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30th Celebration came out on 16 September 2026 with something other sets do not have: every card is holographic, basic energies included. When everything has foil, the question "which one is the rare card" stops having an obvious answer and becomes a matter of declared rarities and collector numbers.
This article lines up the set's chase cards: what they are, what numbers they carry, and why the rarest and the most expensive almost certainly are not the same card. If you are after today's prices, they are in the article on what 30th Celebration cards are worth; if you are after the thirty Pikachu, they are here.
In short. The chase cards of 30th Celebration fall into four groups: the two Futuristic Rares (Mewtwo ex and Mew ex), a rarity debuting with this set; the two Pikachu ex, day and night, returning as secrets at numbers 149 and 150; the thirty cards beyond number 128, eighteen Illustration Rares from 129 to 146 and ten Special Illustration Rares from 147 to 156; and the Eeveelution ex cards, Espeon ex 070, Sylveon ex 071 and Umbreon ex 092. The day after release the two Futuristic Rares cost 300.63 € and 285.64 €. On 7 October 2026 they are down to 42.56 € (Mew ex) and 35.51 € (Mewtwo ex), and the most expensive chase card in the set is the Mew ex (152) Special Illustration Rare at 91.28 €.
Which is the rarest card in 30th Celebration
On paper, literally, it is one of the two Futuristic Rares. This is a rarity that has never existed before: it debuts with this set, it has its own symbol, and so far only two cards carry it, Mewtwo ex and Mew ex. Zero precedent means zero price history, and usually it also means zero restraint in the first few weeks.
Be careful with one thing we have verified with prices in hand across previous sets, though: the rarest card and the most expensive card almost never coincide. In Pitch Black the rarest was the Gold #120, but the most expensive turned out to be the Special Illustration Rare #116. Rarity tells you how many were printed, price is decided by how many people want it, and those are two different questions.
On an anniversary set there is a third factor that weighs more than rarity, and we measured it: in the 25th anniversary set, five years on, 89% of the value sits in reprints of old cards, not in the new ones. In 30th Celebration the reprints are the 30-card Classic Collection, and now that the set is out they are all known: they are in the dedicated page, with what the original of each costs today.
The Futuristic Rares: Mewtwo ex and Mew ex
You spot them instantly: vivid colours and strong lighting on the Pokémon, plus three-dimensional elements inside the artwork, energies and Poké Balls that seem to lift off the background. On CardTrader the two western cards show up at numbers 157 and 158, that is, beyond the 128 of the base set.
They are signed by YOSHIROTTEN, a Japanese artist who comes from design and digital art rather than from the card game, and it is the first time a new rarity has been built around a single name.
That Mewtwo and Mew get to launch the rarity is no accident: they are numbers 150 and 151 in the original Pokédex, the last two creatures of the first generation, and for thirty years they have been the most quoted pair in the history of the game. If the set wanted a cover, it picked well.
The Pikachu ex, day and night
These are two cards printed in two versions each: the normal one in the base set at numbers 053/128 and 054/128, and the secret one at 149 and 150. Do not confuse them with the thirty Pikachu of the subseries, which are a different thing and come guaranteed in every pack.
The normal pair against the secret pair is exactly the comparison worth watching, because the gap between a card and its version beyond the base numbering is the most reliable multiplier we know. In the 25th anniversary set, Mew #025 is worth 80.53 € today and Mew #011 from the same set is worth 5.09: same creature, same product, sixteen times the difference, decided purely by position in the numbering.
Create a free DarkDex account and set aside the chase cards you care about: the value of each one updates itself.
The secret cards beyond number 128
The base set ends at 128, but the numbering continues: the higher numbers are the special illustrations, and traditionally that is where the market concentrates after the first few weeks. Now that the set is out they are all known, and there are thirty of them: eighteen Illustration Rares, ten Special Illustration Rares and the two Futuristic Rares.
Here is the full list, number by number.
| Number | Card | Rarity |
|---|---|---|
| 129 | Alolan Exeggutor | Illustration Rare |
| 130 | Moltres | Illustration Rare |
| 131 | Lapras | Illustration Rare |
| 132 | Articuno | Illustration Rare |
| 133 | Zapdos | Illustration Rare |
| 134 | Toxtricity | Illustration Rare |
| 135 | Morpeko | Illustration Rare |
| 136 | Drifloon | Illustration Rare |
| 137 | Chandelure | Illustration Rare |
| 138 | Lycanroc | Illustration Rare |
| 139 | Alolan Meowth | Illustration Rare |
| 140 | Scraggy | Illustration Rare |
| 141 | Galarian Meowth | Illustration Rare |
| 142 | Gholdengo | Illustration Rare |
| 143 | Kommo-o | Illustration Rare |
| 144 | Meowth | Illustration Rare |
| 145 | Hisuian Zorua | Illustration Rare |
| 146 | Maushold | Illustration Rare |
| 147 | Fuecoco ex | Special Illustration Rare |
| 148 | Greninja ex | Special Illustration Rare |
| 149 | Pikachu ex day | Special Illustration Rare |
| 150 | Pikachu ex night | Special Illustration Rare |
| 151 | Mewtwo ex | Special Illustration Rare |
| 152 | Mew ex | Special Illustration Rare |
| 153 | Sylveon ex | Special Illustration Rare |
| 154 | Gengar ex | Special Illustration Rare |
| 155 | Jirachi ex | Special Illustration Rare |
| 156 | Salamence ex | Special Illustration Rare |
| 157 | Mewtwo ex | Futuristic Rare |
| 158 | Mew ex | Futuristic Rare |
The Illustration Rares invite an observation people usually make too late: almost none of them is a big-name Pokémon. No Charizard, no Mewtwo. It is a Lapras, a Drifloon, a Lycanroc, two Meowth and a Zorua. That is not a reason to dismiss them: in the 25th anniversary set the fifth most expensive card of all is a Shining Magikarp, sitting at 71.15 € today, ahead of dozens of legendaries from the same set. On a collectible card the price comes from the print, not from the character.
The Eeveelution ex cards
Outside the groups above there are the ex cards of the Eevee family, which always pull with players and collectors alike. The western numbers are all in now: Greninja ex 021/128, Espeon ex 070/128, Sylveon ex 071/128, Umbreon ex 092/128 and Jirachi ex 102/128. Three of them also return beyond 128 as special illustrations: Greninja ex at 148, Sylveon ex at 153 and Jirachi ex at 155. Espeon ex and Umbreon ex, on the other hand, only exist in the base numbering, and on a celebration set that detail matters: the gap between a card and its version beyond 128 is the most reliable multiplier we know of, and those two do not have one.
Putting them in an anniversary set says one thing commercially: over the past year Eeveelution cards have held their price better than almost anything else, and whoever builds a celebration set knows it.
Where the market has concentrated
Three weeks after release the answer is clear, and it is not the day-one one. The most expensive new card in the set is the Mew ex (152) Special Illustration Rare, at 91.28 €. Then come Gengar ex (154) at 72.63 €, the two secret Pikachu ex at 55.54 € (150) and 53.28 € (149), Mewtwo ex (151) at 43.64 € and the two Futuristic Rares, Mew ex (158) at 42.56 € and Mewtwo ex (157) at 35.51 €. Jirachi ex (155) follows at 38.52 €, and Sylveon ex (153), at 120.63 € on 18 September, is down to 26.40 €.
The Futuristic Rares, the new rarity, are among the chase cards that lost the most: the day after release they led the set, today they are worth less than a third of their 18 September price. The eighteen Illustration Rares from 129 to 146 add up to 46.50 € all together, and the most expensive, Galarian Meowth (141), sits at 5.09 €.
Above all of them, though, sit two reprints: the Aquapolis Lugia (Crystal) at 209.64 € and the Base Set Charizard at 200.64 €, which in three weeks lost only between 5 and 11%. These are the same three rules the 25th anniversary set wrote five years ago:
- Reprints beat new cards: in the 25th anniversary set they take 89% of the value, and here they already hold the top two places, with their share of the set's value up from 47% to 59% in three weeks.
- The secret version beats the normal one of the same card: the base set Pikachu ex day sits at 0.45 €, its secret at 53.28 €. More than a hundred times over.
- The card guaranteed in the pack is worth nothing, by construction: the thirty Pikachu sit between 0.11 € and 1.60 €.
The full ranking, card by card, is in the article on the most expensive 30th Celebration cards.
Updated on 7 October 2026: the western collector numbers are the final ones, including all thirty cards beyond 128, and the prices above are the lowest Near Mint listings collected on CardTrader on 7 October 2026. How prices moved from release day onwards is in 30th Celebration: the most expensive cards and what they are worth now.
How to follow the 30th Celebration chase cards
Chase cards get lost for a mundane reason: they are scattered across numbers that are nowhere near each other, and the price moves more in the first two weeks than in the rest of the year.
On DarkDex you add them to your collection or wishlist and the pricing engine keeps the value current, in the right language and condition, without you checking by hand.
For the rest of the set: the 30 Pikachu and the Classic Collection, the thirty reprints where the 25th anniversary set put 89% of its value. There is also when it releases and what each product costs.
Create your free account and know what to look for while you open packs.
