First card from upcoming Pokémon Team Rocket set may have leaked—and it looks incredible

An early look at what is perhaps the most anticipated Pokémon TCG set in memory has seemingly taken place with the first illustration rare appearing in the wild—raising excitement for the set even more.

Pokémon fans have all eyes set on the release of Journey Together on March 28, but half a mind will already be cast to the Destined Rivals set later this year, which focuses on the return of Team Rocket to the TCG.

While we’re still a while away from the Destined Rivals release, it seems that an error on the production line has resulted in someone getting their hands on a booster pack early, and their luck didn’t stop as they pulled a Kangashkan IR.

Although any images like this should be taken with a huge heap of salt, particularly so early on, a Reddit thread on the matter pointed out some key points that increase the legitimacy of the leak—most notably that the art, drawn by Mekayu, matches up to the style they have used in cards previously released.

It wouldn’t be the first time fans got an early leak either, as earlier this year, somebody managed to get a Journey Together pack inside a 151 tin two months before the full release. While these sorts of mistakes are rare, there is always the potential for them to occur as Pokémon needs to print cards months in advance to meet demand.

If the card is legitimate, it certainly raises excitement for the set and reveals other key details of Destined Rivals—most notably that the set will include 182 cards, excluding secret rares, while there are 21 illustration rare cards in the set before this one.

That, too, matches up with what we can expect from the set, with Destined Rivals to be made up of cards released in Japan’s Heat Wave Arena and Glory of Team Rocket sets. We already know Heat Wave Arena has 12 illustration rare cards, the usual number for a set, and The Glory of Team Rocket is expected to have the same.

One of the illustration rares from the sets is likely to be made into a promo distributed in Elite Trainer Boxes, though it does raise uncertainty about when we’ll get the Meowth and Paldean Wooper illustration rares distributed in Japan with Starter ex Decks.

Meowth would be a good choice for a promo in the Destined Rivals set, though that may mean knocking another card out of the set entirely, so it may be that both cards are saved for a set or collection box later this year. We’ll just have to wait and see.

We won’t have to wait much longer to discover if the Kangaskhan is real, as The Glory of Team Rocket releases in Japan on April 18.