What's inside ME “Starter Set ex”, the new Japanese starter deck
A starter deck is a ready-made box: the cards are chosen for you, so you open it and you can play straight away. ME “Starter Set ex” brings 58 cards, and it has been on sale over there since 31 July 2026. In Japan it is called スターターセットex. “Starter Set ex” is our own reading of that name — the publisher has not given it an English one yet. We read every one of those cards on the publisher's own database, so we can tell you what is in the set. Nothing has been announced for the rest of the world yet.
- 58 cards in ME, 32 of them Pokémon.
- The biggest HP bar in the set belongs to Meowscarada ex: 320 HP. The bigger the bar, the more turns it takes to bring it down, and while a Pokémon is still standing your opponent does not get the Prize card that comes with it.
- 5 Pokémon in the set have an Ability — a power printed on the card that you use without attacking.
- Out in Japan since 31 July 2026. Nothing announced in English.
Meowscarada exworking translation
マスカーニャexThis attack also does 120 damage to 1 of your opponent's Benched Pokémon that has any damage counters on it. (Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)working translation
ダメカンがのっている相手のベンチポケモン1匹にも、120ダメージ。［ベンチは弱点・抵抗力を計算しない。］
ポケモンexがきぜつしたとき、相手はサイドを2枚とる。
What is in the ME set?
ME “Starter Set ex” brings 58 cards. 32 of them are Pokémon. 26 are Trainer cards, the ones you play from your hand to draw or to go and fetch the card you are missing.
The two biggest HP bars in the set: Meowscarada ex at 320 HP, and Zoroark ex at 270 HP. That is the first number anyone checks on a new card: it tells you how many times your opponent has to attack before they can take their Prize card.
5 Pokémon in the set have an Ability. An Ability is a power printed on the card that you trigger without attacking: using it does not cost you your attack for the turn, and it is often the real reason to play the card at all.
3 cards carry a printed special rule. That is the line at the very bottom of the card, the one that changes a rule of the game for that card alone. The most common one: when a Pokémon ex goes down, your opponent takes two Prize cards instead of one. That is what a big Pokémon costs.
When does ME come out in Japan?
ME “Starter Set ex” came out in Japan on 31 July 2026.
Questions people ask
- When did ME come out in Japan?
- ME “Starter Set ex” came out in Japan on 31 July 2026.
- How many cards are in ME?
- 58 in all. 32 of them are Pokémon. 26 are Trainer cards, the ones you play from your hand to draw or to go and fetch the card you are missing.
- Does ME exist in English?
- Not yet, and the publisher has announced no date. The English names you read on this page are ours: we translated them by machine, and the little marker sitting next to a name is what says so. The day the publisher gives out the real ones, they take over.
What the publisher puts forward
What the publisher wrote, quoted and translated. We don't add our own opinion to it. The card names are the ones from the catalogue above, and the original Japanese sits under every quote.
Where all of this comes from
Official announcement: www.pokemon-card.com/ex/me/
The game values — HP, Energy costs, damage — are read off the publisher's own Japanese database, and they depend on no translation at all. The English names signed working translation are ours, made by machine (google:gemini-3.6-flash), and they give way to the official localisation the day it ships; the Japanese name stays right beside them. This article makes no guesses about an international metagame for this set, because there isn't one yet.
You've just read a page about the game. We can do far more with one match.
Everything above is about the game in general. The thing we're really good at is one single match: yours. When a game ends, Pokémon TCG Live leaves you a log — the written record of everything that happened, turn by turn. Paste it here and we'll replay each of your decisions hundreds of times, then tell you which one actually cost you the game.
It's free and there's no account to make. Your log stays in your browser: your browser is what replays the game.
This article is about a set that only exists in Japan so far. If a word went past you on the way — the set code, the little letter at the bottom of the card — we've written whole pages on exactly that. Those ones stay put.