History of Alakazam in the TCG Pokemon Trading Card Game Overview!

What’s popping everybody, this is SaberWolf94 and welcome to this latest Pokemon TCG Overview on the OG Alakazam line. Like some other pokemon from generation one the Alakazam line very well acts like the original psychic pokemon to represent the psychic type in the franchise. Truth is, there are actually plenty of psychic pokemon from Kanto but outside of Mew and Mewtwo the other pure ones are the Hypno line and Barriered, I mean Mime. No doubt they have their own cool perks, but if we’re being serious the Alakazam line is the cooler one out of those guys.

I mean, it comes first in the Pokedex and even in the original anime the line served as the introduction to the psychic type. Not to mention that the whole Sabrina trilogy stood out from most of the other pokemon episodes up to that point. Which brings me to the complete opposite reality of the line in the tcg.

You see, the Abra line is 100% the most unfortunate and cheated in the entire tcg due to the lawsuit with Uri Geller. In the original Japanese names of the line Game Freak gave them names based on famous magicians at the time, in the case of Kadabra its name in Japanese is straight up Uri Geller and the big issue came when he realized the existence of Dark Kadabra.

Even though it was salty of him to go that far I gotta say it was a pretty dumbass idea for Game Freak to give real life names to characters but as a result of this mess and to avoid legal issues Pokemon had to stop printing Kadabra cards after the Skyridge set and the whole line had to suffer from that. Because of this, Kadabra has the fewest amount of different card prints from any other Kanto pokemon and honestly many pokemon from the newer generations like gen 5 and up have overtaken it. Abra and Alakazam are in a similar boat but not quite the same as you’ll see soon.

Crazily enough in late November of 2020 Uri Geller finally decided that he would no longer take any legal action if Pokemon decided to bring Kadabra cards back, but the line has already suffered a lot in the meantime. That’s it for the general history, it’s time to finally look at the cards themselves!

Every single card from the entire line has always been psychic and always been weak to psychic; even in gen 3 it didn’t get any variation with any delta species card and… I guess that shouldn’t be that surprising after everything I’ve said, but there is a small exception with our very new Alakazam V being weak to dark for the first time.

When Abra did get the chance to get prints in the early days of the tcg it did actually get a number of special cards and lots of exclusive Japanese promos. Even starting with its original print in Base Set Abra was one of the first 5 basic pokemon introduced with free retreat. As Sabrina’s trademark pokemon it got 3 different owner’s versions with the one from Gym Challenge getting an alternate art promo in an issue of the Nintendo Power Magazine. As a gen 1 pokemon it got its Japanese Extended Sheet promo in Extended Sheet 1 and it also got 3 additional Japanese only cards in the Totodile Side Deck, the Sample Set and a Japanese McDonald’s promo.

It never got any poke-power or ability but it did get a poke-body in Skyridge, Psychoflow, granting it free retreat if it had any psychic energy. The last Abra card I want to mention is Abra from Mysterious Treasures. This card is only technically special as it is the last Abra card we ever got in 2007, coming 4 years after the Skyridge print. In a way this card got released completely out of nowhere as with no Kadabra cards the line couldn’t be complete outside of using Rare Candy but to tackle that, this card’s Ultra Evolution attack would let you evolve straight into Alakazam.

Talking about Kadabra is the easiest part here as it only has 7 total cards to its name, 2 of which are Extended Sheet 3 promos only in Japan. Looking at the Base Set one is kinda crazy as you went from no retreat on Abra to a direct 3 retreat on Kadabra which makes no damn sense whatsoever. Kadabra could have easily held that free retreat or at least just get 1.

A lot of these dumb people including my parents thought that Pokemon and especially Yugioh to be satanic so even a ridiculous article with Dark Kadabra could be bad press on this guy as many dumb people would believe it. Either that or he just wanted to win some money from Pokemon. When it comes to the card itself, it’s nothing special minus the Matter Exchange poke-power allowing you to discard a card to draw a new one from your deck.

Anyway, the next Kadabra from Team Rocket is easily the most infamous one and the one that triggered Uri Geller to take legal action in the first place. In a way one might say that pokemon tcg fans are even lucky as this whole crap went down a few years after this card was already out hence why the last Kadabra card is in Skyridge. Apparently Uri Geller didn’t like that this Kadabra would be associated with darkness as remember, in Japan Kadabra’s name is indeed Uri Geller, so this card in Japanese would be “Dark Uri Geller”. This guy was already pretty controversial during that time claiming to have psychic abilities and making ridiculous shows on TV and probably viewed this as an invalid attack on his image. It may sound nonsensical to some of you younger guys but you have to consider the time back when the Japanese franchises were fresh in the west and the adults that came from much older generations.

Unlike Abra, Kadabra only had one owner’s version with Sabrina’s Kadabra from Gym Challenge and then the only other cards it’s ever seen is the Expedition Kadabra and the last one ever in Skyridge. Like some other e-reader pokemon it can gain its Psy-Capture poke-power only if you use the e-reader.

The original Alakazam print comes from Base Set and while it’s very iconic and one of the most expensive cards from the set, was mostly bad playability wise. Terrible HP for a stage 2 even in those days not even balanced out by a huge ass retreat and its Confuse Ray attack was super weak too for 3 energies. The only good thing it has is the Damage Swap poke-power that could be used for some very strong combos and was unique only to Alakazam. The effect is in the name; it allows you to arrange the damage counters on your pokemon as you like as long as you didn’t knock out one of your pokemon with this effect.

Outside of Blastoise, it would be next to impossible to attach 3 energies manually with all the energy removal back then and you had discard all energies anyway but still more useful than Confuse Ray.

This card’s only glimmer of hope is its poke-power Psymimic allowing it to copy any attack from all your opponent’s pokemon as long as you had the right energy too. This is actually kind of nice as you could copy a great attack from a different pokemon while retaining Alakazam’s psychic type, but this would still be a difficult card to use.

Alakazam from Skyridge isn’t as difficult to use but you would still need a powerful combo to make its poke-power really worthwhile. Essentially you get an Energy Switch once per turn and this can certainly help you make surprise attacks with different pokemon out of nowhere, conserve energies etc. Alakazam’s Psychic attack while weak is also kinda nice since it can work with any energy really complimenting Energy Jump and using different surprise attackers. I definitely dig this card a lot more than the one from Expedition.

Originally Written in 2021

Now finally to the main dish of this overview we have the ever cool Alakazam. Alakazam actually has more card prints than both of its pre-evolutions combined thanks to being able to be printed as a basic pokemon in a lot of special cards. It’s the only slightly redeeming thing about this lawsuit thing; Pokemon usually taking their chance to print one when they have the chance.

With Scoop Up and high HP pokemon like Chansey, you could move a lot of damage on that pokemon, scoop it up in your hand and essentially heal all the damage from your main attacking pokemon with energies. The uses for this effect don’t stop there and for this reason Alakazam was used in various combo decks utilizing this poke-power. It got reprinted in Base Set 2 and Legendary Collection and it actually holds the honour of being the first card number wise from all 3 sets so no doubt it’s a must have for any hardcore collectors I’d say.

Moving on thankfully Sabrina’s Alakazam is much better even if the previous bar was so low it’s not really saying much. Stats are identical as the Base Set Alakazam, so it won’t last long, but at least it has a great poke-power. With Psylink you can use any attack of your other psychic pokemon in play if you could meet their requirements making this guy the original Mew ex you could say. Its own attack Mega Burn is sort of average needing 4 energies to do a solid 60 damage but at least it’s compatible with double colorless energy. I gotta say this card is also one of my favourites when it comes to artwork, very nice holographic card too.

The next Alakazam is actually the only Japanese exclusive promo with no English version from the Unnumbered Promotional Cards series. It doesn’t have a game breaking power like the Base Set original but it’s an improvement in all other aspects with 10 more HP and better attacks. Doing 2 for 30 was considered good back in that time but Psycho Panic has an additional twist; if the defending pokemon was psychic the base damage would be doubled, making it an incredible 60 for 2. Most psychic types were weak to psychic which meant that using this attack you could get a OHKO on most if not all psychic type pokemon. Its Trance Damage attack was rightfully costly as if you managed to pull it off the effect was extremely powerful for that time; moving all damage counters from Alakazam to the defending pokemon, healing Alakazam completely while potentially doing very high damage.

Dark Alakazam is what the cursed Dark Kadabra will evolve to and it is one of the most painful cards to look at being a stage 2 with a mini 60 HP. For sure it’s one of the best looking holographic Alakazam cards but I swear to God this is the weakest Alakazam card no question. With that incredibly low 60 HP it’s still carrying 3 retreat for some reason, both attacks cost 3 energy, so it will never be able to pull even one attack off. Especially with that HP and both attacks are weak anyway. Its Mind Shock attack is outclassed by Dewgong and any other pokemon that can do 50 for 3; the slight edge it would get from ignoring resistance is completely lost as it can’t hit for weakness either and Teleport Blast while being unique as one of the few attacks that would hit and switch is also weak and very slow even if you did want to try and make a deck around it. Besides the energy removals Gust of Wind would also ruin this card completely.

It would surprisingly take around 2 years before another Alakazam would get printed but the Expedition Alakazam would also be featured as one of the Jumbo box topper cards enticing people to buy whole booster boxes as opposed to just loose packs. When it comes to the merits of it play wise Alakazam’s HP did improve to 100 here but by this time 100 HP on a stage 2 wasn’t anything impressive, especially given it was carrying a 2 retreat cost as well. The sweet 80 for 3is also shot sighted once you realize you’re dealing 30 if you don’t have the same amount of energies as your opponent’s active pokemon.

Unlike the ex era Alakazam made its debut pretty early in DP appearing in Mysterious Treasures, exactly almost a full year since the previous print. This print could very well be the most unique out of all, appearing as a normal stage 2 with Abra as its basic form but have its stage 1 form completely omitted for the reasons I explained in the beginning. Making this card even more special is its one-of a kind poke-power, Power Cancel. If you’re familiar with hand traps in yugioh this is what its effect is trying to emulate. Once during your opponent’s turn, you can negate an opponent’s poke power by discarding 2 cards from your hand. Yes I used the word “negate”. At least as far as I know, never before did we get an effect working like this before this Alakazam came out and the only other “hand trap” like card we got was Power Spray from the same era.

Since all these cards were basic pokemon it was good that Pokemon took the opportunity to release it in a format where it didn’t need its pre-evolutions so props to them for doing that.

Nevertheless, it was by this point that the print drought would start to be felt with Alakazam. Entering into the 3rd generation Alakazam would only see one card in the entire era all the way towards the end in ex Crystal Guardians, a whopping 3 years after Skyridge. Still, collectability wise Alakazam could not be more rewarded, as it received a one and only Gold Star in that set; one of the most valuable and highly ranked special cards most pokemon could only dream to have. Not only that, but it actually can prove useful too. Psychic Select let’s you recover any card from your discard pile and Skill Copy could allow you to launch a powerful attack from an evolution pokemon if you had the right energy acceleration to meet the cost. As far as other Gold Stars Alakazam had some of the better stats as well, having one retreat with its 80 HP which not all Gold Stars had.

Fortune shined on Alakazam even more in DP as this was the era of SP pokemon. Not quite owner’s pokemon, but similar, since they were all basic pokemon it meant Alakazam could get a print again under the right circumstances. And indeed, since Rising Rivals was the SP set themed around Gym Leaders and the Elite 4, Alakazam was lucky enough to get featured being one of Lucian’s pokemon AND even getting the added bonus of a Lv. X card! I say “lucky” but even though Alakazam bypassed its stage 1 curse and got 2 cards in here both of them left a lot to be desired. To be straight with you, the regular SP form is just terrible. Both of its attacks are underwhelming for that time and Recover isn’t even Energy Gain compatible. Its stats are alright I guess, but it just wasn’t gonna fly compared to other SPs.

The actual Alakazam EX also comes with a secret rare alternate art version featuring Umbreon in the background, and in a way these Alakazam cards were being pushed as the trademark theme cards of Fates Collide, the bosses of the set you could say. This is definitely not reflected on the cards playability wise, 160 HP was lower than the usual 180 or 170 for these pokemon and it even carried a 2 retreat cost for some reason. Suppression wasn’t that good either, it was really obvious that this card was just meant as a stepping stone for M Alakazam as the only good thing on it is the Kinesis ability. When you evolve M Alakazam from your hand you can put 2 damage counters on your opponent’s active pokemon and 3 damage counters on one of their benched pokemon. This is a great effect for sure but also very unique; usually an ability like this would be gained on the evolved pokemon but instead it is the basic form that carried it.

Alakazam Lv. X while it looks cool, is the definition of wrong effect at the wrong time. Damage Switch is pretty much the same power Alakazam got started with in Base Set, only it only worked with SP pokemon but you could even knock them out now if you wanted too. Of course it’s not the only thing you can do with this effect, but just like before the main appeal is healing your attackers with energies and moving the damage on a decoy pokemon you will likely use Super Scoop Up or Poke Turn. The reason the timing is so wrong is Garchomp C Lv. X would come out in the very next set accomplishing this with its eyes closed and healing all of your SP pokemon at once. To add insult to injury it would fully outclass it in terms of stats and attacks.

Even in these last 11 years I still can’t think we received any other card quite like it. When it comes to the effect itself, it wasn’t just unique, it was actually very useful too. Naturally negating poke powers is good and the dynamic of gaining this effect during your opponent’s turn had its own merits. Some players would end up teching this card in decks like Cursegar and other decks with Rare Candy for this poke-power, but alas working as a tech was its only use. For the main card in its own deck, Alakazam had low HP for a stag2 in DP and Psychic Guard was a weak attack outside of blocking 30 damage from other stage 2 pokemon.

In the end, despite getting 3 cards in DP only the first one served to be somewhat solid. 5th gen didn’t give Alakazam anything but thankfully pokemon realized their chance with the basic pokemon EX from that period and gave it an EX in Fates Collide. In fact, they even went all the way with a Mega Form which made perfect sense seeing as this was the XY generation 6 era.

100 HP on Alakazam Lv. X isn’t anything special and only made worse with a 2 retreat cost. Worst thing on this card though is definitely the attack; doing a pitiful 50 for 3 is pathetic, even with Energy Gain this is a very weak attack. They even made it unable to hit for weakness, like dude, why are you making this card so useless?

That’s gonna do it for this overview guys! It’s no question that Alakazam’s pre-evolutions have suffered the most with having the fewest prints ever due to the lawsuit. As a result, Alakazam has managed to accumulate more special prints than a lot of more printed popular pokemon. To be precise, outside of an original ex from 3rd gen and a GX from Sun and Moon, it pretty much has every special card you can imagine. Now, it’s true that nearly all its cards suck, but nevertheless it managed to hold it down with prints despite its printing disadvantage and even though we heard nothing yet, hopefully the time does come when regular Alakazam lines can be printed fully.

Unsurprisingly this effect is meant to pair with M Alakazam’s Zen Force doing 30 more damage times the number of damage counters on your opponent’s pokemon. But even with that though it was mostly just okay rather than great. You’d need around 4-5 damage counters to get OHKOs on EX pokemon and some Mega Forms but it wasn’t as easy to pull off as you might think and the strongest stage 1 Exs, Mega Rayquaza, Primal Groudon and Kyogre would survive either way. Its stats were just okay as a stage 1 EX itself, but the weakness could cause problems, healing tactics negating its spread and even other issues pretty much prevented this card from being that great.

As a user of Primal Kyogre myself this would always be an easy match up if it came up and I’m sure Mega Rayquaza decks found it even easier.

The last Alakazam to look at is a very recent one, Alakazam V from Vivid Voltage; Alakazam didn’t get anything in the Sun and Moon era either. It also comes in its own collection box with alternate art. This is the only Alakazam that has a weakness to darkness, all the other ones were always classically weak to psychic. I would have liked to finish this overview with a bang but the reality is this card also sucks. Average stats, average attacks, nothing too good about it. Perhaps Mind Ruler can be a strong attack if your opponent has 6 or more cards in hand but your opponent can easily play around this attack.

This was long as hell but thank you guys for reading. As usual, I’ll see you guys on the next piece!