A New Mega Evolution Set Lands This Summer
The Pokémon Company has officially revealed Pokémon TCG: Mega Evolution — Pitch Black, the fifth English expansion in the Mega Evolution Series. The set is built around Mega Darkrai ex, and the cover art leans hard into the moody, shadow-soaked aesthetic that the name suggests. For UK collectors who've been tracking the Mega Evolution era, this is the next big drop on the calendar.
Pitch Black is the English counterpart to Japan's Abyss Eye set, which releases on 22 May 2026. As with previous Mega Evolution sets, the English version is an almost 1:1 localisation of its Japanese parent, with the same headline cards and a similar overall card pool. That means we already have a reasonable picture of what's inside, even before the full English card list goes live.
Release Date
Pitch Black releases worldwide on Friday, 17 July 2026. Prerelease events will run from 4 July to 12 July, giving players a couple of weeks of organised play before the set hits shelves. UK retailers typically follow the global street date, so expect launch-day stock to land at Argos, Smyths, Amazon UK, and the specialist retailers (Chaos Cards, Total Cards, Magic Madhouse) on the 17th.
UK preorders should start opening over the next few weeks. ETBs and booster bundles tend to sell through preorder allocations within days at the specialists, so it's worth bookmarking your retailers of choice now rather than waiting for launch week.
The Product Lineup
The Pokémon Company has confirmed Pitch Black ships with the standard Mega Evolution-era product slate. The full lineup includes:
- Booster Packs — the standard 10-card boosters, with Pitch Black artwork
- Booster Bundle — six packs, the lightweight entry point
- Booster Box — 36 packs, the box for serious openers and box-breakers
- Elite Trainer Box — nine packs, accessories, and a promo card. The ETB promo has been confirmed as a new Zarude Illustration Rare, which is a strong pull for what's normally the cheapest "guaranteed" hit in any release
- Build & Battle Box — four packs plus a 40-card prerelease deck, available from prerelease weekend onwards
- Pokémon Center Exclusive ETB — the alternate-art ETB variant, typically harder to source in the UK and usually requires either a US import or a specialist retailer with allocations
Blisters, tins, and special collections will follow in the months after launch, as has become the norm with main expansions. Those tend to drop closer to release, so we'll update this post (and the tracker) once SKUs and UK pricing are confirmed.
What's Inside the Set
Pitch Black weighs in at over 115 cards, including more than 20 Trainer cards and over 35 cards with special illustrations. By recent standards that's a smaller set, in line with Japan's Abyss Eye. Smaller sets tend to mean a tighter chase: fewer ultra rares to pull through, but each one carries more weight in the secondary market.
Featured Mega Pokémon ex
Four Mega Pokémon ex have been confirmed so far:
- Mega Darkrai ex — the cover Pokémon and the marquee chase of the set. Expect a Special Illustration Rare and a gold rare to be the headline cards collectors fight over
- Mega Zeraora ex — a fan-favourite Mythical getting its first Mega card
- Mega Chandelure ex — a striking design choice; the Special Illustration Rare here is one to watch
- Mega Excadrill ex — rounding out the Mega lineup with a heavier, ground-focused entry
The Mega Evolution mechanic itself isn't new to this set, but Pitch Black continues the Series' design pattern of pairing each Mega ex with a strong Trainer-card support package, so expect competitive ripples on top of the collector appeal.
Art Direction
Based on the Japanese reveal, Pitch Black leans into night, shadow, and dream imagery — Darkrai's natural territory. The Special Illustration Rares we've seen out of Abyss Eye are some of the most atmospheric in the Mega Evolution era, with a heavy use of negative space and moonlit palettes. If you collect for art, this is shaping up to be one of the more cohesive sets thematically.
What This Means for UK Collectors
Mega Evolution sets have been landing reliably at UK retailers, and the expectation is that Pitch Black will launch with healthy initial stock followed by the usual midweek restock pattern. Smaller card counts tend to produce more competitive secondary markets, so if you have a specific chase in mind, ETBs and booster bundles at RRP on launch week are usually the smart play. Booster boxes from specialists will sit in the £100–£115 range based on recent precedent.
Pokémon Center Exclusive ETBs are the one product that consistently frustrates UK buyers. They aren't sold direct in the UK, so plan ahead if you want one — either through a specialist with US import allocations or a trusted reseller.
Track Pitch Black Stock from Launch Day
We'll be monitoring every major UK retailer for Pitch Black ETBs, booster bundles, booster boxes, and Build & Battle stock from the moment listings go live. Set up alerts on Poké Tracker for the products you want and you'll get a notification the second they appear — no refresh-spamming required.
More details on the full English card list, secret rares, and special collections are expected in the coming weeks. We'll update this post as the official reveals continue.