Dragonite doesn’t get many off-type printings, which makes this one worth explaining properly. In 2005, the Japanese Delta Species mechanic took a Pokemon that has never been anything but Colorless in the TCG and reprinted it as a Lightning-type attacker — card and stats unchanged, element rewritten.
The card is Dragonite Delta Species (δ), No. 039/086, printed as a Rare, :1ED (1st Edition) in the Japanese expansion pack 拡張パック「ホロンの研究塔」/ Expansion Pack “Holon Kenkyuutou” (“Holon Research Tower”), set code PCG6. We currently list a PSA 10 copy of this exact print, shipped from Tokyo. One thing worth flagging up front: this print doesn’t turn up on Limitless TCG’s Japanese database — the set predates that site’s Japanese coverage — so the card details below are drawn from multiple independent marketplace listing pages for this exact card number rather than from Limitless. This guide covers what the card is, how it sits among the set’s other Delta Species prints, what Holon Kenkyuutou actually is, and how it compares with a different card we also list that gets mistaken for an original Delta Species pull.
Dragonite Delta Species 039/086 R :1ED is a PSA 10, currently listed at ¥825,999 (~$5,195). It comes from PCG6 Holon Research Tower, an 86-card Japanese expansion pack released 28 October 2005, and it is deliberately printed as Lightning-type rather than Dragonite’s usual Colorless typing — that off-type swap is the entire point of the Delta Species mechanic. Its PCG6 sibling, PSA 10 Metagross Delta Species R 040/086, is also currently listed at ¥234,820 (~$1,477).
Prices below are current samuraiswordtokyo.com listings, converted at ¥159/USD (September 2026).
The Card: Dragonite Delta Species 039/086 R
Dragonite Delta Species is a Stage 2 card carrying 100 HP, illustrated by Ryo Ueda. It’s a Dragonite line evolution card in every respect except one: the type box reads Lightning, not the Colorless typing Dragonite has carried in every other TCG printing. That’s the whole mechanic in miniature — the same Pokemon, the same artwork style, a rewritten element.
The card carries a Poké-POWER, Delta Charge: once per turn, before attacking, it lets you attach a Lightning Energy from your discard pile to a Benched Pokemon (the power is disabled if Dragonite has a Special Condition). Its two attacks run on the same off-type Lightning cost: Agility (Lightning + Colorless, 30 damage) and Heavy Impact (Lightning + Metal + Colorless + Colorless, 70 damage). At 039 in an 86-card set, the print sits inside Holon Kenkyuutou’s own numbered run rather than in a secret or above-set-count slot — consistent with its Rare tier rather than a chase-rarity placement.
Our own graded copy of this print carries the :1ED (1st Edition) stamp and is currently listed at ¥825,999 (~$5,195), PSA 10.
Print History: Dragonite Among the Holon Kenkyuutou δ Cards
The verified print for Dragonite Delta Species is the single 039/086 release from Holon Kenkyuutou — nothing earlier or later has turned up in the marketplace listings cross-checked for this exact card number. It shares its set and its off-type mechanic with a run of other Delta Species Pokemon, most directly its numerical neighbour Metagross Delta Species R at 040/086, which we also list as a graded PSA 10.
| Card | Number | Rarity | JP Release |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dragonite Delta Species | 039/086 | R :1ED | 28 Oct 2005 |
| Metagross Delta Species | 040/086 | R | 28 Oct 2005 |
Beyond that immediate pair, Holon Kenkyuutou’s Delta Species lineup runs to several other reworked Pokemon — δ Mewtwo, δ Rayquaza, δ Latios, δ Latias, and a non-ex Gardevoir δ at 050/086 — covered in our own Delta Species Pokemon cards guide. That hub does not separately cover Dragonite δ, so the card sits alongside those better-documented siblings rather than duplicating a page that already exists.
The Set: PCG6 Holon Research Tower
PCG6 — 拡張パック「ホロンの研究塔」, Expansion Pack “Holon Kenkyuutou” (“Holon Research Tower”) in English — is an 86-card Japanese expansion pack released 28 October 2005. It’s the set that introduced the Delta Species (δ) mechanic to the Japanese TCG: Pokemon printed with a type they don’t normally carry, marked with a small δ symbol beside the name, and built around a fictional Holon research-region storyline that also added Holon-branded Trainer and Energy cards. The clearest example of the mechanic elsewhere in the line is Tyranitar — normally Dark/Fighting, printed as Metal/Fire under the δ treatment — and Dragonite’s Lightning typing is the same trick applied to a different Pokemon.
Internationally, the mechanic launched as EX Delta Species, released 31 October 2005, just three days after the Japanese set. Delta Species then ran across five further consecutive English-language EX-era sets through February 2007: EX Legend Maker (Feb 2006, JP: “Eidolon Forest”), EX Holon Phantoms (May 2006), EX Crystal Guardians (Jul 2006), EX Dragon Frontiers (Nov 2006, which added the shiny-style “Delta Star” cards), and EX Power Keepers (Feb 2007), the run’s final set.
That six-set span matters for one specific piece of housekeeping. Our own Delta Species Pokemon cards guide is built partly around clarifying that the Gardevoir ex Delta Species card we list is a 2021 promo reprint (S8a-P 015/025) of a card that first appeared in EX Dragon Frontiers, 2006 — not a pull from this original 2005 Holon Kenkyuutou release.
Our Dragonite anchor, by contrast, is a genuine period print: 039/086, :1ED, sourced directly to the original 2005 Holon Kenkyuutou release rather than a later reissue. If you’re comparing the two listings, that’s the distinction to keep in mind — same Delta Species mechanic, sixteen years and two entirely different sets apart.
Where This Rare Sits Among Japanese Rarity Tiers
Dragonite Delta Species 039/086 sits at the Rare tier, printed within Holon Kenkyuutou’s main 86-card numbering rather than in a secret or above-set-count slot, and carrying the :1ED 1st Edition stamp from this print run. Its sibling, Metagross Delta Species R at 040/086, sits on the same rung — both are main-set Rares from the same Delta Species release, graded to the same PSA 10 standard.
That’s a different tier and a different era from the Gardevoir ex Delta Species reprint covered above — that card is a 2021 promo-pack print, not a main-set Rare from a 2005 expansion, so the two shouldn’t be read as directly comparable prints. For the broader Dragonite print history across Japanese sets, see our Dragonite cards guide and, for the unrelated modern chase print, our Mega Dragonite cards guide — a completely different card from a completely different, much later era. For Dragon-type Pokemon more broadly, our Dragon-type Pokemon cards guide covers the wider category. Worth noting: despite being a 2005 print, PCG6 is not part of the pre-2000s “old back” design era covered in our separate Japanese old-back Pokemon cards guide — that’s an earlier, visually distinct card-back generation, and this Holon Kenkyuutou print belongs to the later EX era instead.
Where to Buy Dragonite Delta Species from Tokyo
Our graded copy of PSA 10 Dragonite Delta Species 039/086 R :1ED is currently listed at ¥825,999 (~$5,195), shipped from Tokyo with tracked delivery. Its PCG6 sibling, PSA 10 Metagross Delta Species R 040/086, is currently listed at ¥234,820 (~$1,477) if you want the matching Delta Species print from the same set.
For the differentiated 2021 promo reprint discussed above, PSA 10 Gardevoir ex Delta Species S8a-P 015/025 is currently listed at ¥10,880 (~$68) — a separate card, set, and era from the PCG6 print above. Browse the full range in our PSA 10 graded card collection. For a mixed order across singles and sealed product, our Quick Order page is the fastest way to build a cart.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Dragonite Delta Species 039/086 R?
It is the Rare print of Dragonite Delta Species (δ), card 039/086 from the Japanese expansion pack PCG6 Holon Research Tower, released 28 October 2005. We list a PSA 10 copy of this print, stamped :1ED, currently at ¥825,999 (~$5,195).
What does “Delta Species” mean on a Pokemon card?
Delta Species Pokemon are printed with a type they don’t normally carry — marked with a small δ symbol beside the name. Dragonite is normally Colorless in the TCG; this print is deliberately typed Lightning instead, the same off-type treatment applied to other Pokemon elsewhere in the line, like Tyranitar (Dark/Fighting printed as Metal/Fire).
Is this the same card as the Gardevoir ex Delta Species you also list?
No. The Gardevoir ex Delta Species we list is a 2021 promo reprint (S8a-P 015/025) of a card that first appeared in EX Dragon Frontiers, 2006. This Dragonite print is a genuine 2005 pull from the original Holon Kenkyuutou (PCG6) release — a different card, set, and era.
What set is Dragonite Delta Species from?
PCG6 Holon Research Tower (拡張パック「ホロンの研究塔」), an 86-card Japanese expansion pack released 28 October 2005 — the set that introduced the Delta Species mechanic to the Japanese TCG.
Does Dragonite Delta Species have an English print?
The Delta Species mechanic launched internationally as EX Delta Species on 31 October 2005, three days after the Japanese release. A specific English card number that maps one-to-one onto this exact 039/086 Japanese print has not been confirmed through today’s sourcing.
Where can I buy a PSA 10 Dragonite Delta Species from Tokyo?
Our graded 039/086 R copy is currently listed at ¥825,999 (~$5,195) with tracked shipping from Tokyo. We also list its PCG6 sibling, Metagross Delta Species R 040/086, and the separately-differentiated Gardevoir ex Delta Species promo reprint.
¥500 off, on us
- ¥500 off one order of ¥30,000 or more
- +1% extra points on that order
- One coupon per account
Sign in or create an account to claim · One use per account · One coupon per order · Not valid on pre-order items · Ends Sep 24, 2026, 23:59 JST · Import duties, taxes and customs charges are not included in the price and are collected on delivery, except for destinations we ship duty-paid.
Picked for this article
📩 Get member-only sale alerts & coupons
Sale alerts, coupons and restock notices by email — straight from Tokyo.
