Delta Reign Is Official: Mega Rayquaza ex Descends November 6
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The Sky King Takes the Throne This Fall
Delta Reign is fully revealed, and it is a big one. Our sixth English Mega Evolution set arrives November 6 with Mega Rayquaza ex on the cover. The set is confirmed at over 135 cards, including more than 20 Trainer cards and over 35 cards with special illustrations, with Mega Golurk ex, Mega Malamar ex, and Mega Golisopod ex joining Rayquaza in the Mega lineup.
Mark Your Calendar
Prereleases run from October 24 to November 1, so you can get your hands on packs a couple weeks early at your local shop. Preorders should open on PokemonCenter.com about a month before release if the timing follows the last two sets, which puts the window right about now. No preorder date has been announced yet, so treat that as an expectation rather than a plan.
Kyogre Swims Out of the Set and Onto the ETB
The Elite Trainer Box promo is a fun one: the Kyogre Illustration Rare originally from Japan's Storm Emeralda set is being cut from the English set entirely and turned into the ETB promo. That makes the ETB the only place to get it. Fitting treatment for a Pokémon described in Hoenn legend as the maker of oceans, whose fin markings are often read as the Greek letter alpha, a nod to life beginning in the sea.
Split Legendary Stadiums Are a Throwback
Delta Reign introduces new split Stadium cards, each with "Legendary" in its name. These clearly hearken back to the LEGEND cards of the HeartGold and SoulSilver era, like Lugia LEGEND, where you needed both halves of the card to play it. There is a deckbuilding wrinkle too: because both halves of a split Stadium share the same name, you can only ever run two full sets of one in a deck.
Two Japanese Sources, One English Set
This is our first English set since Phantasmal Flames to pull from multiple Japanese sources. Delta Reign should combine the 110+ cards from Storm Emeralda, which hit Japan on July 31, with the 30 unique cards from the accompanying MEGA Starter Decks featuring Eevee ex, Zoroark ex, and Meowscarada ex. There is a catch, though: the set will only include six Pokémon ex, and there are seven candidates. One of Heat Rotom, Wishiwashi, Raikou, Talonflame, Eevee, Meowscarada, and Zoroark is getting cut, and we do not yet know which. Poetic if it ends up being Zoroark, a Pokémon possibly modeled on the kitsune, the shape-shifting trickster fox of Japanese folklore, or Meowscarada, the Magician Pokémon of Paldea. Vanishing acts are kind of their thing.
The Full Breakdown
Here is everything confirmed so far at a glance:
- Set: Delta Reign, sixth English Mega Evolution set, over 135 cards
- Release date: November 6
- Prereleases: October 24 to November 1
- Headliners: Mega Rayquaza ex, Mega Golurk ex, Mega Malamar ex, Mega Golisopod ex
- ETB promo: Kyogre Illustration Rare, exclusive to the Elite Trainer Box
- New mechanic: split Legendary Stadium cards
- Sources: Storm Emeralda plus the MEGA Starter Decks (Eevee ex, Zoroark ex, Meowscarada ex)
More details are coming soon. The ex cut is the one worth watching: seven candidates, six slots, and no word yet on who misses out.