Pokémon TCG: 30th Celebration is out. Here is what's in the packs, what's worth grading, and how to rip one tonight.

The Pokémon Trading Card Game turned thirty this year, and the set built for it, Pokémon TCG: 30th Celebration, went on sale on September 16, 2026. It is the first expansion in the game's history to launch in every language on the same day. It is also the first where there is not a single non-foil card in the set. If you only read one paragraph: every card is foil, every pack has one of thirty different Pikachu, the reprints of Base Set Charizard and friends are real, and you cannot buy a loose pack in a shop. Everything else below is detail.

What is actually in a pack

International packs (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese) hold five foil cards plus one foil Basic Energy. Japanese and other Asian printings hold six. That is smaller than a normal ten-card pack, which is why the pack-per-product math matters so much this time.

• One Pikachu in every pack. Thirty different Pikachu, one per illustrator, and there is no pack without one. Some are common-tier art, a few are the cards people will chase.
• A new rarity: Futuristic Rare (FUR). A chrome-and-neon treatment designed by YOSHIROTTEN, debuting on Mewtwo ex, Mew ex and Pikachu ex. These are the headline pulls.
• The Classic Collection. Thirty gold-bordered reprints spanning the game's history, from the 1996 Base Set Pikachu through a Paldea Evolved Illustration Rare, each with a "30" Pikachu stamp. Base Set Charizard and Pikachu & Zekrom-GX are confirmed. They are not Standard-legal; they exist for collectors.
• New ex cards and Illustration Rares for fan favourites: Greninja ex, Sylveon ex, Espeon and Umbreon, plus Lapras, Drifloon, Zorua and Lycanroc as Illustration Rares.

The full set runs to 199 cards: 128 in the main set, 33 secret rares, the 30 Classic Collection cards and 8 foil Basic Energy. The Classic Collection has its own three-card booster, and that booster only exists inside one product (see November below).

There are no loose packs. Here is the product calendar.

This is the part that catches people out. For the international release there is no single-pack SKU and no 36-pack booster box. Every pack comes inside a product, and the products roll out in five waves through December. Packs-per-dollar is the whole game.

• September 16. Elite Trainer Box (9 packs, full-art Nidorina promo, Nidorina being Pokédex number 30). Pokémon Center ETB (11 packs, two Nidorina promos). Pokémon ex Box, Sylveon or Greninja (4 packs). Poster Collection (3 packs plus Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres promos). Tech Sticker Collection (3 packs). Knock Out Collection and the 2-Pack Blister (2 packs each, foil Eevee).
• October 2. Booster Bundle: six packs, nothing else. The closest thing to buying packs on their own. Mini Tins, ten designs, two packs each.
• October 30. Battle Decks, Espeon ex or Umbreon ex: all-foil 60-card decks with an Illustration Rare Victini or Zeraora inside.
• November 6. The collector wave. Ultra-Premium Collections, Day (Espeon) and Night (Umbreon): 29 packs plus the only Classic Collection booster, a Pikachu ex promo, playmat, sleeves, deck box and metal coin. Ditto Premium Collection (8 packs). Mew and Mewtwo Figure Collections (5 packs each).
• December 4. Binder Collection (5 packs) and Pokémon ex Tins (4 packs).

Japan sells the set as a normal expansion with six-card packs and sealed boxes, plus a Premium Deck Set and a very expensive FUTURISTIC BOX with two FUR Pikachu ex promos. Japanese product reaches Western collectors through the secondary market rather than retail.

Want to open a pack tonight? You can, without buying an ETB.

Because there are no loose packs at retail, the quickest way to rip a single 30th Celebration pack is online. OpenThatPack lists the 30th Celebration pack for about eleven dollars. You pick the pack, it is opened for you at the same official pull rates, and the physical cards go into your vault: keep them, sell eligible ones back for site credit, or have the hits shipped. It is the same idea as our free rip simulator, except the cards are real.

Open a 30th Celebration pack on OpenThatPack →

That is a referral link. If you sign up through it, MasterGrade receives site credit on OpenThatPack. It does not change the price you pay.

What is worth grading from this set

All-foil sets are hard on condition. Foil shows every scratch, edges whiten faster, and the printing on chrome-style cards like the Futuristic Rares is unforgiving of centering. Three groups are worth a serious look before you decide whether a card goes to PSA:

• Futuristic Rare Mewtwo ex, Mew ex and Pikachu ex. The new rarity, the new artist, the cards this set will be remembered for. Gem-mint copies will carry the premium; anything with edge wear will not.
• The thirty Pikachu. Most are inexpensive singles, but a clean PSA 10 run of all thirty is exactly the kind of set project that holds value, and a handful of the illustrations will separate from the pack.
• Classic Collection reprints. Gold-border Base Set Charizard in a PSA 10 is an obvious target. Remember these only come from the Ultra-Premium Collections, so supply is capped by how many of those boxes exist.

Before you pay a grading fee, run the card through MasterGrade. You get four sub-grades, the likelihood of each outcome and the value at each grade in about thirty seconds, which is enough to know whether a foil Pikachu is a 10 candidate or a keeper for the binder. One grade a day is free with no account.

Quick answers

• Is there a booster box? Not in English. Japan sells 36-pack boxes; internationally you buy products that contain packs.
• Are the Classic Collection reprints tournament legal? No. They are collector cards, legal only in formats that allow the original prints.
• How many cards per pack? Five foil cards plus a foil Basic Energy in English; six in Japanese, Korean and Chinese printings.
• Where is the Classic Collection pack? Only in the Day and Night Ultra-Premium Collections on November 6, one pack per box, three cards inside.
• Did the set launch on Pokémon TCG Live? Yes, a day early on September 15.

Sources: The Pokémon Company's announcement and expansion page, and Rare Candy's product calendar. Product contents and dates are subject to change by the publisher.