Neo Genesis Set Guide

Overview

Neo Genesis came out on December 16, 2000, with 111 cards: 81 Pokémon, 21 Trainers and 9 Energy. It is the first set with Pokémon from the Gold and Silver games, led by the starters Meganium, Typhlosion and Feraligatr and the legendary Lugia.

It changed the game more than any set since Base. It is the first set in the catalog with Darkness and Metal Pokémon, and their special Energy; the first with Baby Pokémon, four of them; and the first with Pokémon Tools, Trainers you attach to a Pokémon, such as Focus Band.

Cards and rarities

Neo Genesis has 111 cards. Every card shows its number over the printed total along the bottom, as in "4/111". The cards print a set symbol, not a set code; the code here is the short one the catalog and TurnZero HQ file the set under.

The printed total is 111 and nothing is numbered above it. The six cards without a rarity are basic Energy; the Darkness and Metal Energy are special Energy with rarities of their own. Set completion in TurnZero HQ counts a set against its printed total and keeps the secret rares apart, so finishing the main set and chasing the cards above it read as two separate goals. How set completion works →

Headline Pokémon

Lugia, a Johto starter and the first Baby Pokémon:

Lugia

Neo Genesis #9

Elemental Blast does 90 and discards a Fire, a Water and a Lightning Energy.

Typhlosion

Neo Genesis #17

Fire Recharge attaches a Fire Energy from your discard pile on heads; Flame Burst does 60, or 80 with 20 to itself.

Feraligatr

Neo Genesis #5

Downpour discards Water Energy from your hand; Riptide does 10 plus 10 for each Water Energy in your discard pile.

Pichu

Neo Genesis #12

A Baby Pokémon: your opponent flips before attacking it and their turn ends on tails. Zzzap does 20 to each Pokémon with a Pokémon Power.

Trainers worth knowing

A draw Trainer and the first Pokémon Tool:

Professor Elm

Neo Genesis #96

Shuffle your hand into your deck and draw 7; you can't play more Trainers this turn.

Focus Band

Neo Genesis #86

If the Pokémon would be Knocked Out by an attack, flip a coin; on heads it stays in play with 10 HP.

The chase card: Lugia

Lugia

Neo Genesis #9

Rarity Rare Holo, Unlimited

Card number 9/111

Market price, October 22, 2026 $534.65

Illustrator Hironobu Yoshida

Neo Genesis's chase card is Lugia, 9/111, illustrated by Hironobu Yoshida: $534.65 for an Unlimited copy on October 22, 2026, and $1,300.00 in 1st Edition.

It is worth more than twice the next card, Typhlosion, which the set prints twice as a holo (17 and 18) with different art. Typhlosion 17 was $203.64 and 18 $168.21.

Lugia is printed once in the set.

Every Lugia in Neo Genesis

Only the exact version is worth its price. The number at the bottom of the card and the rarity symbol beside it tell you which one you pulled. Reading the number and rarity symbol →

Chase cards and prices

Six holos, priced as Unlimited copies. Typhlosion and Feraligatr each have two holo versions.

These are each card's headline TCGplayer market price on October 22, 2026. Prices can move a long way, most of all in a set's first months, so treat them as a snapshot. Each card's page shows today's price for every variant and its 90-day chart. How Pokémon card prices work →

What a complete set costs

One copy of every card in Neo Genesis, bought as singles, cost $2,165.50 on October 22, 2026. That is the least expensive of the four sets in the Neo series.

The three most valuable cards, Lugia and two Typhlosion cards, come to $906.50, or 42% of the total. Without them the set costs $1,259.00. Of the 111 cards, 53 were under $2.00, together $53.55; the other 58 add up to $2,111.95.

Each card is counted at its cheapest priced variant, usually an Unlimited copy rather than a 1st Edition one, or a stamped or error copy where the catalog prices one lower, at its TCGplayer market price. This is what it costs to buy the set as singles. It is not what opening packs returns, and not what a complete set would sell for, which after fees and the many cards worth cents would be noticeably less.

Playing it

Neo Genesis is not legal in Standard or Expanded as a set: Expanded starts with the Black & White series in 2011. The catalog marks eight of its 111 cards as legal anyway, seven of them in Standard too.

They are the six basic Energy, which are always legal; Super Rod, legal in both formats; and Super Scoop Up, legal in Expanded only.

Each card other than basic Energy shares its name and text with a later, legal printing, which is what makes an older copy playable. Every other card in the set is legal in neither format.

Standard, Expanded and deck building rules →

Frequently Asked Questions