On Halloween 2005, the Pokemon Trading Card Game released what was at the time a unique set in EX Delta Species in the United States of America. It featured Pokemon with different types known as Delta Species. This theme would return for another set, EX Holon Phantoms, in May of 2006. After those two sets, Delta Species and the Holon region never appeared again until Pokemon Celebrations 15 years later in 2021.

The Pokemon Celebrations set only included one actual Delta Species reprint, Gardevoir EX, in its Classic Collection subset. But, in addition to that chase card, the Pokemon Company also created one brand new Delta Species card. This is a Water-Type Mimikyu Delta Species, released as a holo promo card in the Celebrations Collector Chest. There are so many things to like about this card, and despite not being a particularly rare card, I feel it deserves special appreciation as a brand-new Delta Species Pokemon card.

What is the Mimikyu Delta Species card worth?

First off, the price of a raw Mimikyu Delta Species card is actually very cheap, in the $2 to $3 USD range plus shipping costs. There have been some PSA graded examples, a couple of which sold for between $40 to $50 in PSA 10, but this doesn’t seem to be a particularly sought-after card from graded collectors. This is despite that as of January 2023, over 500 have been graded with 187 as Gem Mint PSA 10 and 269 as Mint PSA 9. 

The most expensive example of this card to sell was a PSA 10 for $199.34, but that was the first PSA graded example to sell and is clearly quite an outlier as none have broken $49 since. For me, the history behind this card, and the fact that it clearly isn’t a nearly automatic Gem Mint grade, makes it significantly undervalued.

Mimikyu is among the fan favorite Pokemon from Generation 7’s Sun and Moon, and thus has received quite a few printings previously. These printings were either as a Psychic-type – the card game’s stand-in for the Ghost-type – or as the now-defunct Fairy-type (Fairy type energy was removed from the game starting with Sword and Shield base set). 

Still, collectors already have quite a few chase cards for this Pokemon, including Mimikyu V and VMAX, Mimikyu GX, and the Gengar & Mimikyu Tag Team. So, while this is actually considerably more rare than many of those ultra rare cards available in packs, it’s just not as exciting to collectors as the more powerful recent offerings.

Is the Mimikyu Delta Species from Celebrations a playable card?

While many promo cards from the Pokemon Trading Card Game tend to have some decent abilities or attacks, this Mimikyu Delta Species isn’t exciting on the surface. Then again, it has two attacks. The first is called Filch, requiring only a single Water energy attached to it in order to draw 2 cards. Already, this is better than many other Pokemon who have a “Collect” attack to draw a single card.

The second and final attack on this Mimikyu card is Wet Claw, which requires a Water energy card plus any other Energy to deal 40 damage. But, this attack also takes an Energy from your opponent’s Active Pokemon and puts it back into their hand. Since you generally can only attach a single Energy card per turn to a single Pokemon, this Mimikyu can be quite disruptive. 

Of course, in a Pokemon TCG world with overpowered V, VMAX, and VSTAR Pokemon, your typical Basic Pokemon must be a lot more impactful than this. It’s unfortunate, though, because this is an above average Basic Pokemon card. The artwork is gorgeous, hearkening back to the design philosophy of EX Delta Species and EX Holon Phantoms. Unfortunately, while it’s not a bad card to play in a casual Water themed deck, this Mimikyu SWSH136 promo just doesn’t clear the bar for competitive play.

What would a water type Mimikyu look like in the Pokemon games?

Of course, Scarlet and Violet do have sort of an answer to this question with the ability to give a Mimikyu the Water Tera Type. But that’s not really in the spirit of a Holon form. The only Water-type move that Mimikyu can learn is Rain Dance, which is learned by many non-Water type Pokemon to begin with. This means that the only way water-type Mimikyu would do anything in Generation 9 is to be given Tera Blast for a physical Water type after it has the chance to Terastalize.

Were the Holon region ever to be introduced in an actual Pokemon game, however, I can see a Holon Mimikyu learning physical Water attacks like Liquidation or perhaps even Wave Crash to complement its already powerful Ghost and Fairy type moves. With its Disguise ability giving it some additional survivability, I can see a water type Mimikyu being a good Pokemon very realistically. 

Will Delta Species ever return to the Pokemon TCG?

While I highly doubt that we ever return to the Holon region, that would be quite a shame. After all, the researchers there have hundreds of more Pokemon still to be explored in new type combinations. That design space is still relatively unexplored, as the EX sets only included Pokemon released through the third generation’s Pokemon Emerald. 

Therefore, I do hope Delta Species return to the Pokemon Trading Card Game as more than just a promotional Celebrations gimmick. I’ll be looking at quite a few Delta Species from those two sets in future articles, as honestly, the Pokemon TCG got this right, giving familiar Pokemon new typings to explore and adding an entirely new dynamic to fan-favorite Pokemon.

Do you think Pokemon should return to printing Delta Species cards?