Pokémon TCG Reveals "Celebrations" As Their 25th Anniversary Set

Posted in: Card Games, Games, Pokémon TCG, Tabletop | Tagged: Celebrations, P25, pokemon, pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG

Pokémon TCG Reveals "Celebrations" As Their 25th Anniversary SetPublished Thu, 24 Jun 2021 12:42:16 -0500 by Theo Dwyer | Last updated Thu, 24 Jun 2021 12:42:22 -0500 | Comments

The Pokémon TCG has finally revealed their 25th Anniversary set. Celebrations will be released on October 8th, 2021 as a special expansion featuring some of the most popular Pokémon from the franchise's history. It will bring back many discontinued card types, allowing newer Pokémon to appear in classic styles such as Lv.X, Prime, Light & Dark Pokémon, and more.

Here's what the Pokémon Company had to say:

In celebration of 25 years of Pokémon, The Pokémon Company International will be releasing the Celebrations collection for the best-selling Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG). With nine different products in the expansion, Celebrations will showcase beloved characters from the Pokémon franchise, as well as popular card artwork and gameplay mechanics spanning the history of the Pokémon TCG.

Now, we knew going in that this would be a smaller set due to product information released through retailers. The Japanese equivalent of the set has fewer than 30 cards, with the English equivalent being said by other sources to contain over 45. The discrepancy is likely because Japanese sets consider Full Arts as Secret Rares, while the English Pokémon TCG does not. The announcement continues to reveal the structure of the set:

Each Celebrations booster pack will contain four uniquely designed cards—all with foil treatments and a 25th anniversary logo—that feature characters from all regions of the Pokémon universe, from Pikachu to Zamazenta plus familiar faces like Professor Oak.

In addition, Celebrations will introduce a special subset of 25 cards that are close remakes of iconic cards from the history of the Pokémon TCG, including Base Set Charizard, Umbreon ☆, and Tapu Lele-GX.

Many Celebrations products include promo cards that combine recently discovered Pokémon with popular game mechanics from previous Pokémon TCG sets, such as Light Pokémon, Delta Species (δ) Pokémon, and Pokémon Star.

The image mock-ups explain what was going on with the "mini" booster packs and the standard booster packs that we heard about before. The normal Celebrations packs will be the standard four-card packs and it seems as if this special subset, called Classic Collections, will but in those packs with the standard Celebrations cards. The standard booster packs, as pictured above, seem to be from other recent sets like Battle Styles and Vivid Voltage.

I think it's also nice that the Pokémon TCG is ticking both boxes here. Those who wanted something new that pays tribute to the classic (right here!) are getting it. Those who wanted a reprint set are getting the subset. I couldn't imagine a better way to handle the 25th anniversary of the franchise.

Finally, the Pokémon TCG went on to reveal the release dates of the coming products:

October 8th, 2021

• Celebrations Collection—Dragapult Prime
• Celebrations Collections—Lance's Charizard V and Dark Sylveon
• Celebrations Deluxe Pin Collection
• Celebrations Elite Trainer Box
• Celebrations Mini Tins Pokémon TCG: Celebrations Special Collection—Pikachu V-UNION

October 22nd, 2021

• Celebrations Premium Figure Collection—Pikachu VMAX
• Celebrations Ultra-Premium Collection

October 2021, specific date TBA

• Celebrations Collector Chest

Wow. Looking at the above, it's all intensely exciting… but those Celebrations Collections with Lance's Charizard V? Dark Sylveon? Come on, now.

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