For a couple of months now, fans have speculated that The Pokémon Company hasn't shared everything about the new chromatic cards that debut in the 30th anniversary set. Pictures purporting to show a monochromatic version of Mew kept making the rounds, but nobody could verify if they were actually real. Now we know why: These secret 30th anniversary cards are apparently *exceedingly rare. *

So far, we've seen three color variants for the set's Mew chase card: a red one, a blue one, and a green one. All the cards are marked with the letters "RGB," which presumably reflects both the card variant and the original Pokémon Red, Blue, and Green games. We've yet to see any Mewtwo RGB cards, but it would be a strange omission when the Legendary is one of two monsters in the new Future Rare category.

At first, the veracity of the cards was doubtful. Not only was the set months away from release, few people seemed to be pulling the cards. As time has gone on and more pictures have been shared by a wider variety of people, it's become clear that the distinctive textured cards are authentic. And as of Aug. 19, we have a better understanding of why it's been so difficult to find these among the packs that are out in the wild early.

A Pokémon influencer known as The Card Science claims he has spoken to an insider at the Millennium Print Group — which produces the official TCG — who shed some light on the mystery cards. The apparent insider, who shared a badge to prove their identity, said the cards are being kept under heavy surveillance in an effort to preserve the surprise. The card facility worker further alleged that the RGB cards will appear in one out of 20,000 packs.

To put this into perspective: in recent sets, the odds of a player pulling a golden Mega Hyper Rare card are less than one percent. Specifically, MHR cards appear in about one out of 1,260 packs. If what the insider says is true, then the upcoming RGB cards will by far be the rarest cards produced in purchasable packs.

There are, of course, existing Pokémon cards that are ensured to be scarcer than these RGB cards. For example, there are only about 40 Pikachu illustrator cards in the entire world — and they sell for millions of dollars. With a high production plan for the 30th anniversary, RGB Mew cards are bound to be more plentiful even at such tiny odds. In terms of cards that the average person can actually attain outside of promos or special events, though, RGB is as rare as it gets.