The 10 Best Reprints In The Pokémon TCG's 30th Celebration Classic Collection

The 2004 set Team Rocket Returns included the colossal kaiju Dark Tyranitar. Regular Tyranitars are already pretty menacing but, thanks to teaming up with Team Rocket, Dark Tyranitar is downright terrifying.

This armour plated dinosaur is half-illuminated by a flash of lightning splitting the sky behind it. Dark Tyranitar was a competitive staple back in the early 2000s, thanks to Its Bite Off attack that could KO just about any ex Pokémon of the time.

N, the 20 year old king of Team Plasma, looks pretty sinister in this full art card. Originally printed in the 2011 set Noble Victories, N may look like a bad guy, but really he's just misguided.

The Black and White series started one of the Pokémon TCG's most beloved artistic trends by introducing full art cards. N is one of the most recognisable of these early fully illustrated cards, thanks to that smug smirk and the card's role in the tournament decks of its time.

Rayquaza EX ruled the skies during the Dragons Exalted expansion of 2012, just as it will reign once more when Delta Reign releases this November.

True to its name, Dragons Exalted introduced Dragon type cards to the Pokémon TCG (prior to this, they had all dragons were printed as colorless cards). This makes Rayquaza EX one of the very first dragons in the game and, even 14 years later, it's still one of the most iconic.

As its name would imply, Base Set Pikachu was one of the very first Pokémon cards printed, back in 1996. This was before Pikachu earned its place of prominence as the mascot of the series, and before its curren design was finalised. Because of this, Base Set Pikachu is beloved as a representation of the classic bulky Pikachu of the past.

This is far from the only Pikachu included in 30th Celebration, in fact it's not even the only Pikachu in the classic collection...

The Team Up set introduced Tag Team Pokémon to the game, where two Pokémon are paired up together on a single card. Pikachu and Zekrom GX are a shocking combination, bringing their combined electrical energy together to blitz the competition.

It's no surprise that this card became so popular, since it features the most famous character in the series fighting alongside the legendary Deep Black Pokémon. Not only that, but this card's ability to rapidly ramp out lightning energy cards made it the centrepiece of every electric type deck of its era.

Celebi is often depicted as bright green, but you'll notice that this Shining Celebi is a reddish pink instead. That's because it's a shiny Pokémon, a rare recoloured variant of a regular Pokémon introduced during the Pokémon Gold and Silver games.

Shining Celebi is one of the key chase cards from the 2002 set Neo Destiny, it has travelled 24 years through time to reappear in 30th Celebration.

This Gengar has a real glint in it's eye, and it's glaring right out of its artwork straight towards you. You may have seen this art style before on other cards from The Heart Gold and Soul Silver series.

Gengar is what's known as a Prime Pokémon. Several Prime Pokémon were printed throughout 2010, as well as a promotional Dragapult Prime printed 11 years later. Out of the entire pool of Prime Pokémon, Gengar was chosen to represent the series in the 30th Celebration Classic Collection.

This full art Magikarp, illustrated by Shinji Kanda, is the most recently released card in the Classic Collection. It debuted three years ago in the set Paldea Evolved. Despite being less than five years old, this Magikarp has absolutely earned a place as one of the Pokémon TCG's most noteworthy cards, thanks to how vividly it tells Magikarp's tale.

Magikarp is based on an old Chinese legend, which states that a fish that can leap over the Dragon Gate waterfall will become a dragon itself. You can see that story represented in the artwork here, with the Magikarp leaping over a waterfall, gazing skywards towards a depiction of the Gyarados that it hopes to someday become.

Base Set Charizard needs absolutely no introduction. It is by far the most famous Pokémon card ever printed, and every kid on the playground in the late 1990s dreamed of getting their hands on one.

Well, thanks to the fact that Charizard shows up in the Classic Collection, another chance to secure this burning hot piece of the game's history has just presented itself. The only question is, why is it only number two on this list? What kind of card could possibly upstage this icon?

Crystal Lugia is a legendary Pokémon from generation two, the guardian of the seas, and the most significant card reprinted in the 30th Celebration Classic Collection by far.

To understand what makes Crystal Lugia so special, it's important to understand some information about the history of the Pokémon TCG. From 1996 until 2003, the game was manufactured, distributed, translated, and marketed by Wizards of the Coast. Aquapolis was the final Wizards of the Coast set, and it had a very small print run, with fewer boosters making their way into store than any other expansion in the game's history.

Aquapolis was also the only time when Crystal Lugia has ever been printed. Or at least it was until the 30th Celebration Classic Collection released, which delved down into the depths of history to recover Lugia and bring him back for a new generation of players and collectors to enjoy.

And there we have the finest 10 cards available in the 30th Celebration Classic Collection. If you were putting together your own list of the 30 most iconic cards from the Pokémon TCG's history, which would you pick? Let us know in the Magic Madhouse Discord server.

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