The Pokémon world has always had cities in it, but for most of the TCG’s life they stayed in the background. That’s changed. In the modern era, illustrators started treating the city as a subject in its own right, and now you can build a whole binder out of alleyways, rooftops, storefronts and streetlights.

We went through them all, and this is our full curated list of the best city and urban-themed cards in the TCG!


We’re a small team of two and our links keep woahpoke running. As an eBay Partner Network affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. Learn more.


Lifestyle & Slice of Life City Cards

Errands, commutes, window shopping, standing outside a bakery with real intent. Nothing plot relevant happens in any of these and that’s exactly why they work. This is the section that makes the Pokémon world feel like somewhere people actually live rather than somewhere people only battle.

Our Picks:

Lifestyle & Slice of Life City Cards

Daytime City Cards

Broad daylight, busy street, and almost every Pokémon here is up to something. Whatever they’re doing, they’re doing it in public and they’re not sorry about it.

Our Picks:

Daytime City Pokemon Cards

Nighttime City Cards

Night is when the city art gets to use every trick at once: wet pavement, neon, headlights, a single lit window in a dark building.

Umbreon naturally runs this realm, and the Mega Absol, Noivern, and Mewtwo are so Gotham-esque you half expect a searchlight in the sky.

Our Picks:

Nighttime City Pokemon Cards

Side-Scrolling City Cards

Flat, side-on, and laid out like a level you’d run left to right. No perspective depth, just the city as a band across the card with the Pokémon moving through it. The three Meowths from 30th Celebration are the ones to get, since they connect into a single continuous street. We went through the whole set in our 30th Celebration chase cards round-up.

Our Picks:

Side-Scrolling City Pokemon Cards

City Park Cards

The quiet pocket in the middle of all that concrete. Benches, trees, a bit of grass, and Pokémon doing the things you do in a park: sitting around, singing, meeting up with each other. We love these cards!

Our Picks:

City Park Pokemon Cards

Scenery-First Cityscape Cards

These ones flip the usual setup. The card is a place first and a Pokémon second, and a few of them tuck the Pokémon so far into the scene that you’ll miss it on the first pass. We had the Japanese Sudowoodo for the longest time and thought it was just a cityscape card before we finally spotted him in there. And Lumiose City doesn’t have a Pokémon on it at all.

Our Picks:

Scenery-First Cityscape Cards

Interior & City View Cards

There’s a particular comfort to these that the street level cards don’t have. You’re in the city but you’re also out of it.

We’ve got more cards like this covered in our round-up of the best home life Pokémon cards!

Our Picks:

Interior & City View Pokemon Cards

City Pokémon Jobs & Construction Cards

Pokémon putting in the work. Scaffolding, hard hats, girders, movers, and a lot of Fighting and Steel types doing what they’re obviously built for. We were surprised how many of there these were once we put them all together!

Our Picks:

City Pokémon Jobs & Construction Pokemon CardsCards

Vibrant & Colorful Urban Cards

Where the color gets turned all the way up. Beautiful skies, neon signage, graffiti, and a few cards that drop realism entirely and go abstract with the palette like Komiya’s Drowzee.

Our Picks:

Vibrant & Colorful Urban Pokemon Cards

European Town Inspired Cards

Narrow lanes, shuttered windows, terracotta roofs, church bells implied. We loved putting together this little niche page. Paldea gave the illustrators a Mediterranean template to work from and they clearly enjoyed it, but the influence shows up well beyond that region too.

Lots of birds and fliers in this one, which makes sense.

Our Picks:

European Town Inspired Cards

Affordable & Common City Cards

You don’t need an illustration rare to collect this theme. Plenty of city art landed on regular commons, which makes for an easy first page if you’re just getting into it. Here are a few to get started!

Our Picks:

Affordable & Common City Pokemon Cards


That’s our round-up of the best city and urban Pokémon cards in the TCG! Are you a nighttime neon person or a city park bench collector?

woahpoke is supported by its audience. When you buy something using the retail links in our posts, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Read more about our affiliate disclaimer.