Team Aqua's Cacturne 1/95 Cosmos Holo Pokémon EX Team Magma VS Team Aqua Raw

Pokémon: Cacturne

Series: EX

Set: Team Magma VS Team Aqua

Card Number: 1

Rarity: R

Condition: N/A

Grade: Raw

Year: 2004

Illustrator:  K. Utsunomiya

Type: Grass

The Team Aqua's Cacturne 1/95 is a Cosmos Holo Rare Grass/Darkness-type Stage 1 Pokémon card from EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua, released on November 11, 2004 by The Pokémon Company and illustrated by K. Utsunomiya, a Japanese artist whose clean, angular linework and cool aquatic palettes brought a sense of coiling, predatory tension to this one of the franchise's first dual-type Pokémon in the English TCG. As an 80 HP Pokémon that evolves from Team Aqua's Cacnea, it carries a Weakness to Fire-type attacks (×2), no Resistance, and a Retreat Cost of two Colorless Energy. The EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua set was the fourth expansion of the EX era and the first English set to introduce dual-typed Pokémon, with all team-owned cards carrying a Darkness component to signify the villainous allegiance of their owners, and it was also the final expansion to include the Dot-Code strip along the bottom edge for scanning with the Pokémon-e Reader device.

In terms of decks and strategy, Team Aqua's Cacturne's two attacks make it one of the most tactically efficient Holo Rares in the entire EX era. Dark Bind costs a single Darkness Energy, deals 10 damage, and allows the player to discard a Darkness Energy card attached to Cacturne to Paralyze the Defending Pokémon—a powerful status-condition tool that could lock down a high-HP attacker like Team Magma's Groudon ex or Team Aqua's Kyogre ex for a full turn at the cost of a single Energy. Poison Barb costs one Grass and two Colorless Energy, deals 40 damage, and applies the Poisoned condition to the Defending Pokémon, creating a persistent 10-damage-per-turn chip that punishes high-HP attackers over multiple turns. In 2004–2006 competitive formats, this dual-attack design made Cacturne a cornerstone of Team Aqua-themed Grass/Darkness decks, where Dark Bind provided reliable disruption and Poison Barb delivered consistent damage with a lingering status condition. The card's dual typing meant it could use both Grass and Darkness Energy for its attacks, giving it exceptional flexibility in energy investment, and its role as the first card in the set (1/95) made it a natural centerpiece for any Team Aqua-themed strategy built around the set's exclusive search mechanics.

Collectors love the Team Aqua's Cacturne for its unique position as the very first card in the EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua checklist, a milestone that gives it special significance for collectors tracking the set's design history and the franchise's introduction of dual-type Pokémon to the English TCG. K. Utsunomiya's illustration—depicting Cacturne in a coiled, aggressive pose with its thorny barbs extended and its small, calculating eyes locked forward against a dark, aquatic backdrop adorned with the Team Aqua bubble motif—captures the raw, serpentine cunning of the species in a style that stands out among the more conventional artwork of the set's other Holo Rares like Team Aqua's Crawdaunt and Team Aqua's Kyogre ex. The Cosmos Holo treatment elevates the card's visual appeal with its shifting, star-patterned foil that catches light at different angles, and the card's permanently fixed supply—combined with over 20 years of natural wear from the population of EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua cards that were opened, played, and traded in the mid-2000s—ensures that quality raw copies remain a steady target for both set completionists and players of Unlimited format tournaments who still appreciate the creative status-condition mechanics of one of the EX era's most thematically cohesive expansions.

Product Details

Card Number / Rarity:1/95 / Holo Rare

Card Type / HP / Stage:Grass Darkness / 80 / Stage 1

Attack 1:[D] Dark Bind (10)
You may discard a Darkness Energy card attached to Team Aqua's Cacturne. If you do, the Defending Pokemon is now Paralyzed.

Attack 2:[2G] Poison Barb (40)
The Defending Pokemon is now Poisoned.

Weakness / Resistance / Retreat Cost:R / None / 2

Stock Image(s) Shown.

All cards are professionally rated for quality assurance.

All cards come sleeved, cards above $5 in value come toploaded.