Pitch Black Master Set: 194 Cards, Checklist & Prices
By Cardrake Research Team · Updated
Released 2026
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Mega Evolution Pitch Black chase cards & key targets
Mega Darkrai ex leads Pitch Black at $162.48, with Mega Darkrai ex ($146.84) and Morpeko ex ($68.95) behind it. The top three alone are 60% of the estimated master-set cost — plan these purchases first and the rest of the set follows on a normal budget.
| Rank | Card | Number | Rarity | Variant | Market Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 |  Mega Darkrai ex | 116/84 | Special Illustration Rare | Holofoil | $162.48 |
| #2 |  Mega Darkrai ex | 120/84 | Mega Hyper Rare | Holofoil | $146.84 |
| #3 |  Morpeko ex | 117/84 | Special Illustration Rare | Holofoil | $68.95 |
| #4 |  Mega Zeraora ex | 114/84 | Special Illustration Rare | Holofoil | $44.22 |
| #5 |  Mega Chandelure ex | 115/84 | Special Illustration Rare | Holofoil | $36.35 |
| #6 |  Gwynn | 119/84 | Special Illustration Rare | Holofoil | $27.61 |
| #7 |  Gladions Final Battle | 118/84 | Special Illustration Rare | Holofoil | $26.26 |
| #8 |  Mistys Vitality | 111/84 | Ultra Rare | Holofoil | $10.21 |
| #9 |  Mega Darkrai ex | 101/84 | Ultra Rare | Holofoil | $6.79 |
| #10 |  Gwynn | 109/84 | Ultra Rare | Holofoil | $6.61 |
Acquisition Strategy
- • Monitor price trends - chase cards often fluctuate based on tournament results and influencer coverage
- • Consider condition flexibility - a LP/MP copy can save 30-50% on vintage cards
- • Check multiple marketplaces - prices vary significantly between TCGPlayer, eBay, and local stores
- • Buy during market dips - major releases and reprints often cause temporary price drops
What's in the Mega Evolution Pitch Black master set
The Mega Evolution Pitch Black master set is 194 cards: 84 base + 74 reverse holos + 36 secret rares. That covers every printed variant — reverse holofoils, secret rares, and the special-art chase cards numbered past 84/84.
Pitch Black in data
A full master set cost $1,699 in release week. 6 weeks later it cost $836.
What the bill has done week by week, which cards collectors still have on their wishlists, and how far through the set people actually get. Every chart has a CSV and an embed.
Read the Pitch Black data reportAbout this set
Mega Darkrai ex is the reason this set exists. The Pokemon's design history, from the cosmic-horror aesthetic to the Alamos Town movie connection, gives the Mega form rich source material, and the Akira Egawa Special Illustration Rare makes the most of it. On the table its Abyss Eye attack knocks out an opposing Active Pokemon that is already under a Special Condition, which gives the card a real competitive hook to go with the art, even if the honest read is that it is a format-dependent tech piece rather than a guaranteed tier-one engine.
Six Mega Evolution Pokemon ex appear in the set, the most of any era release so far: Darkrai, Zeraora, Chandelure, Excadrill, Slowbro, and Delphox. That is a broader Mega lineup than recent sets, even if the value is concentrated almost entirely at the top with Darkrai.
There is a Mythical angle too. Both Darkrai and Zeraora are Mythical Pokemon, the event-only kind that were historically hard to get in the games. Pitch Black gives collectors a clean way to own definitive Mega versions without the old event-distribution hassle, and Mega Zeraora ex in particular has the best art reputation of the supporting cast.
The set's emotional center is split. The Darkrai spectacle pulls the headlines and the money, but a lot of the everyday affection goes to the warmer art cards: Slowbro asleep under a streetlamp, an angry Morpeko mid-leap, a nostalgic Misty. Those are the cards people actually want in their binders, separate from the price chart.
Where Pitch Black fits in the era
Pitch Black is the fifth main expansion of the Mega Evolution era, printed from Japan's Abyss Eye set. The era runs from the base Mega Evolution set through Phantasmal Flames, Ascended Heroes, Perfect Order, Chaos Rising, and now Pitch Black. The whole revival is tied to Pokemon Legends: Z-A, leaning on the game's Darkrai and Zeraora storylines.
Darkrai has carried a cosmic-horror reputation since the 2007 film Pokemon: The Rise of Darkrai, which tied it to nightmares, Alamos Town, and a long-running dichotomy with Cresselia. That movie's imagery feeds directly into the Mega Darkrai art direction, and the Akira Egawa Special Illustration Rare leans into it hard. Egawa is the same artist behind widely chased cards like the Charizard ex from Ruler of the Black Flame, and that pedigree is a big part of why this particular card is the one collectors are circling.
Zeraora arrived in Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon in 2017 as a Mythical Pokemon and got its movie moment in 2018's The Power of Us. Mega Zeraora is one of the first Mythical Pokemon to receive a Mega form in the modern TCG. Chandelure, Excadrill, Delphox, and Slowbro round out the Mega lineup as a mix of Gen V and older favorites getting their first Mega treatments.
The set arrived seven weeks after Chaos Rising and roughly two weeks before Storm Emeralda on the Japanese schedule. The compressed timing reflects the Legends: Z-A marketing push driving a cluster of coordinated releases through the summer.
Collecting challenges
Pitch Black is a small set, and that is the headline for anyone trying to complete it. The base list is compact and the full count including secret rares is 120, closely tracking the Japanese Abyss Eye structure. With a single standard reverse holo pattern and no multi-pattern complexity, a realistic master set comes to somewhere around 190 to 200 cards once you fold in the reverses and the 36 secret rares. That fits comfortably in one binder.
The real difficulty is the Darkrai tier, and almost nothing else. Even that got cheaper. Mega Darkrai ex comes as a Special Illustration Rare that has cooled off from its presale peak and a gold Mega Hyper Rare whose launch-week ask-versus-sale chaos has resolved into a tight market. Together they remain the swing factor in a premium master set's budget, but the swing is far smaller than presale coverage implied. Decide whether you want one, both, or neither before you start.
Skip the Darkrai cards and the rest of the set is genuinely easy. The base and reverses are bulk-priced, and the secret rares below the Darkrai pair are all affordable: Morpeko ex leads that group after its post-correction rebound, followed by Mega Zeraora, Mega Chandelure, and the two Supporter SIR · Special Illustration RareThe top full-art rarity for Pokemon ex and Trainer cards, and usually a set's most valuable cards. (Gwynn and Gladion's Final Battle). There is no cluster of expensive must-haves hiding behind the headline.
Promos add a few slots if you want them all: the full-art Zarude from the Elite Trainer Box, the stamped Zarude from the Pokemon Center ETB, and the foil promos from the prerelease Build & Battle Boxes. With prereleases over, the promo route is ETB restocks at retail (fast-selling, so set alerts), general-retail Build & Battle Boxes landing now, and trading with prerelease attendees holding duplicates.
Rarity breakdown
| Rarity | Cards | Share of printed set |
|---|---|---|
| Common | 37 | 44% |
| Uncommon | 26 | 31% |
| Ultra Rare | 18 | 21% |
| Rare | 11 | 13% |
| Illustration Rare | 11 | 13% |
| Double Rare | 10 | 12% |
| Special Illustration Rare | 6 | 7% |
| Mega Hyper Rare | 1 | 1% |
Price distribution
How card values spread across the set. Most cards are bulk under a dollar; a few chase cards hold most of the value.
Artist spotlight
The illustrators behind the most cards in this set, with their standout artwork. Tap a card for details.
5ban Graphics
15 cards in this set
Toyste Beach
3 cards in this set
Jiro Sasumo
2 cards in this set
Oswaldo KATO
2 cards in this set
satoma
2 cards in this set
Nakamura Ippan
2 cards in this set
Mega Evolution Pitch Black pull rates
How long the odds are for one named card at each rarity, derived from community counts of 4,000+ packs. Bar lengths are to scale, and the vertical lines mark one and ten booster boxes' worth of packs.
All 10 from packs ≈150 packs (~4 boxes)
All 11 from packs ≈300 packs (~8 boxes)
All 18 from packs ≈750 packs (~21 boxes)
All 6 from packs ≈1,200 packs (~33 boxes)
| Rarity | Cards at rarity | Packs per pull (any card) | Packs per specific card |
|---|---|---|---|
| Double Rare | 10 | 1 in 5 | 1 in 50 |
| Illustration Rare | 11 | 1 in 9 | 1 in 99 |
| Ultra Rare | 18 | 1 in 12 | 1 in 216 |
| Special Illustration Rare | 6 | 1 in 80 | 1 in 480 |
| Mega Hyper Rare | 1 | 1 in 1,081 | 1 in 1,081 |
Mega Evolution Pitch Black master set buying guide
Where to buy Mega Evolution Pitch Black, which sealed product is worth the money, and when to pull the trigger.
Packs or singles?
Pack opening offers good value for this set
Sealed product comparison
Booster Display Box
36 packs · MSRP ~$161 · Market ~$190 · $5.28/pack
Best per-pack value for building the set. One box covers most commons, uncommons, and reverse holos of the base set. Down from $250 in launch week to about $190, an 18 percent premium over MSRP · Suggested retail priceThe official US retail price set by The Pokemon Company. Stores and resellers often charge more.. Pokemon Center sells direct at MSRP when stocked, and Target, Walmart, and Best Buy restock regularly, though drops sell through fast.
Shop Pitch Black Booster Display Box on TCGPlayer →
Elite Trainer Box
9 packs · MSRP ~$59.99 · Market $76.12 · $8.46/pack
Includes the full-art Zarude promo (a different card from the main-set Zarude), plus 65 sleeves, dice, energy, a player's guide, and a storage box. Restocks pulled the street price down from its $90-130 launch spike to about $77, but each restock sells out in minutes, so set stock alerts rather than camping listings. Still the only route to the full-art Zarude.
Shop Pitch Black Elite Trainer Box on TCGPlayer →Pokemon Center ETB (Exclusive)
9 packs · MSRP ~$64.99 · Market ~$127 (resale) · n/a/pack
A Pokemon Center exclusive with its own stamped Zarude promo, the scarcer of the two ETB · Elite Trainer BoxA retail box with booster packs (usually nine), a promo card, sleeves, dice and Energy cards. variants. Resale sits around $127, roughly double retail. Pokemon Center restocks Pitch Black regularly, so alerts on their stock page beat paying resale; the stamped promo is the only reason to prefer this box over the standard ETB.
Shop Pitch Black Pokemon Center ETB (Exclusive) on TCGPlayer →
Build & Battle Box
4 packs · MSRP ~$29.99 · Market $38.05 · $9.51/pack
General retail availability is starting now, roughly two weeks after launch. If you only need the stamped foil promo, trading with prerelease attendees holding duplicates beats buying boxes. Poor pack-per-dollar value if you are after singles.
Shop Pitch Black Build & Battle Box on TCGPlayer →All Mega Evolution Pitch Black sealed products
| Product | Market | |
|---|---|---|
| Pitch Black Booster Box Case | $1095.95 | Shop → |
| Pitch Black Booster Bundle Case | $827.39 | Shop → |
| Pitch Black Sleeved Booster Case | $809.58 | Shop → |
| Pitch Black Elite Trainer Box Case | $714.52 | Shop → |
| Pitch Black 3-Pack Blister Case | $540.39 | Shop → |
| Pitch Black Build & Battle Box Display | $301.70 | Shop → |
| Pitch Black Booster Box | $194.08 | Shop → |
| Pitch Black Pokemon Center Elite Trainer Box (Exclusive) | $123.69 | Shop → |
| Pitch Black Booster Bundle | $39.79 | Shop → |
| Pitch Black Booster Pack Art Bundle [Set of 4] | $26.68 | Shop → |
| Pitch Black Sleeved Booster Pack Art Bundle [Set of 4] | $25.44 | Shop → |
| Pitch Black Premium Checklane Blister [Gengar Line] | $22.95 | Shop → |
| Pitch Black 3-Pack Blister [Binacle] | $20.87 | Shop → |
| Pitch Black Premium Checklane Blister [Luxray Line] | $18.04 | Shop → |
| Pitch Black Premium Checklane Blister [Tyrunt, Tyrantrum] (Target Exclusive) | $17.91 | Shop → |
| Pitch Black Premium Checklane Blister [Amaura, Aurorus] (Target Exclusive) | $16.21 | Shop → |
| Pitch Black Single Pack Blister [Slowpoke] | $8.98 | Shop → |
| Pitch Black Sleeved Booster Pack | $6.62 | Shop → |
| Pitch Black Booster Pack | $5.73 | Shop → |
| Pitch Black Half Booster Boxes | — | Shop → |
| Pitch Black Pokemon Center Elite Trainer Box Case (Exclusive) | — | Shop → |
Where to buy
TCGPlayer
singlesPricing: Market · Reliability: high
Best for: Singles for the SIR set and the Mega Darkrai chase
Use TCGPlayer Direct for faster shipping. Ignore launch-week price guides. Morpeko rebounded to about $124 and the gold Darkrai settled near $189 with a tight spread, so week-one numbers mislead in both directions. Check centering photos on any SIR over $50.
Shop Mega Evolution Pitch Black singles on TCGPlayer →Pokemon Center
sealedPricing: MSRP · Reliability: high
Best for: MSRP sealed product and the Pokemon Center exclusive ETB
Pokemon Center has restocked Pitch Black steadily since release, and street prices show it, but each drop sells out in minutes. Keep restock notifications on for the exclusive ETB with the stamped Zarude, and skip resellers asking double retail.
Local Game Store
bothPricing: MSRP · Reliability: medium
Best for: MSRP box allocation and Build & Battle stock arriving now
Stores that ran prerelease events have Build & Battle allocation arriving at general retail now. A good relationship with your store still helps secure MSRP booster boxes, though with the secondary premium down to about 18 percent, the stakes are lower than in launch week.
eBay
bothPricing: Market · Reliability: varies
Best for: Sealed boxes and graded Mega Darkrai cards once comps form
Filter to Top Rated Sellers with 99 percent or better feedback. The gold Darkrai's once-notorious ask spread has closed, but sold-listing filters remain the habit worth keeping. Remember pack-weighing risk is real in this era; sealed guarantees matter.
r/pkmntcgtrades
bothPricing: Below Market · Reliability: varies
Best for: Build & Battle promo trades from prerelease attendees, plus bulk and reverses
Check flair and trade history before any deal. Use PayPal Goods & Services for purchases over $20. Prerelease attendees with duplicate promos remain the cheapest promo source while general-retail Build & Battle stock trickles in.
When to buy
Singles panic-priced. Sealed carries 30–50% premium. Wait if you can.
Best window for singles. Chase cards find their floor.
Bulk dips 15–20% on reprint news. Chase cards stay steady.
Sealed and top chase cards begin appreciation cycle.
Collecting strategy
Most cards in this set are worth around $0.27 as singles. Opening packs is the fun way to build your base of commons and uncommons with a chance at lucky pulls — but chase cards are statistically unlikely from sealed product. For most master set collectors, the smart approach is packs for bulk, singles for the rest.
Mix of singles and strategic pack opening
One booster box for bulk, then all six Special Illustration Rares as singles, with the Darkrai SIR the dominant line item in the full run at current prices. Add the ETB Zarude promo on a restock and a Build & Battle promo via trade. Skip the gold Mega Hyper Rare. Most of the tier still sits near its lows; only Morpeko has already rebounded.
Track your progress in the Mega Evolution Pitch Black binder planner →
Community insights
From collector discussions, forums, and social media.
What collectors are saying
- Pitch Black released worldwide on July 17, 2026, after prereleases ran July 4 through 12 and Pokemon TCG Live got the set a day early. It is the fifth main set of the Mega Evolution era, a near 1:1 print of Japan's Abyss Eye, and for once the market had a two-month Japanese head start on price discovery, which made the English launch unusually predictable, right up until it wasn't.
- Reception going in was more muted than the last few sets. A lot of collectors called Pitch Black the third small, single-headliner set in a row after Perfect Order and Chaos Rising, with really only two 'true' chase cards: the Mega Darkrai ex Special Illustration Rare and its gold version. Two weeks in, that read has mostly held, except the market added a third name nobody's preview called. Morpeko ex became the set's best post-launch performer, and sealed product keeps selling out restock after restock.
- Mega Darkrai ex is doing almost all of the emotional lifting. The Akira Egawa Special Illustration Rare has been called the closest a Pokemon card has come to an eldritch abomination, the full Darkrai form reading as a giant eye opening in the dark. People keep comparing it to Egawa's Arceus and Giratina VSTAR from Crown Zenith, and 2007 Rise of Darkrai nostalgia is pulling in both players and collectors. It is the one card in the set that generates genuine excitement.
- The set has six Mega Evolution Pokemon ex: Mega Darkrai ex, Mega Zeraora ex, Mega Chandelure ex, Mega Excadrill ex, Mega Slowbro ex, and Mega Delphox ex. That last pair caught people off guard, and yes, Mega Slowbro ex is real, which matters because early aggregated checklists had it wrong for months.
- Japan's launch pattern repeated in English, only faster. Abyss Eye's chase cards spiked on day one and gave back 15 to 27 percent over a month; the English singles skipped the spike almost entirely and corrected within the first weekend. The Darkrai SIR · Special Illustration RareThe top full-art rarity for Pokemon ex and Trainer cards, and usually a set's most valuable cards. opened presale high, dipped in the first weekend, and has kept drifting since; at the two-week mark it sits 29 percent below presale. Anyone who followed the standard advice to wait is still ahead.
- The gold saga resolved quietly. Presale coverage framed the Mega Hyper Rare Darkrai as a four-figure card, and for the first week sky-high asks sat in listings next to sales at a fraction of that. Two weeks in, that spread has collapsed: the gold trades with its cheapest listings within a dollar of market. The verdict is in, and it put the story-driven Egawa SIR · Special Illustration RareThe top full-art rarity for Pokemon ex and Trainer cards, and usually a set's most valuable cards., not the gold stamp, on top by a clear margin.
- Not everything is about Darkrai. The Slowbro Illustration Rare, a cozy scene of the Pokemon dozing under a streetlamp, has quietly become the binder-display favorite, and pull threads keep surfacing the Dhelmise and Goldeen Illustration Rares as dark-horse art picks. The Morpeko ex Special Illustration Rare, meanwhile, turned into the set's post-launch story: after bottoming out in the first-weekend correction, the angry hamster climbed back up 35 percent while the rest of the SIR tier drifted sideways or down. It is now clearly the set's number three card.
- Quality control is the sore spot two weeks in. r/PokemonTCG threads keep showing curled cards and the occasional peeling foil, with some openers reporting most of a box's holos arriving bowed. Nobody agrees on whether the cause is humidity, shipping, or the printer, but the practical advice converging in the threads is the same: store fresh pulls flat and dry before sleeving, and check photos for curl before buying any single you plan to grade.
- The investing corners are running a genuinely split debate. One camp calls Pitch Black a sleeper: a small, scarce print in an era of big sets, worth holding sealed for the long run. The other camp answers that the chase cards outside Darkrai are not desirable enough to carry a set. Both agree on the observable part: short-term attention is elsewhere, with the 30th Anniversary Celebration set soaking up most of the hype.
- It is a small set. The base is compact and the full count including secret rares is 120, tracking Abyss Eye closely. After some heavier recent releases a sub-90 base reads as refreshingly completable, and the whole master set fits in a single binder. The difficulty here is money at the very top, not card count, and the top tier settled hundreds of dollars below its presale asks.
- Competitively, Abyss Eye's real contribution is the Hide 'n' Sneak archetype, a purpose-built anti-Dragapult deck. Pokemon like Sinistcha, Spiritomb, and Banette carry an Ability that dodges Dragapult ex's Phantom Dive and the usual bench-snipe tricks, with Dhelmise as the single-prize attacker. It took top-cut spots at the 2026 Japan Championships without dethroning Dragapult, which still looks like the deck to beat going into Worlds.
- The Elite Trainer Box comes with a full-art Zarude promo separate from the regular Zarude in the set, and there is a Pokemon Center ETB variant with its own stamped Zarude. ETBs spiked in launch week, but steady restocks pulled the street price most of the way back down. The catch is that each restock sells out in minutes, so getting one at a fair price is an alerts game now, not a wallet game.
- Pitch Black followed Chaos Rising by only seven weeks, and Japan kept the pace: Storm Emeralda launched there on July 31, with a 30th Anniversary Celebration set due in September. Anyone still finishing Chaos Rising at the premium tier has capital tied up right as most Pitch Black singles sit near their post-correction lows, and a lot of threads still land on a partial pass across both sets rather than fully completing either.
Tips from the community
- Decide your Darkrai position before you spend anything else, because it still defines the budget. Mega Darkrai ex comes as a Special Illustration Rare and a gold Mega Hyper Rare, and together they cost more than every other secret rare in the set combined. Grail buyer, or Darkrai out of scope? Everything else is rounding error next to that call.
- The launch-dip advice worked, with one asterisk. The Darkrai SIR · Special Illustration RareThe top full-art rarity for Pokemon ex and Trainer cards, and usually a set's most valuable cards. kept sliding well past the first-weekend correction, but Morpeko ex bottomed out and rebounded hard. Waiting was free money on six of the seven big cards and cost 35 percent on the seventh. If a card you want is sitting near its low, that is the signal; there is no rule that says week three is cheaper than week one.
- Buy the chase as a single, not a box of lottery tickets. Spread across six SIR · Special Illustration RareThe top full-art rarity for Pokemon ex and Trainer cards, and usually a set's most valuable cards., the odds of pulling the specific card you want are long, and the gold runs far longer still. One booster box is fine for bulk, commons, and reverse holos; the named cards you actually care about are cheaper bought directly.
- The gold Darkrai stopped being a trap and became a straightforward decision. The four-figure asks that haunted launch week are gone; it now trades with the lowest listings within a dollar of market. It has settled in as the cheaper of the two Darkrai chases, which almost nobody predicted at presale. Checking sold prices is still good hygiene, but the spread that made it mandatory has closed.
- The ETB · Elite Trainer BoxA retail box with booster packs (usually nine), a promo card, sleeves, dice and Energy cards. Zarude promo is still worth planning around. It is a full-art card distinct from the regular Zarude in the set. Restocks pulled ETBs well down from their launch spike, but each restock sells through in minutes, so set stock alerts at Pokemon Center and the big-box trackers instead of camping listings. Same logic for the Pokemon Center ETB with its stamped Zarude, which holds a premium and remains the scarcer of the two.
- The supporting SIR · Special Illustration RareThe top full-art rarity for Pokemon ex and Trainer cards, and usually a set's most valuable cards. have split into two groups. Mega Zeraora, Mega Chandelure, Gwynn, and Gladion's Final Battle still sit at or near their post-correction lows; Morpeko already left the station. Buying all five still costs less than the Darkrai SIR alone, but the Morpeko rebound is the warning label: these windows close one card at a time.
- Missed the prereleases? Build & Battle Boxes are reaching general retail now, roughly two weeks after the main launch, and prerelease attendees with duplicate promos are still trading on r/pkmntcgtrades. Trading remains the cheapest route to the promo set.
- If you are still finishing Chaos Rising, be honest about the squeeze. The seven-week gap means money locked into Chaos Rising chase cards is money not buying Pitch Black singles near their lows. Pick which set is the priority; splitting a budget across both premium tiers is how collectors end up finishing neither.
- Skip the Darkrai tier and this is one of the cheapest sets in the era to complete. The base plus reverse holos is bulk-priced, and every secret rare below the Darkrai pair stays affordable. The expensive part is genuinely optional here in a way it is not on most sets.
Market insights
- Mega Darkrai ex remains the value leader, and the drift continued past the launch correction, from presale through the first weekend to the two-week mark, a 29 percent total decline delivered in stages rather than one drop. Japan's comp sat well above the English price at launch, so the English print still trades at a steep discount to the Japanese version rather than in line with it.
- The gold Mega Hyper Rare (120/084) went from the set's strangest market to one of its most orderly. Week one had sales sitting far under four-figure asks; by early August the cheapest listings sit within a dollar of the market price, a tight, functioning market. It has also stayed clearly below the Egawa SIR · Special Illustration RareThe top full-art rarity for Pokemon ex and Trainer cards, and usually a set's most valuable cards., confirming the era's pattern: the story-driven SIR out-trades the gold stamp of the same Pokemon.
- The supporting tier wrote the second-week story. Morpeko ex bottomed in the correction, topped out in late July, and sits up 35 percent from the bottom, clear of the rest of the pack. Mega Zeraora firmed modestly, Mega Chandelure held steady, and the Supporter SIR · Special Illustration RareThe top full-art rarity for Pokemon ex and Trainer cards, and usually a set's most valuable cards. Gwynn and Gladion's Final Battle stayed flat, with the Misty's Vitality Ultra Rare and the Slowbro Illustration Rare cheaper still. One card rebounding hard while its neighbors sit still usually means demand specific to the card rather than the set; in Morpeko's case, art that people simply want.
- The rarity structure is six Mega Evolution Pokemon ex, several standard ex (Morpeko, Lurantis, Wailord, Rampardos), 11 Illustration Rares, 18 Ultra Rares, six Special Illustration Rares, and a single gold Mega Hyper Rare Darkrai on top. Only four of the six Mega ex received a Special Illustration Rare (Darkrai, Zeraora, Chandelure, and, as a non-Mega ex, Morpeko); Mega Excadrill, Mega Slowbro, and Mega Delphox top out at Ultra Rare or Double Rare.
- Sealed and singles converged instead of diverging. The booster box has come down hard from launch week to a modest premium over MSRP · Suggested retail priceThe official US retail price set by The Pokemon Company. Stores and resellers often charge more., and ETB · Elite Trainer BoxA retail box with booster packs (usually nine), a promo card, sleeves, dice and Energy cards. gave back most of their launch spike. Steady restocks did exactly what restocks are supposed to do. The twist is velocity: each drop sells out in minutes even as street prices grind lower, which reads as broad demand without frenzy.
- The restock pressure valve worked. The open question in launch week was whether the box premium would hold near 55 percent into August. It did not; it compressed to about 18 percent. Openers keep feeding singles supply onto TCGPlayer, which is part of why most of the SIR · Special Illustration RareThe top full-art rarity for Pokemon ex and Trainer cards, and usually a set's most valuable cards. tier has stayed soft even as sealed keeps selling through. The buyer side skews long-term, too: investing threads are full of collectors stacking MSRP · Suggested retail priceThe official US retail price set by The Pokemon Company. Stores and resellers often charge more. sealed as a scarcity bet rather than ripping now.
- Reverse holos are a single standard pattern with no multi-pattern complexity to chase. Outside the popular Pokemon, reverses trade at bulk rates, so the reverse-holo layer is not where the difficulty or the cost of this set lives.
- Storm Emeralda launched in Japan on July 31, and a 30th Anniversary Celebration set follows in September. The anniversary set is already pulling attention; investing threads describe Pitch Black as overlooked because of it, which is part of why the SIR · Special Illustration RareThe top full-art rarity for Pokemon ex and Trainer cards, and usually a set's most valuable cards. tier sits soft. Most Pitch Black singles are at or near their lows right now, which argues for buying sooner rather than staging purchases into the fall. Still, keep powder dry for the anniversary set, which will compete hard for the same budget.
Watch out for
- Launch-week price guides are now the trap. Coverage written in July still quotes Morpeko at its bottom and warns about four-figure gold asks, and both are stale. Morpeko has rebounded 35 percent, and the gold's ask-versus-sale spread has closed. Check a current price before acting on any number from an older thread, including ones describing this set's own 'first-weekend correction.'
- Two weeks in, prices are settled enough to plan around, but the thinnest markets can still move several percent on a handful of sales: the gold, the Supporter SIR · Special Illustration RareThe top full-art rarity for Pokemon ex and Trainer cards, and usually a set's most valuable cards., the Pokemon Center ETB · Elite Trainer BoxA retail box with booster packs (usually nine), a promo card, sleeves, dice and Energy cards.. Anchor on the week's trend, not on any single day's tick.
- Mega ex give up three prize cards when knocked out, not two. Every Mega Evolution Pokemon ex in Pitch Black carries this rule. Any deck plan or pull-value math that treats Mega Darkrai, Mega Zeraora, Mega Chandelure, Mega Excadrill, Mega Slowbro, or Mega Delphox as standard two-prize ex is wrong.
- Per-card chase odds from sealed product are brutal, and now they are measured rather than estimated. A specific one of the six Special Illustration Rares is a long-odds pull, and the gold Mega Hyper Rare runs far longer still. At the prices the SIRs trade for, the singles math beats the pack math by a mile. Build your plan around buying, not pulling.
- Check condition on arrival, even out of sealed product. Curled cards and occasional foil peeling are this set's most-reported quality issue; some openers describe most of a box's holos arriving bowed. Curl usually relaxes with flat, dry storage, but it matters if you grade: inspect every SIR · Special Illustration RareThe top full-art rarity for Pokemon ex and Trainer cards, and usually a set's most valuable cards. under angled light, and on singles purchases ask for flat-angle photos before paying grading-candidate prices.
- Pack weighing is a real risk in this era because the high-value packs are measurably heavier. Buy sealed boxes from MSRP · Suggested retail priceThe official US retail price set by The Pokemon Company. Stores and resellers often charge more. retail (Target, Walmart, your local game store, Pokemon Center) or established online sellers with sealed guarantees. Third-party marketplace boxes carry genuine weighed-pack risk, and the steady restock cadence means there is no reason to touch a sketchy box.
- Do not mix up Pitch Black and Chaos Rising singles in the weeks after launch. They are both Mega Evolution era sets releasing seven weeks apart, and the low card numbers overlap. Check the set symbol and the card number carefully before you buy.
- Do not overpay for the fossil cards on competitive hype. Fossil Quarry, Bastiodon, Relicanth, and Rampardos ex give the archetype new toys, but analysts rate it fun-and-fringe rather than tier one. Buy those cards because you like them, not on the expectation of a stall-deck breakout.
Mega Evolution Pitch Black grading guide
Which Mega Evolution Pitch Black cards are worth the $20+/card grading fee? PSA 10 premiums vary significantly by rarity tier. See our complete grading guide for how grading works, costs, and international submission options.
Tier 1 - High Priority Grading
Worth gradingStill the priority grading targets, but the math keeps moving: the SIR trades around $278 and the gold around $189, both below launch-week levels. English PSA 10 comps are only starting to appear. Wait for a real population before sending a batch, and only submit copies with 55/45 or better centering on both axes. Grading a $278 card is a different bet than grading the $390-plus card presale buyers expected.
Tier 2 - Worth Grading on Clean Copies
Worth gradingThe non-Darkrai Special Illustration Rare cluster split after the correction: Morpeko ex rebounded to about $124, Mega Zeraora sits at $73, Mega Chandelure at $53, and the Supporter SIRs at $41 and $29. At these raw prices, grading only makes sense on gem-worthy copies of Morpeko and Zeraora. Re-evaluate once the first English PSA 10s trade in volume.
Tier 3 - Personal Collection Only
Skip gradingGrading costs eat most of the margin at these price tiers. Grade for your own collection or to preserve a pristine pull, not for profit. The Slowbro Illustration Rare ($17) and the Misty's Vitality Ultra Rare ($26) carry more demand than typical cards at their rarity, so they are the first to revisit if prices firm up.
Tier 4 - Never Grade
Skip gradingSubmission costs far exceed any value gain here. Keep these raw and put your grading budget into the Mega Darkrai tier and the most in-demand Illustration Rares.
Before you submit — PSA checklist, fees, and tips▾
PSA 10 requirements
- Centering
- 55/45 minimum front and back. Modern SIRs frequently fail here — pre-screen every candidate.
- Corners
- Sharp, no whitening under magnification. Sleeve the moment you pull the card.
- Surface
- No scratches, print lines, or holo damage. SIR foils are especially vulnerable from the factory.
- Edges
- No chipping or fraying. Inspect under bright light.
PSA service tiers
- Value
- $20/card, 4–6 month turnaround. Right for raw values $75–500.
- Regular
- $50/card, 6–8 week turnaround. Right for raw values $500+.
- Express
- $75–150/card, 2–3 week turnaround. Only worth it above $1,000 raw.
Budget for a 5-card submission: $135–170 once you add shipping, insurance, and supplies.
Tips from experienced submitters
- • Pre-screen with a loupe — 70%+ of modern cards fail centering.
- • PSA Collectors Club ($99/year) pays for itself with 2–3 value-tier submissions.
- • Ship in batches of 10+ to amortize shipping and insurance.
- • PSA 9 typically sells at 40–60% of PSA 10 — still a premium over raw.
Storage & protection
Protect your 194-card Mega Evolution Pitch Black master set with archival binders, perfect-fit sleeves, and top loaders for the chase cards. Plan on $150–250 for complete coverage.
Premium binders
Dragon Shield Codex · $30–50
Archival pages, side-loading pockets, acid-free. For 194 cards, plan on 11 double-sided 9-pocket pages.
Perfect-fit sleeves
Every card · $30–50 total
Prevent micro-scratches from sliding cards in and out of binder pockets. You'll need roughly 2 packs for full coverage.
Top loaders
Chase cards · $15–25/pack
Rigid protection for SIRs and grading candidates. Essential for anything over $41 raw.
Mega Evolution Pitch Black card list
Every card in the Mega Evolution Pitch Black master set. Search, filter by rarity or price, and mark off what you own as you go. Tap any card for prices and variants.
Track your collection. Mark cards owned or wanted, add condition & notes, and watch your master set progress.
| Card | Price | Collection |
|---|---|---|
Tropius1/84 · Common | $0.07 | N RH |
Grubbin2/84 · Common | $0.06 | N RH |
Fomantis3/84 · Common | $0.11 | N RH |
Lurantis ex4/84 · Double Rare | $0.56 | Holo |
Poltchageist5/84 · Common | $0.17 | N RH |
Sinistcha6/84 · Uncommon | $0.11 | N RH |
Heatran7/84 · Uncommon | $0.06 | N RH |
Mega Delphox ex8/84 · Double Rare | $0.55 | Holo |
Sizzlipede9/84 · Common | $0.08 | N RH |
Centiskorch10/84 · Common | $0.10 | N RH |
Charcadet11/84 · Common | $0.10 | N RH |
Armarouge12/84 · Rare | $0.25 | Holo RH |
Goldeen13/84 · Common | $0.11 | N RH |
Seaking14/84 · Uncommon | $0.08 | N RH |
Wailmer15/84 · Common | $0.17 | N RH |
Wailord ex16/84 · Double Rare | $0.66 | Holo |
Relicanth17/84 · Uncommon | $0.14 | N RH |
Popplio18/84 · Common | $0.10 | N RH |
Brionne19/84 · Common | $0.16 | N RH |
Primarina20/84 · Rare | $0.29 | Holo RH |
Finizen21/84 · Common | $0.09 | N RH |
Palafin22/84 · Uncommon | $0.05 | N RH |
Electrike23/84 · Common | $0.11 | N RH |
Manectric24/84 · Uncommon | $0.13 | N RH |
Charjabug25/84 · Common | $0.08 | N RH |
Vikavolt26/84 · Uncommon | $0.09 | N RH |
Mega Zeraora ex27/84 · Double Rare | $0.54 | Holo |
Miraidon28/84 · Rare | $0.25 | Holo RH |
Slowpoke29/84 · Common | $0.16 | N RH |
Slowbro30/84 · Uncommon | $0.14 | N RH |
Mega Slowbro ex31/84 · Double Rare | $0.55 | Holo |
Jynx32/84 · Common | $0.09 | N RH |
Shuppet33/84 · Common | $0.20 | N RH |
Banette34/84 · Uncommon | $0.18 | N RH |
Spiritomb35/84 · Rare | $0.20 | Holo RH |
Litwick36/84 · Common | $0.24 | N RH |
Lampent37/84 · Uncommon | $0.23 | N RH |
Mega Chandelure ex38/84 · Double Rare | $0.65 | Holo |
Dhelmise39/84 · Uncommon | $0.13 | N RH |
Marshadow40/84 · Uncommon | $0.10 | N RH |
Annihilape41/84 · Uncommon | $0.18 | N RH |
Mankey42/84 · Common | $0.21 | N RH |
Primeape43/84 · Common | $0.06 | N RH |
Cranidos44/84 · Common | $0.16 | N RH |
Rampardos ex45/84 · Double Rare | $0.60 | Holo |
Drilbur46/84 · Common | $0.16 | N RH |
Koraidon47/84 · Rare | $0.22 | Holo RH |
Mega Darkrai ex48/84 · Double Rare | $0.70 | Holo |
Vullaby49/84 · Common | $0.06 | N RH |
Mandibuzz50/84 · Common | $0.11 | N RH |
Frequently asked questions
How many cards are in the Pitch Black master set?▾
The Pitch Black master set is 194 cards: 84 base cards, 74 reverse holofoils, and 36 secret rares and special-art cards. The base set alone is 120 unique cards, numbered 001/84 through the secret rares. Track all 194 with the free interactive checklist on Cardrake.
See also: Binder layout planner
What are the chase cards in Pitch Black?▾
The top chase card in Pitch Black is Mega Darkrai ex (Special Illustration Rare) at $162.48. Other high-value cards include Mega Darkrai ex ($146.84) and Morpeko ex ($68.95). See the full chase card rankings above for current prices.
See also: Chase card rankings, Binder layout planner
How much does a Pitch Black master set cost?▾
A complete Pitch Black master set is estimated at $632 based on current TCGPlayer market prices. Budget collectors can start with the base set for significantly less, while premium completionists targeting graded copies should expect higher costs.
See also: Master set budgeting guide, Binder layout planner
What is the complete Pitch Black master set card list?▾
The Pitch Black set contains 84 base cards across 8 rarity tiers plus 36 secret rares. View the complete card list with images, prices, and rarity information on the Pitch Black binder layout page on Cardrake.
See also: Binder layout planner
How should I organize Pitch Black in a binder?▾
For 194 cards (including reverse holos), a 9-pocket binder needs 11 double-sided pages and a 12-pocket binder needs 9 pages. Use Cardrake's visual binder planner to preview exactly how your cards will be laid out before you start sleeving.
See also: Binder layout planner, Binder organization guide
Is there a Pitch Black master set checklist?▾
Yes — Cardrake provides a visual master set checklist for Pitch Black with all 120 cards. You can track owned and missing cards, view your completion percentage, and plan your binder layout. Sign up for the Collector plan to save your progress.
See also: Binder layout planner
What are the Special Illustration Rares (SIRs) in Pitch Black?▾
Pitch Black has 6 Special Illustration Rares: Mega Zeraora ex (114/84), Mega Chandelure ex (115/84), Mega Darkrai ex (116/84), Morpeko ex (117/84), Gladions Final Battle (118/84), Gwynn (119/84). SIRs are the set's premier chase cards — check the chase card rankings above for current market prices.
See also: Chase card rankings, Binder layout planner
Is Pitch Black worth collecting as a master set?▾
Pitch Black has 120 unique cards with an estimated completion cost of $632. The manageable set size makes it a good choice for newer master set collectors. With 7 cards over $10, most of the value is concentrated in a few key cards.
See also: Master set guide, Binder layout planner
When did Pitch Black release?▾
July 17, 2026 worldwide. Prerelease events ran July 4 through 12, and Pokemon TCG Live got the set a day early on July 16. Sealed product is in a steady restock cycle, and street prices for ETB · Elite Trainer BoxA retail box with booster packs (usually nine), a promo card, sleeves, dice and Energy cards. and booster boxes have come down from launch week, but individual restocks sell out in minutes, so stock alerts beat luck.
Did the launch-day price spike happen?▾
Barely, and the correction came early, then split. Japan's Abyss Eye saw chase cards spike at launch and slide 15 to 27 percent over a month. The English market compressed the correction into the first weekend, and the two weeks since have sorted the winners from the rest: the Darkrai SIR · Special Illustration RareThe top full-art rarity for Pokemon ex and Trainer cards, and usually a set's most valuable cards. kept drifting lower, the gold settled, and Morpeko ex rebounded by roughly a third. The waiting-game advice paid off everywhere except Morpeko.
See also: Master set collecting guide
What Mega Evolution Pokemon ex are in the set?▾
Six: Mega Darkrai ex, Mega Zeraora ex, Mega Chandelure ex, Mega Excadrill ex, Mega Slowbro ex, and Mega Delphox ex. That is the most Mega ex in any era set so far. Only four of them (Darkrai, Zeraora, Chandelure, and the non-Mega Morpeko ex) received a Special Illustration Rare; Excadrill, Slowbro, and Delphox top out at Ultra Rare or Double Rare.
See also: Chaos Rising guide (previous Mega Evolution era set)
Is Pitch Black a big set or a small one?▾
Small. The base set stays compact even once secret rares are counted, mirroring the Japanese Abyss Eye set. That makes it one of the more completable bases in the Mega Evolution era, with the difficulty concentrated almost entirely in the Mega Darkrai tier rather than in the size of the set.
Does Pitch Black have a booster display box?▾
Yes, a standard 36-pack booster display (10 cards per pack). Two weeks after launch it sells at roughly an 18 percent premium over MSRP · Suggested retail priceThe official US retail price set by The Pokemon Company. Stores and resellers often charge more., well down from its launch-week price. Pokemon Center sells direct at MSRP when stock is up, and Target, Walmart, Best Buy, and Amazon restock regularly, though drops sell through fast. A box is the best pack-per-dollar option for building the base.
What is in the Elite Trainer Box?▾
Nine booster packs, 65 sleeves, energy, dice, a player's guide, a storage box, and a full-art Zarude promo, which is a different card from the regular Zarude in the set. ETB · Elite Trainer BoxA retail box with booster packs (usually nine), a promo card, sleeves, dice and Energy cards. spiked at launch, but restocks pulled the street price back to a modest premium over retail. The catch is that restocks sell out in minutes. There is also a Pokemon Center ETB variant with its own stamped Zarude promo, trading at roughly double retail on the secondary market and the scarcer of the two.
I missed the prerelease events. How do I get the Build & Battle promos?▾
Build & Battle Boxes are reaching general retail now, roughly two weeks after the main launch. Prerelease attendees with duplicate promos also trade actively on r/pkmntcgtrades, which is usually cheaper than buying a sealed Build & Battle Box for the promo alone.
How does Pitch Black compare to Chaos Rising?▾
Chaos Rising headlined Mega Greninja ex with a slightly larger set. Pitch Black runs smaller in both base and total count, headlined by Mega Darkrai ex. The two released only seven weeks apart, which creates a real budget squeeze for anyone trying to complete both at the premium tier. Community sentiment sees Pitch Black as the quieter of the two outside of the Darkrai chase, though its sealed product has sold faster.
See also: Chaos Rising guide (me04)
What are the SIR pull rates?▾
Measured now, not estimated. TCGPlayer's count of just over 4,000 Pitch Black packs pins down the whole ladder: Double Rares turn up steadily, Illustration Rares and Ultra Rares less often, Special Illustration Rares rarely, and the gold Mega Hyper Rare almost never. Spread across six SIRs, landing one specific chase card is a many-box proposition. Plan around singles.
See also: Singles buying guide
Is there an anti-Dragapult deck in this set?▾
Yes. The Hide 'n' Sneak archetype is Abyss Eye's main competitive contribution: single-prize Pokemon like Sinistcha, Spiritomb, and Banette carry an Ability that ignores Dragapult ex's Phantom Dive and similar effects, with Dhelmise as the attacker. It took top-cut spots at the 2026 Japan Championships. It dents Dragapult rather than replacing it as the format's top deck, so buy the pieces for play value, not as a speculative spike.
Should I grade Mega Darkrai ex?▾
For clean copies, probably, but let the graded market form first. With the SIR · Special Illustration RareThe top full-art rarity for Pokemon ex and Trainer cards, and usually a set's most valuable cards. having drifted below its launch price raw, the PSA · Professional Sports AuthenticatorThe largest card grading company. A PSA 10 is its top grade and carries the biggest price premium. 10 premium math is thinner than it looked at presale prices. English graded comps are only starting to appear at the two-week mark; give it a few more weeks, and only send copies with 55/45 or better centering on both axes. One set-specific wrinkle: curled cards are Pitch Black's most-reported quality issue, so check any grading candidate for bowing under angled light before submitting. The gold is an easier call than it was. With a settled price and a tight spread, grading only makes sense on a gem-worthy copy.
Related Pokemon TCG sets
Other expansions collectors pair with Mega Evolution Pitch Black: same era, similar collecting challenge, or often mentioned in the same breath.
