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Overview

Dark Alakazam is a vintage Psychic-type Pokémon TCG card from the Team Rocket expansion, issued during the early era of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. As a rare holo/normal variant within the base-like line of releases, Dark Alakazam represents one of the early “Dark” cards that complemented the rival Team Rocket faction’s narrative, emphasizing a darker thematic design compared to its standard counterparts. The card functions as a Stage 2 evolution, coming after Kadabra, and occupies a notable place in collector histories due to its rarity, artwork, and distinctive ability set that interacts with bench dynamics and opponent weaknesses. The card’s historical context sits at the intersection of the original Base era and the later Team Rocket storyline, showcasing how early sets experimented with villainous-aligned designs while maintaining core gameplay mechanics.

Card Information

Name: Dark Alakazam
Type: Psychic
HP: 60
Stage: Stage 2
Evolves From: Kadabra
Set: Team Rocket (base5)
Rarity: Rare
Illustrator: Ken Sugimori
Dex Number: 65
Variants: Normal, Holo, Reverse; WPromo false
Attacks:

Teleport Blast — Cost: Psychic, Psychic, Colorless
Effect: You may switch Dark Alakazam with 1 of your Benched Pokémon (Do the damage before switching the Pokémon). Damage: 30

Mind Shock — Cost: Psychic, Psychic, Psychic
Effect: Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for this attack. (Any other effects that would happen after applying Weakness and Resistance still happen.)
Damage: 40

Weakness: Psychic ×2
Legal formats: Not legal in Standard or Expanded (as of the card’s data snapshot)

The Team Rocket set incorporated a number of “Dark” Pokémon to align with the antagonistic faction’s theme, and Dark Alakazam is among the more enduring examples from the early period of the TCG. The card’s design reflects the era’s emphasis on evolving powerful Psychic-type lines, while introducing battlefield options that reward strategic bench management and attack timing. The illustrated artwork by Ken Sugimori complements the vintage aesthetic, balancing a sense of menace with the recognizable Alakazam silhouette.

Gameplay and Strategy

In gameplay terms, Dark Alakazam is a Stage 2 attacker with a relatively modest 60 HP by modern standards, and a two-attack profile that emphasizes control of the field and strategic bench placement. The Teleport Blast attack offers a low-risk method to reposition the largest asset on the board—the Pokémon on the bench—before applying damage, enabling a late-game pivot to preserve offensive options or to avoid a knockout by shifting a vulnerable or “swing” target to the active slot. The move’s requirement to deal damage before switching ensures that the act of bench-swapping is resolved within the same turn, maintaining clarity of damage calculation and resulting board state.

The Mind Shock attack delivers higher raw damage at 40 but imposes a significant limitation: it bypasses the typical weaknesses and resistances rules for this attack. This is a double-edged sword. On one hand, Mind Shock can be effective against an opponent that relies on resistances or frequently employs Weakness mitigation strategies; on the other hand, it leaves the attacker more exposed to other forms of retaliation and does not benefit from traditional risk reductions in damage calculation. In practice, players using Dark Alakazam would weigh the timing of Mind Shock against the state of the opponent’s bench and active Pokémon, leveraging Teleport Blast to reposition as needed to maintain pressure on a single target or to stretch the opponent’s resources over multiple turns.

Strategic considerations for integrating Dark Alakazam into a deck include:

Teleport Blast’s bench swap can reset unfavorable matchups, or preserve a key attacker by shuffling a threat into the backline for a later return.
With Psychic ×2 weakness, Dark Alakazam is vulnerable to other Psychic-type threats during opposing turns, requiring careful sequencing and support (e.g., defensive Pokémon, Energy acceleration, or bench protection strategies) to mitigate knockout risk.
As a Stage 2, Dark Alakazam relies on Kadabra’s retrieval and support infrastructures. Effective deck construction around e.g., trainer cards that accelerate evolution and enhance draw or search can help ensure Dark Alakazam presents a timely threat.
In formats where these older cards remain legal, Dark Alakazam is typically considered for nostalgia-driven or control-oriented vintage archetypes rather than as a core modern competitive centerpiece.

Collector and Market Information

Dark Alakazam holds collector interest due to its rarity, historic significance, and the classic Team Rocket aesthetic. The card’s holo variant, in particular, is sought after by vintage collectors who prize early holofoil presentation and the card’s role within the Team Rocket storyline.

Pricing data provides a snapshot of market dynamics for this card across major platforms as of late 2025. CardMarket reports an average price around €75.49 for standard holo variations, with a wide range from a low of €10 to higher values depending on condition and edition. The market trend indicator shows a positive trajectory, reflecting ongoing interest in vintage Team Rocket cards. On TCGPlayer, the first-edition holofoil variant has reported low prices near $85, mid prices around $140, and high prices near $199.99, with market pricing around $141.02. For unlimited holofoil copies, prices typically fall lower, with a low around $34.51, mid around $56.60, high near $79.98, and a market price around $56.80. These figures are companions to the card’s rarity and status within vintage collections, and they illustrate the price ceiling and dispersion common to holofoil vintage Pokémon cards.

Pricing data updates in the provided dataset were last noted on CardMarket (2025-10-31) and TCGPlayer (2025-10-31), reflecting ongoing cataloging and market activity for the card across international collectors. These numbers are subject to change with market dynamics, card condition, and edition status (e.g., first edition holofoil versus unlimited holofoil).

Art and Lore

The Dark Alakazam artwork, attributed to Ken Sugimori, showcases the early-era Pokémon style that defined many of the franchise’s iconic illustrations. Sugimori’s work on the original Pokémon lineup helped solidify a consistent visual language for Psychic-type Pokémon, including Alakazam and its evolutions. The “Dark” variant designation ties into the Team Rocket narrative—an antagonistic faction within the broader lore of the Pokémon world—where shadowy themes, dramatic contrasts, and a darker palette aligned with the organization’s motif. The Team Rocket set’s symbol and logo (as captured by the set’s card back and symbol art) reflect an era in which collectors connected with a cohesive subtheme across multiple card lines, not just a single species or typing. The combination of Sugimori’s art and the Dark designation contributes to a narrative-rich collectible experience, enriching both the lore and the visual identity of early Pokémon TCG releases.

Within the broader canon, Dark Alakazam sits alongside other Dark Pokémon that express a parallel storyline to the hero-focused narrative of the mainline cards. This interplay between hero and villain subsets is a notable characteristic of early sets, influencing how players perceived card collectability, booster pack value, and the card’s place in a hobbyist’s collection—beyond pure gameplay value.

Trivia

Dark Alakazam is identified as a Rare card within the Team Rocket expansion, and it exists in multiple print variants (Normal, Holo, Reverse) with holo variants often commanding higher collector interest.
The card’s attacks—Teleport Blast and Mind Shock—highlight an early design emphasis on field manipulation and unique damage modifiers that differed from later, more streamlined mechanics.
It is not legal in standard or expanded formats, reflecting its vintage status and placement within a historical subset of the TCG’s early competitive landscape.
The card’s dex number, 65, places it within the original evolution line of the Alakazam family, which has historically been a popular Psychic-type archetype in various generations of gameplay.
The Team Rocket set’s imagery and concept, including Dark Alakazam, contribute to a broader cultural memory of the early TCG era, where villain-themed cards occupied a distinct niche in both play and collecting communities.

Dark Alakazam — Pokémon TCG

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Image courtesy of TCGdex.net