Pokémon Mewtwo GX - Shining Legends (SM3+), Japanese, PSA 10

Mewtwo GX belongs to Shining Legends (SM3+), the 2017 Japanese expansion devoted entirely to the legendary and mythical Pokémon of the first generation. The illustration is by Mitsuhiro Arita, one of the defining artists of the TCG, and stages Mewtwo suspended inside a high-tech containment capsule in a laboratory — a direct visual echo of the character's origin as a genetically engineered Pokémon, and one of the most cinematic treatments the subject has received.

Shining Legends concentrated the franchise's most recognisable legends into a single set, and Mewtwo sits at its centre. The card carries HP 190 with three attacks of real weight: Full Burst, whose damage scales with the energy attached; a recovery move restoring 30 HP; and the GX attack Psycho Break GX at 200 damage. Arita's authorship matters to collectors as much as the subject — his signature runs through the most celebrated cards of the game's history.

Encapsulated by PSA at 10 GEM MINT, this Japanese example is preserved to the highest grade the service awards, a standard that is notably exacting on a card of this construction.