The Best Pokémon Cards Aren’t the Ones Everyone’s Buying
While collectors chase Pitch Black, the biggest opportunities are hiding in last season’s binder.
Everyone wants to pull Mega Darkrai, but the market keeps whispering to buy something else.
Pitch Black officially launches July 17, with prereleases already underway, and the Pokémon TCG community has spent the past week obsessing over one card after another.
Meanwhile, the market quietly handed collectors a shopping list.
According to Collectrics, more than 40 Special Illustration Rares are currently trading below their estimated fair value, meaning the model believes the market has overcorrected while everyone’s attention shifted to the newest release.
That’s not panic. That’s opportunity.
📉 Last Week’s Biggest Discount: N’s Zoroark ex
If you’re looking for the widest gap between price and value, N’s Zoroark ex Special Illustration Rare from Ascended Heroes currently sits at the top of the board.
The card is trading around $180.95, while Collectrics estimates a fair value closer to $239.91—a discount of nearly 33%.
It’s not alone.
Several of Ascended Heroes’ biggest chase cards continue showing similar pricing:
Iono’s Bellibolt ex is carrying nearly a 60% discount versus estimated fair value.
Steven’s Metagross ex remains below model pricing.
Mega Scrafty and Mega Meganium continue to appear across the discount rankings.
It’s the same supply cycle we’ve seen over and over.
Collectors rip enormous amounts of product during release.
Singles flood the market.
Prices overshoot to the downside.
Then, months later, scarcity begins doing the heavy lifting.
Sometimes the best buying opportunities arrive after everyone stops opening packs.
📈 Last Week’s Biggest Movers: Black Bolt & White Flare
While older chase cards slipped into discount territory, demand poured into the newest Illustration Rares.
Collectrics showed a wave of “Surging” demand across Black Bolt and White Flare.
Among the biggest movers:
Krokorok IR surged nearly 187% in demand pressure.
Sawk IR climbed more than 126%.
Pansear IR doubled its demand reading.
Pidove IR continued gaining both demand and price simultaneously.
None of these are thousand-dollar grails.
That’s exactly why they’re interesting.
Collectors love affordable Illustration Rares.
Lower entry prices attract more buyers, listings disappear faster, and prices can move much more aggressively than high-end cards.
For once...
The casino odds aren’t entirely against you.
🔒 The Heavyweights Didn’t Blink
At the top end of the hobby, almost nothing changed.
Umbreon ex from Prismatic Evolutions remained comfortably above $1,400.
Mew ex from Paldean Fates continued hovering near $1,000.
Mega Dragonite ex barely moved at all.
That’s usually a healthy sign.
When trophy-level cards trade sideways despite new releases grabbing headlines, it often means the available supply is locked inside long-term collections rather than bouncing between flippers.
Collectors aren’t rushing for the exits.
They’re holding.
🎯 The Pitch Black Playbook
This is where patience becomes an investment strategy.
Japan already showed us what typically happens.
Cards from Abyss Eye, the Japanese counterpart to Pitch Black, debuted with eye-popping prices before gradually sliding lower as supply entered the market.
History says English releases usually follow the same script.
That creates two very different trades.
Trade No. 1: Look at discounted Ascended Heroes Special Illustration Rares while attention is focused elsewhere.
Trade No. 2: Resist chasing Pitch Black singles during launch week and let the market do what it almost always does—flood itself with inventory.
The hardest move in collecting isn’t buying.
It’s waiting.
🎴 One More Thing...
Collectors chasing sealed product should also keep an eye on the newest anniversary store promos.
The recently revealed Primarina, Zarude, and Armarouge promos feature the 30th Anniversary “What’s Your Favorite?” stamp and continue Pokémon’s anniversary promotional rollout.
Free promotional cards tied to purchase thresholds have a habit of becoming far more desirable a few years down the road than they seem on release weekend.
History has been pretty consistent there.
🌑 Final Thoughts
Every new Pokémon set creates the same illusion.
The newest cards feel like the only cards worth owning.
But the market has a funny habit of rewarding patience instead of excitement.
Right now, the loudest headlines belong to Pitch Black.
The best values may belong to Ascended Heroes.
Sometimes the smartest collector isn’t the one ripping the newest packs.
It’s the one quietly buying yesterday’s chase cards while everyone else is standing in line.
This is not financial advice. Always do your own research before buying or selling collectibles.
— The Bandicoots 🎴🌑