Pokémon Center's most wanted Ascended Heroes box now needs a secret email link to buy

Pokémon Center has made its exclusive Ascended Heroes Elite Trainer Box available by invitation only. The retailer updated the product page to show an “Invite-Only” status and began emailing purchase links to selected customers. Invited customers receive a unique, single-use link and must sign in with the email address that received it. The tracker reported a limit of two boxes per order and warned that invitation emails could take some time to arrive.

The Pokémon Center version of the Ascended Heroes Elite Trainer Box launched on 20 February at $59.99, $10 more than the standard box. It contains 11 booster packs, two more than the regular edition, along with two N’s Zekrom promo cards, one of which carries an exclusive stamp, and the usual card sleeves and accessories.

The box sold out during Pokémon Center’s pre-order window. In January, a month before release, TCGplayer listed its market price at $314.29, more than five times its retail price, while the standard Elite Trainer Box traded at $117.82 against a $49.99 retail price.

Ascended Heroes is a special expansion in the Pokémon Trading Card Game’s Mega Evolution series, with 217 main set cards and 78 secret rares. It includes cards from the Japanese Mega Dream ex set, among them a Mega Gengar ex secret rare. TCGplayer noted that the card’s Japanese version is the most expensive in Mega Dream ex.

The invite system runs through the Pokémon Center early access program, which the retailer added to its FAQ on 10 April. The FAQ describes it as a way for “selected customers” to buy popular items before they are more widely released. Eligibility requires a Pokémon Center newsletter subscription and residence in the US, Canada, or the UK, along with other criteria the retailer does not disclose. Pokémon Center also states that meeting the criteria does not guarantee an invitation.

The FAQ warns that creating multiple accounts to improve the chances of selection will result in the termination of any invitations received. Pokémon Center has not publicly linked the program to bots or scalpers.