Gengar and Mimikyu GX Alternate Full Art
Quick take
- Team Up's most chased alternate art, illustrated by Midori Harada
- Soft, storybook-style art with dialed-back foil, unusual for a GX-era card
- First printed in Japan's Tag Bolt before the 2019 English Team Up release
- A required, high-cost pull for a complete Team Up master set
Collector's readWhat it means for your master set
Set landscapeWhere this card sits in SM - Team Up
VariantsCard variants
Holofoil 165/181 · $2063.55 — the only variant this card was printed in (no reverse holo or special pattern), so a master set needs just this one copy.
The storyThe painterly Gengar & Mimikyu that collectors actually display
Team Up has two full arts of this TAG TEAM. Card 164 is the standard rainbow-foil full art by 5ban Graphics. Card 165 is the one people mean when they say "the alt art." It is Midori Harada's special full art, and it does not look like a normal Pokemon card. The foil is dialed back and the linework is soft, so the whole thing reads like a children's book illustration of two ghost-types hanging out. That was unusual for a GX-era card, and it is the reason this print has its own following.
“Team Up's most chased alternate art, illustrated by Midori Harada”
The card first appeared in Japan's Tag Bolt before landing in the English Team Up set in early 2019. By then, alternate-art chases were becoming the thing collectors organized sets around, and this one sat near the top of the want lists. It still does. It is the card most people picture when they think of Team Up secrets, right next to the Pikachu & Zekrom line.
For a master set builder this is a required pull and usually one of the pricier line items in a complete Team Up run. It is not the single most valuable card in the set. It punches above its rarity tier because of the art alone.
By the numbersMarket analysis
Sits in the upper tier of SM Team Up secrets. Raw near-mint copies trade well above most of the set, and the graded gem-mint premium pushes it higher still. It is one of the costlier individual pieces in a Team Up master set.
Prices firmed up over the back half of the GX era as alt-art collecting went mainstream. It has held its value for a while now rather than spiking and crashing. Demand is steady, not speculative.
A reliable alt art for the GX era. Popular characters plus a distinctive artist usually means a card holds value better than a generic ultra rare. Treat it as a long-hold display piece rather than a flip. Graded gem copies carry the steadiest demand.
The jump from raw near-mint to PSA 10 or BGS 9.5 is large. Centering and the soft foil surface make true gem grades harder than they look, which keeps the top-grade premium healthy. Most serious money changes hands in slabs.
Pull rates here work differently from the modern Scarlet & Violet sets. For reference, in current SV-era products a Double Rare lands around 1 in 5 packs, an Illustration Rare around 1 in 12, an ultra rare around 1 in 15, a Special Illustration Rare around 1 in 90, and a Hyper Rare anywhere from 1 in 300 to 1 in 700. The odds for one specific card run much longer than that, since each rarity holds many different cards, so a single named SIR can take hundreds of packs. Team Up is a Sun & Moon set, so it does not use those exact slots, but the takeaway is the same. A secret-tier alt art like this one was never a card you opened on demand. For most collectors, buying the single is far cheaper and saner than ripping packs hoping to hit it.
Within Team Up it sits among the set's signature secrets. It is not the absolute top card of the set, but it is consistently one of the most asked-about cards and one of the harder slots to fill in a master set.
ArtworkWhy the art matters
Midori Harada is a long-running Pokemon TCG illustrator known for a soft, painterly, almost watercolor approach. Her cards tend to feel calmer and more illustrative than the high-contrast foil art that dominated GX and ex sets, which is why collectors who care about art over chrome single her work out.
The scene puts Gengar and Mimikyu together in a muted, dreamy setting instead of a battle pose. The palette is soft and the foil is restrained. The two ghosts are framed like characters in a picture book rather than competitive attackers. It is a quiet, friendly take on two Pokemon usually drawn as creepy.
This is the special full art print, card 165/181, distinct from the 5ban Graphics standard full art at 164/181 and the rainbow rare at 186/181. It uses the full-bleed full-art frame with the textured foil of the era, but the illustration style is the differentiator, not the foil pattern.
Most GX full arts lean on glossy, dramatic foil. This one leans on the drawing. Harada's softer hand makes it instantly recognizable across a binder page, and that readability is what turned one secret rare into a card collectors hunt by name.
BackgroundAbout Gengar and Mimikyu GX Alternate Full Art
Gengar has been a fan favorite since Red and Blue and is one of the most reprinted, most chased Pokemon in the TCG. Mimikyu debuted in Sun & Moon and became a breakout almost immediately, thanks to its sad backstory of wearing a Pikachu costume to be liked. Pairing the two as a TAG TEAM was an easy crowd-pleaser, and the card carried real attacks: Horror House GX and Poltergeist, which scales off Trainer cards in the opponent's hand.
- ›Gengar is a perennial top-tier popular Pokemon across all eras
- ›Mimikyu has a devoted following tied to its costume lore
- ›Both are ghost-types, which suits the spooky-but-cute art direction
- ›TAG TEAM GX cards are a nostalgic high point of the Sun & Moon era
- ›Anchored the Psychic TAG TEAM lineup of SM Team Up
- ›Originated in Japan's Tag Bolt expansion before the English release
Horror House GX and Poltergeist saw real play in the Sun & Moon Standard format, but the card has been out of rotation for years. Today the demand is collector-driven, not competitive.
Own it wellCollector guide
The soft, low-contrast surface shows whitening and edge wear easily, and full-art borders chip. Centering is the usual headache on era full arts. Inspect corners and the foil surface under good light before buying.
Worth grading if you have a clean copy, since the gem-mint premium is significant. Be honest about centering before you spend on a submission. If you are putting down serious money, prefer a card already in a PSA or BGS slab. Read the grading guide →
Penny sleeve plus a snug toploader or one-touch at minimum. Keep it out of direct light to protect the muted colors, and store it upright in a cool, stable spot. For a true keeper, a graded slab is the safest long-term home. See the storage guide →
Confirm you are buying 165/181, the special full art, not the 164/181 standard full art or the 186/181 rainbow rare. They are different cards at different price points. Check the card number on the listing photo, not just the title. For raw copies, demand clear corner and surface shots. See the singles buying guide →
GX-era full arts get faked. Check that the foil behaves correctly when you tilt it, that the back swirl gradient looks right, and that the card number reads 165/181. Compare against a known-good scan. For high-value purchases, buying a card already graded by PSA or BGS removes most of the risk.
Protect your card
High Chase Score — protect and consider grading. · Amazon affiliate links · Storage guideWord on the streetCommunity sentiment
Collectors talk about this one as an art card first and a game card second. It gets cited regularly as one of the best-looking secrets of the GX era and a standout in any Team Up binder, mostly thanks to Harada's softer style.
It shows up often in best-of lists for Sun & Moon alt arts and in master set chase discussions for Team Up. Interest is steady and art-driven rather than tied to a hype cycle.
Good to knowFrequently asked questions
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