This is the thread to discuss the Standard and Expanded Format Legal Card Lists. The Standard Format list was republished on its own page, when the Expanded Format list was published on September 1, 2014. This work was completed to coincide with the 2015 Season format rotation on September 3, 2014.
The Standard Format only permits cards from the most recent Pokémon Trading Card Game sets. Currently these are cards from the Black & White—Boundaries Crossed and later sets, plus Black Star Promo Cards BW51 and higher or XY01 and higher.
The Expanded format reaches back a bit farther, currently to the beginning of the previous block of sets; these are cards from the Black & White and later sets, plus Black Star Promo Cards BW01 and higher, or XY01 and higher.
These sets sometimes contain reprinted cards from older sets, making those older cards also legal in their formats! The lists linked below provide you with information on what cards from the older sets can be used in the current formats, plus any restrictions that may be placed on those older cards due to text or other changes.
Updated September 1, 2014 for the new Standard and Expanded Formats with legal cards from older sets that were reprinted.
GO TO: Standard Format Legal Card List
GO TO: Expanded Format Legal Card List
Legal Card Reminders
You cannot use cards from the World Championship decks. These are pre-packaged decks which have extremely powerful and often expensive cards based on winning competitive decks available at a very low price. These cards are identified by a silver/grey border on the front, a signature in the lower right hand corner of the picture on the card and a unique card back. None of these cards can be in a deck in a Pokémon Organized Play sanctioned tournament; this includes the basic Energy cards from these decks. They are allowed in league play.
Cards marked “NOT TOURNAMENT LEGAL” in the lower left hand corner of the card cannot be used in Pokémon Organized Play events.
Note that you may not have any foreign language cards, including Japanese energy cards, in your deck.
Finally, a listing of all sets, their set symbols and images of the cards legal in each format may be found in the PokeGym Researching Tower: http://pokegym.net/tower/
Standard & Expanded Format Legal Card List Discussion Reminders
The Standard Format only permits cards from the most recent Pokémon Trading Card Game sets. Currently these are cards from the Black & White—Boundaries Crossed and later sets, plus Black Star Promo Cards BW51 and higher or XY01 and higher.
The Expanded format reaches back a bit farther, currently to the beginning of the previous block of sets; these are cards from the Black & White and later sets, plus Black Star Promo Cards BW01 and higher, or XY01 and higher.
These sets sometimes contain reprinted cards from older sets, making those older cards also legal in their formats! The lists linked below provide you with information on what cards from the older sets can be used in the current formats, plus any restrictions that may be placed on those older cards due to text or other changes.
Updated September 1, 2014 for the new Standard and Expanded Formats with legal cards from older sets that were reprinted.
GO TO: Standard Format Legal Card List
GO TO: Expanded Format Legal Card List
Legal Card Reminders
You cannot use cards from the World Championship decks. These are pre-packaged decks which have extremely powerful and often expensive cards based on winning competitive decks available at a very low price. These cards are identified by a silver/grey border on the front, a signature in the lower right hand corner of the picture on the card and a unique card back. None of these cards can be in a deck in a Pokémon Organized Play sanctioned tournament; this includes the basic Energy cards from these decks. They are allowed in league play.
Cards marked “NOT TOURNAMENT LEGAL” in the lower left hand corner of the card cannot be used in Pokémon Organized Play events.
Note that you may not have any foreign language cards, including Japanese energy cards, in your deck.
Finally, a listing of all sets, their set symbols and images of the cards legal in each format may be found in the PokeGym Researching Tower: http://pokegym.net/tower/
Standard & Expanded Format Legal Card List Discussion Reminders
- When you post in this thread, please explicitly state whether you are referring to the Standard or Expanded list (or both).
- Post here to ask questions or let us know if you found some specific information that needs to be updated in the lists.
Last edited by a moderator:
