The latest Pokémon Trading Card Game expansion, Mega Evolution, arrives September 26, 2025, but you can visit your local game store to play with it early! Starting September 13, 2025, select retailers will begin selling the Mega Evolution Build & Battle Box, giving fans a chance to have a Prerelease battle and experience the latest expansion before its official release date. To find a Prerelease event near you, be sure to use the Play! Locator.
The Prerelease format allows players to compete using a 40-card deck with four Prize cards set aside at the start of play, as opposed to a 60-card deck with six Prize cards. This format is perfect for introducing new players to the exciting world of the Pokémon TCG with quick, fun games, and it also gives seasoned players a window into all that Mega Evolution has to offer. Due to the limited card pool and the variance of cards that can be acquired in a Build & Battle Box, Prerelease events are also a great opportunity to flex your creative deck-building muscles.
Each Build & Battle Box includes four Mega Evolution booster packs and a 40-card ready-to-play deck featuring key cards from current and prior sets as well as one of four unique foil promo cards. Depending on which promo card you get, you could be playing with the marvelous Meganium, the sniping Inteleon, the brainy Alakazam, or the lunar cycling Lunatone.
Look familiar? This Meganium has the same Ability as the Meganium card released in the Neo Genesis expansion—Wild Growth. This Ability is set to be just as impactful now as it was then, as it makes it so that each Basic 
Energy in play provides . For example, if you have two Basic Energy attached to Meganium, you can use its Solar Beam attack for just two Energy attachments! Be on the lookout to add Pokémon with in their attack costs to your Prerelease deck, as Meganium’s Wild Growth makes every Pokémon just that bit more threatening.
This card’s perfect for bringing down the whole Prerelease operation. Well, you might not want to do that, but you’ll definitely want to KO your opponent’s Pokémon with Inteleon’s Bring Down attack. For just one 
, you can instantly KO the Pokémon with the least HP remaining and ignore the necessary damage counters altogether. Be careful, though—Bring Down can KO your own Pokémon as well, so Inteleon’s Water Shot is a strong backup attack that can put on the pressure if your Pokémon are hurting.
Build up that hand size and discombobulate the opponent with Alakazam’s Powerful Hand attack, which places 2 damage counters on your opponent’s Active Pokémon for each card in your hand. Now, there traditionally aren’t very many effects that will draw your cards in the Prerelease format, but Alakazam’s Psychic Draw Ability can both increase your damage output and find you the cards you need. You’ll find that its pre-Evolution, Kadabra—which can also be found in your Build & Battle Box and booster packs—draws you cards with an Ability too, so you’ll have plenty of resources to work with.
Lunatone’s Lunar Cycle Ability is flat out amazing if you include 
Energy in your Prerelease deck. Radiant Greninja from the Sword & Shield—Astral Radiance expansion was well-known for its Concealed Cards Ability, drawing you two cards at the cost of discarding an Energy. Lunar Cycle is more specific since it requires you to discard a Basic Energy, but this Ability draws you an additional card, and that specificity can’t limit its use if you only include Energy in your deck. There are plenty of powerful Fighting-type Pokémon in Mega Evolution (like Hariyama and Mega Lucario ex), so don’t be afraid to include them all if Lunatone is your Prerelease promo card!
Whether you’re heading to a local game store or just playing with a friend, you’re in for some quick and fun battles with cards from the new Mega Evolution expansion! If you’re not able to make it to a Prerelease event, these Build & Battle Boxes will be available for purchase when the expansion officially launches and kicks off the Mega Evolution series.
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