One of these boxes has 92 cards in it. The other has 237. On our site today they are priced about ¥515 apart.
SV9a Heat Wave Arena and SV8a Terastal Festival ex are two Japanese Scarlet & Violet-era sets released about three months apart — SV8a in December 2024, SV9a in March 2025. SV8a is a High Class Pack set; SV9a is an Enhanced Expansion Pack, a different, smaller-scale product tier. Both carry a headline Special Art Rare or Ultra Rare lineup, and both are still live products, not discontinued stock. The card-count gap between them is the single biggest structural difference, and it doesn’t map onto price the way you might expect.
We ship sealed Japanese product out of Tokyo every week, so the figures below come from our own live listings rather than a marketplace snapshot. Here’s how the two sets actually compare, card for card and yen for yen.
SV9a Heat Wave Arena packs 92 cards around three Special Art Rare chase cards and is currently listed at ¥16,995 (~$107). SV8a Terastal Festival ex runs 237 cards — roughly 2.6x the card count — headlined by Ogerpon Teal Mask ex, and is currently listed at ¥17,510 (~$110) (Update: derzeit ausverkauft — Nachschub über Quick Order anfragen). Despite that size gap, the two boxes sit only about ¥515 apart on price.
Prices are our current live listings as of September 2026, converted at ¥159/USD.
SV9a vs SV8a: The Basics
Both sets belong to the Scarlet & Violet-era Japanese release line, but they sit at different product tiers and were built at very different scale: SV8a is a High Class Pack, while SV9a is an Enhanced Expansion Pack.
| Set | JP code | Cards | Release date | Booster box price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heat Wave Arena | SV9a | 92 | March 14, 2025 | ¥16,995 (~$107) |
| Terastal Festival ex | SV8a | 237 | December 6, 2024 | ¥17,510 (~$110) (Update: derzeit ausverkauft — Nachschub über Quick Order anfragen) |
SV8a arrived first, in December 2024, with a 237-card checklist — unusually large for a high class pack set. SV9a followed about three months later with a much tighter 92-card list. Card count is a structural fact about how big each set’s full print run is; it isn’t, by itself, a claim about how easy either chase card is to pull, and we don’t have verified pull-rate data for either set.
Inside SV9a Heat Wave Arena: The Three Special Art Rares
SV9a’s chase lineup is built around three Special Art Rare ex cards, all illustrated in the full-art SAR treatment:
Mega Yanma ex (#85, Grass type, 280 HP) is the set’s headline card and the one most collectors are chasing. Hibiki’s Ho-Oh ex (#86, Fire type, 230 HP) and Pepper’s Mabosstiff ex (#88, Darkness type, 270 HP) round out the trio at the same Special Art Rare slot. All three sit inside a 92-card set, which is a small checklist for an Enhanced Expansion Pack.
For the full 92-card checklist, see our Heat Wave Arena (SV9a) card list.
Inside SV8a Terastal Festival ex: The Larger Set’s Chase Cards
SV8a’s 237 cards give it a much wider chase pool, topped by an Ultra Rare that also has an English-language footprint:
Ogerpon Teal Mask ex (#234, Grass type, 210 HP, illustrated by 5ban Graphics) is the set’s Ultra Rare headliner, and it’s the one name here with a life outside Japan — its English-language reprint appears in Twilight Masquerade and Prismatic Evolutions. Terapagos ex (#237, Colorless type, 230 HP) closes out the numbered checklist at the same Ultra Rare tier, and Pikachu ex (#236) rounds out the set’s marquee slots.
See the complete checklist in our Terastal Festival ex (SV8a) card list.
Card Count vs Box Price: Why the Numbers Don’t Match
Here’s the part that surprises people who assume „bigger set means pricier box“: SV8a has 2.6x the card count of SV9a, but the boxes are currently only about ¥515 apart — ¥16,995 (~$107) for SV9a against ¥17,510 (~$110) (Update: derzeit ausverkauft — Nachschub über Quick Order anfragen) for SV8a.
Card count tells you how large a set’s full print run and checklist are — it’s a real, citable structural difference. It does not, on its own, tell you how often any specific chase card shows up in a box, and we don’t have verified pull-rate figures to back a claim either way. What the price gap does confirm is that box pricing on a set this size is driven by more than raw card count — each set’s specific chase-card lineup and release timing carry their own weight.
Our Terastal Festival ex booster box buying guide covers SV8a’s box economics in more depth if you want the deeper dive on that set specifically.
Which Box Should You Buy
Both are live, current-listing products, so the choice comes down to what you’re actually collecting for:
- Want a tighter, smaller checklist to chase — SV9a’s 92 cards concentrate the hunt around three Special Art Rare exes rather than spreading it across a much larger set.
- Want the wider card pool and an Ultra Rare with English-market recognition — SV8a’s 237-card list and Ogerpon Teal Mask ex give you both scale and a card that collectors outside Japan will also recognise from its Twilight Masquerade / Prismatic Evolutions reprint.
- Buying on price alone — the two boxes are close enough (¥515 apart) that price shouldn’t be the deciding factor either way; set content is the more useful filter.
SV8a released in December 2024 and SV9a followed in March 2025. If you’re building a chronological Scarlet & Violet-era collection, SV8a comes first on the shelf.
Mega Yanma ex: A Reprint, Not a Mega-Series Release
Mega Yanma ex’s presence in SV9a is worth a specific note, because it’s easy to mistake it for something it isn’t. „Mega Yanma“ is simply this Pokemon’s Japanese species name — the name is unrelated to the dedicated Mega-series expansions that begin with M1L, which launched later. This is a standalone Scarlet & Violet-era ex card, not a release from that separate M-series line.
If you’re specifically collecting the numbered M-series sets, Heat Wave Arena sits outside that line entirely, despite one of its cards sharing the word „Mega“ in its name. It’s an SV9a card, full stop — the naming overlap with the M-series is a coincidence, not a connection.
Where to Buy SV9a and SV8a from Japan
We ship both boxes sealed, out of Tokyo, with tracked delivery worldwide.
Prefer the larger checklist instead? The SV8a Terastal Festival ex booster box (Update: derzeit ausverkauft — Nachschub über Quick Order anfragen) is currently listed at ¥17,510 (~$110). For singles from either set, or to build a mixed order, use our Quick Order page.
Häufig gestellte Fragen
Which is bigger, SV9a Heat Wave Arena or SV8a Terastal Festival ex?
SV8a Terastal Festival ex is bigger — 237 cards versus SV9a Heat Wave Arena’s 92 cards, roughly a 2.6x difference in checklist size.
Is Mega Yanma ex part of the Pokemon Mega-series (M-series)?
No. Mega Yanma ex is a Special Art Rare inside SV9a Heat Wave Arena, a standalone Scarlet & Violet-era set. „Mega Yanma“ is just this Pokemon’s Japanese species name; it has no connection to the dedicated M-series expansions that begin with M1L, which launched later.
What is the chase card in SV8a Terastal Festival ex?
Ogerpon Teal Mask ex (#234), an Ultra Rare illustrated by 5ban Graphics. It also has an English-language reprint that appeared in Twilight Masquerade and Prismatic Evolutions.
Why are the SV9a and SV8a box prices so close despite the card-count gap?
On our current listings, SV9a is ¥16,995 (about $107) and SV8a is ¥17,510 (about $110) — only about ¥515 apart, even though SV8a has 2.6 times as many cards. Card count reflects the scale of a set’s print run and checklist; it doesn’t directly determine box pricing, which is shaped by each set’s specific chase cards and release timing as well.
When did SV9a Heat Wave Arena and SV8a Terastal Festival ex release?
SV8a Terastal Festival ex released December 6, 2024, and SV9a Heat Wave Arena followed on March 14, 2025 — about three months apart.
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