Dialga EX 122 Secret Rare
Quick take
- Full-art secret rare, numbered 122/119, the top slot in Phantom Forces
- Required pull for a complete Phantom Forces master set
- Backed by Dialga's recognition as a Diamond box Legendary
- Mid-tier value, not a grail, due to heavy XY-era print runs
Collector's readWhat it means for your master set
Set landscapeWhere this card sits in XY - Phantom Forces
VariantsCard variants
Holofoil 122/119 · $1022.31 — 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 top secret rare of Phantom Forces, anchored by a fan-favorite Legendary
Phantom Forces dropped in November 2014, mid-way through the XY block. It's best remembered competitively for the Night March cards, but for collectors the draw sits at the back of the checklist with the secret rare EX cards. Dialga-EX 122 is the full-art version of the set's Metal-type Legendary, and it carries the weight a Sinnoh box-legend tends to bring.
“Full-art secret rare, numbered 122/119, the top slot in Phantom Forces”
The card matters for two reasons. It's a required pull for a Phantom Forces master set, which is the build most serious collectors of this set are chasing. And Dialga itself has staying power. It headlined Diamond, it shows up across games and media, and the Origin Forme revival in later sets kept the name in front of newer collectors. That demand floor is why this card holds value better than a lot of its XY-era secret rare peers.
It's not a top-shelf grail. The silver full-art treatment of the XY era reads as understated next to the gold and rainbow rares that came later, and Phantom Forces was opened heavily. But within its own set, this is the card people point to first.
By the numbersMarket analysis
Within Phantom Forces, the Dialga-EX secret rare sits at the top of the set alongside the other full-art EX secrets. It trades well above any holo or reverse in the same release, but it stays in mid-tier territory rather than grail pricing.
Pricing has drifted up slowly with the broader vintage-to-mid run on sealed and singles. Dialga's name recognition gives it a firmer floor than most XY secret rares. No sharp spikes, just steady appreciation tracking the set as a whole.
A steady hold rather than a momentum play. The Legendary attachment and master-set demand support the price, but heavy print runs cap the upside. Clean graded copies are the better long-term bet if you want this to do work beyond filling a binder page.
High-grade copies carry a clear premium over raw because the textured full-art surface scratches and shows whitening easily, which makes clean gem copies harder to find than the raw population suggests.
Phantom Forces is a 2014 XY-era set, so it predates the Scarlet and Violet rarity ladder of Double Rares, Illustration Rares and Special Illustration Rares. Back then secret rares like this one sat above the numbered set and were pulled at long odds, generally on the order of a few per booster box across all the secrets combined. Hitting this specific Dialga-EX rather than any secret in the set ran considerably longer than that, which is why most collectors buy the single instead of chasing it from packs.
Compared to a modern Special Illustration Rare, which falls around one in ninety packs in Scarlet and Violet sets, the XY secret rares came from a much smaller secret pool per set. Within Phantom Forces, this Dialga shares the secret tier with the other full-art EX cards and the set's gold items.
ArtworkWhy the art matters
5ban Graphics is a Japanese design studio, not a single illustrator, and they handled most of the digital full-art and secret rare cards through the Black & White and XY eras. Their work is CG rather than painted, which is why their cards have that polished, rendered metallic look. They're the studio behind a large share of the era's full-art EX cards.
Dialga fills the entire card face in 5ban's digital CG style, with the figure rendered front and center against an atmospheric background rather than a detailed scene. The frame is full-bleed with no white border, the hallmark of the XY full-art secret rare layout.
Full-art secret rare with the textured foil surface XY used for its secret slot. The number reads 122/119, above the 119-card main set, which marks it as a secret. The card is a Basic Metal-type Pokemon-EX with 180 HP.
The studio's clean, metallic treatment applied to a heavyweight Legendary. The render suits Dialga's steel design well, and the full-bleed format makes it read as a display card rather than a play piece.
BackgroundAbout Dialga EX 122 Secret Rare
Dialga is the Temporal Pokemon, a Steel/Dragon Legendary introduced in Generation 4 as the box mascot of Pokemon Diamond. It governs time in Sinnoh lore and is paired with Palkia, who controls space. The name has stayed in rotation across remakes, spin-offs, and the anime, and the Origin Forme reappeared prominently in the Legends Arceus generation.
- ›Box Legendary status from Pokemon Diamond gives it instant recognition
- ›Strong steel-dragon design that suits metallic foil treatments
- ›Long-running paired-mascot relationship with Palkia
- ›Repeated reappearances across newer games keeping it front of mind
- ›Box mascot of Pokemon Diamond (2006)
- ›Featured Legendary across multiple TCG eras including a later Origin Forme run
- ›Recurring presence in the anime and films as a time-controlling Legendary
In its day the Phantom Forces Dialga-EX saw fringe play in Metal decks, but it was never a defining competitive card. Today the secret rare's value is collector-driven, not tied to any tournament use.
Own it wellCollector guide
The textured full-art foil scratches and shows whitening on edges and corners with very little handling. Inspect the surface under angled light for scratches and the borders for fraying. Centering on XY full-arts can be inconsistent, so check it before paying a premium.
Worth grading if you have a clean copy you intend to hold or display, since gem-grade examples are scarcer than the raw count implies. For a binder slot, raw is the sensible call. Read the grading guide →
Sleeve in a penny sleeve inside a top loader or one-touch, and keep it out of direct light to protect the foil. Avoid repeated handling, which is the fastest way to scratch the textured surface. See the storage guide →
Buy on condition, not just price. A cheap copy with surface scratches or whitening makes a poor master-set piece. For raw purchases ask for angled-light photos of the surface and clear shots of all four corners. For serious money, buy graded to remove condition and authenticity guesswork. See the singles buying guide →
Fakes of XY EX cards exist. Do a light test to confirm the black core layer inside the cardstock, check the front texture against a known-genuine full art, look for correct holo behavior across the surface, and inspect the back swirl gradient and color against a real card. Misaligned text, wrong font weight, or a flat non-textured surface are red flags. For anything expensive, a graded slab is the safest route.
Protect your card
High Chase Score — protect and consider grading. · Amazon affiliate links · Storage guideWord on the streetCommunity sentiment
Collectors view it as a clean, desirable secret rare and the obvious centerpiece pull of Phantom Forces. It's well liked rather than hyped, valued mostly for the Dialga name and its place on the master-set checklist.
Most discussion frames it as a steady master-set target and a recognizable Legendary chase rather than a viral card. It surfaces in Phantom Forces set-completion threads and Dialga collection posts more than in flip or hype conversations.
Good to knowFrequently asked questions
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