Ancient Origins Elite Trainer Box

Ancient Origins Elite Trainer Box guide

What's inside the Ancient Origins Elite Trainer Box

The Ancient Origins Elite Trainer Box holds 8 booster packs plus card sleeves, energy cards, dice, condition markers and a storage box, all themed to Ancient Origins.

Pokémon Center exclusive ETBs come with extra packs and a stamped promo and sell for more, so they are left out of the prices here.

About Ancient Origins

A Hoenn-themed XY set with Hoopa-EX and more Primal and Mega cards. Released on 12 August 2015, it belongs to the Black & White and XY era. It came out 11 years ago, so most sealed stock has been opened and what is left sits with collectors.

Ancient Origins has 98 cards in its main numbering, plus 3 secret rares numbered beyond it.

Chase cards to look for

The Ancient Origins cards collectors most want to pull are Hoopa-EX. 8 packs is a modest number of tries, so most ETBs are bought to collect or keep sealed rather than to chase one card.

Our catalogue lists the set's rarest tiers as 5 Secret Rares, 23 Ultra Rares and 21 Rares. Prices for every card are on the Ancient Origins set page.

Ancient Origins Elite Trainer Box price today

There are 3 matching listings on eBay at the moment (ebay.de from €2,358, ebay.com from €3,338). The lowest total with delivery to Germany is €2,358, against a typical asking price of €3,338.

Asking prices are what sellers hope to get, not what elite trainer boxes actually sell for, so treat the cheapest listing as the benchmark for a fair deal.

Price per pack

At the typical price, each of the 8 packs in an Ancient Origins Elite Trainer Box works out at €417.26, compared with €234.90 in an Ancient Origins Booster Box and €275.95 in an Ancient Origins Booster Pack. That makes it the most expensive way to buy Ancient Origins packs right now, partly because you also pay for the accessories and the box itself.

Is the Ancient Origins Elite Trainer Box a good investment?

After 11 years, sealed Ancient Origins elite trainer boxes rarely come up, and prices tend to rise as boxes are opened and supply shrinks. ETBs are popular to keep sealed because of their box art, but they take more space than they hold in packs. Watch the price of Hoopa-EX, the set's headline card, since sealed Ancient Origins tends to move with it.

Past prices do not guarantee future ones, and this is not financial advice. Read should you buy sealed Pokémon products? for the pros and cons.

Before you buy

Look closely at the wrapping in the photos. Factory wrap on elite trainer boxes has neat seams, often with Pokémon logos printed on it; baggy, shiny or uneven wrap is a common sign of a reseal. For an Ancient Origins Elite Trainer Box at around €3,338, ask the seller for photos of all sides and stick to accounts with plenty of positive feedback. Check the listing photos show the ETB itself and not only the packs, and that it is the standard version rather than a Pokémon Center one if you are comparing prices. Check whether delivery from ebay.de adds import fees, and store sealed product flat, out of sunlight and away from damp.