On 23 August 2026 the official Japanese Pokémon Card Channel uploaded a video in which the 30th Celebration Pikachu & Zekrom-GX is used in a game of Pokémon TCG. A Short cut from the same video was posted five minutes later. The card’s image was already published on the official 30th Celebration site, so the reveal here is the footage, not the card.
What was posted
Two uploads went out from 【公式】ポケモンカードチャンネル, the official Japanese Pokémon TCG channel, within five minutes of each other on 23 August 2026:
| Upload | Length | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| 【TAG TEAM】当時のデッキでバトル＆歴史解説スペシャル “TAG TEAM: battle with period decks and history commentary special” |
51 min 51 sec | The full video. The description states it includes a battle using the special-finish Pikachu & Zekrom-GX from the 30th CELEBRATION expansion. |
| 【#切り抜き】懶かしのあのカードで遊んでみたらエモすぎた “Playing with that nostalgic card was too emotional” |
Short | A clip taken from the full video. This is the one circulating. |
The full video’s title also names Reshiram & Charizard-GX. The description identifies only Pikachu & Zekrom-GX as the 30th Celebration card; Reshiram & Charizard-GX is not named as a reprint, and it is not on the Classic Collection list. The two were the defining Tag Team decks of the 2019 format, which is what the video is built around.
Short: youtube.com/shorts/RX971UH4sXI. Full video: youtube.com/watch?v=nUN4q7JpqmE. Both are on the official channel, @PokecaCH.
The card
The card in the footage is ピカチュウ＆ゼクロムGX — Pikachu & Zekrom-GX — numbered 160/103 in the Japanese set M6a, with the Classic Collection C symbol printed next to the set code in the bottom-left corner.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Number | 160/103 (M6a), Classic Collection |
| Type | Basic Lightning, TAG TEAM Pokémon-GX |
| HP | 240 |
| Attack 1 | Full Blitz — 3 Lightning — 150. Search your deck for up to 3 Lightning Energy and attach them to 1 of your Pokémon, then shuffle. |
| Attack 2 | Tag Bolt-GX — 3 Lightning — 200. With 3 extra Lightning Energy attached, it also does 170 damage to 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon. |
| Weakness | Fighting ×2 |
| Resistance | Metal −20 |
| Retreat | 3 |
| Illustrator | Mitsuhiro Arita |
What changed from 2019
The original is Team Up 33/181, released in English on 1 February 2019 and in Japan in the Tag Bolt expansion. Set the two side by side and the game text is identical. Same 240 HP, same two attacks at the same costs and the same damage, same weakness, same resistance, same retreat cost, and the same illustrator.
Three things are different:
- A Pikachu 30 stamp sits at the lower right of the artwork — a yellow Pikachu head with a 3 and a 0 for cheeks. It is the marker used across the anniversary set.
- A new foil treatment covers the whole card face, including the text boxes and the border, rather than sitting inside the art window.
- The set code and number read M6a 160/103 with the Classic Collection C symbol, in place of the Team Up symbol and 33/181.
The artwork itself is unchanged. This is the same Arita illustration, not a new one.
Where it sits in the Classic Collection
Pikachu & Zekrom-GX is one of the 30 reprints in the 30th Celebration Classic Collection, a run drawn from every era of the game. It is the 25th of the 30 in the order the official reveal used, and it is one of only two whose reprint image The Pokémon Company has published so far — the other is Base Set Charizard, numbered 137/103.
Classic Collection cards sit outside the numbered main set. They are not legal in Standard or Expanded, so this printing is a collector item rather than a playable card — which is part of why an official video showing one in a game is unusual.
What the reveal did to the 2019 card
The Classic Collection list surfaced at the start of June 2026. The market price of the original Team Up 33/181 moved immediately. These are TCGplayer weekly market prices for Near Mint copies:
| Week beginning | Market price | |
|---|---|---|
| 25 May 2026 | $32.69 | Before the list circulated |
| 1 June 2026 | $67.39 | Roughly double, in one week |
| 15 June 2026 | $77.92 | Highest week of the last 12 months |
| 17 August 2026 | $53.20 | Latest week |
For most of the preceding year the card sat between $23 and $30. It has given back about a third of the June spike since. Treat the exact figures with some caution: the gap between the market price and the cheapest listing is wide, which usually means thin trading rather than a settled price.
The full art (162/181) and secret rare (184/181) versions of the same card moved less sharply, having already been more expensive.
How to get one
Classic Collection cards do not come out of ordinary 30th Celebration boosters. They come in a separate Classic Collection pack, and the only sealed source announced so far is the Ultra-Premium Collection — Day & Night, which contains 29 regular boosters and one Classic Collection pack.
| Date | What |
|---|---|
| 16 September 2026 | 30th Celebration main set. No Classic Collection cards in these packs. |
| 6 November 2026 | Ultra-Premium Collection — Day & Night. One Classic Collection pack per box. |
One pack per box, across a 30-card pool, means any specific Classic Collection card is hard to target by opening product. Full details of the lineup and pricing are in our 30th anniversary products and MSRP guide.
What to watch
Twenty-eight of the 30 Classic Collection reprints still have no published image. The channel has been running a card introduction video most days through August, and the Pikachu & Zekrom-GX battle is the first to put a Classic Collection card in front of a camera rather than on a product page. If that continues, the remaining reprints are likely to appear the same way before the 6 November release.
We update the 30th Celebration set guide and the Classic Collection list as cards are revealed.
【公式】ポケモンカードチャンネル, uploads of 23 August 2026 — youtube.com/@PokecaCH. Card image and set details — official 30th CELEBRATION site, 30th.pokemon-card.com. Price history — TCGplayer weekly market price, Near Mint, retrieved 23 August 2026.
