Morpeko ex
Quick take
- Secret-numbered full art Ultra Rare (102/084), one of three Morpeko ex prints in Pitch Black
- Shows Morpeko in Hangry Mode, its snack-deprived Darkness form from the Galar games
- Wheely Draw is a one-Energy full hand refresh, Hangry Blaster scales with self-damage
- The affordable route to this artwork, the 117/084 SIR carries the real price tag
Collector's readWhat it means for your master set
Set landscapeWhere this card sits in Pitch Black
VariantsCard variants
Holofoil 102/84 · $3.62 — 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 budget full art of Pitch Black's Darkness-type draw engine
Morpeko ex gives Pitch Black a draw engine with a gimmick. Wheely Draw shuffles your hand into your deck and draws six cards for a single Darkness Energy. Hangry Blaster starts at 40 damage and adds 40 more for every damage counter already sitting on Morpeko. A 180 HP Basic that wants to get hurt is a strange design, and it got theorycrafters talking the moment the card was revealed. Two weeks after release, no real deck has come out of it yet.
“Secret-numbered full art Ultra Rare (102/084), one of three Morpeko ex prints in Pitch Black”
This print, 102/084, is the full art Ultra Rare version, numbered above the base set count in the secret block. It shows Morpeko in Hangry Mode, the black-and-purple form the species flips into when it runs out of snacks. The regular print at 055/084 and the special illustration rare at 117/084 bookend it. The SIR is the real chase of the three, which leaves this Ultra Rare as the middle child. Cheaper to pull, cheaper to buy, still required for the true master set.
For master set builders, that is the whole appeal. You get the full art treatment and the secret numbering at a fraction of what the top-end cards in this set run.
By the numbersMarket analysis
A mid-table card in Pitch Black, sitting well below the set's special illustration rares and hyper rares but comfortably above bulk holos. Think of it as a modest add-on to a larger singles order rather than a card you hunt on its own.
Two weeks in, the interesting signal is next door: the Morpeko ex SIR at 117 was the only card in the set to rebound after the first-weekend correction, climbing from $92 to about $124 on pure character demand. That same fanbase is this print's floor. Ultra Rare full arts still typically drift while product sits on shelves, but Morpeko demand has proven realer than most launch narratives.
Modest. Ultra Rare full arts are the most printed of the secret-block rarities and rarely appreciate while a set is in print. If Morpeko ex ever lands in a winning competitive list, the cheaper prints would move first. Buy this one because you like Morpeko or need it for the set, not as a growth play.
Thin. Grading fees eat most of the upside on mid-tier modern Ultra Rares, and a PSA 10 typically returns only a small premium over raw. Gem rates on modern full arts are decent, but the math only works if you were grading a personal collection copy anyway.
The Pokemon Company does not publish official pull rates, and set-specific data for the Mega Evolution era is still settling. As a guide, recent modern sets have put any Ultra Rare at roughly 1 in 15 packs. The odds of hitting this specific Ultra Rare run much longer, since a set carries many cards at the rarity, so expect to open a lot of Pitch Black before this exact card falls out. Buying the single is usually the cheaper path.
Within Pitch Black's secret block, Ultra Rares like this are the most common tier, sitting below the illustration-rare style cards and well below the special illustration rares and gold hyper rares. That is why it ranks mid-table in set value despite the secret numbering. Against the 117/084 SIR of the same Pokemon, this print trades at a small fraction of the price.
ArtworkWhy the art matters
5ban Graphics is the CG studio behind a huge share of the TCG's rendered Pokemon ex, V, and GX cards going back more than a decade. Their work is the house style for mechanic-focused rare cards: clean 3D renders with dramatic lighting. They are prolific rather than boutique, which is part of why their full arts price below hand-illustrated chase cards.
The card shows Morpeko in Hangry Mode, the darker form it takes when its electric sacs run empty. The full art canvas gives the CG render room to breathe compared with the standard 055/084 print, which was handled by a different studio, aky CG Works. Each of the three Morpeko ex prints in this set came from a different artist.
Full art holofoil treatment across the card face, secret-numbered at 102/084 above the base set count of 84 cards.
It is the only full art print of Hangry Mode Morpeko in Pitch Black that does not carry special illustration rare pricing. If you want the form on a premium canvas without chasing the set's top-end pulls, this is the card.
BackgroundAbout Morpeko ex
Morpeko debuted in Generation 8's Sword and Shield as the Two-Sided Pokemon. Its gimmick is Hunger Switch: Full Belly Mode is the cheerful yellow Electric-type face, Hangry Mode is the black-and-purple Dark-type face it flips to when it runs out of food, changing its signature Aura Wheel between Electric and Dark. It is best known as the partner Pokemon of Marnie, one of Galar's rivals, which gave a small rodent outsized visibility.
- ›The Hangry Mode form switch is one of Gen 8's most memorable gimmicks
- ›Association with Marnie, a consistently popular Galar character
- ›Small, expressive electric-rodent design in the Pikachu lineage of mascots
- ›Dark-type framing fits the Pitch Black set theme, giving it a natural spotlight
- ›Pokemon Sword and Shield (2019) as Marnie's signature partner Pokemon
- ›Pokemon: Twilight Wings and Journeys-era animation alongside Marnie
Theory more than results, for now. Wheely Draw is a one-Energy full hand refresh, and Hangry Blaster scales 40 damage per counter on Morpeko itself, which pairs naturally with self-damage enablers in Darkness lists. Two weeks in there is still no meaningful tournament record either way. Treat playability as a watch item, not a current demand driver.
Own it wellCollector guide
Modern full art holofoils are prone to two things out of the pack: edge whitening on the dark borders and print lines running through the holofoil. Dark-framed cards like this one show edge wear more than light-bordered cards, so check corners under angled light before buying raw.
Skip grading unless the copy is flawless and you are building a graded master set. The raw-to-PSA 10 spread on mid-tier modern Ultra Rares rarely covers fees. If you do submit, screen hard for print lines and centering first, those are the usual 9 makers. Read the grading guide →
Penny sleeve into a binder side-loading pocket is fine for this price tier. If it lives in your master set binder, keep the binder upright and out of direct light. Dark card faces show fading and scuffing readily. See the storage guide →
Buy the single. Pack-pulling this exact card makes no sense when any Ultra Rare runs around 1 in 15 packs and this specific one runs far longer. The set is freshly released, and Ultra Rare prices usually soften as product gets opened, so there is no urgency. Add it to a larger singles order and save on shipping. See the singles buying guide →
Counterfeit risk is low at this value tier, fakers target the set's SIRs and hyper rares instead. Standard checks still apply: real cards show the black core layer on the edge, the holofoil pattern shifts under light, and text printing is crisp. If a listing photo looks washed out or the texture looks flat, pass.
Protect your card
Low Chase Score — basic protection is plenty. · Amazon affiliate links · Storage guideWord on the streetCommunity sentiment
Warm but measured. Preview coverage treated Morpeko ex as one of Pitch Black's fun reveals, with most of the excitement pointed at the Hangry Blaster self-damage gimmick and at the special illustration rare version rather than this print. The full art gets treated as the sensible pickup, the SIR gets the wishlist posts.
Morpeko content reliably does numbers because of the Marnie connection and the Hangry Mode design, and Pitch Black's Darkness theme gave the character a moment at release. Buzz around this specific print is modest. It mostly shows up in master set progress posts and budget pickup threads, not mail-day flexes.
Good to knowFrequently asked questions
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