Mega Greninja ex
Quick take
- Most expensive English card of the Mega Evolution era to date
- First Mega Greninja card in any medium, debut treatment
- SIR outsold the MHR variant despite the MHR's structural scarcity
- Greninja's fanbase cuts across TCG, Smash Bros., and anime audiences
Collector's readWhat it means for your master set
Set landscapeWhere this card sits in Chaos Rising
VariantsCard variants
Holofoil 116/86 · $143.44 — the only variant this card was printed in (no reverse holo or special pattern), so a master set needs just this one copy.
The storyThe Mega Greninja Fans Have Wanted Since X and Y
Greninja has been the most-requested unfulfilled Mega Evolution in the franchise for more than a decade. The Kalos starter became Ash's signature partner. Battle Bond produced Ash-Greninja and the Sun and Moon special distribution. Smash Bros. picked Greninja as Gen VI's playable representative, twice. Through all of it, Game Freak refused to print a Mega form. Legends: Z-A finally did, and Chaos Rising followed within months.
“Most expensive English card of the Mega Evolution era to date”
The set hierarchy reflects Greninja's pull. Three rarities, one Pokemon. Double Rare at #022 for play, SIR at #116 for the chase, MHR at #122 for the gold tier. Pre-release coverage in Japan had the MHR priced highest. English collectors disagreed and pushed the SIR past it within days of release.
That reversal matters. It tells you what collectors are paying for. The illustration carried this card past the gold treatment because the art does something gold etching cannot, motion. Mega Greninja mid-leap, water shurikens fanning out, the scarf trailing. The SIR sells the moment the franchise withheld for thirteen years.
By the numbersMarket analysis
The most expensive card in Chaos Rising and currently the priciest card in the Mega Evolution era. Around $594 raw on TCGPlayer at last sync, clear of every other SIR in the set and clear of the MHR counterpart at #122. Japanese pre-release tracking had this card around $400 and the MHR around $600. The English market inverted that order in week one.
Standard new-release glide. Initial spike from chase hunting, gradual softening as more product opens, then a floor built on Greninja's permanent collector demand. The pattern that distinguishes this card is the SIR-over-MHR inversion, which suggests the demand is art-driven rather than scarcity-driven. Art-driven floors tend to last.
Greninja's fundamentals are unusual. The demand pool is broader than typical chase cards because the character cuts across multiple non-overlapping audiences. The supply pool is wider than a special expansion because Chaos Rising is a standard main set with full production. Those two pressures push in opposite directions. PSA 10 graded copies with strong centering are the cleanest long hold. Watch the 60-day window for the first real plateau.
PSA 10 around 1.8-2.5x raw, call it $1,000-1,500 once the population stabilises. The textured SIR surface and dark navy palette expose centering drift, the long axis is where this card fails grade. Submit only on 55/45 or better on both axes.
Roughly 1 in 72 packs across all six Chaos Rising SIRs based on community Mega Evolution era data. Per-Greninja odds work out to around 1 in 432 packs. Singles are the only economical path.
One of six SIRs in Chaos Rising. The only one above $500 on day-one English market. The other five sit between $63 and $114. The gap between Mega Greninja and the rest of the SIR cluster is the largest single-card premium in the Mega Evolution era so far.
ArtworkWhy the art matters
Artist information pending verification from card database updates.
Mega Greninja mid-leap against a stylised water spray. Blue tongue scarf extended, water shurikens fanning outward, the body angled in a strike pose. The Kalos environment is suggested through colour gradient rather than rendered, deep navy and electric blue with gold shuriken accents.
Special Illustration Rare with full-bleed textured holofoil. Texture follows the water spray contours and the Mega form's appendages. The deep palette is dark enough to make the gold accents jump on tilt, which is one of the visual hooks pull videos lean on.
Mega Greninja SIR captures an action frame, not a portrait. The leap, the deployed shurikens, the scarf, every element points to a single moment. SIRs typically choose between scene and portrait. This one is pure motion. That commitment is why the card outsold its MHR sibling on day one despite being the lower-rarity treatment.
BackgroundAbout Mega Greninja ex
Greninja debuted as the final evolution of Froakie in Pokemon X and Y (2013), the Water/Dark starter at the top of Kalos's spread. National Pokedex #658. Frog and ninja design hybrid. The anime gave it Ash-Greninja and the Battle Bond mechanic in Sun and Moon. Smash Bros. picked Greninja as Gen VI's playable representative in Smash 4 and Ultimate. Legends: Z-A introduced Mega Greninja in 2025, finishing a decade-plus of fan requests.
- ›Routinely #1 or #2 in global Pokemon popularity polls, often above Charizard outside Japan
- ›Ash's signature partner across the XY anime arc
- ›Smash Bros. crossover audience that introduces the character to non-Pokemon fans
- ›Battle Bond / Ash-Greninja special distributions created scarcity collectors remember
- ›Ninja archetype reads across cultures and demographics in a way few Pokemon do
- ›Starter line in Pokemon X/Y (2013)
- ›Ash's signature Pokemon across XY and XY&Z anime arcs (2013-2016)
- ›Playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS (2014) and Ultimate (2018)
- ›Battle Bond / Ash-Greninja special distribution in Sun and Moon (2016)
- ›Mega Evolution debut in Pokemon Legends: Z-A (2025)
Greninja has been a competitive staple since 2013, especially with Protean breaking metagames and Battle Bond eventually banned to Ubers in Smogon. Mega Greninja in Legends: Z-A pushes the offensive ceiling further. The TCG card has usable stats but at this price point it stays sleeved in display, not decks.
Own it wellCollector guide
Long-axis centering drift is the most common Chaos Rising print issue and Mega Greninja SIR is no exception. The dark palette hides minor surface marks but the textured holofoil exposes scratches under angled light. Inspect before sleeving, the navy reads cleanly on screens but worse in person under bright lights.
Grade clean copies. PSA 10 premium clears submission costs comfortably at 1.8-2.5x raw. Verify centering at 55/45 or better on both axes. Wait 30-60 days post-release for the graded market to find a price floor before submitting if you're not in a hurry. Read the grading guide →
Perfect-fit sleeve on pull, rigid top loader or magnetic case for raw. Graded slabs are the standard at this price tier. Body oil on dark textured SIR surfaces leaves faint marks that grade harshly, handle carefully. See the storage guide →
Direct purchase, never sealed product. The 1-in-432 effective pull rate makes sealed an irrational path. TCGPlayer Direct is the cleanest English channel for raw. For graded copies, eBay's PSA market is the deepest pool, inspect comp history before bidding. See the singles buying guide →
At this price, authentication matters on every raw transaction. Counterfeits at the top of the market copy art well but get texture wrong. Verify weight, foil texture, and the exact rarity stamp colour against a known authentic SIR from the same set. Graded slabs from PSA, CGC, or BGS eliminate most of the risk.
Protect your card
High Chase Score — protect and consider grading. · Amazon affiliate links · Storage guideWord on the streetCommunity sentiment
Strong, with the SIR-over-MHR inversion as the headline story. The composition has dominated pull-video coverage since release and the 'finally a Mega Greninja' narrative running on Reddit since the Z-A reveal paid off here. Discussions about whether this dethrones Mega Charizard X SIR as the era's defining card are ongoing.
- ›Day-one TCGPlayer market around $594 raw, settled above the MHR variant
- ›Early PSA 10 graded copies pushing toward $1,000 as the graded population builds
Heavy. The shuriken-in-flight composition gets cropped and shared as standalone art constantly. Twitter pickup is strong and YouTube pull-video thumbnails feature the card disproportionately. The card has cross-pollinated into Smash Bros. communities, which is unusual for a single TCG release.
Good to knowFrequently asked questions
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