Pokémon Showed Next Year's McDonald's Cards by Mistake, So Check for M26 or M27

On 29 October, The Pokémon Company International posted its announcement for this year's McDonald's Happy Meal cards, but the pictures showed the wrong set. PokeBeach spotted that all 15 cards had an M27 set symbol, which means they belong to a McDonald's set planned for 2027. The post came down that afternoon, and a corrected version with the 2026 cards went up on 30 October.

Pokémon hasn't commented on the mistake, and it hasn't announced a 2027 promotion.

How to tell them apart

Check the bottom of the card. This year's cards have an M26 set symbol. The cards shown by mistake have M27 and a 2027 copyright line. Cards confirmed for the 2026 set include Chandelure, Palafin and Zoroark.

This matters if you're buying McDonald's cards online, because PokeBeach says many websites copied the original post and are still showing the 2027 cards as this year's set.

The 2027 cards

Wargamer and Keep Collecting list the 15 cards as Bulbasaur, Rowlet, Sprigatito, Charmander, Torchic, Squirtle, Piplup, Pikachu, Raichu, Clefairy, Slowpoke, Marill, Gengar, Eevee and Snorlax. McDonald's sets usually reprint older cards, and 14 of these follow that pattern. The Squirtle has new art by Kariya and an attack called Splatter that does 10 damage to one of your opponent's Benched Pokémon. According to PokeBeach, it hasn't been released anywhere yet, even in Japan.

PokeBeach thinks this Squirtle comes from Aura Seeker, the Japanese set where a new Blastoise has just been revealed, and that a Mega Blastoise ex card could follow. Nothing has been announced, so that's a guess for now.

UK dates

The 2026 Happy Meal promotion starts in the US on 10 November. There's still no UK date, and we'll update our McDonald's 2026 post when McDonald's UK confirms one.

At PokePals

You can browse our singles for the original versions of cards that McDonald's reprints. If you've got a pile of old Happy Meal cards and bulk at home, we buy that too, and our guide to selling Pokémon bulk explains how it works.

Sources: PokeBeach, TPCi accidentally reveals McDonald's 2027 set (29 October 2026, updated 30 October) and PokeBeach on X; Wargamer; Keep Collecting. Image: The Pokémon Company.