July 31, 2026

Ruler of the Skies puts Mega Rayquaza ex above Pokémon TCG Pocket — 233 cards, ten Pokémon ex, and deck sharing by code

The B4 expansion brings the sky-high dragon, two Immersive Art chases, Crown Rare Raichu and Dragonair, the return of Fossils, and a long-awaited pity system for booster packs

The ozone layer just opened up. Ruler of the Skies is the biggest expansion Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket has ever shipped, and it exists for one reason: to put Mega Rayquaza ex at the top of the sky. Around it sits a full-size set — 233 cards, ten Pokémon ex, a proper Dragon-type engine, the return of Fossil cards, and two Immersive Art chases. Just as importantly, the update that carries it finally answers two of the community's longest-standing requests: deck sharing by code and a guaranteed-rarity safety net on booster packs.

Pokémon TCG Pocket Ruler of the Skies expansion official promotional art featuring Mega Rayquaza ex

Release date and time

Ruler of the Skies launched on Wednesday, July 29, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. PDT — July 30 for Europe, Australia, and other UTC+ regions. A game update is required before the new pack shows up. The official announcement is here: Pokémon TCG Pocket: Ruler of the Skies Expansion Is Now Available.

What's in Ruler of the Skies (B4)

Ruler of the Skies is set B4 in PocketCards' database — a full main expansion opening the B4 series, and the twentieth expansion overall:

233 total cards: 155 in the main set plus 78 secret rares
One booster pack, the Mega Rayquaza Pack — no split-pack decision to agonize over this time
10 Pokémon ex at 4-diamond rarity, four of them Mega Evolution ex: Vespiquen ex, Typhlosion ex, Mega Sharpedo ex, Wailord ex, Rotom ex, Mega Gallade ex, Hoopa ex, Mega Metagross ex, Mega Rayquaza ex, and Swanna ex
2 Immersive Art 3-Star cards — Mega Rayquaza ex and Rotom ex, the rarest tier in the game
2 Crown Rares: Raichu and Dragonair
20 single-Shiny and 8 double-Shiny variants, including shiny Mega Swampert ex, Mega Gardevoir ex, Mega Lopunny ex, Mega Kangaskhan ex, Zoroark ex, Blacephalon ex, Alolan Ninetales ex, and Gigalith ex
11 new Trainer cards, including the first Fossil cards the game has seen in a long while

Browse the whole thing here:

Mega Rayquaza ex, and the deck that feeds it

Mega Rayquaza ex is a Basic Pokémon with 180 HP, a 1 Retreat Cost, and — crucially — no Weakness at all. Its only attack, Mega Burst, costs one Fire and one Lightning Energy and works like a rocket: discard all Fire and Lightning Energy attached to it, then do 50 damage for each Energy discarded. Two Energy is a modest 100, three is 150, four is a clean 200 — enough to erase almost anything in the game from a Basic that never had to evolve.

The catch is obvious: after Mega Burst you're empty, and a two-Energy-type cost on a Dragon Pokémon is awkward in a one-Energy-a-turn game. Ruler of the Skies ships the answers in the same pack.

Dragonair is the real engine. Its Dragon's Blessing ability lets you, once per turn from the Bench, attach an Energy from your discard pile to your Active Dragon Pokémon — which is exactly where all that discarded Fire and Lightning Energy just went. Line up two Dragonair on the Bench and Mega Rayquaza ex can fire Mega Burst on consecutive turns instead of spending three turns reloading.

The new Stadium Rainbow Cave rounds it out: once per turn each player may discard the Energy generated in their Energy Zone to produce the next one, which turns a two-type Energy Zone from a liability into something you can steer. And if you'd rather not evolve at all, the 3-diamond Rayquaza hits for a flat 140 with Dragon Impact.

The ten Pokémon ex

Hoopa ex (Darkness) — the set's quiet best card

Hoopa ex is a 150 HP Basic with two attacks, and it's the first one you should be excited about. Shadow Bullet costs a single Darkness Energy for 30 damage plus 20 to a Benched Pokémon — turn-one pressure that also sets up your next knockouts. Dynamite Punch escalates to 100 for three Energy at the cost of 20 recoil. Cheap, flexible, and attached to the best Tool in the set.

Mega Sharpedo ex (Water) — one Energy, zero retreat

Mega Sharpedo ex is a Stage 1 with 190 HP and a 0 Retreat Cost. Turbo Shark needs just one Water Energy for 70 damage, and it also takes a Water Energy from your Energy Zone and attaches it to a Benched Water Pokémon. It attacks and ramps at the same time — usually into the 250 HP wall behind it.

Wailord ex (Water) — 250 HP of ocean

Wailord ex is the beefiest Pokémon in the set at 250 HP. Wondrous Waves costs four Water Energy for 100 damage and clears all Special Conditions from it. The four-Energy cost and a 4 Retreat Cost make it slow, but with the new Soothing Shore Stadium healing 20 from every Water Pokémon with Energy attached each turn, it becomes genuinely hard to remove.

Rotom ex (Lightning) — the Item-fuelled Immersive

Rotom ex is a 120 HP Basic whose Junk Spark does 30 damage plus 10 more for each Item card in your discard pile. The new Order Pad fetches Items out of your deck on a coin flip, and Pachirisu mills your own deck while it chips in — build around the discard pile and Rotom ex snowballs. It's also home to one of the set's two Immersive Art cards.

Mega Metagross ex (Metal) — 230 HP and scaling damage

Mega Metagross ex is a Stage 2 with 230 HP whose Gatling Slug costs three Colorless for 100 damage plus 10 for each Metal Energy attached. Getting a Stage 2 online used to be the problem; the new Supporter Wally attaches a Colorless Energy from your Energy Zone directly to a Stage 2 Pokémon, which makes the climb far more realistic.

Mega Gallade ex (Fighting) — rewarded for playing Trainers

Mega Gallade ex is a 220 HP Stage 2 whose Resonating Blade hits for 100 damage, plus 50 more if you played a Supporter card from your hand this turn. Since you were going to play a Supporter anyway, it's effectively a 150-damage attack for one Fighting and two Colorless.

Typhlosion ex, Vespiquen ex, and Swanna ex

Typhlosion ex (Fire, 180 HP) pairs 110 damage with real Energy denial: Destructive Inferno flips coins until tails and discards a random Energy from your opponent's Active Pokémon for each heads.
Vespiquen ex (Grass, 140 HP) can double Chase Order from 70 to 140 by discarding one of your Benched Basic Grass Pokémon — a Stage 1 that hits like a Stage 2.
Swanna ex (Colorless, 150 HP) swings for a huge 140 with Jet Wing for three Colorless, then can't attack the following turn. Pure burst on a Stage 1 that fits in any deck.

The chase cards: two Immersives and two Crowns

Getting two Immersive Art cards in one expansion is rare, and this pairing is a good one: Mega Rayquaza ex gets the sky-serpent treatment it deserves, while Rotom ex is pure playful chaos. The Crown Rares are on-theme and quietly clever — Raichu is a gold-etched fan favourite, and Dragonair crowns the card that actually makes the flagship deck work rather than the flagship itself.

For collectors, the secret-rare block also holds 20 single-Shiny and 8 double-Shiny cards, and the double-Shiny slots reach back into earlier sets for Mega Swampert ex, Mega Gardevoir ex, Mega Lopunny ex, Mega Kangaskhan ex, Zoroark ex, Blacephalon ex, Alolan Ninetales ex, and Gigalith ex.

Eleven new Trainer cards — including Fossils

This is one of the deepest Trainer line-ups a single expansion has offered:

Order Pad — flip a coin; if heads, put a random Item card from your deck into your hand.
Claw Fossil and Root Fossil — Fossil cards are back, feeding the set's Anorith and Lileep lines.
Deceptive Needle — a Tool that pings 10 damage at your opponent's Active Pokémon at the end of your turn while the Darkness Pokémon holding it is Active. Free, repeatable damage that turns 30s into 40s.
Clear Veil — a Tool that prevents all effects of your opponent's attacks on the Pokémon it's attached to. Paralysis, Sleep, Energy discard, switching — all off the table.
Psychic — a Supporter usable only if your Active Pokémon has the Psychic attack; moves a random Energy from a Benched opposing Pokémon to their Active.
Drayden — makes one of your opponent's Pokémon get chosen one extra time by the Draco Meteor attack.
Skyla — switch your Active Stage 1 Pokémon with a Benched one.
Wally — attach a Colorless Energy from your Energy Zone to a Stage 2 Pokémon.
Soothing Shore — Stadium; at the end of each player's turn, that player heals 20 damage from each of their Pokémon with Water Energy attached.
Rainbow Cave — Stadium; once per turn each player may discard their generated Energy to produce the next one.

Notable supporting Pokémon

The 155-card main set is full of role-players worth pulling:

Noivern's Draco Meteor picks a random opposing Pokémon three times and does 60 damage each time — up to 180 on one target, and Drayden adds a fourth roll.
Silvally is a brutal anti-meta tech: Gold Breaker does 60, or 150 against a Pokémon ex — for three Colorless, in any deck.
Revavroom can hold two Pokémon Tools at once thanks to Dual Customization, and its Overacceleration attack does +70 more damage if you use it again next turn.
Absol turns a Tool into damage: Enhanced Blade costs one Darkness for 20, or 50 with a Tool attached.
Furfrou takes −20 from every attack with Fur Coat and hits back harder after a knockout.
Kyogre sweeps the whole board for 50 damage to each of your opponent's Pokémon, and Hydrapple can double Fickle Beam to 200 on two lucky flips.
Mime Jr. shuffles your hand away to draw as many cards as your opponent holds, and Wynaut taxes the Defending Pokémon's attacks by 1 Colorless.

The three quality-of-life changes shipping with B4

The update behind Ruler of the Skies matters as much as the cards:

Deck sharing with 2D pattern codes. You can now hand your deck to another player as a scannable code — no more rebuilding lists card by card from a screenshot.
Card Dex registration across packs. When you obtain a card that appears in multiple booster packs, it now registers in the Card Dex for all of those packs.
A pity system for booster packs. If you meet certain conditions while opening packs, your next pack from the same expansion is guaranteed to contain a 4-diamond-or-higher card. Long, dry hourglass streaks finally have a floor.

Events and missions

Ruler of the Skies opens a long event calendar that runs from late July into late October:

Card collection missions rewarding Trainer cards: Leaf, Sabrina, and Red.
Summer Event Missions paying out booster packs.
Mega Rayquaza covers and backdrops for your profile, available from August 1, 2026.
Ruler of the Skies Emblem Event with shinedust rewards, followed by a Community Week for trading.
A Mega Houndoom ex Drop Event, plus a Pachirisu and Beldum Wonder Pick event.
The return of Deluxe Pack: ex booster packs.
Elite deck gift missions featuring Mega Lucario ex and Hitmonchan ex.

How to open and build

Dragonair before Rayquaza. Mega Rayquaza ex is unplayable without a refuel plan. Dragonair is a 2-diamond card and it's the single most important pull in the set for that deck — grab two.
Hoopa ex is the cheapest good deck. A one-Energy attack that hits the Bench, plus Deceptive Needle and Absol at low rarity, makes Darkness the most budget-friendly archetype here.
Clear Veil is a format-wide answer. Any deck bleeding to Paralysis, Sleep, or Energy removal should test it — it's a 2-diamond Tool that blanks a whole category of attacks.
Silvally is your ex insurance. In a metagame where nearly every deck is built around a Pokémon ex, a 3-diamond Stage 1 that hits them for 150 is worth a slot.
Track what you're missing. Use PocketCards' database and collection tools to see exactly which of the 155 main-set cards you still need before you burn hourglasses blind.

Final thoughts

Ruler of the Skies is a statement set. It's the largest expansion in the game's history, it gives Dragon decks a real engine for the first time instead of just big numbers, and its flagship — a Basic with no Weakness that can throw 200 damage — is the most spectacular win condition Pocket has printed. The supporting cast is what makes it stick, though: Hoopa ex and Mega Sharpedo ex are efficient enough to define matchups, Clear Veil and Silvally reshape how you build against the field, and Dragonair quietly earns its golden Crown. Add deck-sharing codes and a pity system on top and this is the most complete update the game has had in a while. Look up — and start opening.