Pokémon · POP
Piplup
POP Series 9 · #16 · Common · 2009
Listings
No active listings
From
—
Market reference
$9.01
TCGPlayer
Current listings on The Game Traders
No active listings for this card right now.
Card facts
Quick reference for collectors and graders.
- Set position
- 16 / 17
- Release year
- 2009
- Rarity
- Common
- HP
- 50
- Subtype
- Basic
- Evolves to
- Prinplup
- Retreat cost
- 1 energy
- Illustrator
- Midori Harada
- Pokédex #
- 393
- Series
- POP
Card analysis
Computed from this card's stats and text — not a reposted price.
- Primary role
- Bench Damage
- Damage efficiency
- 40 damage
- 13.33 per Energy
- Prize liability
- 1 Prize given up
- Single-prize attacker — favourable prize trades
- Setup
- Basic
- Plays straight down — no evolution needed
Also does
Strategy & play
How Piplup plays — derived from its stats and the rules of the game, not an opinion.
- A Basic — hits the board turn 1 with no evolution tax.
- Its main attack (Wavelet) needs 3 Energy — a turn-3 swing on manual attachment — you’ll want Energy acceleration to power it up on time.
- Needs Water Energy to attack — your line must supply that color.
- Water type, weak to Lightning ×2 — a Lightning attacker doing ≥25 effectively one-shots it.
- A single-prize attacker — prize-trade-positive against ex / V decks that give up two at a time.
- Seen in 0% of recent tournament decks that can run it, usually 2 copies.
How to beat Piplup
- Exploit its Lightning weakness — ≥25 damage one-shots it.
Competitive performance
From real Standard tournament decks over the last 180 days.
- Meta inclusion
- 0% of decks
- 1.62 copies on average · 267 decks
- Match win rate
- 47.3%
- +0.1 pts vs the 47.2% field average
Plays well with
Cards most often run alongside this one in tournament decks over the last 180 days — ranked by how distinctive the pairing is.
Prinplup
in 20% of decks · 52 seen
Empoleon ex
in 100% of decks · 263 seen
Steven's Metang
in 71% of decks · 186 seen
Steven's Beldum
in 71% of decks · 187 seen
Steven's Metagross ex
in 71% of decks · 187 seen
Dialga
in 41% of decks · 109 seen
Deoxys
in 17% of decks · 44 seen
Mega Mawile ex
in 55% of decks · 145 seen
Budget alternatives
Cheaper cards that fill a similar role in Standard decks. Reference prices — most-played option first.
More by Midori Harada
This card was illustrated by Midori Harada.
Building around Piplup?
Drop it into the deck builder for a live consistency score, synergy suggestions, and Standard legality checks.
About this card
"It lives along shores in northern countries. A skilled swimmer, it dives for over 10 minutes to hunt."
WWater Sport — 10+
If Piplup has less Energy attached to it than the Defending Pokémon, this attack does 10 damage plus more 10 more damage.
WCCWavelet — 40
If you have Buizel in play, this attack does 10 damage to each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon. (Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)
Weakness:L+10
Retreat cost:C
Tournament legality
Current legal status across competitive formats.
Tournament play
This printing of Piplup has no recent tournament appearances, but a different printing is currently a meta staple.
Piplup — Phantasmal Flames
Played in 61 recent decks
Pricing reference
Latest snapshot from the upstream catalog. Actual marketplace prices fluctuate by condition, edition, and grade — use this as a reference, not a quote.
TCGPlayer (USD)
Updated 2026/07/01| Variant | Low | Mid | High | Market | Direct Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | $4.99 | $19.90 | $49.99 | $9.01 | $49.15 |
Cardmarket (EUR)
Updated 2026/07/01| Variant | Price |
|---|---|
| 1-day average | €24.99 |
| 7-day average | €3.54 |
| 30-day average | €4.97 |
| Low | €0.45 |
| Trend price | €5.15 |
| Low (excellent+) | €2.00 |
| Reverse holo low | €100.00 |
| reverseHoloAvg1 | €65.00 |
| Reverse holo 7-day | €19.36 |
| averageSellPrice | €3.01 |
| Reverse holo 30-day | €19.36 |
| Reverse holo trend | €54.75 |
Frequently asked
How can I tell if my Piplup is real?
Piplup is not on our list of commonly-counterfeited cards, but counterfeits exist across every set. Check the back-light test (real cards have a black inner layer that blocks light; counterfeits glow through), the rosette dot pattern on the back under magnification, font weight and kerning on the card name, and the holofoil pattern if applicable. For high-value copies we recommend submitting to a professional grader (PSA, BGS, CGC) for tamper-evident authentication.
What is Piplup worth?
As of the latest data, the current market reference price for Piplup is $9.01; there are no active listings on The Game Traders right now. Actual value depends on condition, grading, edition and printing variant — graded high-condition copies (PSA 9–10) trade at a substantial premium over raw copies.
What set is Piplup from?
Piplup is from the Pokémon set "POP Series 9" in the POP series, released in 2009.
What rarity is Piplup?
Piplup is a Common card in the POP Series 9 set.
Other Piplup printings
Same Pokémon card across other sets and rarities.
