This is a follow up to our October 27 report on the McDonald's Pokémon promotion that starts in the United States on November 10. That report covered the 2026 run. This one covers a mistake that briefly pointed a full year past it. When The Pokémon Company International posted its official announcement of the promotion, the cards in the post were not the cards collectors will find next month. PokeBeach and Wargamer and TheGamer all report that the pictured cards carried a different set stamp, and that the post has since been deleted while a corrected version is awaited.

For a collector the mistake matters for a practical reason. Screenshots of the wrong list are now travelling as if they were the November list, and anyone planning a set around them would be chasing cards that this promotion is not reported to contain.

The stamp gave it away

PokeBeach reports that this year's cards carry an M26 set symbol and points to a Zoroark from the 2026 selection as proof of that marking. The cards in the official post carried an M27 set symbol instead. Wargamer adds that the pictured cards also carried a 2027 copyright date along the bottom. TheGamer reports the same mismatch and notes that the different set shown in the post included Raichu and Rowlet, names that sit apart from the 2026 names reported so far. PokeBeach says the McDonald's account confirmed the 2026 card selection that same morning with a poster and photos, which made the gap between the two posts easy to spot.

PokeBeach offered one possible explanation for how the mix up happened. Half of this year's toys feature Pokémon such as Bulbasaur and Charmander and Squirtle that have no matching card in the 2026 set, while the reported 2027 set does feature them. That explanation is PokeBeach reasoning based on the toy lineup, not a statement from the company, and we are treating it that way.

One card has not been released anywhere

The card doing the real work in this story is Squirtle. PokeBeach reports that the Squirtle in the pictured set has not been released in Japan yet. Wargamer calls it mechanically unique, with new artwork by illustrator Kariya, and names its attack as Splatter. The card shown in the published images gives Squirtle 80 HP and has Splatter deal 10 damage to one of your opponent's Pokémon. TheGamer makes the wider point that almost every McDonald's card is a reprint of a card from an existing expansion, so a brand new Squirtle in this list points ahead to an expansion that has not had its own reveal yet.

A Blastoise reveal gave the Squirtle a home

That pointer got stronger within hours. In a separate report on October 30, PokeBeach said Blastoise from Aura Seeker had been revealed in Traditional Chinese, with that set due in Japan on November 27 and in English as Flowing Fists on February 5, 2027. PokeBeach reports that the Squirtle from the McDonald's post should be the earlier stage of that Blastoise in Aura Seeker and in Flowing Fists, and that its attack lines up with the Ability on that Blastoise. None of that makes the Squirtle an announced Aura Seeker card in its own right. It does mean the most interesting card in a deleted announcement may also be an early look at a set collectors will be opening in late November.

What November still holds

The reported 2026 promotion itself has not changed in these reports. Our October 27 report set out the November 10 United States start and the set of 15 cards and the two cards in each meal, and the names attached to the 2026 selection in the newest reports include Chandelure and Palafin and Tyranitar alongside the Zoroark named above. If a card list you are seeing carries an M27 stamp, it is not the list for next month on the reporting available now. That one distinction can save a collector real money in a week when early listings and group posts move fast.

What to watch next

Watch for a corrected announcement from The Pokémon Company International, because only that post can confirm the full 2026 card list in public and close the M27 question with the company's own wording. Watch also for the Japanese reveal of this Squirtle, which would settle which set it belongs to and turn an accidental reveal into a proper set preview. Until one of those arrives, this story stays in the Rumor Mill tier. The posting and the deletion are documented across three outlets, but the claim that the pictured set is the 2027 McDonald's set rests on the stamp and the copyright date, and the company has not confirmed it in its own words.