Dark Explorers Elite Trainer Box

Dark Explorers Elite Trainer Box guide

What's inside the Dark Explorers Elite Trainer Box

Inside a sealed Dark Explorers Elite Trainer Box you get 8 booster packs plus card sleeves, energy cards, dice, condition markers and a storage box. The packs are all Dark Explorers.

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 Dark Explorers

A Darkness-themed Black & White set with Darkrai-EX and Tyranitar-EX. Released on 9 May 2012, it belongs to the Black & White and XY era. 14 years on, most of its sealed stock has long been opened, and unopened product mostly changes hands between collectors.

Dark Explorers has 108 cards in its main numbering, plus 3 secret rares numbered beyond it.

The cards a Dark Explorers Elite Trainer Box can hold

The Dark Explorers cards collectors most want to pull are Darkrai-EX and Tyranitar-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 3 Secret Rares, 6 Ultra Rares and 34 Rares. See every Dark Explorers card price for what each is worth.

Dark Explorers Elite Trainer Box as an investment

After 14 years, sealed Dark Explorers 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. Much of its sealed value rests on demand for Darkrai-EX and Tyranitar-EX: if those cards rise, unopened product usually follows.

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

Check the shrink wrap: factory wrap on elite trainer boxes has neat seams, often with Pokémon logos printed on it, and loose or glossy wrap can mean a resealed product. 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 abroad adds import fees, and store sealed product flat, out of sunlight and away from damp.