Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution’s latest expansion, Ascended Heroes, recently released its immensely popular Elite Trainer Box (see in stock here). It’s been a hotly sought-after item, and there are only a few spots where you can comfortably bag one online right now.
Ascended Heroes – Elite Trainer Box
12
The current market price at TCGplayer is listed at around $104 (not including shipping). That’s a fairly significant drop from what we were seeing near the beginning of the year ($140-$165), and even better than the $120 average we were seeing across February.
Fans can only hope this doesn’t reverse in the coming weeks, and perhaps even continues to drop further. In the past three months, we’ve seen a 41.47% drop in price, with a 28.61% drop in just the past month alone.
Amazon is listing the ETB for $109.88, $10 off its Pokémon Day pricing of $119.99. If you consider delivery costs, it’s pretty neck and neck with TCGplayer right now. All things considered, I’d say both retailers are offering fairly good prices right now (if you ignore the obvious markup from MSRP).
Compare this to Phantasmal Flames, as that was settling at around $150-$200 in November last year, but gone through something of a rollarcoaster of pricing. Dropping to around $75 earlier this year, the ETB is quickly on the rise again and now sits closer to $96 after a 23.75% spike in value in just 30 days. It’s still far from its $175 high, but trending upwards again, nevertheless.
Unlike Phantasmal Flames, but more akin to Ascended Heroes, the latest upcoming set, Perfect Order, is also going through something of a price crash in recent weeks. Not only are Perfect Order Booster Bundles now available to preorder at under market rate at Amazon, but ETBs have also rapidly dropped to around $95.28, just a few weeks out from release – a 26.04% drop in just 30 days.
But that’s the price of cards on the resale market these days! I’m sure most of us are already quite used to it, even if it’s still a mega pricey.
That being said, in my opinion, you may be better off waiting for prices to come back down a bit a few months down the line, so a bit of patience may pay off if you can manage it.
I’d say anywhere around the $100 mark is a good time to buy the standard ETB, but if you can wait a few months longer, hopefully we can see these falling to around $70-$80 for Ascended Heroes as well.
Robert Anderson is IGN’s Senior Commerce Editor and resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Bluesky.
