Single boosters, blister packs, Pokébox, Elite Trainer Box, booster box… Standing in front of the Pokémon Trading Card Game shelf, it’s easy to get lost, and even easier to waste your money. With Mega Evolution – Delta Reign arriving on 6 November and the holiday season around the corner, here is our guide to picking the right product for your profile: playing, collecting or gifting.
Product formats, from the simplest to the most complete
The booster pack
This is the basic unit: a sealed pack of randomly picked cards from an expansion. A standard booster contains 10 cards, including at least one rare card. Some special expansions are an exception: boosters from the 30th Anniversary expansion contain only 5 cards, all of them shiny. Sold individually, the booster is often the most expensive format per card, but it is also the easiest way to treat yourself once in a while.
The blister pack
A blister pack bundles one to three boosters with an exclusive promo card and, often, a game accessory. For example, the 30th Anniversary 2-booster blister contains an 
Eevee promo card and a plastic coin, for a recommended price of €11.99. It makes a nice little gift, and the promo card means you walk away with one guaranteed card.
Collections and Pokébox
Collections combine several boosters with promo cards and a bonus item: a poster, a sticker sheet, a figure or a metal tin. For the 30th anniversary, the Poster Collection contains three boosters, the promos of 
Articuno, 
Zapdos and 
Moltres, and a large double-sided poster (recommended price €19.99). The Pokébox offers four boosters and a promo card of 
Sylveon-ex or 
Greninja-ex (€24.99). These products are perfect if you are after a specific promo card.
The Elite Trainer Box
Nicknamed “ETB” by players (for Elite Trainer Box), this is the flagship product of every expansion. It brings together boosters and everything you need to play. The contents vary little from one expansion to the next. The first Mega Evolution Elite Trainer Box included:
- 9 boosters from the expansion
- 65 illustrated card sleeves
- 40 Energy cards
- an expansion guide
- 6 damage dice and one competition die
- a plastic coin and 2 Special Condition markers
- a storage box with 6 dividers
- a promo card and a code card for Pokémon TCG Live
The recommended price of the 30th Anniversary Elite Trainer Box was €55.99. The Delta Reign one, featuring Mega 
Rayquaza, does not have an official French price yet.
The Battle Deck
A Battle Deck is a pre-built 60-card deck, ready to play as soon as you open it. It contains no boosters, but it is the best way to discover the game without worrying about deck building. The 
Espeon-ex and 
Umbreon-ex Battle Decks from the 30th Anniversary range are announced at €19.99 each.
The booster box
The booster box (known as a “display” in France) is a box of 36 boosters from a single expansion, intended primarily for shops. It is the cheapest format per booster, provided you want to open lots of cards at once. Be careful: not every expansion has one in the West. The 30th Anniversary expansion, for example, does not exist as a 36-booster box in our part of the world.
How many boosters for how many euros?
To compare products, the most telling figure is the price per booster. Here are the French recommended prices of the 30th Anniversary expansion products, with what each one brings on top:
| Product | Boosters | Recommended price | Price per booster | Extras |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sticker Collection | 3 | €16.99 | €5.66 | 1 promo, sticker sheet |
| 2-booster blister | 2 | €11.99 | €6.00 | 1 promo, coin |
| 6-booster bundle | 6 | €35.99 | €6.00 | none |
| Elite Trainer Box | 9 | €55.99 | €6.22 | 1 promo, card sleeves, Energy cards, dice, box |
| Pokébox | 4 | €24.99 | €6.25 | 1 promo |
| Poster Collection | 3 | €19.99 | €6.66 | 3 promos, poster |
On paper, the gaps remain small: between €5.66 and €6.66 per booster. The real difference lies in what comes with the boosters. The Elite Trainer Box, for example, costs only a few cents more per booster than a bundle, but it adds all the play accessories and a storage box.
In practice, in-store prices often differ from recommended prices, in both directions. Promotions at major retailers can bring a box below its launch price, while highly sought-after products sell out fast and end up resold for much more.
Which product for your profile?
For playing
Start with a ready-to-play Battle Deck, then add an Elite Trainer Box: its card sleeves, dice and 40 Energy cards cover everything a player needs. For the specific cards in your deck, buying singles from a specialist retailer almost always costs less than opening random boosters. If you are a beginner, our guide to building your first deck will help you find your way.
For collecting
If your goal is to complete an expansion, the booster box remains the most cost-effective format per booster, when one exists. For a specific card, however, it is better to buy it as a single: the rarest cards are very hard to pull, and opening boosters to find them can get very expensive. Collections and Pokébox are worthwhile for their promo cards, which are not found in boosters.
For gifting
The Elite Trainer Box is the ideal gift for a fan who already plays or collects: it looks great and its contents are a treat. On a tighter budget, a blister pack or a small collection with a promo card of 
Pikachu or another popular Pokémon always does the trick. For a child discovering the game, a Battle Deck lets them start playing right away.
Where to buy in France and pitfalls to avoid
Pokémon TCG products are sold in card game specialist shops, toy stores, video game and cultural goods stores, as well as in supermarkets. Specialist shops have one advantage: many of them host tournaments and Play! Pokémon Prerelease events. For Delta Reign, they start on Saturday 24 October, ahead of the 6 November release. The Play! Pokémon event locator helps you find the nearest shop.
- Inflated prices: when a highly anticipated expansion launches, some resellers sell far above the recommended price. Waiting a few weeks is often enough to get back to a normal price.
- Counterfeits: on online marketplaces, beware of prices that are too low and unknown sellers. Our guide to spotting a counterfeit details the telltale signs.
- Resealed products: on a second-hand product, damaged or re-glued packaging should be a red flag.
- The wrong expansion: some boxes contain boosters from several expansions. Check the list on the back of the box before buying.
Key takeaways
- To play: a Battle Deck, then an Elite Trainer Box.
- To collect: the booster box when it exists, and singles for the cards you are after.
- To gift: the Elite Trainer Box or a blister pack with a promo card.
- Always compare the price per booster and what comes with it, and preferably buy from reputable retailers.
The next appointment is already set: Mega Evolution – Delta Reign, led by Mega Rayquaza-ex, arrives on 6 November. All the details about the expansion are in our dedicated article.
Sources: official Pokémon TCG website, Poképédia, recommended prices noted by Journal du Geek
