The release of the Pokémon Trading Card Game’s new Delta Reign set is imminent, which means that collectors everywhere will soon start opening Elite Trainer Boxes and Booster Bundles. The Rayquaza-themed set and its chase cards are great. New mechanics like the Legendary Stadiums could shake up competitive play. Some cards, like Tayu’s embroidered Pokémon card, make the set feel slightly more experimental.
There’s nothing wrong with the set. In any other scenario, Delta Reign would be a highlight of a busy TCG release year. Unfortunately, Pokémon’s new TCG set is dropping after one of The Pokémon Company’s best — if not the best — set releases ever.
How do you compete with a set like 30th Anniversary, where every single card is a holofoil? What could possibly match up with a release where the hits are so constant, they start to rot people’s brains? Over the last few months, I’ve watched incredulously as people shared what would normally be extraordinary pulls with nothing but complaints. Sure, the disgruntled collector got two copies of Gengar, a Mew, a Jirachi, and the Classic Collection’s Tag Team card in just a couple of boxes. But they watched someone else get three Future Rare Mewtwo cards, a Charizard, and a Lugia. Now their daughter is crying because she thinks they both got cheated out of a better experience.
No joke — that was a real anecdote I read from a local Pokémon group in Minneapolis. While that’s an extreme reaction, I empathize a little more after Delta Reign. Despite opening a few dozen packs, which were provided by The Pokémon Company ahead of release for review, I was left disappointed. The difference is that I acknowledge my feelings about Delta Reign are irrational. I only share them because, based on conversations I see online and discussions I’ve had with collectors in real life, I suspect many will experience this exact phenomenon of dissatisfaction.
Delta Reign vs. 30th Anniversary
Part of it is the set size: Delta Reign offers 141 total cards. That’s slightly bigger than recent sets like Chaos Rising (122 cards) and Pitch Black (120 cards) but significantly smaller than both 30th Anniversary (199 cards) and Ascended Heroes (295 cards). The pared-down size, combined with diminished hit rates, means you won’t get the high of pulling one banger after another like with the 30th Anniversary collection. I can’t quite say if the hit rates are worse than usual or just not as good as the 30th Anniversary in particular — my sample size is too small. Between TPC’s review units and packs from three separate pre-release events, however, I’ve opened quite a few packs in the set. Maybe it’s just my luck, but even EX-cards felt few and far between.
It’s a shame. There are some fantastic cards here, like Taiga Kasai’s Magmortar, Rianti Hidayat’s Electivire, and Tomokazu Komiya’s Stripper Kecleon, as fans like to call it. The set is rife with Pokémon people like to collect, like Eevee, Groudon, and Raiku.
As a whole, Delta Reign’s art is better than the cards in other sets this year. It’s rare to see any art where the Pokémon is just present: on nearly every card, the monsters are running, flying, in the middle of an attack. They’re causing a tsunami, or they’re hiking across an active volcano. There’s Zorua, looking across a quiet cottage town at nighttime, and Growlithe, eagerly awaiting their owner’s arrival at home.
Unlike cute sets full of pastels like Ascended Heroes, Delta Reign is overrun with harsh color combinations and darker tones. While anyone can appreciate this compendium of monsters, the selection is best described as the specific Pokémon middle school boys might like. This isn’t an insult – it’s good to have a balance in TCG vibes.
The dynamic art, alongside the compendium of cool Pokémon picks, makes me believe Delta Reign won’t be lumped into the group of recent sets “no one” wants. Historically, Rayquaza-themed sets are remembered (and valued) fondly. Maybe a year from now, when I’m not coming off the high that is the 30th Anniversary, I’ll appreciate this set better.
But man, the post-30th Anniversary depression is real. It certainly doesn’t help to know that TPC excluded a central Rayquaza card from the English standard set to release it as a separate (and more expensive) product. What do you mean the standard Rayquaza set is missing a Rayquaza?
If you’re picking up a Delta Reign product on Friday, I’d highly suggest seeking out a 30th Anniversary box like the Ultra Premium Collection to go alongside it — that is, if you’re lucky enough to find a UPC stocked anywhere. People are planning to camp outside stores ahead of Friday, but for most of them, Delta Reign is just an added plus that comes with nabbing the hottest 30th Anniversary release that comes out on the same day.