Pitch Black Pull Rates & Pack Odds (2026)

What Is Pitch Black?

Pitch Black is the English-language Pokémon TCG set releasing on 17 July 2026, based on the Japanese set Abyss Eye (M5). It continues the Mega Evolution Series celebrating the Mega Pokémon from Pokémon Legends: Z-A — and Mega Darkrai ex is the undisputed headliner. Prerelease events run at local game stores from 4 July, with the cards becoming tournament-legal on 31 July.

Like Perfect Order and Chaos Rising earlier in 2026, Pitch Black is a small-sized regular set adapted mostly from a single Japanese set. The base set is 81 cards, with secret rares extending the numbering up to 118/081 — a modest size that keeps the chase pool tight for collectors hunting the Special Illustration Rare Mega Darkrai ex.

Beyond Darkrai, Pitch Black introduces Mega Zeraora ex, Mega Chandelure ex, and Mega Excadrill ex, with two further Mega Evolutions expected (likely Mega Slowbro and Mega Delphox). Competitively, the set brings the Hide 'n' Sneak archetype led by Sinistcha, whose Ghostly Hiding ability sidesteps some of Standard's most powerful effects, plus Mega Excadrill ex as a heavy multi-Prize attacker.

Box Contents & Pack Structure

Pitch Black is available in the standard English retail formats:

• Booster Box — 36 packs per box, 10 cards per pack
• Booster Bundle — 6 packs per bundle, 10 cards per pack
• Elite Trainer Box — 9 packs plus accessories
• Single packs & blisters — 10 cards per pack (Slowpoke single pack blister)

Each 10-card pack contains commons, uncommons, a reverse holo slot, and a rare slot. The rare slot determines your hit — it can be a regular Rare (R), an ex, an IR, UR, SIR, or MHR, and a minority of packs deliver a shiny/holo energy insert instead. Not every pack guarantees an ex. In our 753-pack sample, about 53.4% of packs yielded only a regular Rare in the rare slot.

The Pokémon Company International has confirmed the set's full-art breakdown:

• 6 Mega Evolution Pokémon ex
• 4 Pokémon ex
• 11 Illustration Rare Pokémon
• 18 Ultra Rare Pokémon and Trainer cards
• 6 Special Illustration Rare Pokémon and Supporter cards

Sample breakdown

Our own 117 packs were opened across seven sessions in two rounds — including two complete 36-pack booster boxes:

• Round 1 — 31 packs (four early sessions): 8 ex (incl. Mega Chandelure ex), Mega Chandelure ex SIR, 3 IRs (Dhelmise, Manectric, Bastiodon), 1 UR trainer (Heroic Bomb)
• Round 2, Box 1 — 36 packs (full box): 9 ex, 4 IRs (Silvally, Goldeen, Dhelmise, Toucannon), 1 UR trainer (Brave Bangle), and the gold Mega Darkrai ex MHR (118/081), plus 3 shiny energy
• Round 2, Box 2 — 14 packs (partial): 3 ex, 2 IRs (Manectric, Bastiodon), 2 shiny energy
• Round 2, Box 3 — 36 packs (full box): 9 ex, 4 IRs (Silvally, Slowbro, Toucannon, Armarouge), 2 full art cards, 2 shiny energy

We've folded in three community openings (636 packs) to broaden the total pool to 753 packs and roughly 21 boxes:

• Community box — 36 packs (full box): ~9 ex (Mega Delphox, Mega Zeraora, Wailord, Mega Slowbro, Mega Excadrill), 5 IRs (Toucannon, Fomantis, Goldeen, Slowbro, Feebas), 2 full arts (Morpeko ex, Misty trainer), and the coveted Mega Darkrai ex SIR (114/081) — the set's top chase, pulled from a single box
• Community opening — 100 packs (~2.8 boxes): ~25 ex (a run of Mega Chandelure ex), ~11 IRs (Fomantis, Slowbro, Goldeen, Armarouge), 3 full arts (Brave Bangle, Mega Darkrai ex UR, Rampardos), ~5 shiny energy — and notably zero SIRs and zero golds across all 100 packs
• Community opening — 500 packs (~14 boxes): a fast three-person group open framed entirely around the Mega Darkrai ex "Dark Cry" chase. ex landed every few packs (Wailord ex full art by far the most repeated), IRs were plentiful (a flood of Armarouge; Manectric IR chased all video and only appeared late), energies pulled as rares throughout, and about four SIRs showed up (Misty, Gladion's Final Battle, Mega Chandelure ex) — but zero Mega Darkrai ex SIR and zero gold MHR. Two rogue error packs (one Chaos Rising, one Crimson Invasion) also slipped into the 500, a reminder that foreign/older packs and collation oddities do escape into English product

Pull Rate Data: 753 Packs

This section reflects a combined sample of 753 packs — our own 117 counted packs plus three community openings (636 packs), spanning roughly 21 booster boxes. The ex and IR cadences are firmly established: every full box hit ~9 ex and 4–5 IRs, and the 500-pack run confirmed the same hit-heavy rhythm. The SIR picture is now well-sampled too — one community box hit the Mega Darkrai ex SIR itself, while a 100-pack opening and a 500-pack opening produced no Darkrai SIR at all, which is exactly the variance you should expect on a specific chase card. The 500-pack figures are apportioned by observed cadence for the volume tiers (ex, IR, UR, energy, regular Rare), with its SIR and MHR counts taken directly from the video, so treat the sub-percent rows as indicative. We will keep updating this guide as more box and case data comes in.

Combined sample — 753 packs (our 117 + 636 community, ~21 boxes)

*SIR and MHR rates rest on a handful of pulls even across 753 packs — statistically shaky despite including a live Mega Darkrai ex SIR and the gold MHR. Any SIR lands roughly once every 3–4 boxes on this sample, but a specific SIR like Darkrai is far rarer (once in ~21 boxes here), and the MHR is rarer still. The 500-pack contribution is apportioned by observed cadence for the volume tiers; its SIR and MHR are counted directly from the video, which is why those two rows are exact and the ex/IR/energy/Rare rows are approximate (~).

Named notable pulls

• IRs identified: Silvally, Toucannon, Dhelmise, Slowbro, Goldeen, Fomantis, Manectric, Bastiodon, Armarouge, Feebas — 10 of the 11 IRs in the set now seen; Armarouge is the most frequently pulled by a wide margin
• SIRs: Mega Chandelure ex, Misty, Gladion's Final Battle, and Mega Darkrai ex (114/081) — the set's top chase, pulled from a single community box (and from a single box only, despite ~21 boxes opened)
• MHR: gold Mega Darkrai ex (118/081) — pulled once (our Round 2, Box 1); the rarest card in the set
• UR trainers / full art: Heroic Bomb, Brave Bangle, Misty's Vitality, Iron Defender, Crushing Hammer, Morpeko ex, Mega Darkrai ex UR, Rampardos, Wailord ex (the most repeated hit in the 500-pack run), plus others
• The variance in one stat: one box hit the Darkrai SIR, while a 100-pack opening and a separate 500-pack opening both hit no Darkrai SIR and no gold at all

Key findings

• Hit rate: 41.0% of packs had an ex or better across 753 packs — remarkably consistent, and each full box landed roughly 15 hits (~42%)
• ex cadence: ~1 ex per 4 packs, and about 9 ex in every full box we have data on — a reliable ~9 per box, confirmed by the 500-pack run
• IR cadence: ~1 IR per 9 packs, and 4–5 IRs per full box — a dependable ~4 per box
• SIR / MHR: ~6 SIRs (including one Darkrai SIR) and 1 MHR in 753 packs — any SIR lands roughly 1 per 3–4 boxes, but the Darkrai SIR specifically landed just once in ~21 boxes and both a 100- and 500-pack run hit zero
• Shiny energy: ~5–6% of packs deliver a shiny/holo energy insert (~2 per box) — a minor but frequent bonus; energies are rares in this set

Three Full Boxes, Box by Box

We now have data on three full 36-pack booster boxes opened end to end — our own two, plus one community box. All three produced an almost identical ex/IR spine — a good sign that Pitch Black's ex and IR cadence is tight and predictable — while the premium hits landed unpredictably: a gold MHR in one, the Darkrai SIR in another, nothing in the third.

Box 1 (ours) landed the gold Mega Darkrai ex MHR — the single best card you can pull from Pitch Black — inside a completely ordinary-looking box. Box 3 (ours) was the "baseline" box: the same 9 ex and 4 IR spine, an extra full art, but no SIR or MHR. The community box was the "goated box" — it pulled the Mega Darkrai ex SIR (114/081), the primary chase, alongside a slightly hot 5 IRs and two full arts. That's the honest picture of opening this set — a steady, predictable stream of ex and IRs, with the premium chase cards being genuine lightning-in-a-bottle luck that lands in maybe one box out of several.

Rarity Breakdown

*Across 753 packs we saw ~6 SIRs (Mega Chandelure ex, Misty, Gladion's Final Battle, and one Mega Darkrai ex SIR) and 1 gold MHR — but both a 100-pack and a 500-pack run hit no Darkrai SIR and no gold. These premium tiers are lucky hits, not repeatable cadences. Estimate the MHR as rarer than SIR, and the Darkrai SIR specifically as ~1 in 21 boxes on this sample.

The Chase Cards: Mega Darkrai ex SIR & MHR Odds

Pitch Black has a clear chase hierarchy driven almost entirely by Mega Darkrai ex. The Japanese versions of these cards are the most valuable in Abyss Eye by a wide margin, and AKIRA EGAWA's Special Illustration Rare artwork has made it one of the most talked-about chase cards since Arceus and Giratina VSTAR in Crown Zenith. Across 753 packs (~21 boxes), both premium Darkrai cards have shown up exactly once: we pulled the gold MHR in one of our boxes, and a community box coughed up the Mega Darkrai ex SIR (114/081). But both a 100-pack run and a 500-pack run — the latter framed entirely around hunting the "Dark Cry" — hit neither, the clearest reminder that these are lightning strikes, not a cadence. The table below covers the most sought-after cards with approximate pre-release market prices.

The "God Pack" Report: An All-Gold Error Pack?

A photo recently circulated on Reddit (r/PokemonTCG) of a pack a young collector reportedly pulled at their local card store — a so-called "god pack" said to be filled entirely with gold cards instead of the usual commons, uncommons, and single rare slot. If genuine, it would be one of the most valuable single packs imaginable: the gold Mega Darkrai ex MHR alone carries a ~$498 price tag, so a full pack of golds would be an extraordinary hit.

It comes with heavy caveats. Many commenters believe it is a printing or collation error — or possibly a fake — rather than an intended rarity, and no official "god pack" mechanic is known for the English Mega Evolution Series. We pulled nothing close to it across our 753 packs, and it is not reflected anywhere in the pull-rate math above. Treat it as an unverified one-off anecdote, not a repeatable outcome.

That said, error and god packs are a real phenomenon in the hobby — Japanese sets have long produced all-SR/UR god packs, and genuine misprints do escape the printing line — so the possibility that this is a real error pack can't be dismissed outright. If it is authentic, it's lightning-strike collation luck, not something to plan a purchase around. See the original Reddit thread for the photo and discussion.

Competitive cards to watch

Pitch Black doesn't bring a must-play Trainer staple, but it introduces a couple of exciting archetypes:

• Sinistcha (Hide 'n' Sneak): its Ghostly Hiding ability prevents all effects of attacks and Abilities from the opponent's Pokémon (damage is not an effect) — sidestepping Dragapult ex's Phantom Dive, Munkidori's Adrena-Brain, and Dusknoir's Cursed Blast. Attacks that scale with Hide 'n' Sneak Pokémon in the discard let the deck deal heavy damage while giving up only one Prize per turn.
• Mega Excadrill ex (063/081): the set's most impressive multi-Prize attacker — it can one-shot the ubiquitous Dragapult ex, though it gets one-shot back by Blaziken ex.

Should You Open or Buy Singles?

Open if:

• You enjoy the pack-opening experience and are comfortable with the variance (over half of packs yield only a regular Rare)
• You want to build toward the full set including regulars, reverse holos, and IRs
• You want the consistent ex and IR experience — all three full boxes delivered ~9 ex and 4–5 IRs, a dependable pull frequency
• You want to try for the Mega Chandelure, Zeraora, or accessible Darkrai UR full arts — and dream on the SIR/MHR jackpot that landed in two of our three counted boxes (but never in the 100-pack or 500-pack runs)

Buy singles if:

• You specifically want Mega Darkrai ex SIR (114/081) or the gold MHR (118/081) — even though both have been pulled once in our 753-pack sample, a 100-pack run and a 500-pack run hit neither, and the expected cost to pull either through opening boxes far exceeds the single card price
• You want any specific SIR: with 6 SIRs in the set and each landing roughly once every several boxes, targeting one specifically through opening is extremely expensive
• You want competitive singles like Sinistcha or Mega Excadrill ex — buy them directly rather than chasing through packs

The numbers on chasing Mega Darkrai ex SIR

• Observed premium hits: ~6 SIRs (incl. one Darkrai SIR) and 1 MHR across 753 packs (~21 boxes) — but the Darkrai SIR appeared just once, and a 100-pack and a 500-pack stretch each hit zero, showing how uneven it is
• Estimated rate: any SIR roughly 1 per 3–4 boxes; the Darkrai SIR specifically ~1 in 21 boxes on this sample, and the MHR rarer still
• Number of SIRs in set: 6 — odds of hitting specifically the Darkrai SIR are very roughly 1 in 20–30+ boxes
• At ~$289 per booster box, chasing Darkrai SIR (~$409) or the gold MHR (~$498) through opening costs many multiples of the single
• Buying the single is the clear choice for the top two Darkrai cards

The honest bottom line: Pitch Black is a solid opening product if you enjoy the experience — all three counted boxes delivered a reliable ~9 ex and 4–5 IRs, one coughed up the gold Mega Darkrai ex MHR, and another hit the Mega Darkrai ex SIR. But those premium cards were luck, not math: a 100-pack run and a 500-pack run each hit neither, over half of packs yield only a regular Rare, and the two headline Darkrai cards sit at $400–500. This still isn't a product where the odds favour chasing the top cards through opening. Our data now spans 753 packs and ~21 boxes — check back as we add larger case samples.

Buy Pitch Black on TCGPlayer

Frequently Asked Questions

When does Pitch Black release?

Pitch Black releases in English on 17 July 2026. Prerelease events run at local game stores from 4 July, and the cards become tournament-legal on 31 July. It is the English localisation of the Japanese set Abyss Eye (M5) in the Mega Evolution Series.

How rare is the Mega Darkrai ex from Pitch Black?

The Mega Darkrai ex SIR (114/081) is the set's primary chase. Across our 753-pack sample (~21 boxes) it was pulled exactly once, from a single community box, while a 100-pack run and a 500-pack run each pulled zero. With 6 SIRs in the set and any SIR landing roughly once every 3–4 boxes, the odds of hitting the Darkrai SIR specifically are very roughly 1 in 20–30+ booster boxes. More accessible Mega Darkrai ex versions exist too — the UR full art (099/081) sits around $18 — while the gold Master Hyper Rare (118/081, ~$498) is rarer still, also pulled just once in 753 packs. At ~$289 per box, buying the SIR single (~$409) is far cheaper than chasing it through packs.

Pitch Black vs Chaos Rising — which has better pull rates?

Pitch Black delivers a steady ~9 standard ex and ~4–5 IRs per 36-pack box, with 41.0% of packs yielding an ex or better across our 753-pack sample — a consistent, hit-heavy opening product. Its premium SIR/MHR chase cards are pure variance (one box hit the Darkrai SIR, while a 100-pack and a 500-pack run hit none). For the full box-by-box comparison, see our Chaos Rising pull rates guide and line up the ex, IR, and SIR cadences side by side.

Does every Pitch Black pack have an ex?

No. From our 753-pack sample, about 53.4% of packs yielded only a regular Rare in the rare slot — no ex or above. This is typical for English SV-era products. Expect roughly 1 ex hit per 4 packs on average, or ~9 per full box.

Has the Mega Darkrai ex SIR and gold MHR actually been pulled?

Yes — both. We pulled the gold Mega Darkrai ex MHR (118/081), the rarest card in the set, once in our first complete box, and a community box in our wider sample pulled the Mega Darkrai ex SIR (114/081), the primary chase. That said, both hits sit inside a 753-pack sample that also includes a 100-pack opening and a 500-pack opening which produced neither — so treat them as luck, not a repeatable cadence.

Is the Pitch Black "god pack" of all gold cards real?

A photo of an all-gold "god pack" reportedly pulled at a local card store has circulated on Reddit, but it is unverified and widely suspected to be a printing/collation error or a fake. No official god-pack mechanic is known for English Mega Evolution sets, and we saw nothing like it across our 753 packs — so it is not part of our pull-rate math. It remains a possibility worth noting, since genuine error packs do exist (a 500-pack opening in our sample even surfaced two rogue foreign packs), but it isn't something to factor into normal pull-rate expectations. See the original thread for the photo.

How does Pitch Black compare to Abyss Eye (Japanese)?

Pitch Black is the English localisation of Abyss Eye (M5) with the same core card pool. Japanese and English packs differ in structure — Japanese packs have 5 cards each versus 10 for English — so pull rates per pack are not directly comparable. See our Abyss Eye pull rates guide for the Japanese box data.

What is the MHR (Master Hyper Rare) in Pitch Black?

The Master Hyper Rare is the gold Mega Darkrai ex (118/081) — the alternate full-art version of the set's headliner, with a pre-release market price around $498 USD. It is the rarest pull in the set. We pulled exactly one across our 753-pack sample (~21 boxes), which is a lucky result at this rarity tier.

How reliable is this sample now?

It's much stronger than our first update. 753 packs — including three fully counted 36-pack boxes plus a 500-pack community opening — pins down the ex cadence (~9/box) and IR cadence (~4/box) with confidence, since every full box matched closely. The SIR, UR, and MHR figures still rest on relatively few pulls, and the large community counts are estimated from video openings (apportioned by observed cadence for the volume tiers), so treat those as indicative. We'll expand the guide with case-level data as it becomes available.

Is Mega Excadrill ex good for competitive play?

Mega Excadrill ex (063/081) is the set's standout multi-Prize attacker — its attack can one-shot the ubiquitous Dragapult ex. The catch is that it gets one-shot in return by Blaziken ex, which has been showing up in Dragapult decks as a backup attacker. It's worth watching as the English meta develops.

Disclaimer: Pull rates are community estimates from 753 packs (~21 boxes), combining our own openings with three large community videos including a 500-pack opening — a growing sample, though sub-percent rates remain uncertain and the largest opening is apportioned by observed cadence rather than counted card-by-card. All prices are estimates — verify current prices before buying or selling. This is not financial advice.