Pitch Black Week One Market Check: Mega Darkrai ex Settles Near $310 After Its $750 Pre-Release Peak
A full week of sales data shows Mega Darkrai ex down nearly 60 percent from its pre-release high but still leading Pitch Black. Here is where the set's market stands and when the buying window historically opens.
The Dust Is Settling on the Summer's Darkest Set
Pokemon TCG Mega Evolution - Pitch Black has been on shelves since July 17, and with a full week of secondary-market data in hand, the picture is coming into focus. The headline: Mega Darkrai ex has come down hard from its pre-release fever prices, but the set's top end remains one of the strongest of the Mega Evolution era.
Mega Darkrai ex by the Numbers
The set's mascot - and the only card in Pitch Black to get the Mega Hyper Rare treatment - has traced a classic launch curve:
- July 1 (pre-release): A reported public sale at 750 dollars, the peak of the import-driven hype window.
- July 14: A Special Illustration Rare copy sold at auction for 392 dollars as English supply loomed.
- July 19-20: Launch-weekend copies moved at 329.99 and 340 dollars on eBay.
- Today: The SIR sits at a market price around 309 dollars - down nearly 60 percent from the pre-release peak, but still the most valuable card in the set.
That trajectory is almost identical to what Chaos Rising's Mega Greninja ex did in its first week, and it is a pattern worth internalizing: pre-release import prices are a ceiling, not a floor.
The Illustrator Premium Is Real
One notable wrinkle in Pitch Black's first week: the market is pricing cards by artist name almost as much as by Pokemon. The AKIRA EGAWA Special Illustration Rare of Mega Darkrai ex leads the set, and other illustrator-signature cards are outperforming their pull-rate expectations. Collectors who came up through the Umbreon ex era will recognize this dynamic - artist-driven chases hold value better than rarity-driven ones once supply normalizes.
Where the rest of the set stands
Beyond Darkrai, the set's six Mega Evolution ex Pokemon - Darkrai, Zeraora, Chandelure, Excadrill, Delphox, and Slowbro - give the chase real depth, and raw sales of top cards are still netting hundreds of dollars a week into release.
The Collector's Move
If you have been waiting to buy Pitch Black singles, the historical pattern says the window between week two and week four of an English release is when prices bottom, before graded copies start coming back and repricing the raw market. Sealed product remains widely available compared to the spring's shortage-plagued releases - reprint commitments appear to be holding. Buy singles patiently, and do not pay hype prices for sealed that is still on shelves.