Heat Wave Arena is the smallest Scarlet & Violet-era set on the shelf right now — 63 base cards instead of the usual 100–106 — and that compact size is exactly the point. This is a 強化拡張パック, an “enhanced expansion” built for shielded-format play, and it packs two flagship ex chases into a tighter card pool than almost anything else in the SV block.
There’s also a persistent mix-up worth clearing up before the list: Hop’s Zacian ex, despite showing up in searches for this set, is not a Heat Wave Arena card. It belongs to the previous set, SV9 Battle Partners. The real headline pulls here are Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex and Cynthia’s Garchomp ex, and we’ll break down every printing of both below.
This is the full, numbered card list — all 92 cards across 12 Art Rares, 9 Secret Rares, 5 Special Art Rares, and 3 Ultra Rares — transcribed from Limitless TCG’s Japanese set database. We ship Heat Wave Arena sealed product out of Tokyo, so we’ve also included current box pricing and where to find loose singles.
If you’re new to Japanese TCG numbering: cards are listed by set-relative number, not a global catalog number, and the JP and EN names on the same card can differ meaningfully — Japan’s ヒビキ becomes “Ethan” and シロナ becomes “Cynthia” in English releases, for example. Every card below carries both, sourced directly from the same Limitless database Japanese collectors use.
Heat Wave Arena (SV9a) runs 92 cards total — 63 in the base set plus 29 secrets (12 AR, 9 SR, 5 SAR, 3 UR). The set’s real chases are Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex (SAR #86) and Cynthia’s Garchomp ex (SAR #87). Hop’s Zacian ex is not in this set — it’s from SV9 Battle Partners. There is no standalone English Heat Wave Arena set; its cards were folded into Destined Rivals (EN, May 30, 2025).
What Is Heat Wave Arena (SV9a)?
熱風のアリーナ (Heat Wave Arena) is a 強化拡張パック — an “enhanced expansion” — released in Japan on March 14, 2025. Unlike a standard 拡張パック, which typically runs 100+ base cards, Pokemon designed this format around シールド戦 (Sealed/Shield battle) — a play style built around opening sealed packs and building a deck on the spot from whatever you pull, rather than a preconstructed decklist. That’s the reason the base set is only 63 cards rather than the usual triple-digit count: an enhanced expansion is meant to be a tighter, self-contained pool.
Packs sell at ¥180 (tax included) with 5 random cards per pack, and boxes run 30 packs — the same per-pack price and pack count as the surrounding SV-era sets, just spread across a smaller total card pool. With secrets included, the set tops out at 92 cards: 63 base plus a 29-card secret tier (#64–92) split into 12 Art Rares, 9 Secret Rares, 5 Special Art Rares, and 3 Ultra Rares.
The full base list (#1–63) is catalogued on our Heat Wave Arena card list page; this article focuses on the secret tier, the chase cards, and current box pricing.
To put “enhanced expansion” in context, here’s how Heat Wave Arena’s card count stacks up against the mainline 拡張パック releases directly before and after it in the SV block:
| Set | JP Release | Base Cards | Total (w/ Secrets) |
|---|---|---|---|
| SV7 Stellar Miracle | 2024-07-19 | 102 | 135 |
| SV8 Super Electric Breaker | 2024-10-18 | 106 | 138 |
| SV9 Battle Partners | 2025-01-24 | 100 | 132 |
| SV9a Heat Wave Arena | 2025-03-14 | 63 | 92 |
| SV10 Glory of Team Rocket | 2025-04-18 | 98 | 132 |
Every other set in that window runs a 98–106 card base. Heat Wave Arena’s 63-card base is roughly 35–40% smaller, even though it still packs a full 12/9/5/3 secret-rarity spread on top — the smallest secret tier of the five, but concentrated on fewer, higher-profile chases.
Complete Secret Rare Tier List (#64–92)
Every card from #64 through #92, as catalogued by Limitless TCG’s Japanese Heat Wave Arena database as of August 2026:
| # | JP Name | EN Name | Rarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 64 | ヤンヤンマ | Yanma | AR |
| 65 | シロナのロズレイド | Cynthia’s Roserade | AR |
| 66 | シェイミ | Shaymin | AR |
| 67 | イワパレス | Crustle | AR |
| 68 | カミツオロチ | Hydrapple | AR |
| 69 | ギャロップ | Rapidash | AR |
| 70 | ヒビキのバクフーン | Ethan’s Typhlosion | AR |
| 71 | カスミのコダック | Misty’s Psyduck | AR |
| 72 | カスミのラプラス | Misty’s Lapras | AR |
| 73 | ラクライ | Electrike | AR |
| 74 | ロトム | Rotom | AR |
| 75 | ペパーのヨクバリス | Arven’s Greedent | AR |
| 76 | メガヤンマex | Yanmega ex | SR |
| 77 | ヒビキのホウオウex | Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex | SR |
| 78 | ヘイラッシャex | Dondozo ex | SR |
| 79 | エレキブルex | Electivire ex | SR |
| 80 | シロナのガブリアスex | Cynthia’s Garchomp ex | SR |
| 81 | ペパーのマフィティフex | Arven’s Mabosstiff ex | SR |
| 82 | MCの盛り上げ | MC’s Excitement | SR |
| 83 | ジャッジマン | Judge | SR |
| 84 | ヒビキの冒険 | Ethan’s Adventure | SR |
| 85 | メガヤンマex | Yanmega ex | SAR |
| 86 | ヒビキのホウオウex | Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex | SAR |
| 87 | シロナのガブリアスex | Cynthia’s Garchomp ex | SAR |
| 88 | ペパーのマフィティフex | Arven’s Mabosstiff ex | SAR |
| 89 | ヒビキの冒険 | Ethan’s Adventure | SAR |
| 90 | ヒビキのホウオウex | Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex | UR |
| 91 | シロナのガブリアスex | Cynthia’s Garchomp ex | UR |
| 92 | ハッコウシティ | Levincia | UR |
Two Pokemon dominate the top of this tier: Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex and Cynthia’s Garchomp ex each appear at SR, SAR, and UR — three printings apiece, out of only 29 secrets in the whole set. No other card in the tier repeats more than twice.
The three-card Ultra Rare tier is worth a closer look on its own: #90 and #91 are the UR printings of Ho-Oh ex and Garchomp ex, and #92 — Levincia (ハッコウシティ) — is a Stadium card rather than a Pokemon or Supporter. That’s the same UR-tier size as the neighboring sets (SV7 through SV10 all also run exactly 3 URs), just concentrated entirely on the set’s two flagship ex cards plus one Stadium.
One more cross-set note for anyone tracking Hydrapple specifically: the plain Art Rare Hydrapple at #68 in Heat Wave Arena is a different printing from Hydrapple ex, which appears at SR #115 and SAR #127 in the earlier SV7 Stellar Miracle — same Pokemon, two unrelated sets, non-ex versus ex versions.
The Real Chase Cards: Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex & Cynthia’s Garchomp ex
If you’ve seen Heat Wave Arena described online as “the Hop’s Zacian set,” that’s incorrect — Zacian doesn’t appear anywhere in this set’s card list, secrets or base. That attribution belongs to the previous release, SV9 Battle Partners, where Hop’s Zacian ex runs base #069, SR #118, and SAR #128 (no UR). The two Pokemon actually built around Heat Wave Arena are Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex and Cynthia’s Garchomp ex, both running the full base → SR → SAR → UR spread.
Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex runs base #020 (RR), SR #77, Special Art Rare #86, and Ultra Rare #90. The SAR at #86 is the printing collectors chase — a full alternate-art treatment of the Johto legendary paired with its trainer, Ethan (ヒビキ).
Cynthia’s Garchomp ex follows the same pattern: SR #80, Special Art Rare #87, and Ultra Rare #91 (its base-set number isn’t part of the secret tier catalogued above). Cynthia is one of the franchise’s most recognizable Trainers, and her Garchomp ex SAR sits alongside Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex as the set’s co-flagship pull.
Between them, Ho-Oh ex and Garchomp ex occupy 6 of the 29 secret slots in the set — roughly one in every five secrets pulled from Heat Wave Arena is one of these two Pokemon in some printing. No other Pokemon or Trainer card in the set repeats at three rarity tiers; everything else caps out at two (like Yanmega ex at SR/SAR, or Arven’s Mabosstiff ex at SR/SAR).
For estimated pull rates on each rarity tier, see our companion Heat Wave Arena pull rates and best cards breakdown.
Other Notable Art Rares & Trainer Cards
The AR tier (#64–75) carries several cards worth flagging beyond the two flagship ex lines. Five of the twelve continue the “Trainer’s Pokemon” naming convention — Pokemon paired with a specific character in the card name, a format the SV block introduced the set before this one in SV9 Battle Partners — and Heat Wave Arena keeps it going with Cynthia’s Roserade, Ethan’s Typhlosion, Misty’s Psyduck, Misty’s Lapras, and Arven’s Greedent, all sitting in the AR tier alongside standalone Art Rares like Yanma, Shaymin, Crustle, Hydrapple, Rapidash, Electrike, and Rotom.
Misty is a notable addition to the trainer-Pokemon lineup here: her two AR cards, Psyduck (#71) and Lapras (#72), sit back-to-back in the numbering and are the only pairing in the tier where the same Trainer gets two separate AR partners rather than one.
The SR tier (#76–84) is split between six Pokemon ex cards and three Trainer cards: MC’s Excitement (#82), Judge (#83), and Ethan’s Adventure (#84). Of those three, only Ethan’s Adventure continues on to a Special Art Rare (SR #84, SAR #89) — MC’s Excitement and Judge stop at SR. A Supporter reaching SAR status alongside the set’s two headline ex cards is unusual, and it’s part of what makes this secret tier compact but dense with chase-worthy cards relative to its size.
Box Configuration & Current Pricing
Official MSRP is straightforward: ¥180 (~$1) per pack, 30 packs per box, for a box MSRP of ¥5,400 (~$37) tax included. At 5 cards per pack, one box works out to 150 cards total. That’s the same pack price and box count as the surrounding SV-era mainline expansions — Heat Wave Arena’s smaller card pool doesn’t change the retail math, just the odds within it.
Sealed Japanese boxes trade well above that print-run MSRP on the secondary market by the time they reach international buyers. Our SV9a Heat Wave Arena Japanese Booster Box is currently listed at ¥16,640 (~$113) and ¥20,800 (~$141) depending on listing — roughly 3–4x the original ¥5,400 print-run MSRP.
There is also a Heat Wave Arena Illustration Contest 2024 Promo Pack (update: currently sold out — restock requests via Quick Order) tied to this set — restock requests can be submitted via Quick Order.
English Counterpart: Destined Rivals
Heat Wave Arena has no standalone English release. Instead, its cards were combined with SV10 Glory of Team Rocket and folded into a single English set, Destined Rivals, released May 30, 2025. That means English collectors see Heat Wave Arena content mixed into a larger set alongside an entirely different Japanese expansion, with its own English numbering rather than the #1–92 numbering used here.
This is the same treatment SV7a Paradise Dragona and the Stellar Tera Starter Sets got when they were absorbed into Surging Sparks — Pokemon periodically merges a smaller Japanese enhanced expansion into the next mainline English set rather than translating it on its own. For Heat Wave Arena specifically, that means Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex and Cynthia’s Garchomp ex exist in English only as part of Destined Rivals, under different card numbers than the Japanese #86 and #87 SARs referenced throughout this article.
It also means the two Japanese sets that make up Destined Rivals — Heat Wave Arena and SV10 Glory of Team Rocket — released roughly five weeks apart in Japan (March 14 and April 18, 2025) before landing together in a single English product more than a month after the second of the two. Anyone comparing an English Destined Rivals pull against a Japanese Heat Wave Arena card is looking at content from two separate Japanese print runs merged into one.
For buyers who want the cards in their original Japanese printing, roughly 2.5 months ahead of the English merge, sealed Heat Wave Arena product and singles are the direct route.
Where to Buy Heat Wave Arena Cards from Japan
We ship Japanese sealed product and singles worldwide from Tokyo with tracked delivery. For the full base-set breakdown alongside the secret tier covered here, check the Heat Wave Arena card list page.
Sealed box is the most direct way to reach any of the 92 cards catalogued above, since every rarity tier from base AR through UR is distributed across the same 30-pack box. If you already know exactly which card you want — Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex SAR, Cynthia’s Garchomp ex SAR, or a specific AR — buying the single directly through Quick Order skips the pull-rate variance entirely.
For specific singles — Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex, Cynthia’s Garchomp ex, or anything else from this list — our Quick Order page is the fastest way to build a mixed order.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many cards are in Heat Wave Arena (SV9a)?
92 cards total: a 63-card base set plus a 29-card secret tier (#64–92) made up of 12 Art Rares, 9 Secret Rares, 5 Special Art Rares, and 3 Ultra Rares.
What are the chase cards in Heat Wave Arena?
Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex (base #020 RR, SR #77, SAR #86, UR #90) and Cynthia’s Garchomp ex (SR #80, SAR #87, UR #91) are the set’s two flagship chases, each running the full base-to-Ultra-Rare spread.
Is Hop’s Zacian ex in Heat Wave Arena?
No. Hop’s Zacian ex belongs to the previous set, SV9 Battle Partners (#069/118/128). It does not appear anywhere in the Heat Wave Arena (SV9a) card list.
Is there an English Heat Wave Arena set?
No standalone English set exists. Heat Wave Arena’s cards were combined with SV10 Glory of Team Rocket and released together in English as Destined Rivals on May 30, 2025.
How much does a Heat Wave Arena booster box cost?
Official MSRP is ¥5,400 (~$37) for 30 packs at ¥180 per pack. Sealed boxes from Japan trade well above that on the secondary market — see our current box listing for exact pricing.
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