After months of collecting madness, three Pokemon Mega Evolutions booster boxes are dropping in price
Pokémon Pitch Black, Chaos Rising, and Perfect Order booster boxes have dropped in market price, and I hope it continues.
When standard Pokémon booster boxes are selling for $100 or more above retail, something has gone wrong. That’s been the case for almost two years now, but as the 30th Celebration approaches, three recent expansions full of (in my eyes) essential Pokémon cards have dropped in price, and my hopes of normality are no longer distant dreams.
According to TCGPlayer, the market price for the Pokémon TCG Pitch Black, Chaos Rising, and Perfect Order booster boxes are all trending down. While the latest expansion is just above the $200 mark, both of the other sets are now below it, with Perfect Order almost reaching the retail price.
I expected the latest set to hold its value for longer. It’s the newest expansion and includes several desirable Pitch Black chase cards, yet prices have fallen sharply since release. Pre-release listings for the Mega Darkrai ex SIR reached around $600, but the card now sells closer to $300, and that’s for the English version. It’s still the main hit of the expansion, alongside the Mega Hyper Rare version in second place, but then it’s the sealed products like booster boxes and the Pokémon Center ETB.
TCGPlayer’s market data tells the story, as all three consecutive Mega Evolutions sets have dropped in price, according to booster box sales figures on TCGPlayer. Pitch Black has dropped by around 28%, falling from roughly $300 to just above $200. Chaos Rising peaked at around $270 before falling steadily to roughly $193. Perfect Order saw a recent high of $225-$230 since release, but is now sitting around $173.
Why are these dropping in price suddenly? Well, I don’t think the bubble has popped - recent queues for Pokémon Center prove the excitement is still there. One possible explanation is that collectors are holding back spending ahead of Pokémon 30th Celebration pre-orders.
The major chases aren’t the defining Pokémon cards, either. Darkrai and Greninja are fairly popular, but they’re not Charizard, Pikachu or Umbreon. Even with an adorable Meowth SIR, Perfect Order is still dropping, and personally, I think that's excellent. The closer they get to retail price, the happier I am.
I don’t believe things will get easier over night, but I think the 30th Celebration release could potentially be a turning point. Based on the Pokémon Center drop for the upcoming set, it could be printed heavily, meaning that the products could get into more hands for collectors, which could lead less to rely on resellers and scalpers.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the next Pokémon set after that, once Delta Reign releases in November. Admittedly, it is a Rayquaza-led expansion - one of the most popular legendary Pokémon - but if a similar drop in value occurs, we could be seeing a promising future.
It’s too early to say the sealed market has fully recovered, but three consecutive Mega Evolutions sets moving closer to retail price is one of the clearest signs yet that supply may finally be catching up with demand. After almost two years of inflated prices, that’s encouraging for collectors.
