The second half of 2026 is looking Emerald green for Pokémon fans, as a trailer reveals new sets starring Mega Rayquaza for both the Pokémon TCG and the mobile app Pokémon Pocket.
Pokémon Pocket will receive the dragon-type legendary Pokémon first, with ‘Ruler of the Skies’ arriving next month, while TCG fans will be waiting for the release of Delta Reign on November 6, 2026, a couple of months after the 30th Celebration release.
This teaser features some cool CGI footage of Rayquaza wiggling around, but only the barest hints of real card art. Still, I think it’s fair to say that fans have reason to be excited, and not just because Rayquaza is one of the coolest Mega Evolutions The Pokémon Company has ever designed.
The release of Delta Reign oddly mirrors that of another Pokémon set from five years ago: Evolving Skies. This set, thought by some to be the crown jewel of the Sword & Shield era, came just a little before the 25th anniversary set, in the midst of Pokémon’s pandemic boom, when hype was sky high. Now this new Rayquaza release is arriving just after the game’s 30th anniversary.
While Evolving Skies is known anecdotally for having abysmal pull rates – and the numbers from TCGPlayer appear to back that up – it made up for it with the quality of its big hits. From Dragonite V, to Rayquaza VMAX, to the infamous Moonbreon, there were some really exciting cards in this release.
Since we haven’t seen any Delta Reign cards (or Ruler of the Skies cards for that matter) yet, we have no way of knowing if this set will live up to its predecessor. Nonetheless, the parallels are making me pretty excited. The joint announcement is fun, too. I’ve no doubt the Pocket release will be a tantalizing appetizer for the true TCG set to come.
Source: Wargamer
