The Next Pokémon TCG Era is Coming – It’s Called ‘ex★’
Will the Mega Evolution era of the Pokémon TCG last forever? Of course, we knew eventually we would move beyond Mega Evolution and into a new era as is always the case. However, it may be happening sooner than some expected. After all, the Mega Evolution era only began last year with the release of Mega Evolution on September 26, 2025.
Yet, Pokémon seems to be hinting that the end of Mega Evolution might be coming, and with it a brand new era: Pokémon TCG: ex★.
What will Pokémon TCG: ex★ be all about?
The new logo for ex★
Right now, all we know about the next Pokémon TCG era is what was revealed during the closing ceremonies of Pokémon Worlds 2026. So to put it bluntly, we don’t know a lot other than there will be at least a few more Mega Evolution era sets, a new era is coming, its name is ex★, and it’s likely to have something to do with the three legendary dog Pokémon, Raikou, Entei, and Suicune.
The reason we know the legendary dogs will be involved in the ex★ “series”as it is officially called by the Pokémon Company is because they were featured heavily in both the promotional video revealed during the Worlds 2026 Closing Ceremonies as well as teased during the official Pokémon press release wrapping up the event.
The trailer that teased both the legendary dogs and the next Pokémon TCG series served as a general TCG update that also included new Mega Attack Rare Pokémon cards and Z Mega Pokémon ex cards.
Apart from featuring a yellow “ex” symbol that slowly dissolves into the three legendary dogs before reappearing as the new ex★ logo, it’s worth noting that Raikou, Entei, and Suicune all appear as their regular selves here, meaning these aren’t, at surface-level, strange looking variants of these Pokémon.
And that’s about it: that’s all we truly know about the next era of the Pokémon TCG, leaving much up to the imagination. Yet, so many rumors are circulating online about this new set that it might be helpful to also go over what we don’t know.
Everything we don’t know about Pokémon TCG: ex★
For as much as has been revealed about the next era of the Pokémon TCG, there’s even more we don’t know about it.
We don’t know when ex★ will begin
For starters, we don’t know its official release date, but we do know we have at least three more sets for the Mega Evolution era. Delta Reign is still set for release in November of 2026 and features Mega Rayquaza ex, and a future main set will likely feature the Z Mega Evolution Pokémon Lucario.
We also are likely to have at least one more special set as part of the current era – this is when the Mega Attack Rare Pokémon cards shown in the same preview as the news about ex★ will likely be released.
We don’t know if ex★ will feature a new mechanic
While it is highly likely that ex★ refers to a brand new type of Pokémon ex card (the trailer itself heavily teases it), that’s not been officially stated or confirmed yet. For all we know, ex★ is just a cool name for a new era.
That being said, most likely ex★ refers to a new card type. Whether that is a card with a special, once-per-game move like Pokémon VSTAR Pokémon, or Pokémon cards that you can only have one copy of in your deck, we have no idea.
Given the past era’s emphasis on three-prize Mega Pokémon ex, however, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the game veer back towards two-prize Pokémon once again. This happened back in Sword and Shield following many sets that focused on three-prize Pokémon VMAX before shifting away to hyper powerful Pokémon VSTAR.
At the end of the day, Worlds 2026 featured a much bigger news drop than many (myself included) were expecting. A potential new era of the Pokémon TCG, an animated film about the Pokémon TCG, among other things just felt so big for a Sunday night. Yet we’ll just have to be patient and wait to find out what all of this really means for the game.
Regardless, clearly big things are in store and I can’t wait to see what they are.
