Team Rocket's Nidoking ex: Three Rarity Tiers, Three Prices, One Pokémon
By Dexhaul Team · September 8, 2026
The most expensive single card in Destined Rivals is not Mewtwo. It is Nidoking.
Team Rocket's Nidoking ex 233/182 is the set's second-highest-priced Special Illustration Rare, listed between $105 and $300 raw depending on condition. Below it sits a mid-tier illustration version at $5 to $6. In Japan, a separate Super Art Rare prints at $92 to $116.
Each version features distinct artwork, a different card number, and a completely different buyer profile.
Three formats. Three prices. One Pokémon.
Here is how they stack up, and where vintage fits.
The $100–$300 SIR: What Makes 233/182 the Chase Card
Destined Rivals (SV10 English) numbers its Special Illustration Rares starting above the 182-card base set. The Team Rocket's Nidoking ex SIR sits at 233/182, which is the highest rarity tier the set produces for this character.
Raw copies from independent merchants range from $104.99 to $300 depending on grade and seller. That spread is wide for a single card. CGC 10 copies have sold above $344.
PSA 9 copies clear $116. If you are buying raw, condition matters: Nidoking's dark borders show edge wear immediately, so any copy graded well above its peers at a similar price is worth inspecting closely.
What the SIR art shows matters here. Nidoking dominates the frame in a dynamic battle pose backed by a fiery rocket aesthetic, placing it clearly in the villain-faction visual language that the Glory of Team Rocket set was built around. That framing is deliberate: Giovanni's team has an art direction profile unlike any other faction in modern Scarlet and Violet design, and collectors drawn to the Rocket aesthetic are buying the visual first.
One thing that tends to surprise buyers: Nidoking has no Mega Evolution in any main-series game. It never appeared in XY Mega Evolutions.
The Nidoking ex card is a pure ex mechanic design with no Mega Evolution branding, which distinguishes it from many of the other high-value ex cards in recent ME-series products. It earns its price on the strength of its art and set placement alone.
The $5–$6 Entry: Card 216/182 and What It Gets You
Not every collector needs the SIR.
Card 216/182 in Destined Rivals is the illustration-tier version of Team Rocket's Nidoking ex, available raw for $4.84 to $6 from multiple independent merchants. This is not the base Double Rare ex (119/182, which runs around $3 to $5). It is a distinct extended-number card with special illustration treatment: a full alternate art that occupies the same card slot as an Art Rare in the Japanese numbering system.
Team Rocket's Nidoking ex (216/182) Scarlet and Violet: Destined Rivals
$6.00 USD
The practical case for this tier is straightforward. You get a card with extended art and its own distinct illustration for less than a booster pack.
The SIR gets more attention, but the 216/182 is the version most Nidoking fans will actually add to a binder and keep long term. Both cards exist in the same Destined Rivals set; neither requires a box purchase to target.
The Japanese Route: SAR 126/098 from Glory of Team Rocket
Japan's version of Destined Rivals is called SV10 Glory of Team Rocket (officially, "The Glory of Team Rocket"). It has a tighter card count of 098 in the base set, with extended-number special rarities above that.
Team Rocket's Nidoking ex appears at two Japanese extended numbers: SR 116/098 (the Full Art equivalent, which runs roughly $10 to $15 from Japanese import sellers) and SAR 126/098, the Super Art Rare that sits above SR on the Japanese rarity ladder. The SAR is what catches collector attention.
The SAR carries different artwork from the English SIR. Both are distinct illustrations.
Collectors who want the most visually striking version of a character typically compare both before committing. At $92 to $116 for a NM raw Japanese SAR versus $105 to $300 for a NM English SIR, the Japanese route is sometimes the better-priced option for comparable art quality.
One detail worth noting: the English SIR (233/182) and the Japanese SAR (126/098) are not the same print. They do not share the same image.
Buying one does not mean you have seen the other. Completionists targeting the Nidoking ex collector set need both.
The Team Rocket Tin: Easiest On-Ramp
The Team Rocket Tin exists in three variants: Mewtwo ex, Persian ex, and Nidoking ex. Each tin contains an exclusive foil promo card of the featured Pokémon, plus four booster packs. The Nidoking ex tin lists between $50 and $51 from independent merchants currently in stock.
The promo card inside is a separate Nidoking ex card not found in any set. It is a foil promotional variant with unique numbering. Collectors targeting Nidoking as a character rather than Destined Rivals as a set often start here, since the tin provides a complete Nidoking ex product at a controlled price without the variance of pulling one from packs.
No grading upside on the tin promo, but it fills a slot in a Nidoking binder that no set card can. For display purposes, a tin promo alongside the SIR and the Japanese SAR makes a complete three-card display of the character across 2025 and 2026 releases.
The Vintage Angle: Nidoking Before the ex Era
Nidoking collectors with a longer horizon have a third path: vintage.
The EX FireRed and LeafGreen set (2004) produced a Nidoking Holofoil at 8/112 that currently lists between $25 and $99 raw depending on the seller and condition, with POKÉ JEUX listing one NM copy at $64. This was a period when Nidoking appeared in early GBA-era TCG sets as a straight Holo Rare rather than an ex card. The design is clean, the border is green rather than silver, and it sits at a price accessible to most collectors.
There is a deeper vintage angle worth knowing. The Gym Heroes expansion (1999, WOTC) and its Japanese counterpart introduced Giovanni's Nidoking as a named Trainer-affiliated card years before the modern "Team Rocket's" naming convention existed.
Japanese original-back copies of Giovanni's Nidoking trade today above $160 raw. That lineage makes Nidoking one of a small number of Pokémon with documented Team Rocket representation across the entire TCG history, from 1999 WOTC print runs through the 2026 Destined Rivals SIR.
That continuity is rare. Most Pokémon that appear as modern ex cards have no 1999 Giovanni or Rocket-affiliated print.
Nidoking does. It is part of why the Destined Rivals SIR commands a premium inside a set where the headline chase card is technically Mewtwo: Nidoking has collector infrastructure the competition lacks.
Which Version Is Right for You
If you want the character at a low price and in a binder today, the 216/182 alt art at $5 to $6 is the answer. If you want the best art in the English print run, the SIR 233/182 at $105 and up is the target.
If you prefer the Japanese illustration or want to pay closer to $92 for comparable special art quality, the SAR 126/098 from Glory of Team Rocket is the route. The Team Rocket Tin provides a guaranteed promo card outside the pack-pulling system for around $51.
None of these cards overlap. Each version occupies a distinct slot in a complete Nidoking collection. Collectors with space for all four have the 2026 Rocket-era Nidoking fully covered.
Browse current Nidoking ex listings from independent shops at DexHaul, updated continuously from merchants worldwide. Dexhaul is independent and not affiliated with The Pokémon Company.