Dark Forretress

Dark Forretress sits at #35 in Neo Destiny, the eleventh of the Wizards of the Coast print runs. Illustration by Mitsuhiro Arita. Arita was the original Pokémon TCG illustrator and the artist behind the Base Set Charizard. His vintage-era art has a painterly quality that distinguishes it from the cleaner reference-style work of the Sugimori cards. In the games, Dark Forretress evolves from Pineco, which makes it a late-stage card in the line.

The flavor text on the card reads: "It stays motionless in trees, driving away with flying armored shards from its hard shell any who come close." Pokédex entries from this era are short and often quirky, written by the original Japanese localization team for a specific stat-block layout that no longer exists in modern cards.

Neo Destiny shipped in 1st Edition, Unlimited, and Shining prints. Shining cards are an entirely separate rarity tier above standard holo with an alternate-color holo pattern. Shining cards are pulled at significantly lower rates than standard holos and are a defining feature of the late Neo era.

Uncommons grade more forgivingly than Rare Holos but the same centering and edge requirements apply. Raw copies in pack-fresh condition are easy to find. A PSA 10 submission on a clean Uncommon is a low-cost way to learn how the grading process scores Wizards-era cardstock.

Raw copies of this card are inexpensive enough that the grading math rarely justifies submission unless you have a clearly pack-fresh example. For set completionists, picking up a clean raw copy and sleeving it is the practical move.