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Banette card art from Hidden Legends (EX5)

Image courtesy of TCGdex.net

Overview

Banette is a Psychic-type Pokémon card from the Hidden Legends expansion of the Pokémon Trading Card Game, issued as part of the EX series era. This card represents the Graveyard-dwelling puppet Pokémon Banette, notable for its eerie design and its evolution from Shuppet. In gameplay terms, Banette carries two Attack actions that interact with the game’s discard piles—an attribute characteristic of some early EX-era cards that emphasized discard-based effects and strategic resource management. With 70 HP and a Rare rarity, Banette occupies a niche role as a Stage 1 attacker that scales damage with the opponent’s discarded energy and cadenced discard contents, rather than straightforward raw damage output alone. The card is available in multiple print variants, including Normal, Holo, and Reverse Holo, reflecting collectors’ interest in the EX series’ holofoil presentation.

From a historical perspective, Banette’s design and mechanics fit the early 2000s trend of incorporating discard interactions into competitive play. The Hidden Legends set, identified by the code ex5, gathered a mix of familiar Kanto and Johto-era Pokémon with fresh mechanics and artwork. Banette’s two attacks—Shadow Steal and Darkness Chant—exemplify the era’s penchant for using discard piles as dynamic resources, inviting players to consider both their own discard strategy and the opponent’s discard state. While not legal in Standard or Expanded formats in contemporary play, the card remains a meaningful artifact for collectors and historians of the Pokémon TCG’s formative years.

Card Information

Name: Banette
Dex number: 354
Set: Hidden Legends (ex5)
Card number: ex5-1
Rarity: Rare
Illustrator: Midori Harada
HP: 70
Types: Psychic
Stage: Stage 1 (evolves from Shuppet)
Evolution: Shuppet → Banette
Weakness: Darkness ×2
Resistance: Fighting −30
Retreat cost: Not specified in official card data provided here
Attacks:
- Shadow Steal — Cost: Psychic; Damage: 10+; Effect: Does 10 damage plus 20 more damage for each Special Energy card in your opponent's discard pile.
- Darkness Chant — Cost: Psychic, Colorless; Effect: Count the number of Basic Pokémon or Evolution cards in your discard pile. Put that many damage counters on the Defending Pokémon. You can't put more than 6 damage counters on the Defending Pokémon in this way.
Variants: Normal, Holo, Reverse Holo
Legal formats: Standard: No; Expanded: No
Set symbol and logos: Includes the Hidden Legends symbol and set logo

Gameplay and Strategy

Banette’s two attacks center on manipulating and leveraging the opponent’s discard pile, a mechanic that was more common in the earlier stages of the Pokémon TCG’s history. The Shadow Steal attack converts the contents of the opponent’s discard pile into additional damage, scaling with the number of Special Energy cards currently there. In practice, this creates a situational but potentially powerful effect: if the opponent has relied on Special Energy to power stronger attacks, a heavily populated discard with Special Energy cards can significantly boost Banette’s immediate damage output. This dynamic encourages players to consider the timing of Shadow Steal—ideally when the opponent has accumulated a sizable number of Special Energy cards, potentially maximizing the attack’s damage ceiling beyond base figures. The Darkness Chant attack adds a different strategic dimension. By counting Basic Pokémon and Evolution cards in the discard pile and then placing that many damage counters on the Defending Pokémon (capped at six), it promotes a planning phase focused on how the opponent has managed their deck and discard through the match. Players may attempt to populate the opponent’s discard with Basic and Evolution Pokémon to unlock incremental damage, while adverse plans may involve altering discard contents to minimize the effect, depending on what is feasible within the current metagame and deck construction. As a Stage 1 Pokémon evolving from Shuppet, Banette occupies the typical early-stage trajectory of its era: it requires evolving a lower-stage Pokémon on the bench to unlock its full potential. In practice, players would pair Banette with a deck that can reliably fetch Shuppet and accelerate its evolution while leveraging discard-based interactions. Psychic-type coverage makes Banette a potential match against certain enemies whose defensive proficiencies are susceptible to Psychic-type pressure, but the card’s relatively modest HP and the specificity of its discard-related effects demand careful resource management. In formats where these mechanics remain legal, Banette’s value lies less in straightforward pruning of the opponent’s life points and more in creating mindfully distributed damage through discard manipulation. In modern terms, Banette’s role would be considered highly niche and contingent on deck archetypes that can reliably interact with the discard zone. Its dual-attack design exemplifies the era’s experimentation with non-damaging or semi-damaging effects that ask players to think in terms of discard economy and the evolving state of each game.

Collector and Market Information

Banette is a Rare card from the Hidden Legends set, a cornerstone of many collectors’ collections due to its place in the early EX-era print runs and its holo and reverse holo variants. The Hidden Legends set (ex5) comprises a total of 102 cards, with 101 cards officially counted in the standard set distribution. Banette’s card number ex5-1 places it at the front of the set’s print run, reflecting its release position within the expansion.

Market data for Banette reflects a range of values depending on variant and condition. CardMarket’s data (as of late 2025) shows an average price around 3.34 EUR for non-holo copies, with documented price points ranging from approximately 1 EUR to higher values that reflect market demand, condition, and print run. The holofoil variant typically commands higher figures; the average holo price in the CardMarket dataset is around 7.7 EUR, with a notable premium for higher-grade copies. The trend lines indicate ongoing collector interest in early EX-era cards and holo variants.

TCGPlayer price data (as of autumn 2025) illustrates that holofoil Banette ex5-1 carries a broader range: low prices around 11 USD, mid prices near 26–27 USD, and highs approaching 40 USD for pristine holo copies. MarketPrice figures further corroborate the holo premium, with reverse holo values generally tracking slightly below or around the mid-range holo prices, reflecting standard collector demand for holo and reverse-holo prints of Rare cards from this era. These figures illustrate that print variants, condition, and market timing all contribute to Banette’s current market standing.

In terms of collectability, Banette benefits from its rarity, its place in a notable EX-era set, and its dual-variant availability. While not a modern-legal card, it remains a staple for enthusiasts who collect Hidden Legends or early EX-series cards, as well as for players who focus on nostalgia-era deck construction or discard-mechanic experimentation.

Art and Lore

The Banette illustration by Midori Harada emphasizes the macabre, puppet-like character central to Banette’s in-game identity. The artwork for Hidden Legends often leans into darker, more mythic aesthetics, aligning with Ghost- and Psychic-themed Pokémon motifs of the era. Although Banette’s in-game type in this card is Psychic, its Ghost-type origins in the Pokémon universe contribute to a lore-based connection between Banette’s folklore-style menace and its inked portrayal on the card. The Shuppet-to-Banette evolution line is a recurring theme in both the creature’s in-game backstory and its card representations, where Banette embodies cursed puppetry and shadowy manipulation—concepts that resonate with the card’s discard-based mechanics and its strategic aura of psychological warfare in play.

The Hidden Legends set itself was a product of the early EX-series era, seeking to introduce or expand upon classic Pokémon with a new generation of card art and mechanics. Midori Harada’s rendition of Banette contributes to a broader gallery of evocative and moody card illustrations that defined the visual language of this period. For collectors and lore enthusiasts, Banette’s art is emblematic of the era’s blend of creature design, narrative mood, and collectible appeal.

Trivia

This Banette card is a Rare from the Hidden Legends set (ex5) and features the first‑print impression style options including Normal, Holo, and Reverse Holo variants.
The card’s two attacks demonstrate discard-focused interactions: Shadow Steal scales with Special Energy cards in the opponent’s discard pile, while Darkness Chant depends on the count of Basic Pokémon and Evolution cards in that same zone.
Banette evolves from Shuppet, aligning with its lore as a haunted, puppet-like Pokémon and reflecting common evolution paths from the set’s corresponding phase.
Although it has no Standard or Expanded legality today, Banette ex5-1 remains a subject of interest for collectors who specialize in early EX-era cards and holofoil variants.
Illustrator Midori Harada contributed the artwork for this card, contributing to the distinctive visual identity of the Hidden Legends lineup.

Notes on Availability and Variants

As a card with holo and reverse holo variants, Banette’s print distribution reflects the broader EX-era practice of offering multiple foil treatments to popular or strategically interesting Pokémon. Collectors often seek out near-mint copies of both holo and reverse holo forms, and pricing data from market trackers reflect the prestige associated with holofoil cards from this era. While the card’s gameplay relevance is primarily historical and collectible given its non-Standard/Expanded legality, Banette remains an informative example of how discard-based mechanics were implemented in the early days of the TCG’s evolving ruleset.

References and Data Context

The card data summarized herein draws from the official card entries and market datasets, including the card’s set metadata (Hidden Legends, ex5), card number ex5-1, illustrator Midori Harada, and the two attacks Shadow Steal and Darkness Chant as printed on the card. Market pricing reflects CardMarket and TCGPlayer data (as of late 2025) for both non-holo and holofoil copies, illustrating the price range and typical variability associated with this specific card and its variants.

📘 Banette — Pokémon TCG