Out on Wednesday 16 September 2026, everywhere at once. Two Futuristic Rares, three RGB Mew that Pokemon has not acknowledged, a Pikachu in every pack, and The Entertainer capping you at three items.
The 30th Celebration UK launch is on Wednesday 16 September 2026, the same day as everywhere else. It is the first Pokemon TCG expansion to launch around the world at once, so there was no earlier Japanese release to learn from. The top chase cards are two Futuristic Rares, Mewtwo ex and Mew ex, a rarity that did not exist before this set. Behind them are three RGB Mew secret rares that people have pulled from packs but Pokemon has not acknowledged. Every pack also has one of 30 Pikachu cards. In the UK, the Elite Trainer Box is £49.99 at RRP, and you cannot officially buy single packs.
Wednesday 16 September 2026. When The Pokemon Company announced the set on 1 June, it called 30th Celebration the first expansion "to debut with a simultaneously coordinated global launch". The same release adds that the exact time will vary by country, and nothing official gives a UK opening hour, so do not rely on a time you see quoted.
You can play it before you can buy it. Pokemon's product lineup release put the set into Pokemon TCG Live from 15 September at 10am Pacific time, which is 6pm in the UK.
Not everything arrives on the 16th, though. Pokemon's own product showcase gives US dates that run through to 4 December, so launch day is only the first wave.
Five foil cards, one foil Basic Energy and a code card for Pokemon TCG Live, according to Pokemon's June release. Every card in the set is foil. One of the five is always a Pikachu rare, from a run of 30 different Pikachu cards, each drawn by a different artist. The Basic Energy in each pack is YOSHIROTTEN's design too, so it matches the Futuristic Rares.
You cannot officially buy loose packs. As PokeBeach's English set guide points out, this is a special set, so its packs only come inside boxes, tins and collections. There is no booster box in the English lineup Pokemon has published.
| Part of the set | Cards | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Main set | 128 | Numbered 001 to 128, including the 30 Pikachu rares |
| Secret rares | 33 | Numbered past 128: Illustration Rares, Special Illustration Rares and the Futuristic Rares |
| Classic Collection | 30 | Famous cards from the game's history, reprinted with a new foil treatment |
| Basic Energy | 8 | Foil, designed by YOSHIROTTEN |
Pokemon does not publish pull rates. The card flip on its 30th Celebration expansion page even carries a note saying it does not reflect odds or pull rates. Until someone publishes pull rates, rarity is the fairest way to rank the chase cards. The table uses the English set list compiled on Bulbapedia), read on 15 September 2026. Fans edit Bulbapedia, so treat the numbering as a guide.
| Rarity | Cards | Card numbers |
|---|---|---|
| Futuristic Rare | Mewtwo ex, Mew ex | 157/128 and 158/128 |
| Special Illustration Rare | Fuecoco ex, Greninja ex, Pikachu ex (two versions), Sylveon ex, Jirachi ex, Salamence ex | 147 to 156 |
| Illustration Rare | 17 cards, including Moltres, Articuno, Zapdos, Lapras, Gholdengo and Maushold | 129 to 146 |
| RGB secret rare (unofficial) | Mew in red, green and blue | R/RGB, G/RGB, B/RGB |
Four numbers in that run, 143, 151, 152 and 154, still had no card on the list on 15 September. That fits PokeBeach's note that a few secret rares were yet to be revealed, so the Special Illustration Rare line-up above is not complete.
It is the rarity Pokemon created for this set. The June release says each Futuristic Rare shows Pokemon in artwork "evocative of hope toward an unknown future", illustrated by the Japanese artist YOSHIROTTEN. Bulbapedia describes the look as vivid colours and lighting, with 3D-style Energy symbols and Poke Balls in the artwork. Only two cards in the English set have it: Mewtwo ex and Mew ex.
Yes, although officially they do not exist yet. On 12 September PokeBeach reported that several fans had pulled three secret rare Mew cards: one red, one green and one blue, all by YOSHIROTTEN and numbered out of "RGB" rather than out of 128. The colours stand for the original Pokemon Red, Green and Blue games. PokeBeach's photos include French and Japanese copies as well.
Pokemon has not mentioned them. They are not on the official card list, and PokeBeach says they are not in the card list booklet that comes in the Elite Trainer Box either. On 15 September PokeBeach added that the three cards had turned up in an internal update to Pokemon TCG Live. Its explanation for the silence is that Pokemon Japan does not reveal every secret rare until the next set comes out, so it could be months before they are acknowledged.
Nobody knows the pull rate. PokeBeach expects them to be "exceptionally rare", but that is its estimate, and no figure has come from Pokemon. Be wary of any odds you see quoted for them this week.
Thirty cards from the game's past, back with a new foil treatment. Pokemon's expansion page names Charizard from Base Set and Pikachu & Zekrom-GX from Team Up, and Bulbapedia notes a gold border on all 30. They turn up in normal packs. The Ultra-Premium Collection also comes with a Classic Collection pack of three. You cannot play them in the Standard format, though.
The prices below are recommended retail prices from Asmodee, the UK distributor, read from its product pages on 15 September 2026 (the Elite Trainer Box page is one). The launch column is from The Entertainer's Pokemon page, read the same day, because it publishes a date against each product.
| Product | UK RRP | What is inside | The Entertainer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elite Trainer Box | £49.99 | 9 packs, a Nidorina promo, 65 sleeves, 16 foil Energy | 16 September |
| Binder Collection | £37.99 | 9-pocket binder, 5 packs | 16 September |
| ex Box (Sylveon or Greninja) | £21.99 | 4 packs, a promo and an oversize card | 16 September |
| ex Tin (Sylveon or Greninja) | £21.99 | 4 packs and a promo | 16 September |
| Poster Collection | £19.99 | 3 packs, Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres promos, a poster | 16 September |
| Tech Sticker Collection | £16.99 | 3 packs, an Alolan Exeggutor or Lucario promo, a sticker sheet | Delayed |
| 2-Pack Blister | £9.99 | 2 packs, an Eevee promo, a coin | Delayed |
Contents are from Pokemon's product showcase and PokeBeach's guide. The Pokemon Center Elite Trainer Box sits outside that table: 11 packs and two Nidorina promos, one with the Pokemon Center logo, and it is only sold by Pokemon Center, so there is no distributor RRP for it. Our 30th Celebration set page keeps the UK RRPs alongside live stock.
More products follow through to December. Pokemon's showcase lists these US dates, and UK dates may differ: the Booster Bundle (six packs) and Mini Tins on 2 October, the Espeon ex and Umbreon ex Battle Decks on 30 October, and the Ditto Premium Collection, Mewtwo and Mew Figure Collections and Ultra-Premium Collection on 6 November. In the US the Binder Collection and ex Tins are 4 December, while The Entertainer has both for 16 September here, so check the date on the shop's own listing.
Expect purchase limits and a queue. The Entertainer says its limits are there "to ensure fairness for all customers" and that it cannot promise a store will still have stock when you arrive. Pokemon Center's 30th Celebration FAQ, updated 24 August 2026, expects longer waits in its virtual queue and warns that items may sell out before you finish checking out.
We are not able to share whether 30th Celebration products will be restocked...
Set your alerts tonight
Shops do not say when stock will land (Pokemon Center says outright that it cannot), so an alert set on the morning can already be too late. Put a monitor on each shop's 30th Celebration page, and if you are going for the Pokemon Center exclusive, add the Drop Watchdog so you know when the queue goes up.
Know each shop's limit before you check out
At The Entertainer that is one item each from Group A (Elite Trainer Box or Binder Collection), Group B (ex Box, ex Tin or Poster Collection) and Group C (Tech Sticker Collection or 2-Pack Blister). Pokemon Center shows its limits on each product page and asks you to stick to them.
Keep the Pokemon Center queue window open
Pokemon Center's FAQ says to keep the window open to hold your place and not to refresh. When it is your turn, you are sent to the site automatically.
Type your checkout details in by hand
The same FAQ says autofill can cause issues, and advises logging in rather than checking out as a guest and not mixing a preorder with other items in one basket.
Do not panic-buy above RRP
Launch day is the first of several waves running to December. Miss out on the 16th and the Booster Bundle, the Mini Tins and the premium collections are still to come.
Be careful with cards listed before launch day. PokeBeach says the products streamers opened early, two months ago, reportedly came from an unauthorised source in the distribution chain and may have been stolen. It adds that eBay removed leaked 30th Celebration cards under its stolen property policy after a notice from The Pokemon Company.
A StockWatch monitor on a UK shop's 30th Celebration product page sends a restock alert when it can be bought, by email, browser push or Discord. For Pokemon Center, the Drop Watchdog sends an alert when the queue goes live and again when it clears, and our queue status page shows the same thing to anyone. The watchdog is on every plan, including Free, and its help page covers the setup. If you do not know yet whether the Elite Trainer Box is worth it, our ETB price guide puts £49.99 in context.
Wednesday 16 September 2026, the same day as every other participating market. Pokemon says the exact time on the day may vary by country, and it has not published a UK time. Some products come later: in the US, the Booster Bundle and Mini Tins are 2 October and the premium collections 6 November.
No. There is no booster box in the English lineup Pokemon has published, and single packs are not sold officially. The biggest pack count at launch is the Pokemon Center Elite Trainer Box with 11. The Booster Bundle, with six packs, follows on 2 October in the US.
Officially, nobody can say, because Pokemon does not publish pull rates. The highest official rarity is Futuristic Rare, which only Mewtwo ex and Mew ex have. The three RGB Mew secret rares are expected to be rarer still, but Pokemon has not acknowledged them and no pull rate for them has been published.
Red, Green and Blue, the original Pokemon games. There are three Mew cards, one in each colour, numbered R/RGB, G/RGB and B/RGB instead of out of 128. PokeBeach reported them pulled from packs on 12 September 2026. They are not on the official card list.
£49.99 RRP, set by Asmodee, the UK distributor. It has 9 packs and a Nidorina promo. The Pokemon Center version has 11 packs and two promos, and it has no distributor RRP because only Pokemon Center sells it.
Not in the Standard format. Pokemon's June release says they are only legal in formats that allow the original prints of those cards.
Get a 30th Celebration restock alert The Drop Watchdog is on every plan, including Free. Alerts by email, browser push or Discord.