Pokémon TCG Ascended Heroes and Mega Forces Tins: August 28 Launch Guide
By Dexhaul Team · August 11, 2026
Two distinct Pokémon TCG product waves ship on August 28, 2026: the Ascended Heroes Tins and the Mega Forces Tins. On pre-order pages, they appear side by side, and the names blur together. They are not variants of the same product. They come from different sets in the Mega Evolution series, feature different Pokémon, and serve different collectors.
If you pre-order the wrong one, you get packs for a Pokémon you weren't chasing. This guide separates them clearly.
What Ascended Heroes Is
The Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Ascended Heroes set, often labeled ME 2.5, is the expansion that introduced Mega Evolution forms for a group of fan-favorite starter lines. The three headline Mega forms in Ascended Heroes are Mega Feraligatr ex, Mega Meganium ex, and Mega Emboar ex.
None of these three Pokémon have official Mega Evolutions in the mainline series. Feraligatr has been a fan favorite since Generation II, but it never received a Mega form in X or Y or any subsequent game. Same story for Meganium and Emboar. This TCG-exclusive treatment is exactly what the Mega Evolution series is built on, and it drives real collector demand for this set specifically.
The full set launched earlier in 2026 in Elite Trainer Box and booster formats. The ETB contains nine booster packs, a foil promo card, energy cards, and tournament accessories. It runs around $169.95 USD from MHDEALSPLUS and similarly across other sellers.
For players who want packs without the accessories, Sorted sells a six-pack Booster Bundle at $71.99 USD. Individual packs are available from Loose Packs Trading Co. at $19.00 each, and PokeBank offers a five-pack bundle at $87.49. The set has strong availability across sellers right now.
The August 28 Ascended Heroes Tins
The tins launching August 28 are a second release wave for Ascended Heroes. They are not a new set. Each tin spotlights one Mega starter: the Mega Feraligatr ex Tin, the Mega Meganium ex Tin, and the Mega Emboar ex Tin.
Each contains four booster packs and a foil promo card featuring that tin's Mega form. If you've already bought ETB packs from Ascended Heroes, the tins still have a clear use: you choose the specific Mega promo you want rather than taking whatever comes out of a box. Collectors targeting a single Johto or Unova starter Mega won't need to open multiple boxes to get it.
Individual tin pre-orders range from $44.99 to $69.95 USD depending on seller. Buying all three in a set comes in around $149.95 USD.
Booster Boyz has the Mega Feraligatr ex Tin individually at $59.95 USD. Boxed Vinyl lists all three individual tins at $69.95 each, with Double Infinity Gaming pricing at the lower end around $44.99.
What the Mega Forces Tins Are
This is where the confusion happens on product listing pages.
The Mega Forces Tins also ship August 28. They look similar in pre-order listings. They are a completely separate product line from the Ascended Heroes Tins.
Mega Forces Tins come from a different wave in the Mega Evolution series, featuring mythicals and a pseudo-legendary rather than starters. The three tins are the Mega Darkrai ex Tin, the Mega Zeraora ex Tin, and the Mega Dragonite ex Tin. Darkrai is a Mythical Pokémon from Generation IV with a long competitive history. Zeraora is the Mythical from Generation VII. Dragonite is the original pseudo-legendary, introduced in Generation I.
Like the Ascended Heroes counterparts, none of these Pokémon have Mega Evolutions in the mainline games. The Mega Evolution TCG series consistently gives Mega forms to Pokémon the main series never reached, which is the central collector appeal across the entire product line.
Individual Mega Forces Tins run around CA$39.95 to $46.95 USD depending on seller and currency. That makes them somewhat cheaper per unit than the Ascended Heroes Tins. A set of all three from MHDEALSPLUS is $89.95 USD, a meaningful saving versus buying individually from multiple sources.
Which to Pre-Order Before August 28
Both waves ship the same day. Both deliver four booster packs per tin plus a Mega promo card. The decision comes down entirely to which Pokémon you collect.
Ascended Heroes Tins (Feraligatr, Meganium, Emboar)
If you collect the Johto or Unova starter lines, this is your August 28 purchase. The Johto starters in particular carry decades of fan attachment. Mega Feraligatr ex is the headline pull for many buyers chasing that specific design. The Ascended Heroes set has been live for several months, so existing set collectors who skipped the ETB launch now have a lower-cost entry point for promo cards from this wave.
Mega Forces Tins (Darkrai, Zeraora, Dragonite)
If you collect mythicals or the original pseudo-legendary, the Mega Forces Tins are the correct pick. Darkrai carries strong demand across collector segments. Dragonite remains one of the most recognizable designs in the franchise. The per-unit price point is lower than Ascended Heroes Tins, which matters if you're buying all three.
A note on Pitch Black ME05
If you've been following the Mega Evolution series, the Mega Forces Tins sit alongside the Pitch Black ME05 set as part of the same product wave. The Dexhaul Pitch Black guide covers that expansion in detail. Both Pitch Black and Mega Forces are part of ME05, so buyers already tracking that set will find the tins a natural companion purchase to anything already in their collection from that wave.
Search Dexhaul for Ascended Heroes to compare ETB, booster bundle, and tin pre-orders across independent sellers, or use Mega Forces Tins to find August 28 pre-orders in your currency from multiple stores.