It’s time to grab your deck and line your Pokemon up on your bench – as we check out all upcoming Pokemon TCG sets!
We here at Retro Dodo are huge fans of Pokemon – and have been for many years.
That’s not just the video games, but the trading card game (TCG) too!
The Pokemon Trading Card Game is, much like the video games, a phenomenon that has never gone away.
Though The Pokemon Company tend to keep their cards fairly close to their chest (pun definitely intended there – and I’m not sorry!) with news on their upcoming sets, we do have details on numerous, upcoming releases for the monster battling trading card game.
So without further ado, let’s check out the upcoming Pokemon TCG sets!
Table of Contents
1. Paldean Fates Set (January 26th – February 23rd)
Just like Crown Zenith in 2023, Paldean Fates is a smaller set that won’t have individual booster packs available to purchase.
That means that collectors won’t be able to get their hands on booster boxes either, which can be a bit of a blow for those Pokefans who are used to buying packs in bulk.
Also, products are being released in three waves – starting on January 26th, with a second wave following on February 9th and then finally, the third wave on February 23rd.
The first wave is perhaps the most exciting, as you’ll be able to pick up an Elite Trainer Box -containing nine booster packs, a promo card and accessories – or choose from three Tech Sticker Collection packs, each of which contains three boosters.
In lieu of booster packs and boxes being available, the best way to get hold of multiple packs is definitely the Elite Trainer Box – especially as it’ll contain an exclusive Mimikyu promo card.
The second wave for Paldean Fates sees Tins, Mini Tins and Premium Collection boxes hit stores.
The Tins and Premium Collection boxes are an excellent way of getting hold of specific Pokemon.
The Tins will have a choice of Tera Charizard ex, Great Tusk ex or Iron Treads ex, along with five booster packs (or four if you’re outside North America).
Premium Collection boxes will be packaged with a choice of Meowscarada ex, Quaquaval ex or Skeledirge ex, but these collections also have one copy of each of their Basic and Stage 1 forms too, as well as eight booster packs.
Mini Tins are slightly less appealing, just being a way to package two boosters – though you do also get a sticker which matches one of the five designs of mini tin!
Finally, the third wave consists of just one product: the Paldean Fates Booster Bundle. This is a box of six booster packs – if you’re used to picking up the odd booster pack here and there whenever a set is released and have no interest in the mini tins or the specific Pokemon that are found in the full size tins and Premium Collections, it’s probably worth holding on for these to be released!
Despite the lack of individual boosters, Paldean Fates is a very exciting set – loaded with Shiny Pokemon and plenty of Secret Rare cards to discover.
2. Combined Powers Premium Collection (Late February 2024)
Most definitely a box that collectors will want to snap up, the Combined Powers Premium Collection box brings together some very powerful Pokemon, which were previously only available in a set that sold for around $300/£300!
So, inside the Combined Powers set you’ll find three foil Pokemon cards (Lugia ex, Ho-Oh ex, and Suicune ex), a Mr. Mime foil card, three Pokemon Tool cards, an oversized Lugia ex card and no less than eleven booster packs (which ones, however, remain to be seen!).
The Mr. Mime is sure to prove valuable on its own, considering that it’s styled like the classic, 90s Pokemon cards that many of our older readers are sure to fondly recall!
3. Mabosstiff ex Box (Late February 2024)
If you’re a fan of Dark-type Pokemon Mabosstiff and its various forms, you’re in luck – the Mabosstiff ex box will have you covered!
Inside this box, you’ll find a Mabosstiff ex foil promo card (and an oversized version too), a Maschiff card (handy for evolving into Mabosstiff!), four booster packs and a Pokemon TCG Live digital content code.
4. Houndoom and Melmetal ex Battle Decks (February 23rd, 2024)
Two theme decks – or rather, as they’re now known, battle decks – that are perfect for beginners, the Houndoom and Melmetal ex Battle Decks feature the respective Pokemon as part of 60 card decks tuned to their specific strengths.
Though decks of this nature always make a perfect starting point for new players, they’re a great way for experienced players to explore new strategies.
However, it may be that those more experienced players may prefer to hold on for the Deluxe ex Battle Decks, due later in March, which are slightly more involved and advanced than the Houndoom and Melmetal decks will be.
5. Paldea Adventure Chest (March 1st, 2024)
A bit of an odd release, the Paldea Adventure Chest is likely going to be of interest for completists only.
So, what does it contain?
Well, inside this attractively packaged collection, you’ll find seven foil treatment promo cards, six Pokemon TCG Booster Packs – though we don’t know what set or sets these will be from, at this stage – a sheet of tech stickers, a mini portfolio folder, a squishy Pikachu toy and a code to unlock content on the Pokemon TCG’s digital version, Pokemon TCG Live.
The seven promo cards are very likely the most exciting inclusion here, as collectors will no doubt be wanting to get hold of these, but little else in the collection.
The cards are as follows: Maushold ex, Pawmi, Pawmo, Pawmot ex, Pikachu, and Sprigatito ex.
These will be exclusive versions of each card; with an overall RRP of £52.99, which seems pretty steep given what’s actually included, it’s likely that we’ll see prices for several of these cards rising over the months following the release of the Paldea Adventure Chest.
6. 2023 World Championship Decks (March 1st, 2024)
Though it may seem – to new players at least – that proven World Championship decks, that have already won the biggest tournaments in the Pokemon TCG, will make them unstoppable, there’s a few things to bear in mind.
Firstly, card backs don’t feature the standard Pokemon card design, which means that, unless you use opaque card sleeves, you definitely won’t be able to use these cards to create a deck with any other cards in your collection, even if you have World Championship Decks from previous years.
Each year’s set of World Championship Decks has their own unique card back design, the colour of which can usually differ too, so they’re not even cross-compatible with each other!
Nor are these cards tournament legal either – you can only use these decks in casual play, or against opponents who might not mind getting absolutely crushed by the most powerful, current decks in the game!
However, perhaps the most important thing to consider is that the tactics needed to use these decks successfully may not be particularly obvious or intuitive for new players; they often rely on advanced knowledge of very specific combos and strategies in order to secure victory.
World Championship Decks do offer pretty good value for money, however; especially as it’ll usually cost quite a bit to build these decks from scratch using standard cards.
Each pack includes a 60-card World Championship deck, along with numerous items from the 2023 World Championships.
So in addition to the deck, you also get a themed deck box and playmat, a Pokemon coin, a themed pin and a Pokemon TCG Live code for digital content.
The four available decks are: Colorless Lugia, Lost Box Kyogre, Mew’s Revenge and Psychic Elegance.
Colorless Lugia is based around Lugia VSTAR and Archeops. This was used by the Senior Winner: Gabriel Fernandez from Brazil.
Lost Box Kyogre utilises the popular (but extremely annoying, in my experience – at least when coming up against it!) Lost Zone Toolbox strategy. The Junior Winner from Taiwan, Shao Tong Yen, created and successfully used this deck.
Mew’s Revenge has Mew VMAX and Genesect V as its main Pokemon; this deck’s creator was Vance Kelley, the Masters Winner from the US.
Finally, Psychic Elegance was the deck used by Masters Runner-Up, Tord Reklev, from Norway.
7. Ninetales and Zapdos Deluxe ex Battle Decks (March 22nd, 2024)
Pre-constructed decks are always a great way for new fans to have themselves a starting point to learn and play Pokemon with, as well as for more experienced players to try out new strategies and Pokemon types.
Though less useful for completely new players than other theme decks, due to their reliance on more complex strategies and combos, Deluxe ex Battle Decks tend to be reasonably competitive and offer great selections of cards at a reasonable price point.
They’re also far less intimidating than World Championship Decks tend to be, definitely requiring far less expertise to play with effectively.
They also, helpfully, come complete with useful accessories – a Pokemon coin (for those all important coin flips), a playmat themed to the deck’s main Pokemon, damage counters and condition markers, a strategy sheet for the chosen deck and, finally, a code to unlock the full deck on Pokemon TCG Live.
The Ninetales and Zapdos decks are full, perfectly functional 60 card decks – though pro players can definitely tweak them via deck building, for more experienced players who play casually, these are always fun decks to try out exactly as they are.
8. Temporal Forces (March 22nd, 2024)
The newest Western set for the Pokemon TCG has now been announced, with Temporal Forces heading to retail on March 22nd, 2024.
Alongside booster packs (yes, you will be able to get your hands on individual booster packs and boxes for Temporal Forces!), the two Elite Trainer Boxes have also been revealed.
First up is the Walking Wake Elite Trainer Box; this will feature the usual contents – booster packs, a bundle of random basic energy cards, card dividers, damage dice, ‘coin flip’ six-sided die, status counters, set guide and the Flutter Mane promo card.
The Iron Leaves ETB features the same type of contents as the Walking Wake box, though of course these are themed in the colours and Pokemon of the box – and of course, there’s no Flutter Mane card, instead, Iron Thorns is the star of this one!
9. Iono Premium Tournament Collection (April 5th, 2024)
Numerous Supporter cards with alternate art have been selling for high prices on the secondary market in recent years; one of the most popular of these has been Iono.
Her card is very useful in-game, but it doesn’t hurt that the art on her cards is always gorgeous too!
So it’s only fitting that she has ended up becoming the star of her own collection, which is due for release on the 5th of April.
Inside the box, you’ll find 1 full-art foil Iono Supporter card, 3 additional foil Iono Supporter cards (with standard art), 65 Iono card sleeves, an Iono deck box, a pink and black Iono metallic coin, poison and burn condition markers, 6 bright pink damage dice, 6 Pokemon TCG booster packs and, finally, a code card to unlock digital content on Pokemon TCG Live.
10. Grafaiai ex Box (April 5th, 2024)
Colorless Pokemon Grafaiai ex gets its very own box, decorated with colourful splashes of what is, according to the Pokedex, Grafaiai’s own saliva. The colour of which is dependent on what Grafaiai has been eating.
Disgusting, right?
Anyway, Pokemon TCG players are unlikely to delve too far into Pokemon biology – but what they do want to know (and as Brad Pitt famously asked) is: what’s in the box?
So, inside the Grafaiai ex box is one foil Grafaiai ex card, an oversized version of the same card, a holographic Shroodle card (handy to have, as it’s Shroodle that evolves into Grafaiai), four booster packs and a Pokemon TCG Live code for digital content.
Releasing on the same day as the Iono Premium Tournament Collection, the Grafaiai ex Box is not quite as garishly colourful – but that pink and blue saliva certainly gives this particular set a very distinctive look.
11. Twilight Masquerade (May 24th, 2024)
We first heard of upcoming Pokemon set, Twilight Masquerade via Pokebeach.
As it’s so early, concrete details are thin on the ground, but thanks to speculation and educated guesses, we think we have at least a bit of an idea as to what can be expected from the set.
It’s thought that, following the direction that other Western set releases tend to go, Twilight Masquerade will incorporate cards from two different Japanese sets.
In the case of Twilight Masquerade, that means it is likely to feature cards from the Crimson Haze and Mask of Change sets.
As both of these sets are yet to be released (Crimson Haze is due in March and Mask of Change in April), we actually don’t have any firm information at all on what we’ll see in Twilight Masquerade!
However, we can make a very educated guess, merely based on the title and other details that have come to light; it’s almost certain that Twilight Masquerade will feature content based on Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC, The Teal Mask.
The Legendary Pokemon that makes its debut in The Teal Mask is Ogerpon, which we’ve pictured above (wearing the eponymous mask).
Ogerpon ex is likely to be a card in Twilight Masquerade, but something that’s very interesting about Ogerpon is that its form changes depending on the mask it wears!
Does this mean we could see Deoxys style alternate forms, for each type of Ogerpon?
If so, we’d have a Grass type Ogerpon as ‘standard’, a Grass and Water type in the Wellspring Mask, a Grass and Fire type wearing the Hearthflame Mask, and a Grass and Rock type Ogerpon behind the Cornerstone Mask.
As each mask radically changes the way that Ogerpon looks when Terastallizing, it’s not outside the realms of possibility that we could see this happen; do bear in mind, however, that this really is just speculation on our part.
After all, the masks could also make an appearance as Item or Tool cards!
Given how many Tera Pokemon ex we’ve seen in the Pokemon TCG recently, not to mention how popular they are among players, could we also see Ogerpon appearing as different Tera Pokemon cards?
One thing’s for certain: we’ll be updating this very article with more details as soon as they come to light.
And that’s a wrap! Thanks for checking out our Upcoming Pokemon TCG Sets article, and I hope you’re excited for what’s on the horizon!
While you’re here, check out our list of the best Magic the Gathering sleeves, which will protect your Pokemon TCG card decks. You’ll definitely need these, even if you don’t have any of the rare Pokemon cards we’ve previously taken a look at!
Don’t forget to also check out our list of the most valuable McDonalds Pokemon cards for more Pokelicious facts!
Which sets are you most looking forward to? Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
