Pokemon Delta Reign: The Dates, the Four Megas and Legendary Stadium

By CardSpicy Founder · October 6, 2026

Quick answer

CardSpicy indexes cards, so this page sets out what the set contains and what has been published about it, rather than whether to buy it. Delta Reign is the sixth main expansion of the Mega Evolution series and releases worldwide on 6 November 2026, with prerelease events running 24 October to 1 November. It is built around Mega Rayquaza ex, and it introduces a new Stadium form, the Legendary Stadium, in which two cards are played as a pair and their artwork joins into one scene.

Four new Mega Evolution ex cards, three Legendary Stadiums, and a Japanese printing that has been out since July.

The dates

The set runs on a four-stage cycle, and the first stage is the one local stores get.

The Japanese lead is the detail that changes how much of this set is actually unknown. Because Storm Emeralda has been on sale since July, the same cards have two months of real sales history behind them before the English printing exists. That does not tell you what an English card will cost, and we do not quote prices; it does mean the card list itself is not a mystery.

Delta Reign follows two other 2026 releases: the Pitch Black expansion in July, and the 30th Celebration special set in September. The 30th anniversary products are tracked separately on this site, and the two are easy to confuse because they overlap in the shops.

What the set is built around

Mega Rayquaza ex is the headline card, and the surrounding four Megas are the set’s spine. Two context points are worth knowing before the card list.

First, this is the first Mega Rayquaza in the Pokémon TCG since the XY era, which is why the card is drawing the attention it is. Rayquaza has headlined sets before, so the significance is not that Rayquaza is rare but that this specific form has been absent for a generation of sets.

Second, Mega Evolution ex cards give up three Prize cards when they are knocked out, against two for an ordinary Pokémon ex and one for a regular card. A Mega Evolution ex is therefore a liability as well as a threat, and the four in this set should be read that way.

The four Mega Evolution ex cards

The Mega Rayquaza ex is a Basic Pokémon at 280 HP. Its Ability, Ruler’s Roar, attaches a Basic Energy from your top four cards when you bench it, and its attack, Storm Emerald, does 50 damage for each Fire and Lightning Energy attached to all of your Pokémon. That energy-scaling attack is unusual in that it counts across your whole board rather than only the attacking Pokémon, which is what makes the card a build-around rather than a standalone attacker.

Mega Golurk ex has the highest HP of the four at 350, which is about as high as the game goes. Mega Golisopod ex and Mega Malamar ex sit between them. There are six further Pokémon ex in the set that are not Mega Evolution cards, which is where the set’s mid-range sits.

Legendary Stadium: the new card form

The genuinely new mechanic is the Legendary Stadium. A Legendary Stadium is two Stadium cards that are played together as a pair, and their artwork joins into a single scene when the two halves are placed side by side.

Four details about it are confirmed, and the fourth is the one that matters most when you are opening packs.

• There are six Stadium cards in the set, forming three Legendary Stadiums. That is three pairs, not six.
• The three pairs represent the Hoenn weather trio. The first confirmed in English is Legendary Summit, printed across 096/103 and 097/103.
• The artwork is continuous. Each half carries a portion of one image, and the pair is designed to be seen together rather than separately.
• A booster pack containing a Legendary Stadium contains both halves. You do not pull one and hunt for the other, which is the detail that separates this from a collect-the-set gimmick.

Because the two halves are separate numbered cards, they are also separately gradable and separately saleable, and a single half is an incomplete card in a way a normal Stadium is not. If you are buying singles, that distinction is the one to check.

The rarity breakdown, and how the numbering runs

The published breakdown is exact, which is worth noting because not every set gets one.

The set totals more than 135 cards. The regular numbered run goes to 103; the Illustration Rares begin at 104; and the Raikou ex Special Illustration Rare sits at 136. The English numbered set is larger than the Japanese one it is drawn from, because it folds in cards from the Japanese starter sets as well.

Two cards named so far are worth recording because they are Trainer cards rather than Pokémon: Zinnia’s Trust and Aarune both receive Special Illustration Rare treatments, which is a reminder that the top of a modern Pokémon set is no longer only about the creatures. Our guide to Pokémon rarity abbreviations covers what each of those bands means, and the set code guide covers how expansion codes are read.

Prerelease promos, and the product limits

Prerelease events run from 24 October at participating stores, and the format is the usual one: players build 40-card decks from Build & Battle Boxes. Four foil promos are in circulation across those boxes, one to a box, with the promo a player receives decided by the box rather than chosen.

• Masquerain
• Magmortar
• Enamorus
• Kommo-o

On the retail side, Pokémon Center preorders opened on 30 September 2026 with limits of two Elite Trainer Boxes and one Booster Box or Booster Bundle per customer, and sold out at once. Retailers continue to list preorders, and the release date is the point at which supply stops being a lottery. One product-specific note: the Kyogre illustration rare is the Elite Trainer Box promo, so it is not a card you can pull from a booster pack.

What is not confirmed yet

The full English set list is not published, so the card-by-card checklist for Delta Reign cannot be completed yet. Pull rates are not published by the publisher for any modern set, so no figure for the odds of a particular Special Illustration Rare exists and anything quoted is an estimate. And the Elite Trainer Box contents beyond the Kyogre promo — sleeves, dice, dividers and the like — follow the usual pattern rather than a published list.

The set will be added to our index when the list lands. Until then, the cards we can document are the ones named above, and the wider Collector’s Library covers how Pokémon products are organised across languages, including the difference between Chinese and Japanese printings.

Frequently asked questions

When does Pokémon Delta Reign come out?

6 November 2026 worldwide, with prerelease events at local game stores running 24 October to 1 November 2026 and the digital release on Pokémon TCG Live on 5 November 2026. The Japanese version, Storm Emeralda, has been out since 31 July 2026.

What is in Delta Reign?

More than 135 cards, led by four Mega Evolution Pokémon ex: Mega Rayquaza ex, Mega Golurk ex, Mega Malamar ex and Mega Golisopod ex. It also has six further Pokémon ex, six Stadium cards forming three Legendary Stadiums, more than 20 Trainer cards, 14 Illustration Rares, 17 Ultra Rares and six Special Illustration Rares.

What is a Legendary Stadium?

Two Stadium cards played together as a pair, with artwork that joins into one scene when the two halves sit side by side. Delta Reign contains six Stadium cards forming three Legendary Stadiums, based on the Hoenn weather trio. A booster pack containing a Legendary Stadium contains both halves, so you cannot pull only one.

What are the prerelease promos?

Four foil promos, one per Build & Battle Box: Masquerain, Magmortar, Enamorus and Kommo-o. Prerelease events start 24 October 2026 at participating stores, and players build 40-card decks from the boxes.

How many cards are in the numbered set?

The regular numbered run goes to 103. Illustration Rares begin at 104 and the Raikou ex Special Illustration Rare is at 136. The English numbered set is larger than the Japanese set it is drawn from because it also includes cards from the Japanese starter sets.

Sources

Sources and scope

1. The Pokémon Company International press material for Mega Evolution—Delta Reign, including the 6 November 2026 release date and the set blurb.
2. Publisher product information — the rarity breakdown, the card total, the numbered run to 103, and the Illustration Rare and Special Illustration Rare starting points.
3. Publisher and retailer product listings for the prerelease window, the Pokémon TCG Live date, the Elite Trainer Box promo and the Pokémon Center purchase limits.
4. Japanese release information for Storm Emeralda — the 31 July 2026 date and the fact that it is the source printing for the English set.
5. Card list reporting from specialist coverage — used for the individual card names, numbers and statistics recorded above.
6. Our own product and index records, used for the internal links and for the ambiguity between this set and the 30th anniversary products.
7. Scope note: this page records published set data and marks anything else as reported. It quotes no card prices and no pull rates.

Set contents, dates and product limits are set by the publisher and can change. Secondary-market observations move quickly; nothing on this page is a valuation or an investment recommendation.

Related reading

• 30th Celebration Cards and Products, Mapped
• Which 30th Anniversary Products Are Worth Buying
• What an Anniversary Set Does, and Does Not, Do
• Pokémon Rarity Abbreviations, Explained
• Pokémon Set Codes: How to Read Them
• Chinese vs Japanese Pokémon Cards
• Grading Companies Compared
• The Collector’s Library

Where to go next

• The CardSpicy card index — every card we track, with its PSA 10 population and market history (195 cards).
• The illustrator index — every artist behind those cards, card by card (110 artists).