Latest Changes to Pokémon TCG Standard Format Rotation Announced

If you’re a competitive Pokémon player, it’s important to keep yourself in the loop when it comes to the Standard format rotation. Knowing which cards are eligible for play and which cards are not is essential for deck-building on any level. 

There’s been a massive announcement recently from Play! Pokémon. If you’re unfamiliar, Play! Pokémon is the organization that monitors and plans all organized Pokémon events. They’re in charge of the Pokémon rotation- and the 2024 Standard rotation has just been set, which will have a big change on how the trading card game is played this year. 

Here’s everything you need to know as a Pokémon TCG player.       

Regulation Mark ‘E’ Cards Are No Longer Tournament-Legal Later This Year

To start, the rotation for the Standard format has been announced and will be coming into effect shortly. Cards with the Regulation Mark ‘E’ will no longer be  eligible in any formal setting. This predominantly means cards from the Sword & Shield era of the game. 

This rule will come into effect on the 5th of April this year for Pokémon TCG players. It will come into effect earlier on the 21st of March for Pokémon TCG Live players, giving the community a chance to practice with new decks and set-ups before the rules change in physical tournament settings. 

As a general rule, cards become eligible for play 2 weeks after their set is released. We wrote a while ago about how the Paldea Adventure Chest will be released with Regulation Mark ‘H’ cards in March. The cards from this product will be eligible for tournament play by the 5th of April, making it a worthwhile purchase for competitive players. 

It’s important to note that there is an exception to the rule when it comes to Regulation Marks that’s worth keeping in mind with these recent changes.

If there is an older card without a Regulation Mark that has a newer counterpart with an eligible Regulation Mark, you can bring the older one to tournaments. Some Item cards, for example, have been released in almost every expansion- like Poké Balls or Rare Candies.

If you have an older, unmarked Rare Candy, you can still bring it to a tournament now. This will remain true until we reach a new expansion where Rare Candies are no longer featured with eligible Regulation Marks. 

Make sure to always double check your cards eligibility before building a tournament deck, though. It can be very frustrating to put together an incredible deck and go to the effort of bringing it to a tournament event, just to find out that you cannot bring it into a match.

You can find information about which cards are eligible for tournament play here. It is worth spending some time on the official Pokémon website if you’re a competitive player, as there are lots of useful resources that can help you brush up on your knowledge of rules, tournament etiquette, and gameplay mechanics.

The Expanded Format Has Not Changed So Far

While we are mainly focusing on the Standard format here, it is important to mention the other main Pokémon tournament format as well. Expanded is almost as popular as Standard, and it hasn’t seen any key changes in quite a while.

That’s still the case. There have been no rotation updates or other notable changes to the Expanded format so far in 2024. The list of eligible sets starts from the first Pokémon Black & White set and continues all the way up to current-day sets. Pokémon Black & White sets started coming out all the way back in 2010 in Japan and 2011 in other locations.

There is some discussion in the community about whether we’ll see changes to the Expanded format in 2024, but based on the current Pokémon 2024 schedule and heavy focus on Standard tournaments, it feels unlikely. That’s just speculation on our part, though, it’s possible that the list of eligible sets could be updated.

Remember to always double check the Expanded rules and official banned card list before heading out to a tournament if this is your format of choice. As we mentioned earlier, it’s better to be absolutely certain rather than bringing a deck with cards that can’t be used during your match.

Make sure to also check out the rules and regulations for the specific tournament that you’re going to. Every official match, tournament, and competitive event can feel and play differently, so it’s important to arm yourself with all the right information- especially if you’re a new player.

If you want to stay up to date with the latest in the world of Pokémon, make sure to keep tabs on our official social media pages. We’re constantly putting out card previews, product unboxings, and stories- along with plenty of games and story templates, too.