Pokémon 30th Celebration Set Review: A Brilliant Anniversary With an Uneven Top Chase

Thirty artists taking on Pikachu could have felt like a gimmick. Instead, those cards have strikingly different personalities. Pikachu 040/128, illustrated by Shinji Kanda, turns an ordinary character portrait into a frantic sweep of color and motion. Pikachu 028/128 goes the other direction, placing the character in a cozy room among toys and pillows.

There is plenty to admire beyond Pikachu, too. The Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres Illustration Rares form a connected scene, rewarding anyone who looks at the group rather than each card alone. The range of styles makes the checklist feel curated, not merely crowded.

This is where 30th Celebration gets everything right. The 30-card Classic Collection doesn’t settle for familiar faces on new cards. It brings back actual designs from earlier eras, including Base Set Charizard, while the anniversary treatment gives those returns their own place in this release. The selection reaches beyond the earliest years to cards such as Arceus VSTAR, so the memories aren’t limited to one generation of players. New Pikachu artwork sits beside those reprints without feeling out of place. It celebrates the Pokémon people remember and the different periods in which they discovered them. There isn’t a meaningful nostalgia gap to complain about.

The depth is almost ridiculous. The 128-card main checklist includes 30 separately numbered Pikachu Rares, but they aren’t the only reason to turn the page. The Legendary Birds create a three-card Illustration Rare project, while Umbreon ex, Sylveon ex, Greninja ex, Mew ex, and Mewtwo ex give the modern portion real character variety. Beyond the main 128 are 30 numbered illustration and Futuristic Rare parallels, a separate 30-card Classic Collection, and three secret RGB Mew variants. Those groups serve different collector interests instead of simply adding more versions of one star. Even relatively ordinary pulls contribute to the anniversary’s identity.

The 30th Celebration Booster Pack has a wonderful built-in payoff: five foil set cards, including one of the 30 Pikachu designs, plus a foil Basic Energy. That means there’s an identifiable collectible in every pack, even without a secret rare. A 30th Celebration Booster Bundle holds six packs, giving the Pikachu artwork room to shine, though repeats are still possible.

TCGplayer’s sample of more than 3,000 English packs found Illustration Rares at roughly one in five packs and Classic Collection cards around one in ten. Those are observed rates, not guarantees. The format is unusually rewarding, but its short packs and elusive highest chases keep it just shy of perfection. For more detail, see FoilWire’s breakdown of the English pull-rate sample.

The headliners are undeniably unusual. YOSHIROTTEN’s Futuristic Rare Mew ex and Mewtwo ex use a graphic, forward-looking style that sets them apart from the rest of the expansion. The three secret RGB Mew cards push the novelty further with red, green, and blue versions. Then there are the day and night Pikachu ex Special Illustration Rares, filled with familiar Pokémon cameos.

It’s a strong lineup, but the most exclusive Mew treatments feel more like striking design experiments than timeless character portraits. The Classic Collection’s returning Charizard is a terrific piece of history, though its appeal comes from revisiting an existing icon. The chases are memorable, just not the set’s greatest strength.