Big Sam's Club Pokémon TCG release was a huge disaster

Customers at the Walmart offshoot say the Ascended Heroes release was full of problems Fans expected long lines at Sam's Club on Tuesday morning, when the warehouse retailer was scheduled to drop a product from the Pokémon trading card game's hottest set of the year. What they didn't expect was a flagrant disregard for purchasing limits — or the way some locations apparently failed to enforce them. The occasion was earmarked for Ascended Heroes, a Pokémon TCG collection with stellar artwork that has exploded in popularity since its initial January 2026 release. The demand for Ascended Heroes has also created a cutthroat resale market where scalpers jack up prices 450% over the manufacturer's suggested retail price. It's difficult to purchase any Pokémon cards these days, but it's especially impossible to cop Ascended Heroes at a reasonable price. No surprise, then, that lines at Sam's Club began forming during the weekend. The Ascended Heroes Focused Fighter Collection contains 15 booster packs for only $55.98, and at under $4 a pack, that's an incredible deal. Management at Sam's Club evidently surmised that the demand would be high, based on an internal memo shared with employees