First Partner Series 3 Releases Aug. 7: Chase Card Odds

First Partner Series 3 Releases Aug. 7: Chase Card Odds

The Pokémon TCG: First Partner Illustration Collection—Series 3 launches August 7, 2026 for $14.99, featuring nine Illustration Rare-style promo cards of the Hoenn, Kalos, and Paldea starters. Secondary-market data from the first two Series in this line shows a steep drop-off in resale demand from Series 1 to Series 2, which points to one starter carrying Series 3 on its own: Sprigatito.

What is in the First Partner Illustration Collection Series 3 box?

Each box contains one First Partner pack with 3 of 9 possible Illustration Rare-style promo cards, two additional Pokémon TCG booster packs, and a sticker sheet featuring first partner Pokémon, according to Pokemon.com's official product page. The nine promos cover three regions: Hoenn (Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip), Kalos (Chespin, Fennekin, Froakie), and Paldea (Sprigatito, Fuecoco, Quaxly). MSRP is $14.99, confirmed on the Celadon product listing alongside the same August 7, 2026 release date.

Series 3 closes out the format that started with Kanto, Sinnoh, and Alola starters in Series 1 (released March 20, 2026) and continued with Johto, Unova, and Galar in Series 2 (released June 19, 2026). Each box guarantees three of the nine cards, not the full set, so completing a region's trio — let alone all nine — usually means buying more than one box or trading on the secondary market.

When does First Partner Illustration Collection Series 3 release?

Series 3 releases August 7, 2026, two days after this article was published, at general retail and on Pokemon Center for $14.99 per box. That is one week ahead of the First Partner Illustration Collection—Series 3 becoming available in Elite Trainer Box bundles at some retailers, based on the same product gallery listing, so day-one supply is limited to single boxes rather than cases.

How much are Series 1 and Series 2 boxes worth now?

Series 1 boxes now resell for roughly 4x their $14.99 MSRP, while Series 2 boxes sell for about 2x MSRP, based on current PriceCharting sale data. That gap is the clearest signal of which trio of starters actually moved the secondary market once the promo pulls were factored in.

Series	Release Date	MSRP	Ungraded Box Resale (Aug. 5, 2026)	Multiple of MSRP
Series 1 (Kanto/Sinnoh/Alola)	March 20, 2026	$14.99	$62.14	~4.1x
Series 2 (Johto/Unova/Galar)	June 19, 2026	$14.99	$31.47	~2.1x
Series 3 (Hoenn/Kalos/Paldea)	August 7, 2026	$14.99	Not yet sold	—

Source: PriceCharting's Series 1 and Series 2 pages, pulled August 5, 2026.

The individual promo cards tell the same story at the card level. Wargamer's April 1, 2026 pricing check found Series 1's Kanto trio selling for far more than its Sinnoh and Alola counterparts: Charmander around $36, Squirtle around $32, and Bulbasaur around $25, against Sinnoh and Alola cards typically topping out near $10, with Piplup as the outlier at roughly $16. Kanto carried the box.

Series 2 never found an equivalent breakout trio. Blogger Joseph Writer Anderson's release-day writeup of Series 2 singles out Cyndaquil as "fetching" solid secondary value but frames the set overall as "not all that expensive on the secondary card market right now," a direct contrast to how he describes Series 1 having "increased in value" since launch. One strong single card carried Series 2's resale price instead of a whole regional trio.

Which Series 3 card is likely to be the chase card?

Sprigatito is the best bet to be Series 3's chase card, on the same nostalgia-plus-relevance logic that made Kanto's trio outperform Sinnoh's and Alola's in Series 1. Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur are the three most recognizable starters in the franchise; that name recognition, not print scarcity, is what drove their $25-$36 secondary prices while mechanically identical Sinnoh and Alola cards sat near $10.

Applying that same test to Series 3's nine options favors Sprigatito over its Hoenn and Kalos counterparts. It is the newest of the nine starters (debuted in Scarlet and Violet, 2022), it carries the strongest meme and merchandise presence of the current generation, and unlike Torchic or Froakie it has not already appeared in a heavily circulated illustration-style promo before. Torchic has long-running fan goodwill from Ruby and Sapphire and could split demand with Sprigatito, and Froakie's competitive relevance in Kalos-era formats gives it a smaller but dedicated buyer base. Fuecoco, Quaxly, Chespin, Fennekin, Treecko, and Mudkip look more likely to land in the Sinnoh/Alola tier: pleasant art, modest secondary demand, no single card carrying the box.

This is a read on relative demand, not a guarantee — Series 2 shows a popular single card (Cyndaquil) can outperform its own region's trio average, so a surprise breakout among the other eight is possible.

Should you buy Series 3 on release day or wait?

Buy at release only if you want a specific card and are comfortable paying box price for a roughly 1-in-3 shot at any single promo; otherwise, letting the first week of sales settle removes most of the launch-hype premium. Series 1's box price kept climbing after launch as Kanto nostalgia proved durable, but Series 2 cooled quickly once it became clear no full trio would repeat that demand. Waiting one to two weeks after August 7 costs little upside if the set behaves like Series 2, and it avoids overpaying if it does not have a Series 1-level breakout.

If you are chasing Sprigatito specifically, buying single promo cards once they hit the secondary market is usually cheaper than opening multiple $14.99 boxes for a 1-in-9 pull, unless you also want the two bonus booster packs and sticker sheet each box includes.

Scanning any First Partner promo you pull or buy through Valusaur pulls live TCGplayer and Cardmarket prices immediately, which matters here specifically because these are promo-only cards with no set-wide print run to anchor a "book value." Anyone building out multiple regions across all three Series can also use Valusaur's portfolio tracking to see whether Series 3 is trending toward the Series 1 outcome or the Series 2 outcome without checking three separate listings by hand.

For broader context on why an Illustration Rare-style promo commands a premium over a same-set standard card in the first place, see our Pokémon card rarity symbols guide. The same nostalgia-drives-price pattern showed up in the 30th Celebration Pikachu chase card map, where one card out of a large promo pool carried most of the resale demand. And if a Series 3 pull turns out to be a genuine chase card, the presale-to-launch pricing pattern in Storm Emeralda's Mega Rayquaza ex reveal coverage is a useful comparison for how fast hype prices can cool after release day.

FAQ

When does First Partner Illustration Collection Series 3 release? August 7, 2026, at $14.99 per box, according to Pokemon.com's official product listing and matching third-party retail pages.

What Pokémon are in Series 3? Nine starters across three regions: Treecko, Torchic, and Mudkip (Hoenn); Chespin, Fennekin, and Froakie (Kalos); and Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly (Paldea), each in an Illustration Rare-style promo card.

How many cards come in one box? One First Partner pack containing 3 of the 9 possible promo cards, plus two standard Pokémon TCG booster packs and a sticker sheet — not the full nine-card set.

Which Series 3 starter is worth the most right now? None have sold yet; Series 3 releases August 7, 2026. Based on how Series 1's Kanto trio (Charmander, Squirtle, Bulbasaur) outsold Series 2's cards, Sprigatito has the strongest odds of becoming the breakout card once trading begins.

Is Series 1 still worth buying now that Series 3 is out? Series 1 boxes were reselling around $62.14 as of August 5, 2026 — roughly 4x MSRP — so buying a new box for the promo pull no longer makes sense; targeting individual Series 1 singles is the cheaper route if you specifically want Charmander, Squirtle, or Bulbasaur.