30th Celebration Set Guide

Overview

30th Celebration marks thirty years of the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Like Ascended Heroes it sits between main expansions (the catalog numbers it me55), and it is the only 2026 set with no Mega Evolution ex at all: its 12 Double Rare ex are regular Pokémon ex, from Fuecoco ex to Salamence ex.

Cards 023 to 052 are thirty different Pikachu, each its own card at a rarity of its own, Pikachu Rare. Most sold for one to three dollars at the end of September, which makes them a cheap set within the set for collectors who want all thirty.

Lightning is the set's biggest type by far, with 45 cards, most of them those Pikachu.

Cards and rarities

30th Celebration has 161 cards. Every card shows its number over the printed total along the bottom, as in "001/128", next to the set code 30C.

The printed total is 128, so the 33 cards from 129 to 161 are secret rares. The Classic Collection is a separate list of 30 and isn't counted in either number. Set completion in TurnZero HQ counts a set against its printed total and keeps the secret rares apart, so finishing the main set and chasing the cards above it read as two separate goals. How set completion works →

Headline Pokémon

The Pokémon ex worth knowing, each giving up two Prize cards when Knocked Out:

Mew ex

30th Celebration #66

Memory Helix lets it use the attacks of any of your Benched Pokémon, as long as it has the Energy for them.

Pikachu ex

30th Celebration #53

Pika-Pika Parade searches your deck for any number of Basic Pokémon and puts them onto your Bench for one Energy.

Jirachi ex

30th Celebration #102

Wish Granter draws until you have 7 cards in hand; Swift does 150 that ignores Weakness, Resistance and effects.

Gengar ex

30th Celebration #90

Chaotic Pain places 13 damage counters on any of your opponent's Pokémon, and Fainting Spell can Knock Out the attacker that Knocks it Out.

The Classic Collection

The Classic Collection reprints 30 cards from earlier eras of the game, from Base Set to Scarlet & Violet. A few of them:

Charizard

30th Celebration: Classic Collection #4

Base Set's holo Charizard, card 4, reprinted.

Lugia

30th Celebration: Classic Collection #149

The secret rare Lugia, the most valuable Classic Collection card at the end of September.

Magikarp

30th Celebration: Classic Collection #203

The Illustration Rare Magikarp, from the Scarlet & Violet era.

The chase card: Mew ex

Mew ex

30th Celebration #152

Rarity Special Illustration Rare

Card number 152/128

Market price, September 30, 2026 $149.26

Illustrator Kuroimori

The main set's chase card is the Mew ex Special Illustration Rare, illustrated by Kuroimori, at $149.26 on September 30. Mew ex holds the top of the set twice: its Futuristic Rare (158) was $90.15.

The most valuable card with the 30th Celebration name on it is in the Classic Collection, though. The reprinted secret rare Lugia was $329.75, more than twice the Mew ex, and the reprinted Base Set Charizard was $189.56.

Mew ex is printed three times in the main set, and the Double Rare was $5.70.

Every Mew ex in 30th Celebration

Only the exact version is worth its price. The number at the bottom of the card and the rarity symbol beside it tell you which one you pulled. Reading the number and rarity symbol →

Chase cards and prices

The Special Illustration Rares and the two Futuristic Rares lead the main set. Mew ex is at the top in both rarities.

These are each card's headline TCGplayer market price on September 30, 2026. Prices can move a long way, most of all in a set's first months, so treat them as a snapshot. Each card's page shows today's price for every variant and its 90-day chart. How Pokémon card prices work →

What a complete set costs

One copy of every card in 30th Celebration, bought as singles, cost $1,092.62 on September 30, 2026, and its Classic Collection $1,135.88 more. Together that is the second most expensive of the five sets released in 2026.

The three most valuable cards, Mew ex, Gengar ex and Pikachu ex, come to $351.73, or 32% of the total. Without them the set costs $740.89. Of the 158 cards, 124 were under $2.00, together $67.59; the other 34 add up to $1,025.03.

The Classic Collection's 30 reprints are priced separately, and 57% of their $1,135.88 is in its top three cards, Lugia, Charizard and Magikarp.

Left out: three Mew cards the catalog files under this set with a letter instead of a collector number (R, G and B). They aren't part of the numbered 161, and their listed prices, in the thousands for a card marked Common, look like a data error.

Each card is counted at its cheapest priced variant, a Normal copy rather than a Reverse Holofoil where both exist, at its TCGplayer market price. This is what it costs to buy the set as singles. It is not what opening packs returns, and not what a complete set would sell for, which after fees and the many cards worth cents would be noticeably less.

Playing it

The main set's cards carry the J regulation mark, legal in Standard since the April 10, 2026 rotation, so Mew ex, Pikachu ex and the rest can go straight into a deck.

The Classic Collection is different. Those cards keep their original regulation marks, or none at all for the oldest, so the mark doesn't make them Standard-legal. Treat them as collector reprints.

Standard, Expanded and deck building rules →

Frequently Asked Questions