The Pokemon Trading Card Game is riding a real wave at the moment. If you set the scalping and stock issues aside, the 30th Anniversary Expansion is one of the best in a long time. It celebrates the TCG’s history, with work from artists new and old and returning cards from some of the game’s most notable eras. Any set that followed would struggle, then: How do you match peak?
Unfortunately, Delta Reign had that unenviable task, and despite one of the coolest Rayquaza cards in history, after going hands-on with it ahead of launch, it fails to even come close to matching the expansion that came before it.
Pokemon TCG Delta Reign In A Nutshell
Like many recent sets, Delta Reign is a small one. With 141 cards, it sits well below many of Scarlet and Violet’s main sets in terms of size, but after years of begging for smaller expansions, I’ve realized that may not always be a good thing.
Sure, smaller expansions mean less filler cards and ultimately, less bulk, but there is far less variety overall. Delta Reign has six SIRs: Two trainers, two that look like full art cards (Mega Golurk and Mega Golisopod), and two bangers (Raikou and Rayquaza). This seems fairly standard for the more recent sets, but it’s almost half the amount from Destined Rivals, the last ScVi expansion.
Sure, it’s great news for Master Set collectors, but not so much for those who just want to collect pretty cards.
Thankfully, Delta Reign has one saving grace outside the very small chance of pulling Rayquaza: its IR selection is great—far better than Chaos Rising and Pitch Black. Of course, there are some misses with Pokemon like Pincurchin and Enamorus, but there are a lot of good ones.
The Eevee, Growlithe, Sprigatito, and Zorua cards are very cute; the Groudon, Magmortar, and Electivire are great, and it’s nice to see some random Pokemon like Azurill get a bit of love.
The Pulls
My pulls from my Delta Reign packs were certainly pulls. From 49 packs, I managed four full arts, five IRs, and an SIR. That’s not a bad haul; it just exemplifies my belief that the variety is not there in recent expansions (30th Anniversary and Ascended Heroes aside).
I was delighted to get my hands on both the Eevee and Growlithe IR, but everything else I pulled ranged from whelming to underwhelming.
The Mega Malamar full art is one of seven featuring pretty undesirable Pokemon, and the three trainers I got were fine. It just so happens that of the SIRs, I managed to pull the worst one in the set: Mega Golisopod ex.
It’s a Pokemon that I have no affinity for, and the card itself looks like nothing more than a full art. I’m a big fan of SIRs that depict scenes, or at least have something going on. This just features the Pokemon in the same pose as its full art card, flipped, with slightly more color.
I can’t really complain since the cards came courtesy of The Pokemon Company for review. However, if I’d spent ~$300+ to pull this, I’d be pretty disappointed.
Closing Thoughts
I’m aware that comparing Delta Reign to the 30th Anniversary Expansion is a little unfair. One is a holiday set with tons to love, while the other is a standard expansion. Even compared to other standard expansions, though, this new one falls a little flat.
I felt similarly about Perfect Order, Chaos Rising, and Pitch Black. It feels like the TCG is in a little bit of a rut. Its popularity certainly isn’t waning, but from a personal perspective, I feel like some of the spark is missing—especially so here.
It has a range of great IRs, but the SIRs generally let the set down. I’d like The Pokemon Company to find a better middle ground between whopping expansions and those that are too small to have a good mix of cards.
- Original Release Date
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October 20, 1996
- Player Count
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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
