5ban Graphics
5ban Graphics has produced 1,037 tracked cards spanning the Mega Evolution era through to Scarlet & Violet, making the studio one of the most consistently prolific illustrators in the modern Pokémon card catalogue. Their work is immediately recognisable for its high-contrast digital rendering, dramatic low-angle perspective, and a preference for subjects that fill or burst beyond the card frame. Across every era, the studio has pursued a visual language that prioritises spectacle and kinetic energy over restraint.
One holofoil canvas, many treatments
The rainbow Secret Rare treatment of Mewtwo & Mew GX (SM - Unified Minds, 242/236) crystallises everything the studio does best: two subjects rendered in iridescent prismatic wash, their outlines clean and confident against a softly graded background, the smaller Mew nestled against Mewtwo's torso in a compositional pairing that feels both monumental and tender. That same command of the full-bleed format appears in the Glaceon GX full art (SM - Ultra Prism, 141/156), where an icy-blue figure lunges toward the lower-left corner, the entire card suffused in a cool cerulean atmosphere that reads as both temperature and mood. The studio's palette choices are rarely accidental: colour functions as character, so that a Ghost-type composition skews purple-grey and a Fire-type burns with warm amber gradients, even when the finish transforms the underlying hues into spectral light. Compositionally, a strong diagonal thrust is the studio's default grammar, lending even static subjects a sense of arrested motion.
How the studio's style shifted across eras
The 89 Mega Evolution era cards show 5ban Graphics working within the tighter rectangular art window of that period, compensating with extreme foreshortening and heavily rendered surface detail, as visible in the M Rayquaza EX (Celebrations: Classic Collection, 76/108), where the serpentine dragon's jaw fills the foreground and the body spirals into a storm of electric-green and silver light behind it. Moving into Sun & Moon, the expanded full-art and Secret Rare formats freed the studio to push subjects to the very edges of the frame, a compositional confidence that produced the rainbow treatments now most associated with their name, accounting for 438 cards and £11,177.19 of tracked value in that era alone. By Sword & Shield, represented by 316 cards, the Shiny Vault version of Grimmsnarl VMAX (SV117/SV122) shows a further shift: the background dissolves into pastel confetti and star-bursts, the figure rendered in a mirror-polished chrome palette that turns the card into something closer to a foil sculpture than a conventional illustration.
The subjects the studio returns to
Of 1,037 tracked cards, 898 feature Pokémon subjects and 139 are Trainer cards, a ratio that reflects the studio's specialism in character-forward compositions rather than environmental or item illustration, though the Giant Hearth Secret Rare (SM - Cosmic Eclipse, 263/236) demonstrates a compelling exception: an industrial stone furnace glowing amber at its mouth, rendered with tactile weight and an almost painterly sense of radiated heat, the surrounding pipework and smoke dissolving into a gilded border that lifts the image into something genuinely atmospheric. Across Pokémon subjects, the studio returns repeatedly to Legendary and pseudo-Legendary subjects, with Ogerpon appearing on 15 cards, Charizard and Dialga each on 13, and Necrozma and Calyrex each on 11, subjects that reward the studio's appetite for dramatic scale. The Gengar & Mimikyu GX (SM - Team Up, 186/181) shows a different register entirely: two ghost-types rendered in the same rainbow prismatic wash as the Mewtwo & Mew pairing, but where that card exudes gravity, this one carries a streak of mischief, Mimikyu's lopsided costume grin sitting against Gengar's wide-mouthed silhouette in a composition that is genuinely playful.
The numbers behind the house style
Across 1,037 tracked cards with a combined catalogue value of £16,140.58 and a median price of £3.07, the distribution is sharply tiered, with the top 10 cards accounting for 24.1% of total value, a concentration that reflects how intensely collectors prioritise the studio's Secret Rare and rainbow treatments over the broader run. The artist holds the number 1 ranked position out of 195 tracked illustrators with an overall score of 85.16, supported by a Market Presence sub-score of 99.2 and a Collectability score of 96.2. Ultra Rare is comfortably the most represented rarity tier at 448 cards, followed by 127 Double Rares and 125 Secret Rares, a rarity profile that gives collectors meaningful points of entry at very different price levels.
Index spans approximately the last 100 days. This is a collecting guide, not investment advice.
Which cards would collectors actually want to own?
The Umbreon V full art (SWSH07: Evolving Skies, 188/203) illustrates precisely why the studio's work commands sustained collector attention: a jet-black subject rendered against a kaleidoscopic teal and magenta backdrop, the contrast between the dark silhouette and the luminous ground producing an image that holds its visual weight even at the small scale of a trading card. The Mega Lucario ex (ME01: Mega Evolution, 188/132) takes a fundamentally different approach, drowning the figure in a solid-gold hyper-rare treatment that strips colour entirely and relies on sculptural line-work to carry the composition, showing the studio's range across finish types. For collectors assembling a cross-era 5ban Graphics set, the Cynthia's Garchomp ex (SV10: Destined Rivals, 241/182) is worth watching as a recent Hyper Rare that pairs a human trainer portrait with a dynamic Pokémon in a shared golden composition, a pairing that appears rarely in the studio's output and gives the card a distinct character within the broader run.
The closing spread
Six cards, six different registers of the same visual ambition.
Everything the catalogue knows about 5ban Graphics
Answer-first facts about 5ban Graphics's Pokémon card artwork — catalogue scale, the sets they appear in, their most valuable cards and their Artist Performance Index.
01Who is 5ban Graphics in the Pokémon Trading Card Game?⌄
5ban Graphics is one of the most prolific illustrators in the Pokémon TCG, responsible for a significant share of the high-rarity digital artwork that has defined the modern card game's visual identity. Across cards tracked by Monster Card Corner, 5ban Graphics has 1,037 cards spanning 57 sets and 272 distinct Pokémon, with work running from 2016 through to 2026. The studio is best known for its polished, high-gloss renders of Pokémon-GX, V, VMAX, VSTAR, and ex cards, producing the kind of dramatic, full-art and secret-rare illustrations that typically anchor the top of each set's pull list.
02How many Pokémon cards by 5ban Graphics are tracked in the Monster Card Corner catalogue?⌄
Within the Monster Card Corner catalogue, 5ban Graphics is credited on 1,037 Pokémon cards across 57 sets released between 2016 and 2026, covering 272 distinct Pokémon. These figures count the cards currently tracked here, not the artist's full lifetime output, and grow as the catalogue expands.
03How is the Artist Performance Index calculated for 5ban Graphics?⌄
5ban Graphics scores 85.2 and ranks #1 of 195 on the Artist Performance Index, Monster Card Corner's 0–100 measure of every tracked artist with at least 15 priced cards. It blends three weighted components: Market Presence (40%) — the catalogue's value footprint (99.2); Momentum (35%) — recent price movement (61.3); and Collectability (25%) — the depth of premium rarities (96.2). Every component comes from tracked market data.
04What are the most valuable Pokémon cards illustrated by 5ban Graphics in our catalogue?⌄
Victini (SV10.5: Black Bolt 171/086) is the most valuable 5ban Graphics card at £545.14, based on tracked market data. The current top five are: Victini (SV10.5: Black Bolt 171/086) at £545.14; Charizard GX (SM - Burning Shadows 150/147) at £541.31; Victini (SV10.5: White Flare 172/086) at £513.15; Reshiram ex (SV10.5: White Flare 173/086) at £463.99; Mewtwo & Mew GX (SM - Unified Minds 242/236) at £377.34. Prices reflect current market values and change over time.
05Which Pokémon has 5ban Graphics illustrated most often?⌄
5ban Graphics has illustrated Ogerpon most often — 15 cards — followed by Dialga (13), Charizard (13), Necrozma (11), Calyrex (11). These counts update as new sets are added.
06Which Pokémon TCG sets contain artwork by 5ban Graphics?⌄
5ban Graphics's artwork appears across 57 Pokémon TCG sets, spanning the Sun & Moon, Scarlet & Violet, Sword & Shield, Mega Evolution and Classic Collection eras. The most recent is ME04: Chaos Rising (2026). The list expands as more of the artist's work is catalogued.
07What makes 5ban Graphics's artwork distinctive?⌄
5ban Graphics works in a highly rendered, computer-generated style built around dramatic lighting, metallic sheen, and dynamic poses that push subjects to the very edges of the card frame. Their colour approach tends toward bold, saturated palettes, the icy blues of Glaceon GX, the blazing rainbow gradients of Mewtwo & Mew GX, Charizard VSTAR, and Gengar & Mimikyu GX, and the rich all-gold plating seen on Mega Lucario ex and Cynthia's Garchomp ex. Subjects are rendered with crisp, almost sculptural volume, often caught mid-lunge or looming large against an abstract or atmospheric background. Rainbow and gold secret-rare treatments are a recurring signature, washing the entire composition in prismatic or gilded light. Even environmental subjects, like the industrial glow of Giant Hearth, show the same precise, photorealistic finish that makes 5ban Graphics work immediately recognisable.
08Why do collectors follow 5ban Graphics's cards?⌄
5ban Graphics holds rank 1 out of 195 artists in the Artist Performance Index, driven by near-perfect collectability and market presence scores, a reflection of just how deeply embedded this studio is across the modern Pokémon TCG. That top ranking is earned partly through sheer scale: with 1,037 cards across 57 sets, collectors building competitive-era sets from Sun & Moon through Scarlet & Violet will encounter 5ban Graphics at almost every pull, particularly in the secret-rare and full-art slots that anchor each expansion. The studio's most recognised cards are genuine headline chase pieces, rainbow-rare Tag Team GX cards, gold ultra-rares, and high-value secret rares, with several sitting among the most valuable cards in the entire tracked catalogue. The breadth of Pokémon covered, from fan-favourites like Charizard and Umbreon to legendary and mythical subjects like Mewtwo, Dialga, and Calyrex, means the catalogue spans accessible staples alongside serious premium targets. 5ban Graphics is the natural home for collectors who want the definitive high-rarity version of their favourite Pokémon and are happy chasing the glossiest, most technically polished cards the modern game has produced.
