Ascended Heroes: every tracked card got cheaper in a month, and every PSA 10 count grew

Ascended Heroes released on 30 January 2026, and on this site's 15 September read it held the two most valuable cards of the Mega Evolution era. Over the month to mid-October two things happened to the twelve Ascended Heroes cards this site tracks with population reads, and they happened to all twelve: every one got cheaper, and every one got more common in PSA 10. This note sets the two side by side. It is a description of a month, not a call on the next one.

Pikachu ex #276Ascended Heroesopen →

Mega Gengar ex #284Ascended Heroesopen →

Mega Dragonite ex #290Ascended Heroesopen →

Mega Feraligatr ex #274Ascended Heroesopen →

Why now

Two reads landed together. BetterPop published a new build of its PSA population data on 8 October, and this site added it as a second dated population read for all 302 tracked cards, 29 days after the first (BetterPop's 9 September build). And TCGplayer's seller blog price-trend report of 13 October, which counts near-mint sales between 7 September and 6 October, put five Ascended Heroes cards among its ten largest price drops: Pikachu ex 276/217 down $110.87 to $877.35, Mega Dragonite ex 290/217 down $101.40 to $506.15, Mega Gengar ex 269/217, Mega Diancie ex 282/217 and Mega Eelektross ex 278/217. Their window and method differ from this site's, so their figures and the ones below do not match to the dollar; they agree on direction.

The twelve cards

TCGplayer market price, near mint, via PokemonPriceTracker: the catalog's read of 9 September, the day of the first population build, against a fresh read on 13 October. PSA 10 population from BetterPop's 9 September and 8 October builds, the same PSA line both times. Ordered by price change.

• Mega Feraligatr ex 274/217: $126.52 to $82.41 (−34.9%); PSA 10 population 2,104 to 2,633 (+25.1%).
• Mega Dragonite ex 295/217: $226.81 to $164.75 (−27.4%); PSA 10 population 694 to 802 (+15.6%).
• Pikachu ex 276/217: $986.76 to $765.56 (−22.4%); PSA 10 population 7,142 to 8,021 (+12.3%).
• Mega Charizard Y ex 294/217: $366.82 to $288.31 (−21.4%); PSA 10 population 1,350 to 1,475 (+9.3%).
• Mega Dragonite ex 290/217: $606.19 to $477.42 (−21.2%); PSA 10 population 5,789 to 6,643 (+14.8%).
• Lillie's Clefairy ex 280/217: $152.80 to $122.06 (−20.1%); PSA 10 population 3,299 to 4,218 (+27.9%).
• Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex 281/217: $291.65 to $243.21 (−16.6%); PSA 10 population 5,196 to 6,188 (+19.1%).
• Steven's Metagross ex 289/217: $77.92 to $66.21 (−15.0%); PSA 10 population 2,052 to 2,666 (+29.9%).
• Mega Meganium ex 272/217: $79.50 to $67.99 (−14.5%); PSA 10 population 2,001 to 2,583 (+29.1%).
• Pikachu ex 277/217: $326.39 to $300.27 (−8.0%); PSA 10 population 4,074 to 4,795 (+17.7%).
• N's Zoroark ex 286/217: $149.76 to $138.67 (−7.4%); PSA 10 population 2,819 to 3,656 (+29.7%).
• Mega Gengar ex 284/217: $885.75 to $826.88 (−6.6%); PSA 10 population 8,710 to 9,680 (+11.1%).

Median price change −18.4%. Median PSA 10 population change +18.4%. Together the twelve gained 8,130 PSA 10 copies in 29 days. The smallest fall, Mega Gengar ex 284, came with one of the smallest population increases; the largest increases, Steven's Metagross ex, N's Zoroark ex and Mega Meganium ex at about 30%, came with falls of 7% to 15%. Twelve cards are too few to say more than that the two moved in opposite directions on every one of them.

Against the rest of the catalog

The same two builds, median PSA 10 growth per set across the 302 tracked cards:

• Ascended Heroes (12 cards): +18.4%.
• Phantasmal Flames (7): +6.0%. Mega Evolution (12): +4.1%. Destined Rivals (12): +3.9%. Prismatic Evolutions (13): +3.4%. Journey Together (8): +3.0%.
• Surging Sparks, the Celebrations Classic Collection, Brilliant Stars' and Lost Origin's Trainer Galleries, Hidden Fates, Crown Zenith's Galarian Gallery and Paldean Fates: +1.1% to +2.3%.
• Among the rest: Evolving Skies (22) +1.0%, Scarlet & Violet 151 (11) +0.7%, XY Evolutions (12) +0.5%, Obsidian Flames (9) +0.3%.
• Every tracked set released before 2012, ten sets from Base Set to Black & White and 78 cards: 0.0%. Across those 78 cards PSA added four PSA 10s in the month and two fell away (Base Set Charizard went from 489 to 491).

Across all 302 the median card added 0.9% and 74 added none. The vintage graded population is, month to month, a fixed number; the modern one is still being made, fastest in the newest sets.

What the population count is and is not

A PSA population counts copies graded, not copies printed. A nine-month-old set's count grows as collectors' submissions come back, and PSA's queue sets the pace as much as the market does. So +18% says that the supply of PSA 10 copies available to sell grew by about a sixth in a month; it does not say how many raw copies exist, and it does not say the growth caused the price fall. Both could follow from the same thing, more copies being opened and graded.

Where to see it

The drawdown screen lists tracked cards 30% or more below their high and, beside each, how PSA 10 supply changed. Until now it had one population read and said so. From the nightly refresh of 14 October it has two, 29 days apart, and its supply column marks a card "supply flat" only under +5%. Any Ascended Heroes card it lists will read as grown, since the smallest increase among the twelve is 9.3%. The pop-adjusted screen uses the newest read automatically. Each card's page carries both.

Sources: this site's catalog reads of 9 September and 13 October 2026 (PokemonPriceTracker, TCGplayer market); BetterPop app data builds of 9 September and 8 October 2026 (PSA population via GemRate), read 13 September and 13 October; TCGplayer seller blog, "Price Trends: Pokémon Cards Dropping in Price", 13 October 2026. Nothing here says what to buy or sell.