The 2026 Pokemon World Championship is a little over two months away. Competitors from VGC, TCG, and Pokemon Go will head to San Francisco between August 28 and 30 to find out who really is the best.
As has always been the case at the World Championships, there will be a range of limited-edition Pokemon TCG promo cards that attendees will be able to get their hands on. The Pokemon Company has now revealed these promos, and, as is often the case, they're likely to be very, very expensive.
Four promos will be available as part of this year's Pokemon Worlds. Two will arrive just before the event, and two will be available exclusively to attendees.
Between August 21st and August 30th, Pokemon Play-registered stores will host various contests. During these tournaments, two promos featuring Pikachu will be available – one for participants and one for winners.
Both cards are almost identical, with Pikachu and Gardevoir set against a San Fran-inspired backdrop that includes the Golden Gate Bridge. One major difference, however, is that tournament winners in each of the three age brackets (Juniors, Seniors and Masters) will walk away with a card emblazoned with the word “Winner”. It's already going to be a nightmare to get an eclipse.
The next two promos will only be available to Worlds 2026 participants. One, Paradise Resort, will be available for those competing in any of the events, and the other, Stamped Requaza, will be available to all visitors.
While Rayquaza, the stamped version of its Ascended Heroes card, should be relatively easy to obtain, given the number of participants, Paradise Resort will be a nightmare.
Paradise Resort replaced the previous Sadako Festival of Champions at Worlds 2023 and has been an expensive card ever since. The cheapest version of the 2023 card on eBay sits at around $600. 2024 is the cardAround $400 at its lowestAnd last year's is about $250. They are not cheap cards.
Given the current state of the Pokemon trading card game, which saw London police arrest a man for using a baseball bat in a fight over Pokemon cards, I don't hold out much hope that I'll ever get my hands on one.
- Original release date
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October 20, 1996
- Count the players
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2
- Age recommendation
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6+
- Length per game
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variable
- Franchise Name
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Pokemon
