MEGA Dream ex
Ascended Heroes
A collector's dream printed on cardstock. MEGA Dream ex stacked its entire lineup with icon Pokémon at their most spectacular — Pikachu, Gengar, Dragonite and Charizard Y all sharing a single set for the first time.
MEGA Dream ex (M2A) was the mid-cycle release positioned between Inferno X and Nullifying Zero, and it functioned exactly as the name suggests: a greatest-hits album for the Mega Evolution era. Japan got it on 28 November 2025 — squarely in holiday season — and it immediately became the best-selling Mega set by single-pack volume. The English edition, Ascended Heroes, arrived 30 January 2026 with an expanded 217-card roster (vs. 180 in JP), adding a secondary wave of SIR and UR slots. Mega Gengar ex SIR set a new price record for the ME era within its first week on the secondary market, briefly nudging £1,000 EN before settling. Collectors debate whether this or the Inferno X / Mega Charizard X represents the more significant pull — the answer tends to depend on whether you grew up with Generation I or Generation III.
Chase Pulls
The card that made grown adults panic-buy booster boxes. Atsushi Furusawa renders Mega Gengar in a cathedral of shadows — an enormous silhouette looming over a fog-shrouded Victorian town, with a Jack-o-lantern glow emanating from its third eye. The composition is almost entirely black and deep violet, broken only by the amber streetlamps below. It is, by collector consensus, one of the most visually striking SIRs in the entire Scarlet & Violet era. Its price reflects this: it has never dropped below £500 JP or £800 EN since release.
Pikachu ex SIR in ME2.5 is a different beast from the SV8 version — warmer, more intimate. 5ban Graphics places Pikachu mid-thunder, crackling with electricity against a storm-lit sky, but the scale is human: you feel the heat, not the spectacle. The holographic layer uses a prismatic scatter pattern not seen in earlier sets. As Pikachu SIRs go this is among the most sought-after of the Mega era.
Naoki Saito is responsible for some of the most beloved alt-arts in Pokémon TCG history, and Mega Dragonite ex is a continuation of that tradition. The artwork shows Dragonite at cruising altitude above a sunlit ocean, wings outstretched in a posture that reads as both powerful and peaceful. The card's price has tracked close to Pikachu ex despite Dragonite's arguably superior artwork — a reflection of the franchise gap between the two characters rather than any difference in quality.
Mega Charizard Y takes flight in an inferno-drenched sky, wings spread to their full span with the aerial grace the Y form was designed for. This is the counterpart to the Inferno X SIR — where Charizard X was grounded and imposing, Y is all motion and heat. Ryo Ueda's use of deep orange gradients with gold trim makes this one of the warmest-toned cards in the set. Price data is still being established as the market settles post-release.
Edition Notes
MEGA Dream ex (M2A) is a 180-card Japanese set released during the holiday window of November 2025. The JP print run was higher than typical Mega releases due to anticipated demand — Pikachu, Gengar and Charizard Y in the same set guaranteed retail attention. The JP holo finish on the Gengar SIR is widely regarded as one of the most striking in the ME era: the near-black palette reads very differently under the thinner JP holo layer compared to EN, with more pronounced iridescence at certain angles.
Ascended Heroes (ME2.5) expanded the JP 180-card base to 217 EN cards with additional SIR and UR tier inclusions. EN release on 30 January 2026 came with the typical EN premium on secret rares — EN Mega Gengar ex SIR briefly traded above £1,000 before settling. EN card numbering diverges significantly past card 180. The expanded roster adds secondary SIR alt-arts not available in JP, giving EN collectors unique options alongside the shared centrepiece pulls.