When it became obvious there was going to be no new mainline Pokémon game in 2025, it raised a huge question about what would happen to the Pokémon TCG. The three-yearly cycle had become so normal that the card game was built around it, releasing sets themed around the new monsters and mechanics added to each new gaming entry, so what would it do when that was taken away? The answer, it turned out, was the revival of Mega Evolution, loosely tied into the events of Pokémon Z-A, but mostly just doing its own nostalgic thing. But now we know that Pokémon Winds and Waves won’t be out until 2027! So what then? Step forward, the 30th Anniversary Set.
During the 30th anniversary Pokémon Presents, among its lacking assortment of announcements, there was a brief appearance of the TCG—albeit a very opaque one. The one solid piece of information we received was that the new cards will—for the first time ever—release simultaneously worldwide. Cards are usually released in Japan first, in the country’s own bespoke sets, and then repurposed for the rest of the world in differently arranged and titled collections.
The minute-long inclusion showed a range of favorite cards from the last 30 years, often in non-English versions, before faux-interrupting itself to reveal Mew and Mewtwo seemingly on some sort of LSD trip. But nothing tangible, nothing we could infer. Could it be the case that this wasn’t a gallery of old faves, but potentially cards that will be included in the new sets?
That’s what’s being claimed by some sites, like Wargamer, convinced that the cards shown will be part of this celebratory series of sets. And you can see why, given the clip is so infuriatingly uninformative, and especially the choice to show the classic cards in very many different languages, and then finishing on the news that it will release simultaneously worldwide. It seems to speak to this international approach.
I’m not convinced. I think the intention here was to fly through the TCG’s 30-year history, given the cards appeared in chronological order, beginning with that classic Chonkachu #58 and the infamous holo Charizard from the Base Set (although here shown as Glurak, its German name), before jumping to a French Palkia Lv. X from Diamond & Pearl‘s Great Encounters and a Japanese Lugia from Wind from the Sea (2008 and 2002 respectively). We then get a Spanish Uxie Lv. 55 from Legends Awakened (also 2008), followed by the briefest glimpse of both halves of the Darkrai & Cresselia Legend from HS Triumphant (2010), a Genesect EX from 2013’s Pokémon Blast, and a Chinese Solgaleo GX (2017 for the English version). Finally there’s a burst of four: Pikachu & Zekrom’s Tagteam from 2019’s Team Up in Thai, Zacian V from 2020’s Sword & Shield base set in Korean, Arceus VSTAR from 2022’s Brilliant Stars in Indonesian, and finally a silver-edged Amazing Rare Raikou from Pokémon’s 2020 arrival in Chinese.
The only oddity in there is that Chinese Solgaleo GX, as at that point the game hadn’t launched in China. It was, however, released as part of the Chinese Storming Emergence Radiant set in 2022, making it a really weird pick for this montage. My suspicion is less that this is an indication of a new version of the card, and more that someone made a cock-up.
There is of course precedent for re-releasing classic cards as part of an anniversary collection. For the 25th birthday in 2021, Celebrations was released which included the 25-card Classic Collection featuring reprints of various cards from the previous years, marked by a Pikachu head. Then there was 2016’s XY Evolutions that was primarily made up of reprints of Base Set cards, infuriatingly similar to the originals but for a tiny set symbol. So, yeah, it’s entirely possible.
We’ve reached out to Pokémon to see if we can get any clarification, but given PokeBeach is claiming the sets won’t start releasing until October of this year, it seems likely the company will keep quiet about it until nearer the end of this Mega Evolutions era.
