Verdict
Pokémon Phantasmal Flames is a superb expansion, offering gorgeous artwork for its range of 130 cards, and great-looking pull rates to boot. While I’m underwhelmed with another Charizard-led set, and I wish the Mega Hyper Rares were more impressive, this second expansion of the Mega Evolution era is undoubtedly solid and one of the most engaging sets of 2025.
- IRs and SIRs are some of the best in recent sets
- Pull rates appear impressive compared to Prismatic
- Gold MHR treatment is boring and fails to make these extremely rare cards a proper chase
- Charizard again? Come ON guys
As 2025's final expansion for the Pokémon TCG, Phantasmal Flames caps off a year of stock shortages, rising prices, and all-around dissatisfaction and frustration. However, while Phantasmal Flames does suffer from the consequences of the Scarlet & Violet hype leading into the Mega Evolution era, it's a beautiful set full of gorgeous chase cards, and one that thrives, despite players being stuck between a Geodude and a hard place when it comes to finding stock.
As a standard set, Pokémon TCG's Phantasmal Flames expansion has a variety of products to choose from, including Elite Trainer Boxes and the usual, fully loaded 36-pack booster boxes. Just so you know, for this review, I opened 20 booster packs - five kindly provided free by The Pokémon Company; and 15 I managed to buy for myself in the form of an ETB and booster bundle (and three for the Elven Kings under the sky? - Ed.)
As always, when ripping packs, I was both juiced up with excitement, and braced for despair. Happily, what I found in Phantasmal was far more of column A than column B - so let's get into it!
The chases and the cards
Before we dive into the stunning cards in this set (both those I pulled and those I didn't) it's worth acknowledging that standard sets are just better than other kinds of other Pokémon sets because you can buy booster display boxes. That's not a new or unique benefit for Phantasmal Flames, but it's an important consideration when I consider whether to buy into a set, because of the experience it offers: hoarding a bunch of packs that I can demolish in one big pack rippin' session.
And while that's only really an option when stock isn't flying off shelves faster, it's nice not to have to buy an ETB or other expensive collections to acquire packs in bulk (looking at you, Prismatic Evolutions).
So, the cards! As sets go, this is a fairly small expansion, with 94 regular cards included, but that also makes completing the set more achievable - a genuine boon for collectors like me, who get a kick from adding an expansion's full roster to our binders.
There are also an additional 36 cards here in the form of Illustration Rares, Special Illustration Rares, Ultra Rares, and a single, elusive Mega Hyper Rare: an all-gold version of the Mega Charizard X ex. No, the fabled 'gold Charizard' isn't a classic fake like the ones you may remember from schooldays; it's real. These bewilderingly rare, full-gold cards are a selling point of Mega Evolution sets so far, and one that I personally don't like. More on that later.
There's no shortage of gorgeous cards to get in this set, with beautiful illustrations for even the common Pokémon you'll likely collect far too many of. Phantasmal's eye catching new Moltres properly shines with its fiery beauty, making me appreciate the commons more than I ever did before. I had a similar experience with the adorable Charmander and Charmeleon duo - it helps that my kids absolutely love them, and are also big enough that instead of throwing cards around the house like confetti they love showing each other 'how cool they look' (their words, but also, they're not wrong).
The Mega ex double rare cards burst with color and look extremely powerful - Gengar ex's Void Gale ability seems particularly terrifying, dealing an enormous 230 damage. Keep in mind that I'm a collector first, and player a very distant second, so my strategic analysis isn't Wargamer approved - but even we pack rippers know a massive damage number when we see one.
And from a collecting standpoint, of course, the main chases remain the set's various Illustration Rares (and SIRs, and higher). There's no shortage of them, either. The prized chase of Phantasmal Flames is the Mega Charizard X ex #125, which captures the familiar, derpy dragon Pokémon's grandiose power nicely. Interestingly, though, despite being the most expensive Pokémon card of the set, it's actually not the rarest; that honor goes to the all-gold Mega Hyper Rare Mega Charizard X ex #130.
I'll go on about the Mega Hyper Rare in a moment, but the rest of Phantasmal Flames' crop of IRs, SIRs, and URs are more than good enough to make this set worth buying. Rotom ex #126's electrifying design brings back the iconic trickster 'mon with an SIR it deserves, while Piplup #98 sees depicts of the cutest Pokémon sitting happily under cover, avoiding the icy weather: it's the most adorable card of the entire expansion. Dawn #129 gives this classic trainer an SIR version that fits the Platinum vibes I've come to love over the years, too. There are more extremely desirable cards than I have space to write about here - but by all means join the Wargamer Discord community and we can squee about them!
The Phantasmal Flames pull rates
Phantasmal Flames is one of the most interesting Pokémon TCG expansions I've opened in the last year. That's partially because of the amazing designs, but it's also because the pull rates feel exceptionally fair. According to TCGPlayer, there's a 1 in 80 chance to get a coveted SIR, and when compared to Destined Rivals' 1 in 94 (alongside other adjustments), it simply feels more exciting to buy.
From personal experience, I've been delighted with the pull rates. Across 20 packs, I had a total of eight hits, which beats my dreadful experience with Prismatic Evolutions hands down - that yielded a big fat zero Illustrated Rares from 36 packs. Across those eight hits, I had an Ultra Rare, four double rares, and three Illustrated Rares - including the adorable Piplup #98, adding another of my all-time favorite IRs to my collection.
While this is great for pack rippers, the wider availability of cards helps anyone trying to complete a collection by buying singles. It's not (Team) Rocket science: more chases on the secondary market mean that the prices go down, and that makes it less of a bank account drain when I need to grab those last few singles for my binder.
The Two Charizard Chase
Mega Hyper Rares are the worst part of the Mega Evolution era, in my opinion. They're just kind of trashy - they're close to the design and style of the old fake Pokémon cards that used to get passed around in the school yard.
While these new gold shinies are much higher quality than the ones I remember from the before-times, I'm still not a huge fan of Phantasmal Flames' most elusive card and, while I'm no designer, I can't help but think there's a way to add an extremely rare 'holy grail' card to a set that's more interesting than 'just make it gold, people love gold'.
The slightly more common, but still hard to find Mega Charizard X ex #125 SIR is much nicer, and the imposing artwork of such a badass Pokémon (removing the silly, static, and underwhelming version found in Pokémon X) makes it a great chase. While I'm personally not a huge fan of the iconic fire-type, nostalgic fans and newcomers alike will surely love it, and I'd be more than happy to eventually add it to my master set, even if I prefer other chases in the expansion.
However, I'm a little disappointed that it's another Charizard chase and another Charizard-focused set. Across Obsidian Flames, Paldean Fates, 151, and others besides, it's starting to get a little overwhelming. It doesn't help that I'm not a huge fan of the big, horny fire lizard anyway, but it's frankly silly that Wargamer has to consider a new entry to its guide to the best Charizard cards every other month. Where are the Togepi SIRs, The Pokémon Company?
I have hopes that future expansions will put a spotlight on other fan-favorites or underrated 'mon, but I don't think this will be the last we see of Charizard in this era.
Verdict
Phantasmal Flames is a brilliant second outing for the Mega Evolution era, and one of my favorite expansions of the entire year. The artwork is stunning, and with better pull rates both from my personal openings and community stat tracking, it's a worthwhile set to buy (if you can find it at retail price or slightly above).
Based on what I've seen here, I'm optimistic that the next few sets can deliver that same excitement - I just hope there's less Charizard and more Giratina. Or other Pokémon, that's fine too: just less of the 'Zard.
Got pulls to share? We'd love to see 'em in the Wargamer Discord community!