Mega Rayquaza-themed sets coming to physical and digital Pokemon TCGs
Overview & Key Takeaways
The Pokémon Company announced the Rayquaza-themed sets Mega Evolution—Delta Reigns for the physical Pokemon TCG and Ruler of the Skies for TCG Pocket.
There’s no rest for the wicked or for Pokémon trading card game players, apparently. The Pokémon Company just announced Mega Rayquaza-themed sets for both the physical TCG and the mobile game Pokémon TCG Pocket. The physical expansion, Mega Evolution—Delta Reigns, is coming out Nov. 8. Meanwhile, Pocket’s Ruler of the Skies pack is set for July.
As for the mobile game, the set came as a bit of a surprise, as it was delivered outside the game’s regular announcement cadence. Ruler of the Skies isn’t the next expansion coming to Pokémon TCG Pocket; it's actually two releases from now. Going by the usual cycle, the currently unnamed set B3b will be out on July 2. Then Ruler of the Skies will be released on July 30. The game’s most recent expansion, Paradox Drive, is based around Future and Ancient Pokémon, with powerful cards like Koraidon and Myradon ex quickly becoming staples of the metagame. The set was released on May 28.
The physical TCG's latest set was Chaos Rising, headlined by Mega Floette ex. The next expansion is Pitch Black, coming out July 17, and it’s centered around Mega Darkrai ex. Pre-sales for Pitch Black were problematic to say the least. Demand was so high that some fans faced nine-hour waits; the problem was exacerbated by the official site crashing, randomly refreshing, and blocking users, sending purchasers back to the end of the line. The fervor around Pokémon card releases has reached a boiling point: retailers are taking increasingly creative measures to battle scalpers, grading services are being overrun, and card heists are being carried out with chainsaws.
Elsewhere in the Poké-sphere, the competitive-oriented battle simulator Pokémon Champions came out on mobile yesterday alongside a new batch of critters that will likely reshape the metagame, such as Mega Staraptor and Mega Raichu X/Y. Jirachi is coming to Pokémon Pokopiaon June 23 alongside new furniture and décor. Basically, thirty years later, the series is more popular than ever.
