Mega Rayquaza is the card everyone wants from Storm Emeralda

Storm Emeralda is out in Japan, and the first read on which cards collectors actually want is in. PokeBeach gathered prices from Japanese online stores and found one clear winner: Mega Rayquaza ex, the set's cover star, is dominating. The surprise is at the other end — Zinnia, a card many expected to be a second chase, has fallen short.

The important caveat, and PokeBeach makes it themselves: the absolute yen figures matter far less than the ratios between cards. Early prices on a Japanese release are thin, volatile and heavily influenced by how many boxes are open in week one. What they are good for is ranking demand.

What is in the set

Storm Emeralda is Japan's sixth Mega Evolution set, with 76 cards in the main set plus secret rares. Its notable mechanical addition is a new type of split Stadium card — Stadiums with two halves that behave differently depending on which player benefits.

That is the kind of design change that takes a few weeks of tournament play to evaluate. Split Stadiums complicate the usual Stadium war, where players trade Stadium cards to deny an opponent's effect, because discarding an opponent's Stadium may now cost you an effect you wanted.

The price at the top

The card in front is the gold Mega Rayquaza ex, and gold cards are the hardest thing to pull out of a Japanese set. Japanese shops are asking about 238,000 yen for it, which PokeBeach puts at roughly $1,587. That is close to what the gold Mega Darkrai ex from Abyss Eye sells for.

Two things to hold on to before that number scares you. It is a shop asking price in the first days of a set, not a settled market value. And it is for the single rarest print of the card. The ordinary version of Mega Rayquaza ex is a different card at a different price.

The Rayquaza factor

Mega Rayquaza ex leading the set is not a shock. Rayquaza is a perennial top-tier collectible independent of playability, and it also headlines Ruler of the Skies, the parallel B4 set in Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket. Running the same mascot across the physical and digital games at the same time concentrates attention, and prices follow attention.

Zinnia underperforming is the more interesting data point. Character Supporter cards are usually the reliable second pillar of a Mega Evolution set's value. A soft Zinnia suggests either that the art did not land or that supply of the full-art print is higher than collectors expected.

The English version is called Delta Reign

If you are in the United States, the name to remember is Delta Reign. It is the English version of this set, it lands on November 6, 2026, and it is led by the same Mega Rayquaza ex. Alongside it come Mega Golisopod ex, Mega Golurk ex and Mega Malamar ex.

The English release runs to 113 cards — the 76 from the Japanese main set plus 37 secret rares. So the ranking on this page holds: whatever collectors chase in Storm Emeralda is what they will chase in Delta Reign, about three months later.

Delta Reign has since been fully revealed, with prerelease events from October 24 to November 1. The detail is in our Delta Reign story.

What this means for the English release

Japanese sets are a leading indicator for the English market, but an unreliable one — print runs, distribution and the collector base all differ. The pattern worth carrying forward is the ranking, not the price: expect Mega Rayquaza ex to be the card the English release is sold on.