Butterfree, Expedition Base Set 38/165, rare

Image via pokemontcg.io

Pokémon Cards

Butterfree

Expedition Base Set 38/165 • rare

Set: Expedition Base Set
Number: 38/165
Rarity: Rare
Released: 2002
Energy type: grass energy
Market price: $30.72
Artist: Sumiyoshi Kizuki

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$30.72est. via TCGplayer

20,475cards tracked

14other printings of this card

Market

What it's worth

$30.72market price via TCGplayer · Sep 20, 2026$19.86 – $30.72 over the tracked period

Estimate for a typical copy of Butterfree; condition, printing, and grading move the real number.

Lore

Why it matters

The Expedition Base Set, released in 2002, is historically significant for introducing the E-Reader technology, which allowed players to scan cards to unlock digital content on the Game Boy Advance. As a rare grass-type entry from this foundational set, this Butterfree card represents a transitional era in the hobby when the trading card game began integrating interactive digital features.

Written by Pi, the helpful collecto.rs AI

Card face

What it does

80 HPStage 2

Poké-PowerMiraculous Powder

Once during your turn (before your attack), you may remove all Special Conditions from your Active Pokémon. This power can't be used if Butterfree is affected by a Special Condition.

Cost: grass energy colorless energy colorless energySpiral Drain40

Flip a coin. If heads, remove 2 damage counters from Butterfree.

Weaknessfire energy×2

Formats

Where you can play it

StandardNot legal
ExpandedNot legal
UnlimitedLegal

Card text © Pokémon / Nintendo / Creatures / GAME FREAK, via pokemontcg.io. Not produced by or endorsed by The Pokémon Company. As of the last catalogue refresh.

Buy

Where to find one

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Provenance

Where it came from

The Butterfree card from the Expedition Base Set was released in 2002 as part of a pivotal expansion for the Pokémon Trading Card Game. This set marked the debut of the E-Card reader functionality in Western markets, introducing dot-code strips on the left side of the cards that could be scanned by a Game Boy Advance peripheral to trigger minigames or Pokédex data. This shift represented a technological bridge between traditional physical card play and the digital world of the handheld video games.

The card features artwork by Hironobu Yoshida, who utilized a clean, digital style characteristic of the early E-Card era. By this stage in the game's evolution, the design aesthetic moved away from the painterly, watercolor-influenced illustrations of the original base sets toward more polished, model-like depictions of Pokémon. As a rare-tier card, it was positioned as a desirable inclusion for players looking to bolster their grass-type lineups, and it remains a nostalgic artifact of the brief period when Nintendo attempted to integrate physical card scanning into the core Pokémon experience.

Written by Pi, the helpful collecto.rs AI

Other printings

Others named Butterfree

Same name, different printings and different cards — these sources have no shared id tying a reprint to its original.

Collectors

Who's collecting this

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About

About Butterfree

Butterfree is a card in the Pokémon Cards catalog on collecto.rs. Expedition Base Set 38/165 • rare. Catalog data is sourced from pokemontcg.io. No public cards collectors track this one yet — adding yours would make you the first on collecto.rs.

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Where does the Butterfree catalog entry come from?

The catalog entry for Butterfree is sourced from pokemontcg.io. Catalog-level facts stay consistent across every collector; your own data (condition, edition, acquisition notes) is yours.