Pokémon 30th Anniversary TCG set leaks look incredible — and that's exactly the problem

Leaked images from what appears to be an Elite Trainer Box booklet have given the Pokémon TCG community its first real look at the upcoming 30th anniversary set, and the reaction is equal parts excitement and dread. The set drops over 130 cards and, based on the leaks, it might be the strongest collection The Pokémon Company has ever put together.

The special illustration lineup is stacked: Sylveon, Gengar, Jirachi, Lugia, Tyranitar, Uxie, Salamence, Delcatty, Sneasel, Scizor, Alolan Exeggutor, Moltres, Lapras, Articuno, all three Meowth variants, Zapdos, Toxtricity, Morpeko, Drifloon, Zorua, Maushold, Lycanroc, Chandelure, and Eevee all appear alongside confirmed names like Pikachu, Charizard, Mew, and Mewtwo. There's even a Cresselia card split across two cards. The 30 Pikachu cards each appear to be drawn by a different artist — names like Shinji Kanda, Okachee, and Atsuko Nishida are visible — covering everything from a fat Pikachu to a surfing one to multiple Pikachu eating their way through a meal. The leaks look credible: TPC has already started printing the set, Future Rare Mew and Mewtwo cards have surfaced in the wild, the booklet design matches known ETB products, and TCGPlayer has already started listing some cards on its marketplace.

The 30th anniversary set was always going to be a big deal — it recreates some of the franchise's most iconic cards while adding new ones, and Pokémon TCG anniversaries tend to move serious volume. But the sheer breadth and quality of the special illustration roster here goes well beyond the usual legendary-and-starter formula, which is exactly why collectors are nervous. The Pokémon TCG has a well-documented history of popular sets either getting printed into the ground — tanking resale value for reprinted cards — or staying scarce enough that regular players can't get their hands on them at retail.

That tension is front and center in community discussions. "The set is going to be brutal," one Redditor wrote alongside leak images. "Either they print it into oblivion and kill the resale market for a lot of the reprinted cards, or they don't and it absolutely fucks the ability for normal people to buy cards to a point of no return." Early preorder pricing at GameStop and other TCG marketplaces suggests those fears aren't unfounded. The set doesn't have an official release date confirmed in the source, but with printing already underway and cards appearing in the wild, it won't be long.