Storm Emeralda had already shown its headline act. Mega Rayquaza ex led every preview since June, and its buyback prices were already climbing before the set hit shelves. The reveal that landed with less noise paired two very different cards: Mega Malamar ex, a Stage 1 built on genuine nostalgia, and Sableye, a Common most players will never look up.
Mega Malamar ex is selling a meme, not just a Mega
Malamar's TCG debut carries weight that has nothing to do with its card text. Legends Z-A built an entire marketing beat around "My Friend Malamar," a campaign that turned Inkay's evolution into one of that game's most quoted moments. Storm Emeralda is the first set to give that Mega form a Pokémon TCG card, and the timing is not an accident.
The card itself backs up the attention. Mega Malamar ex is a Darkness-type Stage 1 with 320 HP, evolving from Inkay rather than appearing as a Basic like most Mega Pokémon ex printed this era. Psychic Marionette costs two Darkness Energy and deals 70 damage for every Pokémon on the opponent's Bench, a number that scales fast against any deck running a full line of support Pokémon.
Eerie Wave is the finisher. Three Darkness Energy buys a flat 200 damage and confuses the opponent's Active Pokémon on top of it, a real swing turn against a deck that just spent its resources setting up an attacker.
The Super Rare repaint doesn't change the stat line
Storm Emeralda printed Mega Malamar ex twice, 048/076 as the standard RR and 094/076 as a Super Rare full-art. Both share the exact 320 HP, the same Darkness typing and the identical two attacks. Nothing about the SR hits harder. It's simply the higher rarity tier wrapped around unchanged card text, the same pattern our full set list breakdown found running across every Mega ex in the set.
That matters for anyone buying rather than pulling. A collector chasing the SR is paying for the art and the print run, not for a better copy to actually play. The RR does exactly the same work at the table for a fraction of the price.
Sableye rode along in the same reveal
Pokémon revealed Sableye and a new Inkay print in the same batch as Mega Malamar ex, and it's easy to see why nobody led with it. Sableye is a plain Basic Darkness Pokémon with 80 HP, the kind of card that fills out a checklist rather than a deck list.
Lure Out costs a single Darkness Energy and reveals the top five cards of the opponent's deck, letting the player put any Basic Pokémon found there straight onto the opponent's own Bench before shuffling the rest back. Sinister Eyes costs one Darkness and one Colorless Energy and drops five damage counters onto any target on the board, a slow but real source of chip damage.
Both cards share one detail that has nothing to do with price. Mega Malamar ex and Sableye are both weak to Grass for double damage, a small piece of continuity between the set's headline Mega and its most ordinary Common.
What the pairing means if you're buying into Storm Emeralda
Neither card has an English printing yet. Delta Reign, the set's English release, arrives November 6, 2026, and it's the version most collectors outside Japan will actually see land on shelves. Until then, Mega Malamar ex and Sableye only exist as Japanese singles.
The buying decision splits cleanly. Mega Malamar ex, in either printing, is a real card worth checking condition on before paying up, especially around the dark background where scratches and print lines show differently than they do on a lighter card. Sableye is not a card worth chasing for value. It's worth knowing because it's part of the same 76-card checklist, and because who gets a loud reveal and who doesn't says as much about a set as its five-figure chase cards do.
Frequently asked questions
- When was Mega Malamar ex revealed for Storm Emeralda?
Pokémon revealed Mega Malamar ex alongside Sableye and a new Inkay card in early July 2026, ahead of the set's July 31, 2026 Japanese release.
- What are Mega Malamar ex's attacks?
Psychic Marionette deals 70 damage for each Pokémon on the opponent's Bench for two Darkness Energy. Eerie Wave deals 200 damage and confuses the opponent's Active Pokémon for three Darkness Energy.
- Is the Super Rare version of Mega Malamar ex stronger than the regular print?
No. Both the 048/076 RR and the 094/076 SR share identical HP, typing and attacks. The SR only changes the artwork and rarity tier.
