Mega Brave
Mega Evolution
The companion set to Symphonia. Mega Brave leads with Lucario's SIR and backs it with some of the most unexpected Mega forms in the ME1 lineup — Venusaur, Latias, Absol and Kangaskhan.
Mega Brave (M1L) launched alongside Mega Symphonia on 1 August 2025 in Japan. Where Symphonia leaned into elegance and psychic energy, Brave was built around power and nature — Venusaur's botanical mass, Kangaskhan's parental fury, Latias's aerial grace. The SIR for Mega Lucario ex here is a different illustration from the MHR in Symphonia: more confrontational, more combat-ready. Brave's secondary chase pool — Latias, Absol — has attracted collectors who want pieces of the ME1 era without competing for Lucario and Gardevoir at Symphonia prices.
Chase Pulls
Atsushi Furusawa's Mega Lucario ex SIR is the combat-forward counterpart to Ryota Murayama's composed MHR. Furusawa places Lucario in a stone arena, the ground cracked beneath it, aura energy erupting outward in a circular shockwave. The darker atmosphere and more aggressive framing make this card feel like an action still rather than a portrait — for collectors who want Lucario at full power rather than at full grace, this is the version.
Ryota Murayama renders Mega Venusaur ex in a verdant jungle clearing — the enormous flower now a canopy of its own, vines spreading out across the ground in every direction. The scale is immense: the card conveys that Mega Venusaur is as much environment as Pokémon. Venusaur SIRs have historically underperformed relative to Charizard, but the ME era treatment has drawn renewed interest from collectors who felt Venusaur deserved better.
Saki Hayashiro gives Mega Latias ex a cloud-break moment — the red-and-white eon Pokémon banking through a gap in storm clouds, blue sky visible above, golden sunlight catching the wingtips. It is a gentler composition than Hayashiro's usual deep-ocean work but no less skilled: the light direction and the precise rendering of Latias's aerodynamic form are characteristic of her craft. Latias holds steady demand from the sizeable Hoenn collector demographic.
Naoki Saito's Mega Absol ex SIR is one of the most atmospheric cards in the ME1 lineup. Absol — already associated with disaster and foreshadowing — gains wings in its Mega form, and Saito depicts it against a blood-red twilight sky above a crumbling cliff edge. The composition balances menace with beauty in a way that is distinctly Saito. Absol has a devoted collector following; pricing is still settling as the EN market matures.
Yuu Nishida approaches Mega Kangaskhan ex from the angle that has always made the Pokémon resonate: the joey in the pouch, wide-eyed, looking up at the mother as she charges. Nishida's illustration makes the scale of the Mega form serve the emotional content rather than just the spectacle — the protective fury is palpable. Kangaskhan is one of the more niche Mega forms commercially, but this card has drawn consistent appreciation for its illustration quality.
Edition Notes
Mega Brave (M1L) is a 132-card Japanese print released simultaneously with Symphonia. The JP print run of Brave was slightly smaller than Symphonia's due to the more niche chase pool — Kangaskhan and Absol attract dedicated rather than broad demand. The JP SIR for Mega Lucario ex uses a completely different illustration and composition from the Symphonia MHR, making it desirable as a companion piece rather than a direct substitute.
The English Mega Evolution set (ME1) merged both JP sets into one 188-card release. All five Brave SIRs are represented in the EN set, with EN-specific numbering. Because EN boosters draw from the combined Symphonia + Brave pool, pulling a specific Brave card requires more luck than it did in the JP Brave-exclusive booster. The five SIRs from Brave are distributed across the upper end of the EN secret rare range.