Nidoking

Nidoking sits at #31 in Legendary Collection, the twelfth of the Wizards of the Coast print runs. Illustration by Ken Sugimori. Sugimori is the lead character designer of the Pokémon franchise itself. His TCG illustrations carry a tighter, more on-model feel because they are by the same hand that defined how the Pokémon look in the games. In the games, Nidoking evolves from Nidorino, which makes it a late-stage card in the line.

The flavor text on the card reads: "Uses its powerful tail in battle to smash, constrict, then break its prey's bones." 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.

The Ground-Poison final form of the Nidoran♂ line. Tall bipedal silhouette with a long horn. Considered one of the strongest Ground types in Gen 1. Base Set holo Nidoking is a steady five-figure card in PSA 10 1st Edition. Quieter than the marquee starters but consistently in demand.

Legendary Collection shipped in Standard and Reverse Holo prints. The Reverse Holo treatment was new with this set: foil applied to the card background rather than the artwork window. There is no 1st Edition, since Wizards retired the stamp by this point in the production timeline.

For graded buyers, non-holo Rares are less punishing on surface but no easier on centering. PSA 10 populations for Wizards-era Rares are smaller than the Rare Holo populations in some cases because the cards were less protected and more frequently played. Edge whitening from sleeves is the typical grade-cap on raw copies.

For raw purchases of this card, verify centering by eye, edge whitening on all four sides, and surface scratches under angled light. Non-holo Rares from the Wizards era are cheap enough that PSA 10 submissions usually do not break the math if you have a clean candidate.