Pokemon Destined Rivals: Pre-order information, Pokemon Center pre-order time

Pokémon Destined Rivals is the next major trading card set from Pokémon, and pre-orders open soon.

The new era of Pokémon trading cards has seen a massive jump in interest in the hobby, and the return of Trainer’s Pokemon is a large part of that. The next standard set from Pokémon following the release of Pokémon Journey Together will be Pokémon Destined Rivals. This set, which will be released in May, will have more Trainer’s Pokémon, and the return of Team Rocket.

We expect pre-orders to go live from Pokémon Destined Rivals very soon, so before they do, check out our guide with all the information you’ll need about the set, when to expect it to be released, and when pre-orders are going to happen. You can also check out the best Pokémon Destined Rivals card that will be included in the set.

We’ve now updated this guide with information about Pokémon: The Glory of Team Rocket, the next Japanese set that will make up the other half of Destined Rivals.

Pokémon Destined Rivals Release Date

• Pokémon Destined Rivals will be released on May 30, 2025.

You will be able to purchase the set from all retailers that carry Pokemon cards. Thanks to the fact that Pokémon Destined Rivals is classed as a standard set and not a special one, you won’t be limited to specialist game stores when attempting to pick up cards from the new set.

You’ll be able to pick up the new set from:

• The Pokémon Center (US/UK)
• Walmart
• GameStop
• Game
• Chaos Cards
• Magic Madhouse
• Target
• Smyths Toys

We will update this guide with pre-order links as soon as they are live this week.

Pokémon Destined Rivals Product List

Pokémon Destined Rivals is expected to be released in the following products:

• Booster Packs
• Booster Boxes
• Elite Trainer Box
• Pokémon Center Exclusive Elite Trainer Box
• Triple-pack blister
• Booster Bundle
• Build and Battle box
• Build and Battle Arena

Pokémon Destined Rivals Best Cards

Thanks to most of the Destined Rivals cards already being released in Japan, we can show off some of the best cards that are in the set, and which cards we expect to be the chase cards when the set lands in English in a few months.

Pokémon Destined Rivals Cynthia’s Garchomp EX SAR

Pokémon Destined Rivals Ethan’s Ho-Oh EX SAR 

Pokémon Destined Rivals Misty’s Psyduck AR 

Pokémon Destined Rivals Team Rocket

One element of Pokémon Destined Rivals that has yet to be seen is how the next Japanese set, The Glory of Team Rocket, impacts Pokémon Destined Rivals. We know that Team Rocket will feature in Pokémon Destined Rivals, but we don’t know if it’s going to feature “Rocket’s” cards.

The Pokémon: The Glory of Team Rocket has now been officially revealed, and is open for pre-order in Japan.

The Pokémon: The Glory of Team Rocket set will include Team Rocket’s Pokémon as well as Giovanni’s Pokémon. This will be the third Japanese set to see the return of Trainer’s Pokémon after Battle Partners and Heat Wave Arena.

Pokémon: The Glory of Team Rocket will be released in Japan on April 18.

There is also the issue of several trainer decks that have been released in Japan recently. Two decks, each featuring Marnie and Steven, as well as Trainer’s Pokemon for each,  weren’t part of the Pokémon Heat Wave Arena set in Japan, and instead were released separately.

It’s expected that Destined Rivals will include these cards, however, the promo cards in the set may be instead released in collection boxes. For Pokémon Journey Together, several collection boxes were produced, but the promo cards in these boxes featured alternate art versions of cards we already had, rather than entirely new cards.

Pokémon Destined Rivals Pre-Order date

• Pre-orders for Pokemon Destined Rivals are expected to go live around March 28, late in the afternoon.

Originally, it was expected that the set would be released for pre-order last week, however, it’s now believed that the pre-order campaign has been delayed for several reasons.  The first of which was the announcement of the new Shiny Pokemon set for Pokemon TCG Pocket, which was announced on Friday.

It’s expected that the official press release and reveal for the set, which tends to happen ahead of the pre-order campaign, will now happen this week.

The Pokemon Center website has undergone maintenance in advance of the pre-order campaign, as it’s assumed the company is desperate to stop bots and other scalping techniques from taking all of the stock. On Thursday the 20th, The Prismatic Evolutions Super-Premium Collection went on sale, however it was very quickly scooped up by bots.