Zapdos · Aquapolis, what to know.
About the Zapdos card
Zapdos sits at #44 in Aquapolis, the fourteenth of the Wizards of the Coast print runs. Illustration by Hajime Kusajima.
About Zapdos in the Pokémon world
A Legendary Electric-Flying bird. The Electric of the three Legendary birds. Both Base Set holo Zapdos and Fossil holo Zapdos exist. The Base Set print is more famous and more valuable.
Print variants and how to spot them
Aquapolis shipped in Standard, Reverse Holo, and Crystal Type prints. Crystal Type cards are rare alternate-art holos with a colorless rainbow holofoil pattern, pulled at significantly lower rates than standard holos. They are the marquee chase for this set.
Grading and condition
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.
If you are buying this card
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.
