Pitch Black: Mega Darkrai ex fronts the most compact set of the Mega Evolution era

The Mega Evolution era keeps building: Pitch Black (ME05) landed on 17 July 2026 as the block's fifth English set. Prereleases ran from 4 to 12 July, the set went live — and the first days of trading have already given secondary prices a serious shake (more on that below).

The set is dark in the literal sense: its face is Mega Darkrai ex, joined by Mega Chandelure ex, Mega Zeraora ex and Mega Excadrill ex. Here are the official artworks of all four Megas:

The face of the set: Mega Darkrai ex

The legendary dark Pokémon in Mega form comes with 280 HP and Dusk Raid, a 110+ damage attack that hits harder when the opponent's bench already holds damaged Pokémon. Its second attack, Abyss Eye, instantly knocks out the opponent's active Pokémon if it has a special condition. Mega Darkrai ex appears in the checklist in four versions at once:

What is inside the set

Pitch Black is the most compact set of the Mega Evolution block: 120 cards in total (84 in the base numbering plus 36 secret rares). It is built on the Japanese July set Abyss Eye, and the small size looks deliberate: against a worldwide Pokémon TCG shortage, fewer new cards frees printing capacity for reprints.

Boosters come in four designs — one per Mega in the set:

The international version adds three promo cards from the Gym series to the Japanese base: Mega Slowbro ex, the trainer Jett and Mega Delphox ex — the last of which heals 50 HP from every Pokémon in play, the opponent's included.

Zarude, on the other hand, lost its illustration-rare version from the set — it became the Elite Trainer Box exclusive promo. In the base numbering Zarude, like Miraidon and Koraidon, is a Holo Rare.

The Megas and ex cards of the base set

Besides Mega Darkrai ex, the base numbering holds three more Megas and four ordinary ex cards:

Among the base set's regular rares are legendaries and fan favourites:

Trainers and new mechanics

The trainer cards play along with the darkness theme. Dark Bell accelerates Darkness Pokémon, the new special energy Shadowy Darkness Energy fuels them, Gladion's Final Battle is already being tried in tournament decks, and the trainer Gwynn became a collector favourite immediately.

The secret section: every Illustration Rare

Eleven full-art illustrations (085–095). Goldeen, with its extraordinarily atmospheric art, is the one people single out:

Ultra Rare: full-art ex cards and trainers

Every ex card in the set returns in the secret section as a full-art Ultra Rare (096–103):

Plus gold versions of trainers and items (104–113), from Crushing Hammer to Misty's Vitality:

Special Illustration Rare — the real chases

The peak of the secret section (114–119), plus the gold Mega Darkrai ex (120):

What it costs

Updated after release: the first days of trading brought the classic post-release correction. Once supply caught up with the prerelease hype, the top of the set fell 25–55%. Mega Darkrai ex (SIR) came down from around 16,000 ₴ at prerelease to about 13,000 ₴, and mid-tier chases like Mega Zeraora ex and Morpeko ex roughly halved. That is normal for the opening weeks of any set — not a reason to panic but a reason to hunt: a window in which secrets go for far less than the opening asks.

Prices come from the ColleX catalogue, which tracks the US market and updates daily; the catalogue displays them in hryvnia. The top of the set right now:

• Mega Darkrai ex (Special Illustration Rare, #116) — ≈13,300 ₴
• Mega Darkrai ex (Mega Hyper Rare, #120) — ≈9,047 ₴
• Morpeko ex (Special Illustration Rare, #117) — ≈4,102 ₴
• Mega Zeraora ex (Special Illustration Rare, #114) — ≈2,927 ₴
• Mega Chandelure ex (Special Illustration Rare, #115) — ≈2,467 ₴
• Gwynn (Special Illustration Rare, #119) — ≈1,783 ₴
• Misty's Vitality (Ultra Rare, #111) — ≈1,454 ₴
• Gladion's Final Battle (Special Illustration Rare, #118) — ≈1,400 ₴

A complete master set currently runs to about 44,000 ₴. From here prices usually settle more slowly: the sharp moves of the first days give way to a gentle drift.

The product line-up

The set comes in all the usual formats: 36-pack booster boxes, the Elite Trainer Box with its Zarude promo (plus an exclusive Pokémon Center version), a six-pack booster bundle, the Build & Battle Box for prerelease play, and blisters — including retailer exclusives built around the Gengar, Luxray, Tyrantrum and Aurorus lines.

Store promos

As usual in the US, stamped promos go out with any Pokémon TCG purchase over $15: Primarina (Hot Topic, Barnes & Noble, BoxLunch), Zarude (GameStop; EB Games in Canada and Australia) and Armarouge (Best Buy; JB Hi-Fi in New Zealand). This time the stamp is not the retailer's but the franchise's 30th-anniversary "What's Your Favorite?" logo, printed on cosmos foil.

Prerelease players also received one of four stamped promo cards from the set (MEP 82–85). They will join our Mega Evolution Black Star Promos collection as soon as good scans exist.

What comes next in the Mega Evolution era

• 31 July — Storm Emeralda with Mega Rayquaza ex, plus three MEGA starter decks (Eevee ex, Zoroark ex, Meowscarada ex)
• 16 September — the worldwide launch of 30th Celebration for the franchise's anniversary
• 16 October — nine 30th Celebration Card Sets with the starters of every generation
• 13 November — a Special Deck Set with Mega Feraligatr ex, Mega Dragonite ex and Mega Gengar ex
• 27 November — Aura Seeker with Mega Lucario Z ex

Collect Pitch Black on ColleX

The full checklist is already in the catalogue — the Pitch Black page with all 120 cards, current market prices and rarities. Every card in this article is clickable: open it for the price and its chart. Mark your cards as "Have", duplicates with a quantity of 2 or more and the gaps as "Want", and ColleX finds who to swap with.

Based on PokeBeach and data from the ColleX catalogue.