The Pokémon TCG’s upcoming 30th Celebration expansion has been building excitement since its June announcement, but the reveal of card #01/30 in the Pikachu subset just made things personal for collectors who grew up with the original game. Ken Sugimori — whose art defined what Pokémon looked like for an entire generation — is back as a card illustrator, and the Pikachu he drew for this set is exactly as nostalgic as you’d hope.
Sugimori’s Pikachu Card — Card #01/30
The card is numbered 017/103 in the full set and 01/30 in the Pikachu promo subset. Sugimori’s Pikachu has 70 HP, one attack (Electric Shock, 20 damage with a coin flip for paralysis), and a design that sits comfortably between the rounded “chubbychu” of the original Base Set and today’s slimmer look — a deliberate echo of the classic Jungle expansion Pikachu, also illustrated by Sugimori. The sparkle foil treatment and large 30th Anniversary watermark on the card back complete the celebratory feel.
Sugimori’s credit on the card matters because, since the Scarlet & Violet era, he has been listed as a supervisor on the TCG rather than a card artist. His return to drawing the card himself — for the set’s first Pikachu — is the kind of detail that long-time collectors notice. The set’s artwork across its 30 Pikachu cards has been covered at PokéBeach.
Atsuko Nishida Draws Card #25/30
Sugimori is not the only legend in the 30-card Pikachu subset. Atsuko Nishida — the Game Freak designer who created Pikachu’s original character design — illustrates card #25/30. Having both the artist who painted Pikachu’s Base Set portrait and the designer who gave Pikachu its look in the same expansion is as close as the TCG gets to a tribute to the character’s origins.
The September 16 Global Launch — What It Means for Singapore Collectors
As we noted in our coverage of the Japan lottery, the 30th Celebration expansion breaks a 30-year tradition: it launches simultaneously worldwide on 16 September 2026. For Singapore collectors who have always waited weeks or imported from Japan, getting the same cards on the same day as every other market is genuinely historic.
Every booster pack in the expansion contains at least one foil Pikachu rare from the 30-card subset — and every card in the 30th Celebration set is foil, with no standard non-foil commons or uncommons in the base print run. The Futuristic rare slots feature Mew ex and Mewtwo ex in eye-catching holographic finishes, shown in the official trailer above. Singapore fans can also connect to the TCG community through events like local TCG gatherings and conventions.
