How the Pikachu Rares work
The Pikachu Rares are cards 023 to 052 in 30th Celebration, the anniversary set that came out on September 16, 2026. They clearly belong together: a yellow card face, a big 30th anniversary Pikachu behind the text box, and a little Pikachu icon with a second number, from 01/30 up to 30/30, so you can see at a glance how far along you are.
Past that, every card is its own thing. Each one has a different artist, different attacks and a different idea of what Pikachu should look like, from a knitted plush taking a nap to a dark, painted portrait.
Pikachu Rares 023 to 032
Pull rate and finishing all 30
You get one Pikachu Rare in every booster pack, which makes them the easiest part of the set to start and the hardest to finish. The first dozen or so come quickly. After that it is mostly duplicates: once you have 25 of them, only about one pack in six brings a new one.
Opening packs alone, it takes around 120 on average to get all 30, assuming they are equally common. Most people open until the duplicates pile up, then trade those away or pick up the last few as singles.
Pikachu Rares 033 to 042
The ones worth a closer look
Two of them are special because of who drew them. Atsuko Nishida, who designed Pikachu in the first place, did number 047, a happy Pikachu running through a meadow. Ken Sugimori, who did the character designs for the original Red and Green, did 023 in the chubby, round style of those first games.
For something gentle, Asako Ito's 027 is a knitted Pikachu asleep in the grass, and Teeziro's 039 sets a tiny Pikachu on the doorstep of a huge old wooden door. For something louder, danciao's 024 is all sparks and motion, and Shinji Kanda surrounds Pikachu with a dense burst of flowers on 040. Nurikabe's 049 is the odd one out: a dark, serious close-up that looks nothing like the other 29.
Pikachu Rares 043 to 052
Playing them in a deck
They are all called Pikachu, so the four-copy limit covers the whole group. You can put four Pikachu in a deck, not four of each. A few are genuinely useful: USGMEN's 034 has Pika Chain, which does 40 damage for every Pikachu and Pikachu ex you have in play, Nurikabe's 049 does 80 extra damage against Pokémon ex, and Shimaris Yukichi's 050 hits for a flat 100.
The two Pikachu ex Special Illustration Rares
The big chase cards of the set are two Pikachu ex Special Illustration Rares by kantaro, numbered 149 and 150. They are drawn as a pair. On 149, Pikachu leads a parade of Pokémon in broad daylight. On 150, the celebration carries on at night under a sky full of fireworks.
Keeping track
If you are working through the 30, you can tick them off one by one in the Pooka app. The 30th Celebration set page on Pooka also shows every card in number order, which is handy when you are sorting a pile of duplicates.
