Pokémon TCG
As of October 2026, Standard allows cards with regulation mark H, I or J. Mark G rotated out on April 10, 2026, and the next rotation had not been announced. Here is how the regulation mark decides legality, how rotation works, and what to expect next.
Standard is the Pokémon TCG's main format, the one most Play! Pokémon tournaments and Pokémon TCG Live's ranked play use. These are its rules as of October 24, 2026, from the Play! Pokémon TCG Tournament Handbook (last revised September 1, 2026) and The Pokémon Company International's rotation announcements.
A regulation mark is a single letter in a small box at the bottom left of a card, printed on every card since Sword & Shield. Standard legality goes by that letter, not by the set. The 2026 announcement is direct about it: a card from a recent expansion can still be out of Standard if it carries an old mark, which happens with reprints and special collections. Where to find the regulation mark →
The 2026 announcement also says any future mark will be legal when it arrives, so a new letter joins Standard with its first set without a separate announcement.
Once a year, The Pokémon Company International removes the oldest legal mark from Standard, and every card that carries only that mark leaves the format. In each of the last three years it has removed one mark, announced the change in January, and applied it on Pokémon TCG Live about two weeks before in-person events.
Rotation is how Standard keeps its card pool to the last few years of sets, and it is why the format has managed without a banned list. For a player, it means a deck built on cards of the oldest legal mark will need replacements when that mark leaves.
As of October 24, 2026, The Pokémon Company International had not announced the 2027 rotation. If it follows the last three, the announcement comes in January 2027 and the change takes effect in April, and the mark to watch is H, the oldest still legal. That is a pattern, not a promise, so treat H cards as the ones most likely to leave and check the official announcement before you buy for a deck that has to last past April.
H first became legal on April 5, 2024, and it is not tied to one product: cards from Temporal Forces on carry it, and so do some cards in 2026 sets, such as 51 cards in Ascended Heroes. Check the mark on each card rather than going by the set.
New cards become legal on the second Friday after the product's US release. When a set's products come out on different days, the clock starts at the first of its booster display, booster bundle or sleeved booster pack, and a set without sleeved boosters starts from its Elite Trainer Box or booster bundle.
For the next set, Delta Reign releases on Friday, November 6, 2026, so its cards become legal on November 20, 2026, the date the official Delta Reign announcement takes effect. Prerelease boxes on sale from October 24 do not make the new cards legal early, except for reprints, covered below. Promo cards have their own dates on Pokémon's Promo Card Legality Status page, updated monthly. Delta Reign release guide →
Any printing of a card is legal if one printing of it is, as long as the two are the same card. The handbook defines that as an identical name and functionally identical text. The 2026 announcement's example is Boss's Orders: the Rebel Clash printing carries the rotated D mark, but the Mega Evolution printing carries an I, so the Rebel Clash copy is still Standard-legal.
Functionally identical means the effect is the same even if the wording changed. The handbook gives Copycat from Celestial Storm and Team Rocket Returns as a match, and two Rainbow Energy cards as a mismatch, because one puts a damage counter on the Pokémon and the other does 10 damage, which are different mechanics. For a Pokémon, a shared name is rarely enough: a new Pikachu with different attacks is a different card.
A reprint of a card that is already legal can be played the day it is released, and a reprint you open at a prerelease can be played right away too.
A Standard deck is exactly 60 cards, with no more than four copies of a card by its English name except Basic Energy, and matches are played for six Prize cards. A deck can hold one ACE SPEC card, and it has to be Standard legal like any other card. Radiant Pokémon carry F and Prism Star cards carry no mark, so neither is in Standard. How to build a Pokémon deck → ACE SPEC cards →
Standard is the format of most Play! Pokémon events, from League Challenges at your local store up to the Championship Series, and play.pokemon.com calls it the most popular way to play. It is also the format of Pokémon TCG Live's ranked play. Before an event, check its listing for the format, since a store can run Expanded or a Limited event instead.
Rotated cards stay legal in Expanded, which allows everything from the Black & White series on, and in Unlimited. A rotated card can also come back to Standard if it is reprinted with a legal mark, which is how staple Trainers like Boss's Orders have stayed in the format. The Expanded format →
If you are buying a ready-made deck, each guide in TurnZero HQ's battle deck directory says whether the deck is Standard legal, and every upgrade it suggests carries an H, I or J mark. Battle decks, rated →
The TurnZero HQ deck builder checks a Pokémon deck against Standard or Expanded. For Standard it reads the regulation mark and treats a card as legal when any printing of it is. A rotation can take effect before card data catches up, so check the official announcement before a tournament too.
As of October 24, 2026, cards with regulation mark H, I or J, since the rotation on April 10, 2026. An older printing with a rotated mark or no mark is also legal if the same card, with the same name and functionally identical text, has a printing with a legal mark. Basic Energy is always legal.
It had not been announced as of October 24, 2026. The last three rotations were announced in January and took effect in April, one regulation mark at a time, so the 2027 rotation will likely follow the same pattern. H is the oldest legal mark, which makes it the likeliest to leave, but only The Pokémon Company International's announcement settles it.
G. Cards with only a G mark left Standard on April 10, 2026 for in-person Play! Pokémon events, and on March 26, 2026 on Pokémon TCG Live. They are still legal in Expanded and Unlimited.
No. Standard controls its pool through rotation instead. The October 22, 2026 Delta Reign announcement made no change and said a Standard ban will be an extremely rare occurrence.
On the second Friday after its US release. Delta Reign releases Friday, November 6, 2026, so it becomes legal on November 20, 2026, the date the official Delta Reign announcement takes effect. A reprint of a card that is already legal can be played as soon as it is released, even from a prerelease.
Yes, outside Standard. Every card that has rotated since Sword & Shield is still legal in Expanded, which allows the Black & White series onward, and in Unlimited. It also comes back to Standard if it is reprinted with a legal mark.
TurnZero HQ checks a Pokémon deck against Standard or Expanded and compares it with the cards you own. Free to start.
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