Pitch Black Card List and Chase Cards

Most Mega Evolution sets took weeks for presale premiums to burn off. Pitch Black did it in a weekend. Cards listed at $170 on Thursday were fairly priced at $65 by Sunday. That speed matters if you're collecting in Australia, where shipping lag from US sellers usually means you're buying into a market that's already moved.

Below is the full Pitch Black card list and chase card breakdown, organised by the tiers that actually determine whether you came out ahead.

What Is Pitch Black?

Pitch Black is the fifth expansion of the Mega Evolution era, released July 17, 2026. It adapts Japan's Abyss Eye expansion (released May 22, 2026). If you followed the Japanese set, we covered that release in the Abyss Eye card list.

The set contains 120 cards with 36 secret rares. Mega Darkrai ex headlines everything. The set name points straight at it, and almost everything worth real money sits in the Darkrai tier or just below it.

Six Mega Evolution Pokemon ex appear in the set: Mega Darkrai ex, Mega Zeraora ex, Mega Chandelure ex, Mega Excadrill ex, Mega Delphox ex, and Mega Slowbro ex.

Full Pitch Black Card List: Rarity Breakdown

The 120 cards break down across eight rarity tiers:

That's 84 cards in the main set and 36 secret rares (everything from Ultra Rare upward).

English-Exclusive Changes

The English version isn't a straight port of Abyss Eye. Three cards were added from Japanese Gym promo sets: Mega Delphox ex (008), Mega Slowbro ex (031), and Jett (079). Zarude's Illustration Rare was cut from the main set and became the Elite Trainer Box promo instead.

Those additions are worth noting for collectors tracking across both languages. Mega Delphox ex and Mega Slowbro ex bring the Mega count to six, and Jett adds a trainer card that Japanese collectors had to source separately.

Pull Rates: What Are the Odds?

These are Mega Evolution era averages from community data, not Pitch Black-specific samples (no large dataset exists yet for this set):

A single booster box (36 packs) gives you reasonable odds at an Illustration Rare and a decent shot at an Ultra Rare. For SIRs, you're looking at roughly 14 to 17 booster boxes on average before one appears. For the Mega Hyper Rare, 28 to 50 boxes.

For a deeper look at the maths behind these numbers, check out our Pitch Black pull rates guide.

The Top Chase Cards in Pitch Black

Not all 36 secret rares hold their value. The average tracked card value sits at approximately $12.36. That average gets dragged down hard by the bottom of the secret rare pool. The cards worth chasing cluster into three distinct tiers.

Tier 1: The Darkrai Pair

Mega Darkrai ex SIR (116/084) is the most valuable card in Pitch Black, trading around $307. It corrected from a presale high near $390 but remains the clear centrepiece. Illustrated by AKIRA EGAWA.

Mega Darkrai ex MHR (120/084) is the rarest card in the set by pull rate. Despite that, it trades below the SIR in actual completed sales. This pattern has held across the entire Mega Evolution era: art-driven SIRs consistently beat the gold stamp of the same Pokemon. Always check completed sales before buying the MHR, as listing prices often sit well above what people actually pay.

Tier 2: The Surprises

Morpeko ex landed as the second most valuable card in the set. Nobody expected that before launch. In a set defined by Darkrai, a small electric hamster is outpacing every other chase card below the headliner.

Gwynn SIR (119/084) is illustrated by Naoki Saito. New character plus legendary artist is a proven appreciation formula. Early buyers of Saito Supporter SIRs have consistently come out ahead across previous sets.

Misty's Vitality UR (111/084) is carrying a UR well above its rarity tier, entirely on the reputation of illustrator En Morikura.

Tier 3: Budget Secret Rares

Some secret rares like Slowbro and Goldeen still trade under $25 despite their rarity. These are the cards that make the $12.36 average misleading. Pulling a secret rare from Pitch Black does not guarantee you've covered the cost of your box. It depends entirely on which tier you land in.

For full price rankings, see our Pitch Black most valuable cards breakdown.

The Artist Tier: Why Three Names Move Markets

Three illustrators in a single 120-card set each commanding premiums above what their rarity tier would normally dictate. That concentration is unusual.

AKIRA EGAWA illustrated the Mega Darkrai ex SIR. She has credits on over a dozen $100+ cards across Pokemon and One Piece, including Charizard ex from Ruler of the Black Flame and Arceus & Giratina VSTAR from Crown Zenith. Collectors are building binders dedicated to her work alone.

Naoki Saito drew Gwynn (119/084). The combination of a brand-new Legends: Z-A character and one of the hobby's most collected illustrators makes the Gwynn SIR the most interesting speculative hold in the set.

En Morikura illustrated Misty's Vitality (111/084). Having three illustrators of this calibre land in the same set is rare, and the market priced it in from day one.

If you're buying singles rather than ripping packs, artist reputation is a better predictor of where Pitch Black cards end up than rarity symbols.

How the Pitch Black Market Corrected

The first weekend after Pitch Black launched told the whole story. Cards that were speculative at $170 corrected to $65. The Mega Darkrai ex SIR dropped from around $390 presale to roughly $307. That correction, which usually takes weeks across other Mega Evolution sets, compressed into days.

For Australian buyers, the takeaway is straightforward. Presale pricing on chase singles from new sets carries a premium that evaporates fast. The Mega Darkrai SIR held more of its value than mid-tier cards (dropping roughly 21% versus 60%+ for some others), but nothing escaped the correction entirely.

The MHR vs SIR dynamic reinforces the pattern. The gold Mega Hyper Rare is objectively rarer, but art-driven SIRs have beaten the gold stamp of the same Pokemon across the Mega Evolution era. Rarity alone doesn't set the floor. Collector demand does, and collector demand follows artists.

For the best prices on Pitch Black sealed product, compare live deals on CardTracker. And if you're tracking chase cards across the broader Mega Evolution era, the Ascended Heroes chase cards guide covers the wider picture.