I Opened My First Pack in 1999. The 30th Celebration Made Me Feel Ten Again.

My first Pokémon card was a Machop. Not exactly a grail. I traded a kid on the bus two Rattatas for it and walked home feeling like a genius. Thirty years later the franchise is bigger than anyone on that bus could have imagined, and the 30th Celebration lineup is the first release in a long time that made me walk into a card shop just to stare at the boxes.

So here's my take on the new stuff. What's worth buying, what's worth skipping, and what I think the next thirty years look like.

Start with the Elite Trainer Box

If you only get one thing, get this. It's the most complete way to experience the anniversary set, and honestly the gold accents make it feel like a present even if you bought it for yourself. My advice? Open half the packs, keep half sealed. Future you will be grateful either way.

30th Anniversary Celebration Elite Trainer Box

The box most of us will open first. Booster packs, sleeves, dice, a player's guide and that gold anniversary trim that looks great on a shelf even after it's empty.

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Mew and Mewtwo, finally side by side

Anyone who grew up in the late nineties remembers the truck under the S.S. Anne. Everyone knew someone whose cousin swore Mew was under there. It wasn't, but the legend stuck, and The Pokémon Company clearly knows it. These two collections are built to sit together, and they look a little lonely apart.

30th Celebration Mew Collection

Mew was the playground rumor that turned out to be real. This collection treats it like the legend it is.

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30th Celebration Mewtwo Collection

If you saw the first movie in theaters, you already know why this one hits. Buy it next to the Mew box and display them together.

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Ditto is the one people are sleeping on

I laughed when I first saw a Ditto premium box. Then I saw the artwork. Ditto turning into other classics is such a clever way to celebrate thirty years without just reprinting Charizard for the hundredth time. It's also the box I've watched disappear the fastest at local shops.

30th Celebration Ditto Premium Collection

The sleeper pick. Ditto is the fan favorite nobody predicted, and the premium box is the one collectors keep quietly sold out.

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Small budget? Grab the mini tin

Not every purchase needs to be a centerpiece. The Day & Night Mini Tin is the one I buy for my nephew, and for myself, and then for my nephew again when he finds out I kept one.

30th Celebration Day & Night Mini Tin

Small, cheap enough to grab two, and a perfect stocking stuffer for the kid who just started playing.

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Still the best box to rip with friends

The anniversary product gets all the attention, but Surging Sparks remains the box I bring to game night. Thirty six packs, a real shot at that Pikachu ex, and enough pulls that everybody at the table gets a moment.

Surging Sparks Booster Display (36 Packs)

Thirty six packs and a Pikachu ex chase that still makes people gasp at a card shop table. The best value box for ripping with friends.

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So where does Pokémon go from here?

Here's what I think, and I could be wrong. The trading card game is in the healthiest place it has ever been. More adults are collecting, more kids are actually playing, and the art keeps getting better. Illustration rares changed the hobby. People now chase a card because it's beautiful, not just because it's strong.

The games keep getting bolder too. Open worlds, new regions, more ways to just exist with your Pokémon instead of only battling them. If the next generation leans into that, I think we're about to see another wave of new fans the size of the Pokémon GO summer.

And the people who started in 1996? We're parents now. We're handing these cards to our kids. That's the part nobody can print on a box, and it's the real reason this franchise isn't slowing down.