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Blaine's Arcanine card art from Gym Challenge set

Image courtesy of TCGdex.net

Overview

Blaine's Arcanine is a Fire-type Pokémon card from the Gym Challenge expansion, part of the early Gym series in the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Classified as a Rare Holo, it features a dynamic illustration by Ken Sugimori and showcases a familiar Kanto Fire-type Pokémon adapted into a trainer-themed subset that explored gym matchups and character-driven decks. The card represents a transitional era in the TCG, where powerful Fire-type Pokémon often carried high-energy costs and aggressive damage outputs, balanced by risk in recoil or energy management.

In gameplay terms, Blaine's Arcanine sits at 90 hit points and evolves from Growlithe, reflecting the classic evolutionary line that players could develop to contest early gym battles. While not legal in modern Standard or Expanded formats, this card remains a point of reference for collectors and historians studying the evolution of Gym Challenge and the broader narrative framing of Blaine’s gym-centric lineup. The card’s holo variant and its specific print attributes—such as the non-first edition status—highlight its place within the circulation patterns of late-1990s collectible sets.

Card Information

Name: Blaine's Arcanine
Dex/Type: Fire-type Pokémon, Dex ID 59
HP: 90
Stage / Evolution: Stage 1; evolves from Growlithe
Set: Gym Challenge (card count official 132, total 132)
Rarity: Rare Holo
Illustrator: Ken Sugimori
Attacks:
- Heat Tackle – Cost: Fire, Colorless, Colorless; Damage: 40; Effect: Blaine's Arcanine does 10 damage to itself.
- Firestorm – Cost: Fire, Fire, Fire, Fire; Damage: 120; Effect: Discard 3 Energy cards attached to Blaine's Arcanine to use this attack.
Weakness: Water ×2
Variants: Normal, Holo, Reverse; First Edition: False; WPromo: False
Legal status: Standard: False, Expanded: False
Image source: https://assets.tcgdex.net/en/gym/gym2/1/high.png
Pricing data (as of late 2025):
- Cardmarket (EUR): updated 2025-10-31; Avg 84.87; Low 11.50; Trend 70.35; Avg holo variants (where applicable) 33.79 etc.
- TCGPlayer (USD): updated 2025-10-31; 1st Edition holofoil: low 209.99, mid 297.49, high 300.00; market price 280.00; Unlimited holofoil: low 53.24, mid 76.31, high 245.99; market price 79.50.

Gameplay and Strategy

As a Stage 1 Fire-type with a 90 HP baseline, Blaine's Arcanine offers considerable offense for its era, but the cost structure imposes energy management considerations typical of late-1990s designs. Heat Tackle provides a modest 40 damage while inflicting a small self-damage penalty (10 damage to Blaine's Arcanine). This creates a built-in risk-reward dynamic: players must weigh the value of dealing consistent damage against the potential drawback of reduced HP during a game’s mid-to-late stages.

Firestorm, the more demanding attack, delivers a powerful 120 damage at the cost of discarding three Energy cards attached to Blaine's Arcanine. In practice, this attack is positioned as a high-risk, high-reward option best leveraged in decks built to accelerate Energy attachment and protect the Pokémon through protective strategies or healing support. Because Firestorm requires four Energy total and the explicit discard clause, players typically integrated energy-dense setups or discard-efficient accelerants to maximize the chance of landing a knockout on a key opponent while mitigating the loss of attached Energy in the following turns.

In modern deck-building terms, Blaine's Arcanine is not legal in Standard or Expanded play. However, its card design highlights several recurring themes in Fire-type archetypes from the era: high-damage bursts, meaningful trade-offs, and the importance of stage-based evolution lines to unlock greater damage output. Competitive players of vintage formats looked for synergy with trainer items and stadiums that could accelerate Energy placement or mitigate the recoil of Heat Tackle, while also leveraging Arcanine’s vulnerability to Water to guide matchup decisions. As a collectible card, it also serves as a reference point for how gym-themed subsets framed trainer-centric narratives around iconic Pokémon—an element that influenced later expansions and their gym-themed subplots.

Collector and Market Information

The Blaine's Arcanine card is classified as Rare Holo with holo, normal, and reverse variants. The set it originates from, Gym Challenge, contains a mix of gym-themed Pokémon and trainer-focused mechanics that appealed to collectors seeking both competitive potential and nostalgic value.

Rarity and print variations contribute to its market dynamics. For collectors, holo cards from older sets often command a premium relative to their non-holo counterparts, reflecting both aesthetic appeal and perceived scarcity. In the case of Blaine's Arcanine, the lack of a First Edition print reduces some of the extreme early-print-price dynamics, but the card’s position in the Gym Challenge line and its status as a Rare Holo keep it relevant for completionists and grade-focused collectors alike.

Market data (late 2020s) show a broad spread in pricing across platforms. Cardmarket reports an average around 84.87 EUR for typical holo copies, with a wide low end near 11.50 EUR and a positive trend around 70.35. On TCGPlayer, the holofoil copy shows distinct value tiers: for 1st Edition holofoil, low prices can start around 209.99 USD, with mid prices near 297.49 USD and highs around 300.00 USD; unlimited holofoil editions display a broader range, with low prices around 53.24 USD, mid around 76.31 USD, and market highs near 245.99 USD. These figures reflect general market conditions for vintage holo cards and are subject to change with supply dynamics and population reports. Pricing data also note a separate holo market segment with its own historical trends.

Collectors should verify the exact printing and condition, as rare holo cards from gym-era sets can exhibit variations in gloss, centering, and surface wear. Grading services may factor these elements into overall value, with higher grades often commanding premium pricing relative to ungraded copies.

Art and Lore

Ken Sugimori’s illustration of Blaine's Arcanine epitomizes the energetic style characteristic of late-1990s Pokémon art. Sugimori, the principal illustrator responsible for many of the original Pokémon designs and their early card representations, frequently captured Arcanine with a dynamic, flame-swept presence that conveys speed, power, and a heroic aura. Gym Challenge cards, including Blaine's Arcanine, often place Arcanine in action-forward poses that align with the card’s high-damage attacks and gym-themed narrative of rival trainers testing their teams against Blaine’s specialized lineup.

The artwork also reflects the period’s contractual and design conventions: bold lines, vivid fire motifs, and a sense of movement that communicates the Pokémon’s fiery temperament. This artwork not only served as a visual anchor for players during play but also reinforced the lore of Blaine’s gym leadership and the broader Kanto fire-type lineage within the TCG universe.

Trivia

The card represents a classic Growlithe-to-Arcanine evolution path, anchored within the Gym Challenge set’s thematic focus on gym trainers and their signature Pokémon.
Heat Tackle involves recoil through self-damage, a design pattern seen in several cards of the era that balanced offense with a personal risk factor.
Firestorm is a high-cost, high-reward attack that requires four Fire-energy commitments and a discard of three attached Energy cards, highlighting energy-management considerations central to vintage Fire archetypes.
The card’s legal status (not legal in Standard or Expanded) places it in historical context, illustrating how format eligibility has evolved across generations of the Pokémon TCG.
Print variants include normal, holo, and reverse holo; first edition was not issued for this particular card in the Gym Challenge print run, affecting its early-collector visibility.

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Blaine's Arcanine

📘 Blaine's Arcanine — Pokémon TCG