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Pokemon 30th Anniversary Set: US Retailers vs Japan, Which Box to Buy

Pokemon 30th Anniversary Set: US Retailers vs Japan, Which Box to Buy

The Pokemon 30th Anniversary set released on September 16, 2026 in English and in Japanese, and the two versions reach buyers through different products, dates and channels. Pokemon.com’s official showcase lists the English products and their dates; pokemon-card.com lists the Japanese ones.

The Pokémon TCG ran a simultaneous global launch that day: the English 30th Celebration expansion and the Japanese M6a 「30th CELEBRATION」 expansion released together. English products then continue on four later release dates through December 4, 2026, while Japan’s day-one line was the booster pack, the Premium Deck Set and the FUTURISTIC BOX, with the Card Sets following on October 16.

Key Takeaways

The official English showcase spreads its products across five dates from September 16 to December 4, prints no prices and lists no booster box. The booster-box format for this set is the Japanese M6a 30th CELEBRATION box, currently listed at our store: Sealed at ¥28,030 (~$182) and No Shrink at ¥25,365 (~$165). USD figures convert at ¥154/USD, approximate.

Updated October 1, 2026
  • Store state: the M6a booster box is currently listed at our store; the FUTURISTIC BOX is sold out at the time of this update, and restock requests go through Quick Order.
  • The English side now follows the official pokemon.com product showcase (June 30, 2026): product names, contents and release dates. The showcase prints no prices.
  • Lowest SNKRDUNK asks as of September 30, 2026 for the M6a box, the FUTURISTIC BOX and the Premium Deck Set are in the table under How the Two Routes Differ.
  • Full card list: every card of the set with its official image, in number order — 30th CELEBRATION (M6a) card list.
Sept 16, 2026
Global release day

5
English release dates

¥360
JP booster pack (official)

Over 150
EN cards (official)

Pokemon 30th Anniversary Set: One Launch Day, Two Systems

2026 is the franchise’s 30th anniversary year, and the 30th Celebration TCG set is its centrepiece. September 16, 2026 was the release date in both regions. The official Japanese M6a page frames the release as a worldwide simultaneous launch, and pokemon.com’s release-day article says the expansion arrived simultaneously worldwide. Per Bulbapedia (as of September 30, 2026), it is the first Pokémon TCG set released globally on the same day.

What differs is everything else. The English expansion page lists the set as part of the Mega Evolution Series with “Over 150” cards, 30 Pikachu rare cards, 30 Classic Collection cards, over 20 new illustration rare and special illustration rare cards, and two Futuristic rare cards by the artist YOSHIROTTEN. The Japanese line is a booster pack, two premium products on day one and a Card Set release a month later. Our 30th Celebration complete worldwide guide covers the set itself.

30th Celebration Elite Trainer Box, English, release 2026-09-16
30th Celebration Elite Trainer Box — nine booster packs and a Nidorina promo, September 16, 2026

English Launch Products on September 16, and Where They Are Sold

Pokemon.com’s official product showcase, published June 30, 2026, lists the English products, their contents and their dates, and it prints no prices. Its closing line points buyers to the Pokémon Center and to “where other Pokémon TCG products are sold as they release”. Six products carry the September 16 date.

English products dated September 16, 2026 on pokemon.com (contents as listed; no prices printed)
Product Contents as listed
Tech Sticker Collection An Alolan Exeggutor or Lucario foil promo card, a tech sticker sheet featuring that Pokémon, and three booster packs.
Knock Out Collection A foil Eevee card, a plastic coin and two booster packs.
Poster Collection A poster showing over 160 cards from the expansion, foil promo cards of Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres, and three booster packs.
Pokémon ex Box — Sylveon ex & Greninja ex A foil promo of Sylveon ex or Greninja ex in regular and oversize versions, plus four booster packs.
Elite Trainer Box Nine booster packs, a full-art Nidorina promo, 65 card sleeves, 16 foil Basic Energy cards, damage-counter dice, a coin-flip die, a plastic coin, a box with six dividers and a player’s guide.
Pokémon Center Elite Trainer Box Eleven booster packs, two more than the standard box, and two full-art Nidorina promos, one with the Pokémon Center logo.

These six are the products of the launch day itself. Every other English product in the showcase carries a later date.

30th Celebration Ultra Premium Collection Day and Night, English, release 2026-11-06
Ultra-Premium Collection Day & Night — November 6, 2026

The Five English Release Dates

The official showcase spreads the English line across five dates: September 16, October 2, October 30, November 6 and December 4, 2026. The launch-day products are in the table above. The later dates carry these products, worded as the showcase prints them:

English products dated after September 16, 2026 on pokemon.com
Date Product Contents as listed
October 2, 2026 Booster Bundle Six booster packs.
October 2, 2026 Mini Tins Two booster packs, a sticker sheet and an art card matching the tin; ten artworks to collect.
October 30, 2026 Battle Deck — Espeon ex & Umbreon ex All-foil 60-card decks led by Espeon ex or Umbreon ex, each with a deck box, coin and playmat; Victini and Zeraora appear in illustration rare style.
November 6, 2026 Ditto Premium Collection An acrylic display can for the Ditto promo card, plus eight booster packs.
November 6, 2026 Ultra-Premium Collection — Day & Night Pikachu ex with Espeon ex or Umbreon ex, a playmat, sleeves, a deck box and accessories, 29 booster packs and one Classic Collection booster pack.
November 6, 2026 Figure Collection — Mew & Mewtwo A foil promo and an oversize card of Mew or Mewtwo, a sculpted figure and five booster packs.
December 4, 2026 Binder Collection A 9-pocket binder and five booster packs.

Notice what is missing: a booster box. The showcase has no booster box entry, and its largest pack-only product is the six-pack Booster Bundle. The largest pack count anywhere in the line is the Ultra-Premium Collection with 30 packs. The showcase prints no standalone pack price either.

The set contents differ by region too. The English page says each booster pack includes five foil cards, one of the 30 Pikachu illustrations among them, and one foil Basic Energy. The official Japanese page prints six foil cards per pack and separately says each pack contains one Basic Energy. Per Bulbapedia (as of September 30, 2026), the English expansion includes cards from the Japanese 30th Celebration expansion and from the Premium Deck Set Espeon & Umbreon. Our 30th Celebration card list and chase-card guide breaks the set down card by card.

Japan: Fixed Prices and the Lottery System

Japan’s day-one line is smaller. The official pages print these products, dates and prices, all tax included:

Japanese 30th CELEBRATION products on the official pokemon-card.com pages
Product Release Official price Contents as listed
M6a 30th CELEBRATION booster pack September 16 ¥360 per pack Six foil cards per pack; one Basic Energy per pack; 30 Pikachu illustration cards; 30 Classic Collection cards; FUR Mew ex and Mewtwo ex
Premium Deck Set Espeon & Umbreon September 16 ¥6,200 Two 60-card decks with full-art Espeon ex and Umbreon ex, two Pokémon coins, a playmat and a double deck case in tin
FUTURISTIC BOX September 16 ¥27,500 Two Pikachu ex FUR promos and play supplies; no booster packs
Card Set (nine types) October 16 ¥1,200 each Three foil starter promos, two M6a packs and a card stand

The official pages print a price for the pack but no booster box price and no pack count per box; those two figures are not confirmed. The FUTURISTIC BOX page says the product is handled by Pokémon Center Online only, with possible later handling at Pokémon Centers and Pokémon Stores.

Access to the FUTURISTIC BOX was lottery-driven. Per SNKRDUNK’s lottery roundup of September 9, 2026, the Pokémon Center Online additional lottery covered the FUTURISTIC BOX and the Card Set, with applications from September 11, 16:00 to September 16, 16:59 JST, and a physical Pokémon Center store lottery for the same products closed its applications on September 11 with results on September 14. The official pages print no lottery dates.

See our FUTURISTIC BOX guide and Premium Deck Set Espeon & Umbreon guide for the two premium products.

MEGA expansion pack 30th CELEBRATION M6a, Japan, ¥360 per pack, release 2026-09-16
MEGA expansion pack 「30th CELEBRATION」 (M6a) — ¥360 per pack, September 16, 2026

How the Two Routes Differ

Set side by side, the two routes differ in what a buyer can actually hold:

Point English (pokemon.com) Japanese (pokemon-card.com)
Release September 16, 2026, then four later dates September 16, 2026; Card Sets October 16
Booster pack Five foil cards plus one foil Basic Energy Six foil cards, plus one Basic Energy per pack
Set size “Over 150” cards Official database: 140 entries, numbers up to 165
Booster box None in the showcase M6a box; price and pack count not confirmed officially
Pull rates Not published Not published

The headline chase cards sit in the Japanese numbering as Mewtwo ex FUR 134/103 and Mew ex FUR 135/103. Per Bulbapedia (as of September 30, 2026), the same two cards are English numbers 157 and 158, so the Japanese numbers can be matched to the English ones. The Japanese box is the sealed booster-box format of this set.

SNKRDUNK’s lowest asking prices as of September 30, 2026 (product pages, 20:55 JST) are asks, not sold prices, and they moved several times that evening:

Lowest asking prices on SNKRDUNK, September 30, 2026 (asks, not sales)
Product Lowest ask
M6a 30th CELEBRATION box (shrink-wrapped) ¥24,500 (~$159)
M6a 30th CELEBRATION box (no shrink) ¥22,850 (~$148)
FUTURISTIC BOX ¥62,900 (~$408)
Premium Deck Set Espeon & Umbreon ¥16,900 (~$110)
Card Set (nine types) no SNKRDUNK listing found at the time of this update

Earlier the same day, at 14:32 JST, the lowest SNKRDUNK asks were ¥24,000 for the shrink-wrapped box and ¥21,900 for the no-shrink box.

Picked for this article30th CELEBRATION Premium Deck Set Espeon & Umbreon Japanese Pokemon Card
¥18,500In stock
Ships from Tokyo with tracking
View product
Mewtwo ex 134/103 Futuristic Rare, M6a 30th CELEBRATION
Mewtwo ex 134/103 Futuristic Rare — M6a 30th CELEBRATION

Where to Buy the Japanese Products

We sell Japanese product only, so the route to the English line runs through the Pokémon Center and the retailers that carry English Pokémon TCG products. For the Japanese side, we ship sealed product and graded singles worldwide from Tokyo.

The M6a 30th CELEBRATION Booster Box is currently listed at our store: Sealed at ¥28,030 (~$182) and No Shrink at ¥25,365 (~$165). The 30th CELEBRATION FUTURISTIC BOX, the Premium Deck Set Espeon & Umbreon and the Card Set All 9 Types are sold out at the time of this update — restock requests go through Quick Order. Sourcing requests for a specific card go through Quick Order as well.

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Every card of the expansion is on the 30th CELEBRATION (M6a) card list, and the card list hub covers other sets. Graded singles are in the Pokémon card collection and the PSA10 collection. The 25th-anniversary market is the closest precedent for an anniversary set, and our s8a 25th Anniversary guide walks through it.

More on the English line and its Japanese counterparts: English dates against Japan, the Ditto Premium Collection, the Binder Collection against the M6a box, the ex Box and Tech Sticker Collection, and the My Number check for 30th CELEBRATION lotteries. For background on the anniversary line as a whole, start with the Pokémon 30th anniversary cards guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does the Pokemon 30th Celebration set release?

The Pokemon 30th Celebration set released on September 16, 2026 in English and Japanese. Pokemon.com says the expansion arrived simultaneously worldwide, and the official Japanese M6a page carries the same worldwide-release wording. English products then continue on release dates through December 4, 2026, per the official showcase.

Is there an English 30th Celebration booster box?

The official English product showcase, published June 30, 2026, lists no booster box. Its largest pack-only entry is the Booster Bundle with six booster packs, listed for October 2, 2026. A booster-box format for this set is the Japanese M6a 30th CELEBRATION box, which our store currently lists.

How many cards are in the 30th Celebration set?

Pokemon.com prints Number of Cards: Over 150 for the English set. The official Japanese card database lists 140 entries: numbers 001 to 103, numbers 136 to 165 and eight Basic Energy cards. Numbers 104 to 135 are not in that database, so the Japanese total is not printed officially.

How did Japan allocate the FUTURISTIC BOX?

The official product page says Pokemon Center Online handles the FUTURISTIC BOX only. Per SNKRDUNK’s lottery roundup of September 9, 2026, the Pokemon Center Online additional lottery took applications from September 11, 16:00 to September 16, 16:59 JST. The official pages print no lottery dates.

What do the Japanese products cost officially?

The official Japanese pages print ¥360 per M6a booster pack, ¥6,200 for the Premium Deck Set Espeon & Umbreon, ¥27,500 for the FUTURISTIC BOX and ¥1,200 per Card Set, all tax included. The Card Sets release on October 16, 2026. A booster box price is not printed on those pages.

Can I buy the Japanese M6a box from SAMURAI SWORD?

The M6a 30th CELEBRATION Booster Box is currently listed: Sealed at ¥28,030 (~$182) and No Shrink at ¥25,365 (~$165). The FUTURISTIC BOX is sold out at the time of this update, and restock requests go through Quick Order. USD figures convert at ¥154/USD, approximate.

What is inside the English Elite Trainer Box?

Pokemon.com lists nine booster packs from the expansion, a full-art Nidorina promo card, 65 card sleeves, 16 foil Basic Energy cards, damage-counter dice, a coin-flip die, a plastic coin and a box with six dividers, plus a player’s guide. The Pokemon Center version adds two more packs.

Have pull rates been published for the 30th Celebration set?

No. The Pokemon Company has not published pull rates for the Japanese M6a expansion or the English 30th Celebration expansion, and tcg.pokemon.com states that its card previews do not indicate pull rates. Any per-box rate quoted elsewhere is unofficial, so treat it as an estimate.

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