Pokémon TCG
A format decides which cards you can use and how big the deck is. Standard is the one most players mean, and it allows cards with regulation mark H, I or J as of October 2026. This page covers every official format, the community-run Gym Leader Challenge, and what Pokémon TCG Live offers.
Five formats cover almost every Pokémon TCG game you will be offered a seat in. These are the rules as of October 24, 2026, from the Play! Pokémon TCG Tournament Handbook (last revised September 1, 2026) and, for Gym Leader Challenge, the format's own site.
In Standard, Expanded and Unlimited you build a deck from your own cards before the event, and the handbook gives all three the same base rules. The deck is exactly 60 cards. It holds no more than four copies of a card, counted by the card's English name, except Basic Energy, which has no limit. Matches are played for six Prize cards.
Some cards add a limit of their own: one ACE SPEC per deck, one Radiant Pokémon, and one Prism Star card of each name. Those matter only where the cards are legal, which for Radiant and Prism Star cards means Expanded and Unlimited. Every deck building rule →
Standard is the format of most Play! Pokémon tournaments and of Pokémon TCG Live's ranked play, and play.pokemon.com calls it the most popular way to play. Its card pool is set by the regulation mark, the letter in a small box at the bottom left of every card printed since Sword & Shield. As of October 24, 2026, cards marked H, I and J are legal.
Standard rotates once a year. The 2026 rotation removed mark G on April 10, 2026 for in-person events and on March 26, 2026 on Pokémon TCG Live. The Pokémon Company International had not announced the next rotation by October 24, 2026; the last three were announced in January and took effect in April. Standard has no banned cards, and the October 22, 2026 Delta Reign announcement says a Standard ban will be "an extremely rare occurrence." The Standard format and rotation →
Expanded allows every card from the Black & White series onward, which reaches back to 2011, and the 2026 rotation announcement left it unchanged. That pool brings back whole kinds of card Standard no longer has, such as Pokémon-EX, Pokémon-GX, Pokémon V, Radiant Pokémon and Prism Star cards.
With more than a decade of cards, Expanded needs a banned list: 27 cards under 26 names as of October 2026, unchanged by the October 22 announcement. The handbook says the format "will be aggressively monitored" because of how many combinations it allows. The Expanded format → The Expanded banned list →
Unlimited allows cards from any Pokémon TCG expansion and promo released in the United States, Base Set included, and has no banned cards. The handbook lists it beside Standard and Expanded as a Constructed format Play! Pokémon allows for sanctioned tournaments. Check an event's listing for its format, since Standard is the default almost everywhere.
Old Trainer cards are where Unlimited gets tricky. Some share a name with a newer card but do something different, and the handbook's rule is that you may play the old printing, but it uses the most recent version's wording.
In a Limited format you build at the event from cards you open there, and the deck is exactly 40 cards played for four Prize cards. There is no four-copy limit, because you can only play what you opened; a card's own text, such as an ACE SPEC's, still applies. The organizer provides Basic Energy.
A prerelease is a Sealed event, and it is where most players first try Limited. The current Build & Battle Boxes hold four booster packs of the new set, a ready-to-play 40-card deck and one of four foil promo cards. For Delta Reign, select Play! Pokémon stores sell the box from October 24, 2026, ahead of the set's November 6 release. Pokémon's Event Locator lists prerelease events near you. Delta Reign release guide →
Gym Leader Challenge, or GLC, is a community format, not a Play! Pokémon sanctioned one. Player and content creator Andrew Mahone started it in 2021, and its rules and banned list live at gymleaderchallenge.com. The Pokémon Company has given it a place anyway: play.pokemon.com names it as an example from the Alternative Play Handbook, and it has run as a side event at official championships.
The idea is that you play as a Gym Leader, so every Pokémon in the deck shares one type. A dual-type Pokémon can go in a deck of either of its printed types. The other rules, from the format's site:
Leaving out Rule Box Pokémon removes the high-HP cards that tend to cost the most, which is much of the format's appeal. The banned list is GLC's own, separate from Expanded's. As of October 24, 2026, it names these cards; the latest addition was Dimension Valley on April 20, 2026.
Pokémon TCG Live plays Standard, and it follows the same rotation about two weeks earlier than in-person events. In 2026 the rotation reached the game on March 26, against April 10 at events, and 2024 and 2025 had the same gap. The game also has an Expanded format, but it does not support every Expanded card. The January 2026 rotation announcement said more Expanded cards would be added in phases later in the year, so check the game's own notes for the current pool.
Its casual Trainer Trials mode rotates through deck building challenges, and Gym Leader Challenge has been one of them for two-week windows. The schedule changes, so check the game's event calendar.
Standard is the default. Most League Challenges, most Championship Series events and Pokémon TCG Live ranked play use it, and a deck from a current product is usually legal in it. Battle decks, rated →
Expanded suits a player whose collection reaches back past the last few years, since cards that rotated out of Standard are still legal there. Unlimited is for the oldest cards and for groups that enjoy them. Gym Leader Challenge works well for a group that wants slower games and a cheaper deck, since it shuts out the expensive Rule Box Pokémon. A prerelease is the easiest first event: everyone builds from the same box, and the 40-card deck makes games short.
The TurnZero HQ deck builder checks a Pokémon deck against Standard or Expanded, the format you choose when you make it. It does not check Unlimited, Limited or Gym Leader Challenge decks, so check those against the rules above.
Play! Pokémon sanctions three Constructed formats (Standard, Expanded and Unlimited) and three Limited formats (Sealed, Booster Draft and Build & Battle Draft). Standard is the one most tournaments and Pokémon TCG Live's ranked play use. The best-known community format is Gym Leader Challenge, a singleton format run by its own players.
The card pool. Standard allows cards with a current regulation mark (H, I and J as of October 2026) and rotates once a year. Expanded allows every card from the Black & White series (2011) onward, minus a banned list, and did not change at the 2026 rotation. Both use 60-card decks, four copies of a card and six Prize cards.
Exactly 40, and you play for 4 Prize cards instead of 6. At a prerelease you build from a Build & Battle Box (four booster packs and a 40-card deck in the Delta Reign box) plus Basic Energy from the organizer. Limited formats have no four-copy limit, except where a card's own text restricts it, such as an ACE SPEC.
No. It is a community format with its own rules and banned list at gymleaderchallenge.com. The Pokémon Company has recognized it: play.pokemon.com points to it as an example from the Alternative Play Handbook, and it has run as a side event and as a rotating mode on Pokémon TCG Live. It is not one of the sanctioned formats in the Play! Pokémon TCG Tournament Handbook.
Standard, if you want to play at a league, a tournament or on Pokémon TCG Live ranked, because that is where most players are. Expanded suits a collection with older cards from 2011 on. Unlimited is for the oldest cards. Gym Leader Challenge is a cheaper, slower format if your group wants one. A prerelease is the easiest way into organized play, since everyone builds from the same box.
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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