Houndoom
Quick take
- Required Illustration Rare slot for any Shrouded Fable master set
- One of the more affordable IRs in the set, easy to buy as a single
- Illustrated by contest-origin artist Taiga Kasai
- Dark theme fits the set's Pecharunt and Loyal Three focus
Collector's readWhat it means for your master set
Set landscapeWhere this card sits in Shrouded Fable
VariantsCard variants
Holofoil 66/64 · $57.94 — 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 thematic IR that belongs in every Shrouded Fable master set
Shrouded Fable is a special set, not a main-series expansion. The 64-card base list leans into Darkness types, Pecharunt, and the Loyal Three. A Houndoom Illustration Rare slots right into that mood. It is the dark dog of the Pokemon world, so an eerie, nocturnal IR reads as on-brand rather than filler.
“Required Illustration Rare slot for any Shrouded Fable master set”
This card sits in the middle of the set's value stack. The headline pulls in Shrouded Fable are the Pecharunt ex and Fezandipiti ex chase cards, and Houndoom does not compete with those. What it offers instead is a strong art card at a reachable price. It fills the IR row of a binder without wrecking a budget.
For master-set builders the appeal is simple. You need every Illustration Rare to complete the set, and this one is among the easier ones to land in good condition. It is a workhorse card with a genuinely nice piece of art attached.
By the numbersMarket analysis
Houndoom sits in the lower-to-middle band of Shrouded Fable Illustration Rares. It is a raw single most collectors can pick up without much thought, well below the set's marquee ex chases. Pricing tracks the IR floor for the set rather than setting it.
Prices firmed up through 2025 as Shrouded Fable booster product thinned out at retail. Special sets stop getting reprinted once the print window closes, so fresh packs dry up faster than a standard expansion. That tends to put a slow floor under even the mid-tier IRs over time.
Treat this as a collection card first, not a flip. The upside is gradual and tied to set-completion demand plus shrinking sealed supply, not hype. A clean copy is more about owning the art and finishing the binder than chasing returns. Grading only makes sense at the very top of the condition curve.
Graded copies carry a modest premium over raw, and a high-grade gem brings the strongest multiple. The absolute dollars stay limited because the raw base is low. For a mid-tier IR like this, the grading fee can eat most of the upside unless you have a pristine copy worth a 10.
In Scarlet & Violet sets you can expect any Illustration Rare roughly once every 12 packs. For comparison, a Double Rare lands around 1 in 5 packs, an Ultra Rare about 1 in 15, a Special Illustration Rare around 1 in 90, and a Hyper Rare anywhere from 1 in 300 to 1 in 700. Those are the odds for hitting any card of that rarity, though. Your odds of pulling this specific Houndoom run far longer, because the set has many Illustration Rares competing for that slot. Realistically you are opening a lot of packs to hit one named IR, which is why most builders just buy the single. Shrouded Fable is also a special set sold only in dedicated products, so packs are scarcer than a standard expansion to begin with.
As an IR, Houndoom is more common than the set's Special Illustration Rare and Hyper Rare chases, and noticeably rarer than the base holo and reverse holo printings of the same Pokemon. It is a mid-tier rarity, easy to target as a single.
ArtworkWhy the art matters
Taiga Kasai is a Japanese illustrator who broke into Pokemon through competition. He was the Japanese first runner-up in the 2022 Pokemon Trading Card Game Illustration Contest, and that winning Greninja piece became his first official card as an SWSH Black Star Promo. He works digitally on an iPad Pro. By his own account he started drawing after a Pokemon illustration his father made. He has illustrated a small but growing list of cards across recent sets.
The card leans into Houndoom's eerie, nocturnal character, which matches the set's dark theme and the Pokemon's own flavor about other Pokemon shivering at its howls. The full-art Illustration Rare frame lets the scene run edge to edge instead of being boxed into the old card window. Houndoom is the clear focal point.
Illustration Rare treatment with full-bleed art and a holo finish. The IR rarity in Scarlet & Violet sets uses borderless artwork, so the illustration fills the card face. Numbered 066/064, which places it in the secret-rare range above the 64-card base set.
Kasai is a contest-origin artist, and collectors tend to track those illustrators because their cards often come from a personal concept rather than a studio brief. Pair that with Houndoom in a dark-themed set and the card has more identity than a typical mid-set IR.
BackgroundAbout Houndoom
Houndoom debuted in Generation 2 as the evolution of Houndour, a Dark/Fire type from the Johto region. It has been a recurring favorite ever since, helped by a sharp hellhound-style design and a Mega Evolution in Generation 6. In the video games it has long been a respectable special attacker. In the TCG it shows up regularly as a Stage 1 with fire and dark-flavored attacks.
- ›Strong, instantly recognizable Dark/Fire hellhound design
- ›Generation 2 nostalgia for players who grew up on Gold and Silver
- ›Mega Houndoom kept the line relevant through the XY era
- ›Dark-type identity fits naturally into the Shrouded Fable set theme
- ›Introduced in Pokemon Gold and Silver as a Johto Dark/Fire type
- ›Received a Mega Evolution in Pokemon X and Y
- ›Recurring TCG presence across multiple generations and sets
Own it wellCollector guide
Borderless IRs show edge wear and whitening fast because the dark, full-bleed art runs to the corners. Check all four corners and the edges under good light. Surface scratches read clearly on the holo, so angle the card to catch glare before you buy. Centering on full-art cards can drift, so eyeball the art margins top-to-bottom and left-to-right.
Grading is optional here. Given the low raw value, only submit a copy that looks gem-mint out of the pack, since a 9 may not clear the grading and shipping cost. If you just want it for the binder, a sleeved raw near-mint copy is the smart play. Read the grading guide →
Sleeve it in a penny sleeve inside a top loader or a one-touch, and keep it out of direct light. The dark art makes any handling marks obvious, so minimize bare-hand contact and store it upright away from heat and humidity. See the storage guide →
Buy the single rather than ripping packs to chase it. This is one of the cheaper Illustration Rares in the set, so the price gap between a played copy and a clean near-mint is small. Pay the little bit extra for a sharp copy. For a master set, prioritize centering and corners over a grade label. See the singles buying guide →
Protect your card
Low Chase Score — basic protection is plenty. · Amazon affiliate links · Storage guideWord on the streetCommunity sentiment
Collectors generally view this as a solid, well-liked IR rather than a headline chase. The art draws positive comments and Houndoom has a built-in fanbase, but conversation in the Shrouded Fable community centers on the Pecharunt and Loyal Three ex cards. Houndoom is the kind of card people are happy to pull and quietly glad to check off the list.
Most chatter treats it as an affordable, attractive set-completion card. Taiga Kasai's name carries some weight with art-focused collectors who follow contest-origin illustrators, which gives the card a bit more discussion than a generic mid-set IR would get.
Good to knowFrequently asked questions
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