Base Set 2: How to Identify Cards From This Set

• Base Set 2 is a compilation set reprinting selected cards from Base Set and Jungle, rather than all-new original set content.
• Starting with Base Set 2, the holofoil printing pattern changed from the earlier 'Starlight' pattern to a 'cosmos' pattern, which can be used to distinguish old holo cards from new ones.
• This set never had a 1st Edition print run, so no card in it carries an 'EDITION 1' stamp — unlike other early WOTC sets.

• [Base Set](/lookup/pokemon-sets/base-set): Base Set 2's cards are a reprint compilation of Base Set and Jungle, totaling 130 cards (versus 102 for the original Base Set), and it has no 1st Edition version — which distinguishes it from the original.

Because its name includes 'Base Set', newcomers often mistake this set for a restock of the original Base Set; it is actually an independent reprint compilation, and the only set within the 1st Edition era (Base Set through Neo Destiny) that never had a 1st Edition print run at all.

• Bottom-left or bottom-right corner: the set symbol and the collector number (e.g. 4/102) tell you the set; older cards have no symbol at all, which itself narrows them to Base Set.
• Left of the number: a 1st Edition stamp, if present, sits below the art on WOTC-era cards.
• Regulation mark (a letter in a box near the bottom, D through H so far) dates modern cards to a two-year window.
• Back of the card: the blue Poké Ball back has changed little since 1999; a washed-out, blurry or wrongly colored back is the first sign of a fake.

Lay the card flat on a dark surface in daylight, straight on, with the whole card in frame, then a close-up of the bottom edge where the set symbol, number and any edition stamp sit. Tilt holo cards under the light for a second shot to show the foil pattern. Photograph the back too. The app reads the card and set; the edition and rarity checks above tell you which version you have.