Metagross card art has had a great run!
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Metagross is here to stay
The Meatgross evolution line has had a quietly massive run in English print over the last year and a half — and as of the Chaos Rising release on May 22, the full IR collection is officially complete. Here's how it all came together.
Where It Started: Temporal Forces
The first major milestone was the Metagross Illustration Rare in Temporal Forces. A moody, atmospheric card that set the tone for how The Pokémon Company was going to treat this line — with the kind of full-art, world-building illustrations that collectors actually want to chase.
It was a strong card on its own, but at the time it felt like a one-off. Nobody knew it was the start of something.
Ascended Heroes Brought Steven Into the Picture
January 2026 changed everything. Ascended Heroes introduced Steven's Metagross ex as a Special Illustration Rare — and suddenly this wasn't just about Metagross getting a pretty card. This was The Pokémon Company leaning all the way into the Steven Stone narrative during the Mega Evolution Series spotlight.
Steven's Metagross ex is the kind of card that anchors a collection. The SIR treatment, the trainer connection, the lore payoff for anyone who grew up with Generation III — it's one of the strongest pulls of the early 2026 era.
The Promo That Filled the Beldum Slot
Steven's Beldum got its IR moment as SVP Black Star Promo 207, included in the Steven Rival Battle Deck. It's the kind of card that quietly completes a puzzle — easy to miss if you weren't paying attention, but essential for anyone building out a full Steven Stone or Beldum line collection. Beldum is the beginning of everything. Getting it the IR treatment in a dedicated Steven context was exactly right.
Chaos Rising Closes It Out
Chaos Rising (May 22) brings the final piece: a Metang Illustration Rare. It rounds out the full evolution line at the IR tier and fills in what had been the most obvious gap. Metang is always the middle child — the stage that gets skipped over — so seeing it get the spotlight here is a satisfying cap to the whole run.
Chaos Rising also introduces the full Beldum line at regular rarities, which means players and collectors at every budget now have a complete set of options.
Why This Line Deserved the Full Treatment
Here's a fun piece of Pokémon trivia that underscores how fitting all of this is: Per Bulbapedia, Beldum, Metang, and Metagross are the only non-Legendary Pokémon with a base catch rate of 3 — the lowest catch rate in existence, shared only with Legendaries. They've always been treated as rare, special, and hard to obtain, even within the fiction of the games.
Giving the entire line the Illustration Rare treatment — across multiple sets and products, with trainer integration through Steven Stone — is The Pokémon Company honoring that legacy in the TCG.
The Full IR Breakdown
Beldum — Steven's Beldum IR (SVP Black Star Promo 207 / Steven Rival Battle Deck)
Metang — Metang IR (Chaos Rising)
Metagross — Metagross IR (Temporal Forces) + Steven's Metagross ex SIR (Ascended Heroes)
That's a complete evolution line with multiple high-end pull options across the tier. For collectors chasing the full run, this is the moment where it all clicked into place.
Whether you're a lifelong Steven Stone fan, a Generation III collector, or just someone who appreciates when a set of cards tells a complete story — the Beldum line's arc across the Scarlet and Violet era is one of the better things the TCG has done in recent memory.
Chaos Rising drops May 22. You know what to do.