Pitch Black Pokémon Center Preorders Go Live with 9 Hour Wait Time
With Pokémon TCG products becoming ever harder to come by, Pokémon Center preorder drops – where you have the chance to preorder products from upcoming sets directly from Pokémon – are becoming something of a ritual for the entire Pokémon TCG community.
Releasing on July 17, 2026, Pokémon Mega Evolution: Pitch Black features many gorgeous and desirable chase cards that collectors are hoping to bag, including one of the most surreal SIR prints we’ve seen in a while. However, demand for this set is once again reaching a fever-pitch. After logging onto the site to place my preorder for the Pitch Black ETB via Pokémon Center less than 1 hour after the preorders dropped (just a little after 9am PT today), there was already nearly a nine-hour wait just to get into the store to shop.
While Psyduck may be sitting there on that leafy hillside beckoning me kindly onwards, I’m no fool: this massive wait time isn’t even guaranteed to get you a product. I could easily wait the full time only to find the Pokémon Center to be totally sold out by the time I get in.
For those lucky enough to get in the very moment the preorders dropped, I applaud you. It looks like I’ll be purchasing my Perfect Order ETB from TCGPlayer once the prices drop a little, just like I did with Chaos Rising.
You can learn more about the top Pitch Black products to preorder via my guide. And if you want to skip the wait, you can purchase directly from TCGPlayer – they currently have products in stock. Although you’ll be paying market price not that coveted MSRP that’s increasingly becoming just as mythical as the Dark Pokémon Pitch Black is centered upon.
Update at 11:40am 1.5 hours after publishing
THe original nine hour wait time quickly dropped and i was granted admittance into the Pokémon Center to purchase a Pitch Black ETB. However, after snapping a screenshot, I tried to add the ETB to my card and it said failed. I guess I shouldn’t have taken the time to snap the pic!
After attemping to see what other Pitch Black products might be available, I quickly found that not only the ETB preorder page was experiencing an error, but the entire TCG section of the Pokémon Center website was offline.
Did anyone actually manage to bag products this drop? If so, share your experience in the comments below.
