Everything revealed about the Pokemon TCG Pocket Mythical Island expansion

Pokemon TCG Pocket Mythical Island promo images
(Image credit: The Pokemon Company)

The Pokemon TCG Pocket Mythical Island expansion has been announced and will be arriving in the game soon, with cards like Mew ex, Aerodactyl ex, Celebi and more, all appearing to bolster the existing card collection that players can already find in PTCGP. Below we've assembled everything we know so far about the Mythical Island expansion and all the special cards coming to Pokemon TCG Pocket soon.

When is the Pokemon TCG Pocket Mythical Island release date?

Pokemon TCG Pocket Mythical Island promo images

(Image credit: The Pokemon Company)

The Mythical Island expansion for Pokemon TCG Pocket will go live on 17 December 2024, and at time of writing there's no suggestion that this is one of the limited time Pokemon TCG Pocket Events. That means that until we hear otherwise, it seems as though the Mythical Island set will be part of the game indefinitely, with players able to open packs regularly.

Mythical Island expansion details

Pokemon TCG Pocket Mythical Island promo images

(Image credit: The Pokemon Company)

The Mythical Island expansion is a new card set to go alongside the existing Genetic Apex set in Pokemon TCG Pocket. The official announcement states that it will have over 80 new cards, including:

  • Five new "ex" cards (the more powerful Pokemon forms that players gain two points for defeating)
  • Five new Trainer cards
  • New Immersive art cards

The card set itself is themed around primeval Pokemon - a sort of "land that time forgot" aesthetic, which explains the prevalence of the ancient Mew and Aerodactyl in the promotional art and marketing.

The fact that there will be about 80 new cards in the Mythical Island expansion means that we're unlikely to see too much of a shakeup to the game's meta - there's already over 226 individual cards in the Genetic Apex set, not including the various Pokemon TCG Pocket Promo cards, so while we expect to see a lot of change in what decks are being played, it's not likely to be a complete rewrite of the established game.

Best cards in Pokemon TCG Pocket Mythical Island expansion

Pokemon TCG Pocket Mythical Island promo images

(Image credit: The Pokemon Company)

The marketing material has already shown many of the cards in the Mythical Island set that will be added to Pokemon TCG Pocket, and some of them look very, very good. Here are some standouts that have been revealed so far that players should consider adding to the Pokemon TCG Pocket best cards list.

  • Mew ex (Psychic): A more powerful version of the existing Pokemon TCG Pocket Mew card, Mew Ex can mimic opponent's attacks and throw them back at them. All those high-power moves just became all the riskier. It's also got a cheap retreat cost and a 1 energy attack, so you can play Mew ex from the beginning.
  • Aerodactyl ex (Fighting): This upgraded Aerodactyl has a passive ability that stops active Pokemon from evolving. It's not a game breaker - most evolution happens on the bench - but it's respectable, especially with a 2 energy/80 damage attack.
  • Vaporeon (Water): It's only visible for a moment, but the Vaporeon card has a "Wash Out" ability that seems to read "As often as you like during your turn, you may take 1 Energy from one of your benched Pokemon and put it on your active Pokemon". A devastating power if true, as it means you could take all the Energy from a nearly-beaten Pokemon and give it to a freshly deployed Articuno or Gyarados.
  • Leaf (Trainer): Reduces the retreat cost of your Pokemon by 2 for one turn. We shouldn't have to explain why this is so good in a game all about selectively controlling your dominant, active Pokemon - it's great battlefield control.

We're sure that there will be more great cards revealed after the release of Mythical Island that make their way into - or even become the foundation of - some of the Pokemon TCG Pocket best decks. We've also seen mention of the card Celebi being in there - but so far it hasn't been revealed what it does, or even if it's very good.

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Joel Franey
Guides Writer

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and raconteur with a Masters from Sussex University, none of which has actually equipped him for anything in real life. As a result he chooses to spend most of his time playing video games, reading old books and ingesting chemically-risky levels of caffeine. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at USgamer, Gfinity, Eurogamer and more besides.