What are shadowless Pokémon cards?

Shadowless Pokémon cards are rare variants of cards from the first ever Pokémon set; they’re part of the game’s history, and highly sought after by collectors. This guide explains how to spot a shadowless Pokémon card, where they come from, and what they’re worth.

If you’re just now getting into collecting, we don’t recommend setting your sights on nabbing a Shadowless – they’re some of the most expensive rare Pokémon cards in the world, and only a very few are in circulation. However, we can recommend plenty of the best Pokémon cards and best Pokémon packs to buy – these are still worth having but are less likely to cost the same as a new car.

On the other hand, if you’ve got a collection of very old cards, it’s well worth searching them to determine if any of your early cards are actually shadowless – and we’re here to help!

What is a shadowless Pokémon card?

So, what is a shadowless Pokémon card? Shadowless Pokémon cards earn their name because they do not feature a shadow border to the right of the character portrait. They’re very rare, and therefore very valuable.

These distinctive cards were only produced for the first print runs of the Base Set, itself the first-ever Pokémon set produced in the US by Wizards of the Coast. They reflect the early stages of the game before Wizards finalized the card design.

That means you won’t find any shadowless cards in Scarlet and Violet boosters! But if you’ve been playing for as long as us, it’s possible you tossed around shadowless cards in the school playground.

How to identify a shadowless Pokémon card

The easiest way to identify a shadowless Pokémon card is to look along the right of the character portrait – a shadowless card does not have a drop shadow here.

Another identifying factor is the thickness of the HP value font. A shadowless card has slimmer writing, whereas a shadowed card’s text is much more prominent. The shadowless Ninetales above has pale, sharp HP text; the shadowed Vulpix below has thicker, bolder HP text.

Both of these will help you to spot shadowless cards for Pokémon, but for Trainer cards – which don’t have a drop shadow in any printing, and never have an HP value – you need to check the Copyright information.

Shadowless cards list all the years 1995, 96, 98, and 99 in the Copyright information at the bottom of the card, while later print runs display just 1995, 96, 98.

How to identify 1st edition shadowless cards

If the card sports a 1st edition badge and meets the shadowless criteria then it’s a 1st edition shadowless card. If it doesn’t have that 1st edition logo, it’s just plain old shadowless, indicating it’s from the second shadowless print run. The photo above shows a Machamp with the 1st edition logo (sadly, not a shadowless card!)

Naturally 1st edition shadowless are much rarer and so have greater value. Check out our article on how to spot first edition Pokémon cards for a thorough explanation.

What is the rarest shadowless card?

All the rare cards in the Base Set were printed in equivalent numbers (not counting those that were packed into starter decks), so in principle, there isn’t a single rarest shadowless card. However, some are much more sought after.

Below are examples of some shadowless cards and what they go for. A PSA grade-10 card is the highest achievable grade, indicating practically-mint condition. While ungraded cards may also be in near-mint condition, their market value tends to be lower due to the absence of official grading.

Shadowless Charizard

Fan favorite Charizard is the most lucrative shadowless card. In fact, our affection for Charizard runs so deep that these character cards consistently rank among the most popular throughout the many Pokémon card series. Check out our article exploring the best Charizard cards.

Shadowless Blastoise

As the third evolution of the original starter trio, it’s no surprise that Blastoise is also a fan favorite and a popular shadowless card choice.

Shadowless Mewtwo

Mewtwo is a personal favorite, and I’m sure it’s many other people’s favorite too. After all, Mewtwo is the legendary Pokémon. No wonder it’s a popular shadowless choice.

Interested in all things Pokémon? Here’s all you need to know about the newest Pokémon set. Plus, we can answer that ever-evolving question: how many Pokémon are there?