📘 Surskit — Pokémon TCG

Category: Pokemon TCG · Created: · Updated:

Surskit card art from Paradox Rift (SV04-001)

Image courtesy of TCGdex.net

Overview

The entry covers a basic Grass-type Pokémon card from the Paradox Rift expansion (SV04), identified by its official card number SV04-001. The card features Surskit, a small insect-like Pokémon, and is published in both standard and reverse-foil variants within the SV04 print run. As a Common rarity card, it is designed to appear early in a trainer’s lineup, providing a modest early-game presence and a coin-flip-based attack that can scale with favorable results.

Paradox Rift introduces a diverse roster of Pokémon across its collection, with SV04 representing a mid-series batch that expands on common staples for new deck-building possibilities. Surskit's Grass typing on this card diverges from its long-standing Water/Bug nature in other media representations, reflecting the evolving design language of the set. The card’s low HP and basic stage influence how it is typically integrated into a player’s opening strategy and bench setup.

Card Information

  • Name: Surskit
  • Dex Id: 283
  • HP: 50
  • Type: Grass
  • Stage: Basic
  • Rarity: Common
  • Set: Paradox Rift (SV04)
  • Card Number: SV04-001
  • Illustrator: Yoriyuki Ikegami
  • Variants: Normal, Reverse
  • Artwork Note: The card artwork showcases Surskit in a bright, illustrative style typical of Ikegami’s work for this set.
  • Attacks:
    • Triple Spin — Cost: Grass
    • Effect: Flip 3 coins. This attack does 10 damage for each heads.
    • Damage: 10×
  • Retreat Cost: 1
  • Regulation Mark: G
  • Legal in: Standard, Expanded
  • Set Size (official): 182
  • Set Size (total): 266
  • Evolution Line: Surskit → Masquerain
  • Pricing (CardMarket): Data as of 2025-10-31 indicates a low-priced common card with non-holo averages around EUR 0.02; holo versions show higher activity with average around EUR 0.08, reflecting market demand and variant availability.

Gameplay and Strategy

As a Basic Grass-type with modest stats, this Surskit functions primarily as an early-game setup card designed to apply incremental damage while the player develops a bench of more impactful threats. The defining feature is Triple Spin, which requires a degree of luck but offers the potential for up to 30 damage if all three coin flips come up heads. In practice, Triple Spin creates strategic considerations around coin-flip probability, resource management, and bench pressure.

Possible strategic applications include:

  • Use Surskit to begin pressuring the opponent while shaping the board for Masquerain, which can offer additional offensive or defensive options in subsequent turns.
  • Build around other cards or game states that benefit from multiple coin flips or reward favorable coin results, maximizing the damage potential of Triple Spin when possible.
  • Transition from Surskit to Masquerain as the game progresses to access a more robust offensive profile or to diversify your Grass-type strategy.
  • With low HP, Surskit is vulnerable to early knockouts; pairing it with trainer items or support Pokémon that can heal or retreat to safer attackers can mitigate risk.

In formats where Grass-type decks lean on rapid evolution lines and disruptive support, Surskit becomes a compact, early game asset. Its weakness to defensive counters and its limited HP mean that it is typically deployed with careful tempo in mind, rather than as a blunt force attacker.

Collector and Market Information

Rarity and distribution:

  • Rarity: Common
  • Variant Presence: Normal and Reverse variants are documented for SV04, aligning with the standard distribution practices for this set cycle.
  • Set Size Context: Paradox Rift comprises 182 officially released cards in the set, with 266 total counting parallel prints and variants.

Pricing context (CardMarket data as of 2025-10-31):

  • Non-holo (standard): average price around EUR 0.02; low around EUR 0.02; recent trend approximately EUR 0.03.
  • Holo variant pricing: average around EUR 0.08; low around EUR 0.02; trend around EUR 0.07; short-term averages for weighted measures (avg1-holo ~ EUR 0.10, avg7-holo ~ EUR 0.08, avg30-holo ~ EUR 0.09).

These figures reflect the low market impact of a Common card in a large, actively printed set, with holo variance exhibiting higher demand and supply dynamics. For collectors, SV04-001 provides a representative example of the set’s print distribution and the broader market behavior for common Grass-type entries in this era of the Pokémon TCG.

Art and Lore

The artwork by Yoriyuki Ikegami presents Surskit within a stylized, vibrant color palette that emphasizes its Grass typing in the Paradox Rift era. Ikegami’s renderings for this set often balance clean line work with soft shading to convey a sense of movement and character, aligning with Surskit’s small, agile nature. The card’s design connects to the broader visual language of Paradox Rift, featuring bright backgrounds and a crisp depiction that stands out on the battlefield and in collection galleries alike.

While the Pokémon’s in-game species is typically associated with Water/Bug typing, the card’s Grass-type presentation for this set reinforces the creative direction of the reach of grass-based archetypes within Paradox Rift. The evolution line to Masquerain is common knowledge across the franchise; in the TCG context, Masquerain often serves as a more substantial bench threat or attacker, continuing the insect-themed evolution pattern that Surskit embodies on this card.

Trivia

  • SV04-001 marks the first card number in the Paradox Rift SV04 subset for Surskit, establishing its place as an opening card in the set’s sequence.
  • The Regulation Mark is G, aligning with the shared formatting standard for recent expansions and indicating legal play in both Standard and Expanded formats at the time of release.
  • Variants for this card include Normal and Reverse, reflecting the typical SV04 print run distribution for common cards.
  • Illustration credit goes to Yoriyuki Ikegami, a consistent contributor across multiple cards in the Paradox Rift collection.
  • Market data from CardMarket demonstrates low-price stability for the common non-holo version, with holo variants showing higher price points due to rarity and demand among collectors.

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