It’s common for Japanese Pokémon cards to be expensive before the English version releases - it happens with every expansion - Ascended Heroes, Pitch Black, Phantasmal, and so on. However, it’s usually a good indication of what Western collectors will want when it finally releases, and well, Pokémon Delta Reign’s best chase isn’t exactly shocking.
Typically, we’d only wait a few months for a Japanese Pokémon set to join our English collections - that’s not the case with Pokémon TCG’s Delta Reign expansion, which doesn’t launch until November - months behind Storm Emeralda’s Japanese release. Storm Emeralda is already available, and despite a variety of prices for its chases, the Mega Rayquaza ex SIR clearly dominates.
In the UK, eBay sales for the SIR (known as an SAR with Japan releases) will cost you around £450-600, while listings on the US marketplace have sold for north of $600 - some have even sold for nearly $1,000. For reference, the Mega Gengar ex SAR from Pokémon Ascended Heroes was selling for around $1,000 when Japan’s Mega Dream ex launched late last year.
This isn’t surprising, really. Rayquaza is a fairly popular legendary, and it’s a vibrant, awesome take of the Generation 3 dragon. It’s also been a while since the last similar Rayquaza card was released, with a gorgeous Rayquaza VMAX that remains one of Evolving Skies’ most expensive cards (yes, the same set that gave us Moonbreon).
However, it’s hard not to think the delay may be having some effect on the price. The Pokémon 30th Celebration release date is happening the same day worldwide for all collectors, so English Pokémon TCG fans need to wait just under three months to get Delta Reign. That classic FOMO is making the wait feel even more stretched out than usual, which is likely playing a part in the sporadic pricing as well as the expensive sales.
Personally, I’m mainly after Pokémon Delta Reign’s Kyogre - I’m a man of simple needs.
It does leave me wondering what the pricing will be when Pokémon’s 30th anniversary set finally releases. Usually, Japan’s version gives us a good indication of what to expect. We don’t have that this time, and until it launches in September, we have no real way of knowing what will dominate the secondary market. We’ll all be guessing and watching it unfold in real time - but, admittedly, Japan will get it a few hours early due to timezone shenanigans.
We’ll be covering both expansions as they release in English, so make sure to sign up to our newsletters above to be kept up-to-date.
