The last few years have been huge for Trading Card Games (or TCGs, sometimes also known as CCGs); with several reaching their own milestones, such as Magic: The Gathering‘s 30th anniversary and Yu-Gi-Oh celebrating its 25th year, and others launching to phenomenal critical and commercial success, such as Disney Lorcana and Star Wars Unlimited. Other TCGs have found their own dedicated fanbases, such as One Piece, UniVersus and Achroma.
Of course, Pokemon has also continued to be hugely popular, helped by spectacular new Pokemon types, the return of Ace Spec cards and the enormous success of the nostalgic Scarlet & Violet: 151 set. Several sets have been warmly received by fans, and collectors continue to seek out the most valuable cards, which can often reach very high prices indeed (check out the most valuable cards in the Shrouded Fable set for some examples of the values even recently released cards can reach!).
Despite all of these developments, time never stands still for any trading card game; when it comes to TCGs, there’s always something new and exciting on the horizon. There have been plenty of exciting new sets released for the Pokemon TCG over the last year, but what else is on the way? Let’s find out, as we check out all upcoming Pokemon sets!
Stellar Crown (13th September, 2024)
August release, Shrouded Fable, was a smaller set, but there’s not long to wait before you can get your hands on the next ‘full’ Pokemon TCG set. Despite the fact that we haven’t yet seen all of the cards in the set, we know that most of the cards in Stellar Crown will have already made an appearance in Japanese set, Stellar Miracle.
So we do at least have a good idea about the new features and mechanics that Stellar Crown will be bringing to the Pokemon TCG; so far, the most exciting addition seems to be the introduction of a new type of Tera Pokemon ex: Stellar Pokemon. As of yet, there are no English language Tera Pokemon cards to scrutinise, but check out the Japanese Terapagos ex card below for a little sneak peek at what they’ll look like!
As Stellar Pokemon are also classed as Tera Pokemon ex, it means that they can’t be damaged when they’re on your Bench. What truly sets Stellar Pokemon apart, however, is that they’ll have powerful attacks, but these will require a combination of Energy types to use. This will of course require some clever, creative play (and deck building!) if you’re going to use them effectively.
The Terapagos ex card shown above, for example, needs 1 Grass, 1 Water and 1 Lightning Energy for its Crown Opal attack, which deals 180 HP damage and also (here’s the best part!) prevents all damage done to Terapagos ex by attacks from Basic, non-Colorless Pokemon. As the vast majority of ex cards you’ll encounter will most likely be Basic and have an Energy type associated with them, this should see the meta game being shaken up quite a bit when Stellar Crown arrives.
Keep your eyes firmly focused on our Stellar Crown card list, which we’ll make sure to update as more cards are revealed for this exciting set.
Surging Sparks (8th November, 2024)
The final English language Pokemon TCG set of 2024 will be Surging Sparks. Though it’s too early for us to see any card images at this stage, Pokebeach have made highly educated guesses on what it’s going to include.
So, we should see cards from the Japanese set, Paradise Dragona, which releases on September 13th. Though even this hasn’t had any cards released yet, so again this means our information is limited, Pokebeach have said that it will feature dragon Pokemon, and have suggested that we could see Pokemon such as Latios, Latias, and Alolan Exeggutor.
As is always the case, we will continue to update this list with new information and images as soon as we have them, and we’ll direct you to our card lists for more comprehensive looks at each set too!
What Pokemon Sets Can We Expect In 2025?
Though that’s it for English sets in 2024, we can look to Japan’s upcoming Pokemon TCG releases for a good idea of what’s on the way in 2025. For example, if you check out our Paradise Dragona card list, you’ll see that the very first Alolan Tera Pokemon ex (in the form of Alolan Exeggutor ex) is going to be arriving on Western shores sometime soon, and more Ace Spec cards will soon be added to English language sets too.
Sets such as Supercharged Breaker will likely be combined with the aforementioned Paradise Dragona for the Western release, Surging Sparks.
Beyond that, though we don’t know the names of sets such as Terastal Festival in English (as they are usually changed slightly in comparison to the Japanese sets), we know that these cards will bring Tera Pokemon ex versions of Eevee and its evolutions to the game. The next Japanese set, Battle Partners, is likely to bring ‘owned’ Pokemon back (after a very long absence!) and The Glory of Team Rocket could well see the return of Pokemon corrupted or simply ‘owned’ by the villainous organisation, Team Rocket. Though each of these sets are separate for their Japanese releases, most of the time when they head West, sets are combined in one way or another as well as being renamed, so we won’t see them in exactly the same format as they will appear in Japan.
We will be keeping our eyes open for what’s on the way in English language sets, and we’ll make sure that you’re updated with all of the information as it’s revealed! So there’ll be more to look forward to of course, but while you’re here it’s well worth checking out our guides to the best trading card sleeves, best Commander deck boxes (which are also suitable for Pokemon cards!) and the best trading card binders.
That way, you’ll be fully armed with all of the accessories you need, to ensure your new Pokemon cards remain safe and secure, regardless of whether or not they’re being used, transported or stored!
