Pokémon has confirmed the Trading Card Game's 30th Celebration set, and unlike most of what we've been covering lately, this one isn't a leak. It releases worldwide on September 16, 2026, and it's built to be the biggest, most collector-focused set the TCG has ever put out for an anniversary.

The headline feature is simple to describe and expensive to chase: every single card in the set is foil, including basic Energy cards, something the TCG has never done for a full expansion before. Packs hold six cards instead of the usual five, and the full set runs to roughly 150 cards once secret rares are counted. It's also the first Pokémon TCG set with a genuinely simultaneous global release, meaning there's no regional staggering for players trying to open packs alongside everyone else on day one.

The chase-card story centers on a new rarity tier called Futuristic Rare, debuting with artwork from illustrator YOSHIROTTEN. The first two revealed are Mewtwo ex and Mew ex, both leaning into a stylized, forward-looking art direction that's meant to set the tier apart from existing Illustration Rares and Special Illustration Rares.

There's also a dedicated hook for anyone chasing a full collection rather than just chase cards: 30 different Pikachu cards, one guaranteed in every pack, each illustrated by a different artist. The roster of illustrators includes OKACHEKE and Yuu Nishida, alongside Atsuko Nishida, the original character designer who drew Pikachu for the very first Red and Green games back in 1996, which makes her involvement here feel less like a marketing footnote and more like an actual full-circle moment for a card themed around the franchise's 30th year.

Beyond Pikachu, the set adds new ex cards for Greninja and Sylveon, plus Illustration Rares for Espeon, Umbreon, Lapras, Drifloon, Zorua, and Lycanroc. On the nostalgia side, 30 classic cards get new foil reprints, most notably the original Base Set Charizard and Pikachu & Zekrom-GX from Sun & Moon's Team Up set. None of these reprints are legal in Standard tournament play; they're collector pieces, not tournament staples.

Pricing and rollout are split across multiple waves. The September 16 launch wave includes an Elite Trainer Box at $49.99, Sylveon ex and Greninja ex boxes at $21.99 each, and smaller Eevee collections around $9.99, alongside standard booster boxes (20 packs) and a Premium Deck Set built around Espeon and Umbreon. A second wave on October 2 adds a Binder Collection ($31.99) and Mini Tins ($9.99), and a third wave on November 6 brings Ultra-Premium Collections at $179.99 each plus a dedicated Ditto Premium Collection. Given the simultaneous global launch and how collector-focused this set is, expect it to be genuinely difficult to find at MSRP once it's actually on shelves.

The timing isn't a coincidence. 2026 is the Pokémon franchise's 30th anniversary, and the TCG set slots in alongside everything else the year has already brought: Pokémon Champions taking over as the official VGC platform, the Winds & Waves reveal, and the World Championships landing in San Francisco later this month. A set built to be the biggest anniversary release the card game has ever had fits right into that pattern.

Sources for this piece: Pokemon.com, TCGRadar, and MyPokeScan.