(I’m going LIVE tonight at 7:30pm ET to discuss this and answer your questions. The link is at the bottom of this newsletter 🫡 )
Over the past week we've seen a wave of new updates for this September's 30th Celebration set.
And it looks good.
But… not all good.
This is the official 30th anniversary set, and it follows in the footsteps of 2021's excellent Celebrations set, released for Pokémon's 25th anniversary, and brings much of what made that release so great.
Most notably: the 30th Celebration set includes a 30 card Classic Collection with the same style and theme of the the 25 card Classic Collection from Celebrations, even continuing the idea of the subset having as many cards as Pokémon is celebrating years, with 30 cards for the 30th anniversary.
The cards themselves are all reprints of classic cards from this history of Pokémon, brining both collectible staples, like base set Charizard and Crystal Lugia, alongide important playable cards from the Pokémon TCG's competive history.
Personally, I have a soft spot for the Tag Team GX and Sword & Shield cards included in the Classic Collection: these were the cards dominating the competitive meta when I first learned to play the Pokémon TCG in 2021 including Pikachu & Zekrom Tag Team GX, Zacian V, and Mew VMAX. It brings me right back to that time in Pokémon's history: exactly what an anniversary set should do.
You can check out all the revealed Classic Collection cards in this PokéBeach article.
Beyond the Classic Collection, The Pokémon Company is doing some great things with the core 30th Celebration set:
Every pack contains 1 of 30 collectible Pikachu cards. (The OKACHEKE one, in particular, is already a fan favorite.)
They have revealed a new "Futuristic rare" rarity which is... interesting... And, depending on how hard they are to pull, could develop quite the legacy.
Illustration Rare cards are confirmed to be included, so Special Illustration Rare cards are a possibility!
An example of the 1 of 30 Pikachu cards plus two ‘futuristic rare’ cards revealed from the upcoming 30th Celebration Pokémon set.
In my opinion, the reality of this set is straightforward: it's going to be a hit.
We already know how well received this "Celebration" set model is: Celebrations proved it's a hit in 2021, and the prices of Celebrations cards and products in 2026 demonstrates the long-term potential. Just look at the performance of the Celebrations standard ETB over the past 5 years.
Price history of standard Celebrations ETBs from Pokedata.io.
However, this is not all positive news. Despite all there is to love, there's a lot that makes me uncomfortable about this release.
In particular, I'm concerned about the supply The Pokémon Company will be able to ship given the current massive market demand. Considering every new release in the past 12-18 months has been underprinted, and considering we have seen no evidence The Pokémon Company is capable of printing more, it’s likely the 30th Celebration set will be expensive, and stay expensive.
Compare this to the Celebrations release which, at launch, was also scarce and expensive. But The Pokémon Company did a remarkable thing: between the October 2021 release, and the public end of Celebrations product printing and availability on Feb 26th, 2022, they printed so much Celebrations product that it was available for MSRP or less in retailers across North America.
In Dec 2024, I called Celebrations "Pokémon's Perfect Set" because of how miraculously The Pokémon company was able to manage the supply, within such a short window, before publicly ending the availability the day before the next Pokémon Day - they literally end of the 25th anniversary year. Brilliant.
So, while they are deploying the same playbook for the 30th anniversary, I have not seen any evidence they will be able to provide enough supply to the market to deliver the same experience.
But, hey, at least we have a great set to look forward to. Only time will tell what we'll have to pay to get our hands on it.
As usual,
Thanks so much for reading the TCG Buyers Club newsletter. My name's Grey, I buy cardboard, and I'm on a mission to make collecting and investing in Pokémon simple.
Cheers 🍻
P.S. I can’t wait to talk about this tonight, so click the link below and turn on your notification for tonight’s LIVE, starting at 7:30pm ET. See you then!