First Edition, Shadowless and Unlimited Pokémon Cards

A shadowless Pokémon card is an English Base Set card printed before a drop shadow was added along the right-hand side of the artwork frame. CGC uses the name for the Base Set print run that came after 1st Edition, which has no 1st Edition stamp and no shadow, and points out that the 1st Edition run also lacks the shadow. Base Set came out in English in 1999, and CGC describes shadowless cards only in Base Set.

Understand the printing terms

1st Edition is the first print run of a Wizards of the Coast era English set, with every card carrying the 1st Edition symbol. CGC says English sets used the symbol for about three years after Base Set, ending with Neo Destiny. In its June 2022 article, CGC reported that no English cards with the symbol had been issued in the 20 years since. CGC also says Base Set 2 was the one English set of that period printed without it.

Shadowless is a Base Set term. CGC describes the shadowless run as the same cards as 1st Edition with the symbol removed, and says shadowless cards were only around for the first two releases of Base Set. If a Jungle, Fossil or Neo card is offered as shadowless, ask the seller what they mean by it, because CGC does not use the term for those sets.

Unlimited is every later print run without a stamp. On Base Set, the Unlimited run is where the drop shadow was added. For the sets after Base Set, Unlimited simply means the card has no 1st Edition symbol.

CGC also describes a later Base Set print made for the UK in 2000. It carries the Unlimited changes, including the shadow, and its copyright date was changed to 1999-2000. The cards often look a little lighter in colour, and some text was corrected. CGC's example is Vulpix, whose HP reads "50 HP" on this print rather than "HP 50".

Compare the visual identifiers

The table sets out each printing and what to look for. The last column names a card CGC has documented for that row, or says there is none. "Not confirmed" in the copyright column means no primary source we checked gives the wording.

With the same Base Set Pokémon card from the three main prints side by side, two checks do most of the work. First, look at the right-hand edge of the artwork frame. On the Unlimited copy a shadow runs down that edge, and on the 1st Edition and shadowless copies it does not. Second, look for the stamp on the left side of the card, about halfway down. Only the 1st Edition copy carries it.

Check the set and language first

The Base Set shortcut (stamp, then shadow) only works on English Base Set, so confirm the set and language before you apply it.

The collector number is the quickest set check. The official Pokémon Organized Play reprint list numbers Base Set cards out of 102, Jungle out of 64, Fossil out of 62 and Base Set 2 out of 130. Some names appear in more than one set: Bill is 91/102 in Base Set and 118/130 in Base Set 2. CGC says Base Set 2 never had a 1st Edition run, so a Base Set 2 card carrying a 1st Edition stamp has had the stamp added after printing.

Jungle cards normally carry a flower set symbol, but CGC documents early Jungle cards printed without it. A missing symbol does not on its own make a card Base Set, so check the collector number as well.

Japanese cards follow different rules. The Japanese game launched at the end of October 1996, and CGC calls the first print of the Expansion Pack, which has no rarity symbols, Japan's true first edition. The Japanese 1st Edition mark arrived in 2001 with Pokémon VS and ran until the 20th Anniversary set in 2016. CGC notes that Japanese first editions are often more common than their unlimited versions, the opposite of the English pattern. Our guide to Japanese and English Pokémon cards covers the wider differences.

Wizards era cards were also printed in European languages. We have not found a primary source for each language's print history, so treat the English rules as a starting point only.

Read the stamp, border and copyright information

CGC's guide to first editions puts the English stamp on the left side of Pokémon cards about halfway down, in the bottom left corner on Trainer cards and in the top right corner on Energy cards. CGC's alert on altered Italian cards words it differently, as the bottom-left corner below the art box, so compare a card against a confirmed genuine copy of the same card rather than a written description. The stamp was printed from a plate in the same press as the card, so its position is very consistent. CGC's check on a Pokémon card is that the middle of the T in EDITION should line up with the bottom-left corner of the artwork frame.

Not every genuine stamp is solid black. CGC documents Base Set 1st Edition stamps that are noticeably grey, on holos and non-holos, and says the cause is not known for certain. CGC also documents a partial "ghost" stamp on shadowless Pikachu cards from one Base Set theme deck, the version with a gold opening strip. A former Wizards of the Coast typesetter explained it as a printing artefact called a trap that was accidentally included on the regular plates.

The border check is the drop shadow on the right side of the artwork frame: absent on 1st Edition and shadowless Base Set cards, present on Unlimited. Its weight can vary. CGC describes the "Black Flame" Ninetales as having a much heavier shadow than usual.

The copyright line runs along the bottom of the card. The documented change is the UK print, where the date became 1999-2000. We found no primary source for a copyright difference between the shadowless and standard Unlimited prints, so do not use the copyright line alone to separate them.

Avoid confusing editions with condition or authenticity

Edition, condition and authenticity are separate judgements. The edition tells you which print run a card came from. It says nothing about wear, and nothing about whether the card is genuine.

Condition is the physical state of the card: corners, edges, surface and centring. A 1st Edition card can be heavily played and an Unlimited card can be near mint. Our condition standard explains how we will describe that separately from the printing.

Authenticity comes first, because stamps get added to Unlimited cards. CGC's alert on altered Italian cards found ink that did not match the colour or sheen of a genuine symbol, stamps sitting slightly raised, laser printer overspray and small creases from the card passing through the printer. Its alert on a fake ghost stamp Pikachu found the stamp placed too far left, blurred edges under magnification, a rounded O where the genuine one is built from straight segments, and small black ink specks around it. The guide to spotting fake Pokémon cards covers the wider checks.

Certification companies keep printings apart too. CGC lists Base Set 1st Edition, Base Set Shadowless and Base Set Unlimited as separate sets, so a certified card's label should name the printing as well as the grade.

Create an accurate want list or listing

For buying, selling or swapping, write down what you can see rather than what you hope the card is. These fields make a vintage card description precise.

• Set name and collector number (for example, a number out of 102 for Base Set)
• Language
• Printing: 1st Edition, shadowless, Unlimited or the 1999-2000 UK print
• Stamp: present or absent, black or grey, and its position against the artwork frame
• Drop shadow on the artwork frame: present or absent (Base Set only)
• Set symbol: present or absent (Jungle onwards)
• Holo or non-holo
• Any named variant or error, with the source that documents it
• Condition, described separately from the printing
• If certified: the company, the printing named on the label and the certificate number

Leave a field blank if you are not sure, and say so. "Stamp not checked under magnification" is more useful than a guess. When we open, we will describe vintage Pokémon singles using these same fields.

If you are checking a stamped card now, the most useful next step is our guide to spotting fake Pokémon cards, because confirming a card is genuine comes before confirming its printing.