Team Rocket’s Tyranitar is not a base-set card, and it is not part of a booster pack. It is a secret, above-base-count print — card 142 in a set that only runs to 141 — and it only ever came packaged inside a single 2001 half-deck product.
The card is R団のバンギラス — Team Rocket’s Tyranitar, card 142/141, a Rare Holo from the Japanese Pokémon VS expansion. Our anchor copy is graded PSA 10 and carries the :1ED (1st Edition) designation. This guide covers what the card is, the 2001 half-deck it came from, why it’s easy to confuse with two other Tyranitar-related products in our catalogue, and where it sits among Japanese rarity tiers.
Our anchor, PSA 10 Team Rocket’s Tyranitar :1ED [VS 142/141], is currently listed at ¥422,440 (~$2,657). It is a Rare Holo secret print from the Pokémon VS expansion, packaged exclusively in the 2001 Tyranitar Half Deck, and it has not been officially released in English. It is a different product from the 1997 “Team Rocket” old-back expansion — if you’re after that vintage set instead, we also list PSA 10 Dragonite: Old Back [PMCG4 No.149] from that earlier release, currently at ¥655,555 (~$4,123).
Prices below are current samuraiswordtokyo.com listings, converted at ¥159/USD (September 2026).
The Card: Team Rocket’s Tyranitar VS 142/141 Rare Holo
Team Rocket’s Tyranitar — R団のバンギラス in Japanese — is a Darkness-type Pokémon card with 80 HP, printed as a Rare Holo in the Japanese Pokémon VS expansion. It is illustrated by Hiromichi Sugiyama. Its number, 142/141, places it one slot past the end of the set’s own 141-card count — the standard Japanese convention for marking a card as a secret or above-base-set print rather than part of the main numbered run.
One piece of trivia worth noting: Bulbapedia records this as the only Team Rocket-aligned card in the Pokémon VS set where the Iron-Masked Marauder’s face appears in the trainer leader-box artwork slot — a detail specific to this printing.
Our graded copy of this print is currently listed at ¥422,440 (~$2,657), PSA 10, graded with the :1ED (1st Edition) designation.
Print History: One Verified Print, and Two Cards It’s Often Confused With
The verified print for Team Rocket’s Tyranitar is the VS 142/141 Rare Holo above — no evidence has surfaced of an earlier or later Japanese release of this exact card. What does come up in searches, though, are two other Tyranitar-related products in our own catalogue that are easy to mix up with it. Both are genuinely different cards.
Not the same set: the 1997 “Team Rocket” old-back expansion
The name overlap is the trap here. Our VS 142/141 card comes from a 2001 half-deck product; it has nothing to do with the separate 1997 Japanese “Team Rocket” expansion (the old-back set that introduced the “Dark Pokémon” concept). That 1997 set is a distinct, earlier product line — four years older than the VS half-deck — and it’s the vintage release our own Team Rocket Japanese Pokemon Cards hub treats as the true vintage-summit “Team Rocket” product. We list PSA 10 old-backs from that 1997 set separately, including:
For the full context on that older print family, see our Japanese old-back Pokemon cards guide.
Not the same card: Bandit Ring Tyranitar EX (2015)
A completely separate Tyranitar exists as Tyranitar EX SR :1ED [XY7 089/081] from the Japanese set Bandit Ring, released 20 June 2015 — fourteen years after the VS 142/141 card, and unrelated to the Team Rocket lineage entirely. It’s a modern Special Rare treatment of the Pokémon, not a reprint of the 2001 card, and it belongs to a completely different set and era. We list it separately, currently at ¥147,500 (~$928), as the point of comparison in this section rather than as a sibling print.
| Card / product | Set | Number | Release |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team Rocket’s Tyranitar (this card) | Pokémon VS / Tyranitar Half Deck | 142/141 | 7 Jul 2001 |
| Dragonite: Old Back | “Team Rocket” (1997, PMCG4) | No.149 | 1997 |
| Charizard: Old Back | “Team Rocket” (1997, PMCG4) | No.006 | 1997 |
| Tyranitar EX SR, Bandit Ring | Bandit Ring (XY7) | 089/081 | 20 Jun 2015 |
Three different products, three different eras, one repeated name. Also worth flagging separately: our Dark Tyranitar 30th Celebration reprint guide and our broader Tyranitar print-history hub cover further Tyranitar releases that are also distinct from this VS 142/141 card.
The Set: Pokémon VS and the Tyranitar Half Deck
Pokémon VS (Japanese: ポケモンカードゲーム VS) is a main Japanese expansion running to a base count of 141 cards. The 142/141 secret print of Team Rocket’s Tyranitar was not sold inside the expansion’s own booster packs — it came packaged specifically in the Tyranitar Half Deck, a companion product that, per Bulbapedia, “complements the Pokémon VS expansion” and “consists of Owner’s Pokémon that were featured in the main expansion.”
The half-deck’s contents (per Bulbapedia) ran to 12 “Owner’s Pokémon” cards representing gym leaders and Elite Four members, a set of trainer cards, various Energy cards, a Celebi-themed coin, a rulebook, and damage counters.
The Japanese release date was 7 July 2001, timed to the theatrical release of the fourth Pokémon movie, Celebi: The Voice of the Forest. An English-language version of the Tyranitar Half Deck was distributed on 26 August 2001 at the Tropical Mega Battle tournament — that covers the deck product itself, but whether its card-for-card contents matched the Japanese secret print discussed here is not something we’ve been able to confirm.
Where This Print Sits Among Japanese Rarity Tiers
Team Rocket’s Tyranitar carries a Rare Holo rarity designation — the standard holofoil tier used throughout this era of Japanese Pokémon cards, well before modern tier names like SR, SAR, or SIR existed. What sets this particular Rare Holo apart structurally is its number: 142 in a set that runs its main numbering only to 141. That above-base placement is the same numbering convention Japanese sets still use today to flag secret or bonus-slot cards, even though the tier language itself has changed a great deal since 2001.
Layered on top of that is the :1ED (1st Edition) designation carried by our graded copy — a print-run marking rather than a rarity tier, but one that collectors of this era track closely alongside the card’s holo status and secret-slot number.
Where to Buy Team Rocket’s Tyranitar from Tokyo
Our graded copy of PSA 10 Team Rocket’s Tyranitar :1ED [VS 142/141] is currently listed at ¥422,440 (~$2,657), shipped from Tokyo with tracked delivery. If you’re building out a wider Team Rocket-themed collection, we also list the genuinely vintage 1997 old-backs — PSA 10 Dragonite: Old Back [PMCG4 No.149] at ¥655,555 (~$4,123) and PSA 10 Charizard: Old Back [PMCG4 No.006] at ¥877,448 (~$5,519) — plus the unrelated but same-Pokémon PSA 10 Tyranitar EX SR [XY7 089/081], Bandit Ring at ¥147,500 (~$928).
For the wider family of cards carrying the Team Rocket name across every era, see our Team Rocket’s Pokemon card family guide, or browse the broader PSA 10 Team Rocket Japanese cards guide for both vintage and modern picks. You can browse the full graded range in our PSA 10 graded card collection, and for a mixed order across singles and sealed product, our Quick Order page is the fastest way to build a cart.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Team Rocket’s Tyranitar VS 142/141?
It’s a Rare Holo, Darkness-type card, HP 80, illustrated by Hiromichi Sugiyama, from the Japanese Pokémon VS expansion. Its number, 142/141, places it one slot past the set’s own 141-card count, marking it as a secret print. It was packaged exclusively in the 2001 Tyranitar Half Deck. We list a PSA 10 :1ED copy, currently listed at ¥422,440 (~$2,657).
Is Team Rocket’s Tyranitar from the same set as the 1997 “Team Rocket” expansion?
No. The 1997 Japanese “Team Rocket” expansion is a separate, earlier old-back set that introduced the “Dark Pokémon” concept. The VS 142/141 Tyranitar comes from a different product — the 2001 Tyranitar Half Deck — released four years later.
Is this the same card as the Bandit Ring Tyranitar EX?
No. Tyranitar EX SR [XY7 089/081] from Bandit Ring is a separate, modern print released in 2015, fourteen years after the VS 142/141 card and unrelated to the Team Rocket lineage. We list both, but they are different cards from different eras.
Does Team Rocket’s Tyranitar have an English print?
Based on the record we’ve verified, no — it has not been officially released in English. The Tyranitar Half Deck product did get an English-language distribution in August 2001, but whether that deck’s contents card-for-card matched this specific Japanese secret print is unconfirmed.
What is the Tyranitar Half Deck?
A companion product to the Pokémon VS expansion, released in Japan on 7 July 2001 to coincide with the movie Celebi: The Voice of the Forest. It included 12 “Owner’s Pokémon” cards, trainer cards, Energy cards, a Celebi-themed coin, a rulebook, and damage counters — with the secret 142/141 Team Rocket’s Tyranitar as its signature card.
Where can I buy Team Rocket’s Tyranitar from Tokyo?
Our PSA 10 :1ED copy of Team Rocket’s Tyranitar is currently listed at ¥422,440 (~$2,657) as VS 142/141, shipped from Tokyo with tracked delivery. Related Team Rocket-era and Tyranitar cards are linked above if you’re building out a wider collection.
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