Pokémon TCG's 30th Anniversary Set Is All Foil, No Bulk

Every single card in the Pokémon TCG's upcoming 30th Celebration expansion will be a foil. No commons, no reverse holos padding out your pulls, no bulk. As reported by PokéBeach, each international booster pack will contain five foil cards and one foil basic energy, with one of 30 unique Pikachu variants guaranteed in every pack. The set launches simultaneously worldwide on September 16, marking the first time a Pokémon TCG set has dropped in Japan and internationally on the same date.

The all-foil approach is a first for the franchise, and I think it's exactly the right call for an anniversary product. The 25th Celebration set was fun but still had filler; removing bulk entirely means every pack has pull value, which is how a premium commemorative set should work. Alongside the 30 artist-exclusive Pikachu cards, the set includes 30 reprinted classics stamped with a special "30th" logo. Yes, Base Set Charizard is back again. The Pokémon Company also confirmed a brand-new rarity tier called Futuristic Rare, illustrated by Japanese artist YOSHIROTTEN, with Mew and Mewtwo as the first two cards in the series. According to The Pokémon Company's statement, each Futuristic Rare will "depict Pokémon in striking artwork evocative of hope toward an unknown future."

Legendaries fill out the rest of the roster: Dialga, Ho-Oh, Xerneas, Miraidon, Lunala, Kyogre, Zacian, and Zekrom all appear alongside fan favourites like Sylveon, Greninja, Slowpoke, and Meowth. One wrinkle for international collectors: Japanese packs get six cards, while the rest of the world gets five. That's a smaller pack than the standard ten-card international format, and it's going to sting when these inevitably get marked up by resellers. The Pokémon Company revealed last week that it manufactured over 10 billion cards in the past year alone, bringing its lifetime total to 85 billion, but supply has never kept pace with demand on premium sets. If you want 30th Celebration at retail price, September 16 is going to be a race.