Pokémon · Base

Charmander

Base

Base Set · #46 · Common · 1999

Listings

No active listings

From

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Market reference

$1.65

TCGPlayer

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Card facts

Quick reference for collectors and graders.

Set position: 46 / 102
Release year: 1999
Rarity: Common
HP: 50
Subtype: Basic
Evolves to: Charmeleon
Retreat cost: 1 energy
Illustrator: Mitsuhiro Arita
Pokédex #: 4
Series: Base

Card analysis

Computed from this card's stats and text — not a reposted price.

Primary role: Attacker
Damage efficiency: 30 damage; 15 per Energy
Prize liability: 1 Prize given up; Single-prize attacker — favourable prize trades
Setup: Basic; Plays straight down — no evolution needed

Strategy & play

How Charmander plays — derived from its stats and the rules of the game, not an opinion.

A Basic — hits the board turn 1 with no evolution tax.
Its main attack (Ember) needs 2 Energy — a turn-2 swing on manual attachment.
Needs Fire Energy to attack — your line must supply that color.
Fire type, weak to Water ×2 — a Water attacker doing ≥25 effectively one-shots it.
A single-prize attacker — prize-trade-positive against ex / V decks that give up two at a time.
Seen in 0% of recent tournament decks that can run it, usually 3 copies.

How to beat Charmander

Exploit its Water weakness — ≥25 damage one-shots it.

Competitive performance

From real Standard tournament decks over the last 180 days.

Meta inclusion: 0% of decks; 3.39 copies on average · 170 decks
Match win rate: 34.2%; -13.0 pts vs the 47.2% field average

Plays well with

Cards most often run alongside this one in tournament decks over the last 180 days — ranked by how distinctive the pairing is.

Charmeleon

in 96% of decks · 155 seen

Mega Charizard X ex

in 99% of decks · 161 seen

Mega Charizard Y ex

in 64% of decks · 103 seen

Oricorio ex

in 96% of decks · 155 seen

Heatmor

in 15% of decks · 24 seen

Nitro Fire Energy

in 25% of decks · 40 seen

Reshiram

in 11% of decks · 18 seen

Firebreather

in 63% of decks · 102 seen

More by Mitsuhiro Arita

This card was illustrated by Mitsuhiro Arita.

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Gengar ex

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Charizard

Lumra, Bellow of the Woods

Mewtwo-GX

Building around Charmander?

Drop it into the deck builder for a live consistency score, synergy suggestions, and Standard legality checks.

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About this card

HP: 50Type:RFireSubtype: BasicEvolves to: Charmeleon

"Obviously prefers hot places. If it gets caught in the rain, steam is said to spout from the tip of its tail."

CScratch — 10

RCEmber — 30

Discard 1 Fire Energy card attached to Charmander in order to use this attack.

Weakness:W×2

Retreat cost:C

Tournament legality

Current legal status across competitive formats.

unlimitedLegal

Tournament play

This printing of Charmander has no recent tournament appearances, but a different printing is currently a meta staple.

Charmander — Phantasmal Flames

Played in 54 recent decks

Pricing reference

Latest snapshot from the upstream catalog. Actual marketplace prices fluctuate by condition, edition, and grade — use this as a reference, not a quote.

TCGPlayer (USD)

Updated 2026/07/07

Variant	Low	Mid	High	Market	Direct Low
Normal	$0.30	$1.30	$100.00	$1.65	$0.25

Cardmarket (EUR)

Updated 2026/06/22

Variant	Price
1-day average	€10.99
7-day average	€23.62
30-day average	€71.22
Low	€3.90
Trend price	€0.02
Low (excellent+)	€8.50
averageSellPrice	€15.85

Frequently asked

How can I tell if my Charmander is real?

Charmander is not on our list of commonly-counterfeited cards, but counterfeits exist across every set. Check the back-light test (real cards have a black inner layer that blocks light; counterfeits glow through), the rosette dot pattern on the back under magnification, font weight and kerning on the card name, and the holofoil pattern if applicable. For high-value copies we recommend submitting to a professional grader (PSA, BGS, CGC) for tamper-evident authentication.

What is Charmander worth?

As of the latest data, the current market reference price for Charmander is $1.65; there are no active listings on The Game Traders right now. Actual value depends on condition, grading, edition and printing variant — graded high-condition copies (PSA 9–10) trade at a substantial premium over raw copies.

What set is Charmander from?

Charmander is from the Pokémon set "Base Set" in the Base series, released in 1999.

What rarity is Charmander?

Charmander is a Common card in the Base Set set.