Sometimes three words are enough to set a whole community on fire. On October 21, 2026, a new filing reached the Japan Patent Office under the names of Nintendo, Creatures and Game Freak, the three companies behind Pokémon. When collectors spotted it this week, Japanese forums lit up within hours. Three new trademarks: マグマの鼓動 (Maguma no Kodō, Magma Heartbeat), イナズマの衝撃 (Inazuma no Shōgeki, Lightning Impact) and オーロラの波紋 (Ōrora no Hamon, Aurora Ripples). A fourth name came with them: バトルスタートデッキ, Battle Start Deck. All four sit in Class 28, games and toys, the very category Pokémon uses every time it protects the name of a new card set. Magma, lightning, aurora. Nobody needed long to read between the lines.
Look at the Pokédex and the code breaks itself. Entei is the Volcano Pokémon, Raikou is the Thunder Pokémon, and Suicune is, word for word, the Aurora Pokémon. Together they are the legendary beasts of Johto, introduced in Pokémon Gold and Silver back in 1999. According to legend, they were three Pokémon caught in the fire that destroyed the Brass Tower of Ecruteak City, brought back to life by Ho-Oh as the living forms of what happened that night: the lightning that struck the tower, the fire that consumed it, and the rain that finally put it out. Magma for Entei, lightning for Raikou, aurora for Suicune. Three set names, three beasts, one perfect match.
The timing is no accident either. At the closing ceremony of the 2026 World Championships in San Francisco, at the end of August, The Pokémon Company unveiled the logo of the next era of the card game: ex★, pronounced "ex Star". The teaser showed exactly three silhouettes, Raikou, Entei and Suicune, and Pokémon confirmed that the legendary beasts were coming to the TCG in this new series. Since then, nothing: no set name, no date, no card. These trademarks are the first concrete trace of what comes next, and every major source in Japan and abroad now reads them the same way, as the names of the very first ex★ products.
What makes the story even bigger is the shape these releases could take. Three names filed on the same day, each tied to one beast, point to something the physical Pokémon TCG has never done before: a triple set, three linked expansions sharing one release window, each with its own cards. Japanese guides openly raise the idea of three packs launching at the same time. The groundwork already exists. Pokémon TCG Pocket has used linked sets for a while, and in 2025 the paper game introduced its first twin release with Black Bolt and White Flare, built around Zekrom and Reshiram. Going from two to three would be a natural step, and a spectacular one for collectors. To be clear, nothing about the format has been confirmed, and the three sets could just as well arrive one after another.
Then there is the star. For anyone who has been collecting since the mid-2000s, the ★ symbol is far from neutral. Between 2004 and 2007, the rarest cards in the game were the Pokémon ★, the famous Gold Stars, printed in shiny colours with the Pokémon breaking out of its frame. And among them were these exact three: Entei★, Raikou★ and Suicune★, first released in Japan in April 2005 in Golden Sky, Silvery Ocean, then in English a few months later in EX Unseen Forces. Twenty years on, they are still grails for vintage collectors. Twenty-one years later, the same three beasts return under a star. Pokémon has not explained yet what ★ will mean in ex★, for gameplay or for rarity, but you do not choose that symbol and those three Pokémon together by chance.
The fourth trademark adds one more piece to the puzzle. Battle Start Deck is not a new name: in 2009, Japan released four Battle Start Decks, compact half decks of around thirty cards built around Torterra, Magmortar, Blastoise and Raichu, designed to get new players into fast, simple games. Bringing that name back right at the launch of a new series suggests ready-to-play decks for beginners, and some fans already imagine one deck for each beast. It may also turn out to be a separate product altogether. For now, it is a name and nothing more.
When could all this land? The MEGA era still has a few chapters to write first. Aura Seeker (M7), led by Mega Lucario Z ex, comes out in Japan on November 27, and MEGA x MEGA Parade, the High Class Pack built around Mega Raichu X and Y, is expected on February 19, 2027. Japanese sources place the first ex★ products somewhere between the start of 2027 and the spring, either just before or just after that High Class Pack. No date has been announced, and we will only know for sure once Pokémon publishes the official product pages. We covered the whole schedule in our guide to the upcoming Japanese releases.
For collectors, this is the kind of news worth watching closely. The first sets of a new series tend to become the reference products of their era, and the legendary beasts are among the most loved Pokémon in the franchise. Their recent cards prove it: the Special Art Rares of Entei V and Suicune V from VSTAR Universe are still among the most sought-after cards of that High Class Pack, and you can find PSA 10 copies of both in our graded selection. Imagine what a full ex★ debut built around all three could look like, possibly with a new rarity attached to the star.
One thing must be said honestly: a trademark is not a product announcement. The names could change, the format could surprise everyone, and nothing has been confirmed beyond the filings themselves and the ex★ teaser from Worlds. What we can promise is that JapHunter is following every official announcement from Japan, and that pre-orders will open as soon as the first ex★ products are confirmed. In the meantime, keep an eye on our Pokémon pre-orders, our selection of Japanese booster boxes and the JapHunter blog, where we will update this story the moment Pokémon reveals more. Prices are in Swiss francs, parcels leave from Switzerland with Swiss Post, every order above CHF 100 comes with a free booster, and more than 10,000 collectors already trust us, with an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 from over 1,200 reviews. The beasts are waking up. Make sure you are ready when they run.
