Groudon EX 106 Full Art
Quick take
- Full Art Ultra Rare from Dark Explorers (BW5), one of the set's Full Art EX cards in a 108-card base set
- A secondary chase behind Darkrai EX, mostly bought for set completion
- Illustrated by 5ban Graphics in the studio's glossy CG style
- A marquee Legendary with standalone appeal, which keeps demand steady
Collector's readWhat it means for your master set
Set landscapeWhere this card sits in Dark Explorers
VariantsCard variants
Holofoil 106/108 · $427.46 — the only variant this card was printed in (no reverse holo or special pattern), so a master set needs just this one copy.
The storyA 5ban Full Art from the set that gave the BW era its biggest deck
Groudon EX 106/108 is a Full Art Ultra Rare from Black & White Dark Explorers, the May 2012 set built around the EX mechanic that ran through the BW and XY years. It is a Fighting-type Basic with 180 HP, the attacks Tromp and Giant Claw, a Water weakness, and a four-energy retreat. The base set runs to 108 cards, so 106 sits near the back where the Full Arts and secret rares live.
“Full Art Ultra Rare from Dark Explorers (BW5), one of the set's Full Art EX cards in a 108-card base set”
Dark Explorers is remembered for one card above all others, Darkrai EX, which anchored the dominant deck of its format. That history shapes how Groudon EX gets collected. It is rarely the card someone chases first. It is the card a master-set builder needs to finish the BW5 Full Art run, and it is a recognizable Legendary that pulls in fans who care about Groudon specifically rather than the set.
For a binder, this is a clean, bold piece. The 5ban Graphics rendering gives Groudon weight and motion against an open landscape, and the full-bleed art treatment was still fresh in 2012. It reads as a vintage-adjacent Full Art now, old enough to carry nostalgia, common enough that finishing the set stays realistic.
By the numbersMarket analysis
Groudon EX sits in the second tier of Dark Explorers chase cards. Darkrai EX commands the most attention and the strongest prices in the set. Groudon trades well below it as one of the supporting Full Arts, in the same group as the set's other Legendary EX Full Arts like Kyogre and Raikou.
Like most BW-era Full Arts, this card has firmed up as the set crossed the decade mark and supply thinned. Clean copies move at a steady premium over played ones, and the spread between a beat-up raw card and a high-grade slab keeps widening.
This is a set-completion card more than a speculative flyer. The upside comes from BW Full Arts aging into vintage territory and from Groudon's standalone appeal. Condition is where the real value lives. The safest hold is a high-grade copy of a card that is genuinely scarce in clean shape.
High grades carry a meaningful premium over raw because BW Full Arts chip and whiten easily at the edges. A clean Gem Mint slab sells for a strong multiple of a raw near-mint copy, while lower grades narrow the gap fast.
The Pokemon Company never published pull odds for BW-era sets, so any specific figure is an estimate from opened-box data rather than official. As a practical guide, a Dark Explorers booster box yielded only a small handful of Ultra Rares, and those were split across the set's Full Arts and the rest of the EX lineup. That means pulling this specific Groudon EX from packs ran into the many-boxes range. For a master set, buying the single is far cheaper and faster than chasing it through sealed product.
Within the set, Groudon shares the Full Art tier with bigger names, Darkrai EX above all. It carries the same rarity stamp but trades in a softer market, which makes it one of the more attainable Full Arts to tick off when finishing the Dark Explorers run.
ArtworkWhy the art matters
5ban Graphics is a Japanese studio, not a single illustrator, and it handled most of the Full Art and digital-rendered cards across the Black & White and XY eras. If you owned BW EX Full Arts, you owned a lot of 5ban work. The style is computer-rendered and glossy, built for the full-bleed Full Art format rather than the painted look of the era's regular cards.
Groudon is shown mid-stride in an open, sunbaked landscape, the kind of broad terrain that suits a Pokemon tied to expanding the land. The full-art frame lets the body break past the usual card border, with the red plating and dark markings rendered in 5ban's glossy CG finish.
This is a Full Art Ultra Rare, so the holographic pattern runs across the entire card face rather than sitting in a window. The 2012 Full Art texture is subtle compared to the heavier etching on later Special Illustration Rares. The card sits in the Full Art block near the back of the 108-card base set.
It is one of the cleaner Legendary Full Arts of the BW era, a 5ban piece that benefits from Groudon's simple, heavy silhouette filling the frame. The card does the job a good Full Art should. It looks like the Pokemon, not like a busy diorama.
BackgroundAbout Groudon EX 106 Full Art
Groudon is the Ground-type cover Legendary of Pokemon Ruby, introduced in Generation III and tied to the lore of expanding the land. In the TCG it has appeared as a Fighting-type across multiple eras. This Dark Explorers EX was one of its early appearances in the EX mechanic that ran through the BW and XY years.
- ›Cover Legendary status from Ruby keeps Groudon permanently relevant
- ›Recognizable, fan-favorite design that needs no set context to sell
- ›Part of the Groudon and Kyogre rivalry that many collectors chase as a pair, with both appearing as Full Art EX cards in this same set
- ›Belongs to a Dark Explorers Full Art run that master-set builders actively complete
- ›Cover Legendary of Pokemon Ruby (Generation III)
- ›Primal Groudon featured prominently in the later ORAS games and the XY-era cards tied to them
Groudon EX saw only fringe play in its Standard format. Dark Explorers belonged to Darkrai EX, and Fighting decks of the era had stronger options. Today the card is collected, not played, so its value rests on art, rarity, and set completion.
Own it wellCollector guide
BW Full Arts are notorious for edge whitening and surface scratches. The glossy full-bleed finish shows every nick, and the dark borders make whitening obvious. Check all four edges and corners under good light, and look across the holo surface at an angle for hairline scratches before paying a near-mint price.
Worth grading if you have a genuinely clean copy, since the high-grade premium on BW Full Arts is real. If the card shows any edge wear or surface lines, it will likely come back lower than you hope. Grade selectively rather than reflexively. Read the grading guide →
Sleeve in a penny sleeve, then a top loader or one-touch. For long-term storage keep it out of direct light and away from humidity, which is the usual culprit behind clouded holo surfaces on cards of this age. See the storage guide →
For serious money, buy graded. Italian, Brazilian, and other language printings exist and trade at different levels than English, so confirm the language before comparing prices. For master-set builders, the single is far cheaper than ripping sealed Dark Explorers, which has become an expensive product in its own right. See the singles buying guide →
Fakes of BW Ultra Rares circulate, so verify before buying ungraded. Look for the correct Full Art holo pattern across the whole face, sharp small text in the attack and copyright lines (blurry or pixelated text is a red flag), and a back with proper color depth and centering. Compare the card's weight and snap to a known-genuine card, and do a light test, since a counterfeit often passes light differently through its core. For anything pricey, a copy graded by a reputable company removes the guesswork.
Protect your card
High Chase Score — protect and consider grading. · Amazon affiliate links · Storage guideWord on the streetCommunity sentiment
Collectors treat Groudon EX as a respected supporting Full Art rather than a headliner. It gets bought to finish the Dark Explorers set and by Groudon fans, and it is well liked for being a clean, readable piece in an era of busier art.
Most discussion frames it relative to Darkrai EX, the card that defines the set. Groudon comes up in master-set completion threads and in Groudon-and-Kyogre pairing posts more than as a standalone hype card.
Good to knowFrequently asked questions
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