elite Fourum’s two Wizards-era guides turns up no catalogued error for the 1st Edition printing of Base Set Magmar. The four sources agree on that point.
The famous “Blue Flame Magmar” — a blue ink area beside the tail — belongs to Base Set 2 (51/130), not to Base Set at all; both Bulbapedia and Elite Fourum’s corrected-errors guide file it under Base Set 2. The only entry for card 36 in Elite Fourum’s English Base Set master misprint guide is a black printer hickey affecting the Fire Punch text, recorded on Unlimited copies only. PSA’s guide contains no Magmar entry in either its Base Set or Base Set Shadowless sections.
What Makes This Card Collectible?
Magmar is collected for a design history that reaches back to the franchise’s earliest planning:
- On television before the card. Its animated debut as Blaine’s Magmar aired in Japan in August 1998, months before American collectors met the card.
- An unsettled proto-name. A development-era sprite sheet lists a creature under the name “Buu,” read variously as an early Magmar or Electabuzz — and never settled.
- Two reprints on one illustration. The same Sugimori artwork carried into Base Set 2 and was rebuilt for the 2016 Evolutions reissue.
Charizard’s version of the same plan is covered in the Charizard review; the Base Set hub covers the set.
The Artist: Ken Sugimori
Ken Sugimori is one of the illustrators who defined the look of the original English Pokémon TCG, and Magmar is one of their Base Set contributions. This section will carry their full numbers when the artist guide lands.
Caleb's Collector Verdict
Magmar is the card with a genuinely open question attached: one of the few early designs whose prototype identification has never been settled, on an illustration the game reused twice.
People Also Ask
Is my 1st Edition Magmar 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, the stamp rule (read together with the drop shadow and the 1995-99 copyright line, never alone), and the back. 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?
Strong odds at 15.6% on a $29 raw — a good-value submission on a clean copy. See Should You Grade Pokémon Cards? for the fee maths, and check a raw copy with the CardGrader scanner before sending it in.