The Pokemon TCG Formats
Want to know what the Pokemon TCG formats are? The Standard format is the main format, but there are plenty of others to choose from if you want to play in different ways. The official formats of the Pokemon TCG are fairly straightforward, but there are also fan-made formats that players have created based on the main formats.
Official Formats
There are four formats in the Pokemon TCG: Standard, Expanded, Legacy, and Theme. Each format has its own rules and restrictions on what cards you can use. While it can be confusing to understand the main formats, we’ve broken down exactly what each format entails to help you decide which one to play.
Standard
The main Pokemon TCG Standard format rotates every year based on a specific date announced by The Pokemon Company. The current Standard rotation includes expansions with E, F, and G regulation marks.
Here is the current Standard rotation:
The Standard format only rotates based on a specific date announced by The Pokemon Company, so you do not have to worry about rotating out older sets. Expansions become Standard-legal two weeks after release.
Expanded
The Expanded format includes all expansions from Black & White Base Set onwards, as well as black-star promo cards released during that time. Expanded also includes any sets that are rotated into Standard. However, like Standard, Expanded requires card bans to maintain format health.
Legacy
The often-overlooked Legacy format is a non-rotating format that includes all cards from the following expansions:
Legacy is a format popular in the Pokemon TCG Online, but it is not supported in paper or TCG Live. Legacy format uses specific expansions, so these sets will never be expanded further.
Theme
Theme is a digital-only format in Pokemon TCG Online. Theme decks are prebuilt decks that use specific cards from recent expansions. The Theme format only has one preconstructed deck, which you can use to battle against other players online. The Theme format is no longer active, but the Theme decks can still be used in the other formats.
U150
The unique U150 format is inspired by Magic: The Gathering’s Commander, using a 100-card singleton deck and an expansive card pool. The U150 format has slightly different deckbuilding rules to other formats, so you can take full advantage of the cards in your collection.
Other Formats
As you can see, the Pokemon TCG actually has a lot of different formats to play with. The community has even created their own formats, including Pauper, generation-specific formats, and Theme Pool.
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