Magneton 1st Edition Base Set: Early-CGI Art, Overlooked
Reviewed by Caleb Stapel · Collector · Updated September 2026
Magneton is Kinebuchi's angular take on a mid-tier holo — thin populations, modest prices, and a gem ratio that has held up. Raw copies trade around $145, while a PSA 10 gem has cleared $10,278 — the gap between those two numbers is the whole story of this card.
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 Magneton printings you own, the 3-second test below settles it before you read any further.
| Grade | Market Price | Share of graded copies |
|---|---|---|
| Ungraded (raw) | $214 | — |
| PSA 7 (NM) | $460 | 16.1% |
| PSA 8 (NM-MT) | $751 | 22.6% |
| PSA 9 (Mint) | $1,914 | 23.2% |
| PSA 10 (Gem Mint) | $10,267 | 2.9% |
| Grade 6 or below | — | 35.3% |
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 Magneton
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.
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Which One Do You Have? The 3-Second Test
Most people who say “I have a 1st Edition Magneton” 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.
Magneton is a Stage 1 Lightning-type with 60 HP, evolving from Magnemite. It is one of three Base Set cards illustrated by Keiji Kinebuchi, whose early-CGI style stands out sharply against the set's hand-painted majority.
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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
Magneton is card 9/102, and it holds a distinction no other Base Set holo can claim: it is the only holofoil in the set not drawn by Sugimori or Arita. Its illustration is by Keiji Kinebuchi.
Kinebuchi is the most interesting figure in the set's credits. He was one of the very few genuine 3D artists on the early TCG, building his images as computer models in LightWave and finishing them digitally — a studio-lit look that is instantly distinguishable from the hand-painted holos around it. He also designed the layout of the Energy cards. And he is the reason Arita was on the project at all: the two met years earlier on a computer bulletin board, and Kinebuchi recommended him to Creatures.
Kinebuchi died in 2002. There was no industry announcement at the time, and his body of work simply stopped — which is why a card most collectors pass over reads differently once you know whose hand is on it. The 1st Edition set guide carries the set's print structure.
How Rare Is This Card?
Start with the two numbers that describe the whole card: roughly 2,545 graded copies exist in total, and about 83 of those are PSA 10s. That is a gem rate near 3.3% — and the gem rate, not the raw population, is the number a collector should actually read. High-grade supply is what the market pays for.
| Card | PSA 10s | Total graded | Gem rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Edition Magneton (1999) | ~83 | ~2,545 | 3.3% |
| 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, compare it with the modern equivalent: a 2023 chase Charizard carries roughly 29,679 gem-grade copies out of about 102,490 graded — a gem rate near 29%, on a card printed and slabbed within a year of release. The modern card has many times the gem supply, at several times this card's gem rate — not because it is a better card, but because a 1999 card was printed before grading was mainstream and then spent two decades in a binder. A vintage gem count is not comparable to a modern one.
Population source: PriceCharting, September 2026. The vintage figure is PSA; the modern figure is a combined PSA + CGC count, which is how each is normally quoted.
Two caveats stay attached to every population figure on this site. Graded counts are submission tallies, not unique cards — resubmissions inflate the total, so the number of genuinely distinct gem copies is lower. And the census is a floor, not a final number: it grows with every submission wave.
Known Error Cards
None are documented for the 1st Edition printing. The named Magneton error — the “White Ink Stain”, an additional white-ink fault — belongs to Unlimited.
The wider set-level faults do touch Magneton, and they are worth knowing because they affect holos generally: the “Yellow Stain” Shadowless holos, carrying vertical yellow ink lines, and instances of a missing holo layer. Both are printing-plant artefacts rather than anything specific to this card.
What Makes This Card Collectible?
The case for this card, specifically:
- The set's only non-Sugimori/Arita holo. A structural outlier in the artwork, not just another mid-tier holo.
- Early CG art. Kinebuchi's studio-lit computer rendering is a distinct technique, and a glimpse of where the hobby's visuals were heading.
- A closed body of work. Kinebuchi died in 2002; his Base Set contribution is finite and finished.
- Thin gem, modest price. About 83 gem copies trading at a mid-tier price — the quiet-scarcity profile.
The Base Set hub compares all four printings, and the Unlimited run is the affordable route to the same artwork.
The Artist: Keiji Kinebuchi
Keiji Kinebuchi is one of the less-heralded early Pokémon TCG illustrators, and Magneton is among his most recognisable Base Set contributions. His work on the set is characterised by early computer-generated rendering — a deliberate contrast to the watercolour and gouache of Sugimori and Arita, and a genuine snapshot of 1999 digital art.
Caleb's Collector Verdict
Magneton is the art-history card of Base Set: the one holo that looks different because a different kind of artist made it.
People Also Ask
Is my 1st Edition Magneton real or fake?
The 1999 Base Set holos are the most counterfeited cards 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 — but a faint grey “ghost” stamp can be an authentic variant, so read it with the 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 with the CGC forensic case study.
Should I grade this card?
Yes, if the surface is clean. Magneton's mid-tier price means grading is marginal at PSA 7–8 but pays at PSA 9 and above, and the thin gem population means a high grade stands out. Worth it on a genuinely sharp copy. See Should You Grade Pokémon Cards? for the fee maths, and check a raw copy with the CardGrader scanner before sending it in.