Pokémon 30th Celebration Chase Cards: The 12 Cards Worth Pulling and Grading

The Pokémon TCG turns 30 this year, and the birthday set breaks almost every rule a normal expansion follows. Every card in 30th Celebration is foil, including the Basic Energy. Every booster pack carries one of 30 different Pikachu. There is a brand-new rarity, the Futuristic Rare, invented for exactly two cards. And for the first time in the history of the game, the set launches everywhere on the same day: Wednesday, September 16, 2026.

That makes this the rare set where the chase list is settled before a single pack is opened. The full English checklist (128 numbered cards plus 30 secret rares) was published on September 9, so we know the numbers, the illustrators, and where every card sits in the print. What we do not have yet is pricing. So this guide ranks the cards worth chasing, explains why each one matters, and uses the closest historical comparables (the 25th anniversary Celebrations set and recent Pikachu ex Special Illustration Rares) to set realistic expectations before release day.

If you want the live version of this list once cards start trading, the 30th Celebration set hub will carry raw, PSA 9 and PSA 10 prices as soon as sales land.

Update, September 23: the set is out and prices have moved a lot. For what the market is actually paying, see our best 30th Celebration pulls ranked by real sale prices.

How we ranked the chase cards

Three things drive value in an anniversary set, and they are not the same three things that drive a normal set.

First, rarity in the print. The two Futuristic Rares sit at 157 and 158, the highest numbers in the set, and they are the only two cards at that tier. Second, the Pokémon on the card. Mew, Mewtwo, Pikachu and Charizard carry demand that outlasts every hype cycle. Third, the grading outcome. On a set where every card is foil and print runs are enormous, the gap between a raw copy and a PSA 10 copy is where most of the money lives. Celebrations proved this in 2021: the Gold Star tribute Mew trades for roughly $64 raw today and about $260 in a PSA 10, while the Classic Collection Charizard from the same set sits near $168 raw and $515 in a 10.

Keep that pattern in mind as you read. Most of these cards will be affordable raw. The chase, for serious collectors, is the gem mint copy.

Tier 1: the Futuristic Rares

1. Mew ex 158/128 (Futuristic Rare)

0:32

NinjaRips pulls the Futuristic Rare Mew ex on release day

Pulled by NinjaRips, Sep 16. Watch on YouTube

Mew ex is the last card in the set and the single most talked-about card of the release. The Futuristic Rare treatment is unlike anything printed before: a chrome-and-light finish with translucent, almost liquid rendering of Mew, three-dimensional type symbols floating around the frame, and a color shift that changes as you tilt the card. YOSHIROTTEN, the graphic artist behind both Futuristic Rares, described the style as looking toward an unknown future, and the card reads that way in hand.

Mew has also been the anniversary Pokémon before. The 2021 Celebrations set built its headline chase around a Gold Star tribute Mew, and that card remains the most recognizable pull from that set five years later. History says the anniversary Mew ages well.

On the table, Mew ex has 160 HP, the Ability Memory Helix (use the attacks of any of your Benched Pokémon), and Teleportation Burst for 30 damage with a free switch. Same text as the regular Mew ex at 066/128. Nobody is chasing this card for the attack.

Grading note: mirror-style finishes show surface scratches and print lines under a loupe far more than a standard holo does. Sleeve the card the moment it leaves the pack and inspect the chrome surface before you submit.

2. Mewtwo ex 157/128 (Futuristic Rare)

1:03

Car Seats and Cards pulls the Futuristic Rare Mewtwo ex from a Knock Out Collection

Pulled by Car Seats and Cards, Sep 17. Watch on YouTube

The other half of the pair. Mewtwo ex gets the same chrome treatment in deep purples and blues, with Mewtwo rendered as a glossy sculpted figure against a light-streaked background. It carries 230 HP, Photon Bullets (50 damage to each of your opponent's Pokémon ex) and Psychic Powers for 230.

Which of the two is worth more is the first real debate of the set. Mew tends to win on cuteness and on anniversary precedent. Mewtwo tends to win with older collectors who grew up on the Base Set holo and the first movie. Our expectation is that Mew ex opens higher and Mewtwo ex closes the gap once the initial rush settles, which is how similar pairs (the Surging Sparks Pikachu ex and the Prismatic Evolutions Umbreon ex, for example) have behaved. Either way, pulling one of these two is the win of the box.

The Pokémon Company has not published pull rates. The only public data point is a single Japanese box opening reported before release, where one 20-pack box produced exactly one Futuristic Rare. One box is not a rate. Treat it as a hint that these are roughly one-per-box territory rather than one-per-case, and adjust once the community has opened a few hundred boxes.

Tier 2: the Special Illustration Rares that matter

3. Pikachu ex 149/128 (Special Illustration Rare, Day)

1:05

Professor P. pulls the daytime Pikachu ex Special Illustration Rare

Pulled by Professor P., Sep 18. Watch on YouTube

Pikachu leads a parade through a daytime festival with Alolan Exeggutor, Espeon, Sylveon, Gimmighoul, Volbeat and Cosmog in tow. kantaro packs the frame edge to edge, and it is the kind of scene that rewards a second and third look. This is the Pikachu Special Illustration Rare of the anniversary set, and Pikachu SIRs have a track record: the Surging Sparks Pikachu ex 238/191 currently trades around $290 raw and roughly $930 in a PSA 10, which is the best single comparable for where this card could settle.

4. Pikachu ex 150/128 (Special Illustration Rare, Night)

0:51

Pull Value Lab pulls Pikachu ex 150 from an Elite Trainer Box

Pulled by Pull Value Lab, Sep 22. Watch on YouTube

The companion piece. Same artist, same parade, but after dark: fireworks overhead, Gengar, Umbreon, Midnight Lycanroc, Gholdengo, Illumise and Cosmoem replacing the daytime cast. The Day and Night pair is the visual theme of the whole set (Ho-Oh and Lugia, Solgaleo and Lunala, and the two Eevee all mirror each other the same way), and these two Pikachu are the centerpiece of it. Expect them to be collected as a pair, which supports both prices. Night versions of paired cards often carry a slight premium because the darker palette photographs better in a slab.

5. Sylveon ex 153/128 (Special Illustration Rare)

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Tauxins pulls Sylveon ex on release day

Pulled by Tauxins, Sep 16. Watch on YouTube

Eeveelution Special Illustration Rares are the most reliable secondary chase in modern Pokémon, and Sylveon is consistently the strongest of the group after Umbreon. You Iribi frames Sylveon in flowers that form a heart around the card, which is exactly the kind of composition that sells on the secondary market. Note that Umbreon ex and Espeon ex in this set are regular Double Rares only, with their premium versions living in the Ultra-Premium Collections and Battle Decks as promos. That makes Sylveon the only Eeveelution SIR you can pull from a booster pack, which concentrates demand on this one card.

6. Greninja ex 148/128 (Special Illustration Rare)

Greninja has been a top-five Pokémon in fan polls for a decade, and GIDORA's painterly Special Illustration Rare gives it a proper hero card. The regular Greninja ex also headlines one of the Pokémon ex Boxes, so the character is going to be everywhere in this set's marketing. The SIR is the version worth holding.

7. Gengar ex 154/128 (Special Illustration Rare)

The one Special Illustration Rare still without an official English image as of this writing. Gengar ex is confirmed at 154/128 by the Japanese set list, it carries 280 HP with the Fainting Spell Ability (when knocked out by an attack, flip a coin; heads knocks out the attacker), and Gengar full arts have a long history of outperforming their initial pricing. Sight unseen, we would still put it in the top ten. We will add the image and update this ranking the moment it appears.

Tier 3: the Classic Collection reprints

The Classic Collection is 30 reprinted cards from 30 years of the game, each with a gold border, sparkle holofoil, original set numbering and a small "30" Pikachu stamp. They are not legal in Standard, which tells you what they are for: display. They come from a dedicated three-card pack that is confirmed inside the November 6 Ultra-Premium Collections, and the pre-release box opening mentioned above also showed Classic Collection cards appearing in booster boxes at low rates. Two of the thirty are real chase cards.

8. Charizard 4/102 (Classic Collection, Base Set)

0:07

Trade Shop pulls the Base Set Charizard reprint

Pulled by Trade Shop, Sep 16. Watch on YouTube

The most famous card in the hobby, reprinted with Mitsuhiro Arita's original art and the anniversary stamp. The 2021 Celebrations version of this exact reprint is the best comparable we have, and it has held up: about $168 raw and around $515 in a PSA 10 five years after release, on a print run that was anything but small. The original Unlimited Base Set holo trades near $870 raw and past $20,000 in a PSA 10, which is why the reprint keeps finding buyers. It is the Charizard experience at a fraction of the price.

9. Lugia 149/147 (Classic Collection, Aquapolis Crystal Lugia)

0:16

Jermxaine pulls the Classic Collection Lugia

Pulled by Jermxaine, Sep 19. Watch on YouTube

This is the deep cut. The Aquapolis Crystal Lugia is one of the hardest e-Card era chase cards to find in good condition, with the original selling for several thousand dollars raw and six figures in a PSA 10. Almost nobody who wanted this card has ever owned one. The reprint is not pixel-identical (the "Crystal Type" text is centered differently and the e-Reader logo is gone), which purists will note, but for most collectors this is the first realistic chance to put Crystal Lugia in a binder. Watch this one closely. It could end up the sleeper of the entire release.

Honorable mentions from the Classic Collection: Gengar Prime from HS Triumphant (an original that clears $500 raw), Shining Celebi from Neo Destiny, the Darkrai and Cresselia LEGEND pair, and the Pikachu and Zekrom GX from Team Up.

Tier 4: the Pikachu subset and the best Illustration Rares

10. Pikachu 01/30 by Ken Sugimori (023/128)

Every pack has one of the 30 Pikachu, so none of them are rare in the usual sense. The guaranteed slot means duplicates, not odds, are the obstacle to a full set. But 01/30 is different. Ken Sugimori designed Pikachu, and this is his own redraw of his Jungle-era artwork, numbered first in the run. If any single Pikachu from the thirty separates from the pack on price, it is this one. The illustrator list also includes Tomokazu Komiya (10/30), James Turner (07/30), Atsuko Nishida (25/30, who drew the very first Pikachu sprite) and Shinji Kanda (18/30), all of whom have devoted followings.

For reference, the Celebrations Pikachu 5/25 (a similar "guaranteed foil" card from the 25th anniversary) sits around $5 raw today. Expect most of the thirty to land in that range, with the Sugimori and a handful of artist favorites above it.

11. Lapras 131/128 (Illustration Rare)

0:24

PokemotionCards pulls the Lapras from 30th Celebration

Pulled by PokemotionCards, Sep 23. Watch on YouTube

The 18 Illustration Rares are where the set's artists were clearly given free rein, and Lapras is the standout. Ameikart's composition has the calm, wide-open feel that made the Scarlet and Violet era Illustration Rares so collectible. Lapras cards have a quiet but loyal following, and this one was among the first revealed by The Pokémon Company, which usually signals internal confidence in the art.

12. Drifloon 136/128, Hisuian Zorua 145/128 and Lycanroc 138/128 (Illustration Rares)

Three more Illustration Rares worth pulling. Drifloon drifts through an amusement park scene by Whisker. Hisuian Zorua gets a moody, snow-lit piece by 0313. Lycanroc (Midnight Form) by Raita Kazama is the most dramatic of the three. Also keep an eye on OKUBO's three connected Meowth cards (139, 141 and 144), which form a triptych across day and night rooftops and could become a collector set inside the set, and on mashu's three legendary birds at 130, 132 and 133.

What the Futuristic Rares might be worth

Nobody can price a card that has not sold, and any site that gives you a hard number four days before release is guessing. What we can do is line up the comparables.

30th Celebration card	Closest comparable	Raw today	PSA 10 today
Mew ex 158 and Mewtwo ex 157 (Futuristic Rare)	Celebrations Mew 25/25 (2021 anniversary chase)	about $64	about $260
Pikachu ex 149 and 150 (SIR)	Surging Sparks Pikachu ex 238/191	about $290	about $930
Charizard 4/102 (Classic Collection)	Celebrations Charizard 4/102 reprint	about $168	about $515
The 30 Pikachu (one per pack)	Celebrations Pikachu 5/25	about $5	n/a

Comparable prices are market snapshots as of September 12, 2026, ungraded near-mint versus PSA 10. They are context, not predictions. Run any of these through the Slabfolio price lookup for current sold comps.

Two cautions. First, anniversary sets are printed to demand. Celebrations was printed in enormous quantities and its chase cards still hold value only because the raw-to-PSA-10 spread stayed wide. Second, a brand-new rarity has no track record. The Futuristic Rare could behave like a Gold Star (scarce, permanent premium) or like an early Illustration Rare (widely pulled, priced on art alone). The first month of sales will tell us which.

Should you grade your 30th Celebration pulls?

For most of the set, no. For the top of the list, probably yes, with conditions.

The economics of grading an anniversary set come down to the PSA 10 premium. On Celebrations, the Gold Star Mew PSA 10 sells for roughly four times the raw price. The Charizard reprint PSA 10 sells for about three times raw. If the Futuristic Rares and the Pikachu ex SIRs follow the same pattern, a gem mint copy will be worth the grading fee several times over. A PSA 9 usually will not be, so the decision is really about whether your copy is a 10 candidate.

Before submitting, check the three things that sink modern cards: centering (measure the borders, front and back), edge whitening on the back corners, and surface scratches on the foil. The chrome Futuristic Rare finish is going to be unforgiving on that last point. If you are new to this, our guides to the best graded Pikachu cards, best graded Mew cards and best graded Charizard cards walk through what PSA 10 examples of each look like and what they sell for.

Which product should you buy?

The product line is staggered through the end of 2026, and not everything launches on September 16. The Elite Trainer Box (with a full-art Nidorina promo, Pokémon Center stamped in the Center version), the Sylveon ex and Greninja ex boxes, the Tech Sticker Collections and the Poster Collection lead the launch. The Ultra-Premium Collections, one Day and one Night, arrive November 6 and are the confirmed home of the Classic Collection packs, plus the Pikachu ex, Espeon ex and Umbreon ex promos.

If your goal is the Futuristic Rares and the Pikachu ex SIRs, booster boxes and ETBs give you the most packs per dollar. If your goal is the Charizard and Crystal Lugia reprints, wait for the Ultra-Premium Collections rather than hoping to pull them from boosters. If your goal is the full 30-Pikachu run, budget for duplicates and plan to trade.

Frequently asked questions

What are the chase cards in the Pokémon 30th Celebration set? The two Futuristic Rares, Mew ex 158/128 and Mewtwo ex 157/128, lead the set. Behind them are the Day and Night Pikachu ex Special Illustration Rares (149 and 150), the Sylveon ex, Greninja ex and Gengar ex SIRs, and the Base Set Charizard and Crystal Lugia reprints in the Classic Collection.

What is a Futuristic Rare? A new rarity introduced in 30th Celebration. Both cards are illustrated by YOSHIROTTEN with a chrome-and-light finish and three-dimensional type symbols. Only two exist so far: Mew ex and Mewtwo ex.

How many cards are in 30th Celebration? 128 numbered cards plus 30 secret rares for 158 in the main set, along with 8 foil Basic Energy, a 30-card Classic Collection and 17 promo cards tied to the product line.

Is every card in 30th Celebration foil? Yes. Every card in the booster packs is foil, including the Basic Energy cards.

Do you get a Pikachu in every pack? Yes. Each booster pack contains one of the 30 Pikachu cards, each drawn by a different illustrator. The Pokémon Company has not said whether all thirty appear at the same rate.

Are the Classic Collection cards legal for play? No. The 30 reprints are not legal in Standard. They can be used only in formats that allow the original printings.

When does 30th Celebration release? September 16, 2026, worldwide on the same day. Several products, including the Ultra-Premium Collections, follow later in the year.

How much will the Mew ex Futuristic Rare be worth? There are no sales yet. The closest comparable is the Celebrations Gold Star Mew from the 25th anniversary, which trades at about $64 raw and $260 in a PSA 10 today. We will update this guide and the set hub with real sold prices as they come in.

The bottom line

Chase Mew ex and Mewtwo ex first, the two Pikachu ex SIRs second, and treat the Charizard and Crystal Lugia reprints as a separate hunt through the Ultra-Premium Collections. Grade only the gem mint candidates from those top tiers. Enjoy the thirty Pikachu for what they are, a guaranteed piece of anniversary history in every pack.

Once the set is trading, the 30th Celebration set hub will show live raw, PSA 9 and PSA 10 prices for every card on this list, and you can track your own pulls in a Slabfolio portfolio the day you open them.