Raticate · Scarlet & Violet 151, what to know.
About the Raticate card
Raticate sits at #20 in Scarlet & Violet 151, released in September 2023. Scarlet & Violet 151 is part of the modern English Pokémon TCG era and uses the standard contemporary card frame and rarity tiers. Illustration by sowsow. In the games, Raticate evolves from Rattata, which makes it a late-stage card in the line.
The flavor text on the card reads: "Its whiskers are essential for maintaining its balance. No matter how friendly you are, it will get angry and bite you if you touch its whiskers." 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.
About Raticate in the Pokémon world
The fully evolved Rattata. Larger, more aggressive, with a famous unverified internet rumor about its anime fate. Base Set Raticate has steady raw demand. Holo Raticate does not exist in Wizards-era prints.
Print variants and how to spot them
Scarlet & Violet 151 shipped in Holofoil, Reverse Holo, ex, Full Art, and Special Illustration. Each of the 151 original Kanto Pokémon appears in some form across the set. Charizard ex Special Illustration Rare (#199) is the headline pull and drove extreme launch demand.
Grading and condition
Modern Uncommons grade cleanly. The secondary market for graded modern Uncommons is mostly set-completionist driven; standalone demand is thin. Useful as a first grading submission to learn the process.
If you are buying this card
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.
