Marill
Quick take
- First-ever Illustration Rare Marill in the TCG
- Art by Atsuya Uki, the animator behind Cencoroll
- Bright tropical-sea scene with a coral reef and aquatic Pokemon
- A mid-tier, attainable IR in the Paldea Evolved set
Collector's readWhat it means for your master set
Set landscapeWhere this card sits in Paldea Evolved
VariantsCard variants
Holofoil 204/193 · $51.98 — 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 first Illustration Rare Marill, and a clean entry point into Paldea Evolved art chases
Marill has been a fan favorite since Gen 2, when players who saw it before its name was announced started calling it Pikablu. This is the first time the little blue mouse got an Illustration Rare. That first-of-its-kind tag gives collectors a reason to want it beyond the artwork alone. Atsuya Uki drew it, and his name carries weight with people who follow TCG art closely.
“First-ever Illustration Rare Marill in the TCG”
The scene is calm and warm. Marill bobs at the surface of a bright tropical sea, with a coral reef and other water Pokemon visible below. Collectors describe it as having Southern Islands vibes, a nod to the old promo sets. It reads well at a glance in a binder page and rewards a closer look.
For a master set builder, this is a low-drama pickup. It sits in the middle of the Paldea Evolved Illustration Rare lineup on price and demand, so it rarely becomes the bottleneck slot. The story is the appeal here, more than the dollar value.
By the numbersMarket analysis
This card sits in the middle of the Paldea Evolved Illustration Rare pack. It is well above bulk, but it is not one of the set's headline chases. Think of it as a solid mid-tier raw card in clean condition rather than a marquee piece. The live market number is shown elsewhere on this page.
Paldea Evolved is a large, heavily opened set, so raw IR supply is healthy and prices have stayed reasonable. Marill has seen the kind of small, popularity-driven upticks you expect from a beloved Pokemon, but nothing dramatic. It behaves like a steady mid-set IR, not a speculative rocket.
This is a hold-for-love card more than a flip. A popular Pokemon, a named artist, and a first-of-its-kind designation give it a slow, steady floor. Do not expect outsized appreciation given how widely the set was opened. A clean copy or a strong graded example is the safer long-term hold.
High-grade copies carry a real premium over raw, as is typical for SV-era Illustration Rares with clean borders. The PSA 10 population is healthy and growing, so the gem-mint premium is meaningful but not scarcity-driven. Centering and surface are the usual gates between a 9 and a 10.
In Scarlet & Violet sets like Paldea Evolved, you can expect roughly one Illustration Rare of any kind per about 12 packs. For comparison, any Double Rare lands around 1 in 5 packs, any Ultra Rare around 1 in 15, any Special Illustration Rare around 1 in 90, and Hyper Rares anywhere from about 1 in 300 to 1 in 700. Those numbers are for hitting that rarity at all. Pulling this specific Marill runs much longer, because the set has many Illustration Rares competing for that slot. The odds for one named IR stretch well past the per-rarity figure, often into the hundreds of packs.
Among Paldea Evolved Illustration Rares, Marill is one of the more attainable names. The set's pricier IR slots tend to go to flashier or more competitively relevant Pokemon, which keeps Marill accessible for set builders working through the list.
ArtworkWhy the art matters
Atsuya Uki is a Japanese animator, illustrator, and manga artist best known for creating the short film Cencoroll, and for animation work on the Digimon Adventure tri films. He came to the Pokemon TCG relatively recently. His debut was a Cynthia's Ambition Special Illustration Rare in Crown Zenith. This Marill was one of his early Pokemon card credits, which is part of why fans of his work seek it out.
Marill floats at the surface of a bright tropical sea. Below the waterline you can see a coral reef and other aquatic Pokemon, giving the scene depth and a sense of a living habitat rather than a posed portrait. The mood is sunny and relaxed, with what collectors have called Southern Islands vibes.
This is an Illustration Rare, so the art breaks the standard card frame and fills the full borderless face, with the holo treatment applied across the scene. It is a Water-type Basic with the Bubble Drain attack, so it is functional in play, but the IR version is collected for the art rather than the table.
It is the first Illustration Rare ever made for Marill, and it carries the name of an illustrator with a real following outside Pokemon. That pairing gives an otherwise gentle, mid-value card a clear identity in the set.
BackgroundAbout Marill
Marill debuted in Generation 2 as the Aqua Mouse Pokemon and the pre-evolution that ties into the Azurill and Azumarill line. It became briefly famous before its official reveal, when fans nicknamed it Pikablu and assumed it was a new Pikachu form. That early mix-up gave Marill a memorable spot in franchise lore that has stuck for decades.
- ›Long-standing Gen 2 fan favorite with strong nostalgia
- ›The Pikablu naming story keeps it culturally sticky
- ›Round, friendly design that reads well as collectible art
- ›Part of the popular Azumarill evolutionary line
- ›A recurring Water-type presence across the main series games since Gold and Silver
- ›Frequent appearances in the animated series alongside its evolved form Azumarill
The Illustration Rare Marill is a collector card first. Marill itself has not been a serious competitive staple in recent Standard formats, so demand here is driven by art and nostalgia rather than tournament play.
Own it wellCollector guide
As a borderless full-art card, edge whitening and corner wear show up fast on the dark outer border. Inspect all four corners and the back for factory roller lines. Surface scratches on the holo can catch the light, so check under angled lighting before buying raw.
Grade only clean, well-centered copies. The PSA 10 population is already healthy, so a 9 carries a much smaller premium and may not justify grading costs unless the raw was cheap. If centering or surface is borderline, this card is usually better kept raw in a sleeve and toploader. Read the grading guide →
Sleeve in a penny sleeve plus a snug toploader, or a one-touch for nicer copies. Keep it out of direct sunlight to protect the holo and color, and store upright in a dry spot. For binder builders, use side-loading pages to avoid scraping the borderless edges. See the storage guide →
Buy the eye-clean raw copy when you can, since supply is good and you can be picky on centering. For a long-term keeper, a graded gem-mint example removes the condition guesswork. Watch listing photos for border whitening that sellers sometimes hide with angle or lighting. See the singles buying guide →
This is a modern SV-era card, so counterfeit risk is lower than with vintage chase cards, but fakes do exist for popular IRs. Check the holo pattern and texture against a known-good Illustration Rare, confirm crisp text and the correct set and number markings, and be cautious of prices that look too good for the condition shown.
Protect your card
Low Chase Score — basic protection is plenty. · Amazon affiliate links · Storage guideWord on the streetCommunity sentiment
The card is generally well liked. Collectors point to the calm tropical scene and the novelty of Marill's first Illustration Rare as the draws. It is rarely anyone's grail, but it is the kind of card people are happy to land and keep.
Discussion tends to cluster around two threads. One is Marill nostalgia, including the old Pikablu naming story. The other is interest in Atsuya Uki's TCG work given his animation background. Editorial coverage flagged the Southern Islands feel of the art when the set landed.
Good to knowFrequently asked questions
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