Raikou 28/144 · Skyridge

Raikou is Pokédex #243, generation 2 (Johto). Raikou is a Basic Lightning Pokémon with 70 HP.

Raikou sits at 28/144 in Skyridge, position 28 of 182. Before it is 27 Raichu, and after it is 29 Rhydon. The set belongs to the E-Card series. It was released on May 12, 2003. The printed size is 144. This checklist is longer, at 182 cards. The listed rarity is Rare.

Pure Body is listed as Poké-Body. To attach a Lightning Energy card from your hand to Raikou, you must discard an Energy card attached to Raikou. (Attach the Lightning Energy, and then discard an Energy card from Raikou.) The attack Lightning Sphere lists 40+ damage. The cost is Lightning, Colorless, Colorless. You may flip a coin. If heads, discard all Lightning Energy cards attached to Raikou. This attack does 40 damage plus 20 more damage for each Energy card discarded in this way. Weakness is Fighting ×2. Retreat cost is 1.

Raikou (#243) has 26 other cards in the catalog. Those other cards are in 20 sets. The other printings with a release date run from 2001 to 2026. The earliest other card is Raikou 13/64 in Neo Revelation (2001). That card lists 80 HP, and this one lists 70 HP. The rarity there is Rare Holo, and here it is Rare. Ken Sugimori illustrated that card, and Mitsuhiro Arita illustrated this one. 24 other cards of Raikou list a different HP.

The illustrator line reads Mitsuhiro Arita. I count 721 other cards in the catalog with that illustrator.

Skyridge set binder is where a full Skyridge set goes. This card fills one slot there. A generation binder holds one card of each species. Raikou can fill a slot in Generation 2 binder (Johto). Themed lists that include this exact card are Mitsuhiro Arita cards. I still need this card.