SV5a vs SV5K vs SV5M: Japanese Pokemon Booster Box Guide

SV5a vs SV5K vs SV5M at a Glance

All three sets belong to the Scarlet & Violet era of the Japanese Pokemon card game, but they were built as two separate releases rather than one three-part series.

SV5K and SV5M share a release date because they were designed as a split-pair release — the same structure the game has used before with sets like SV1S/SV1V. SV5a is unrelated to that pair and came out as its own high-class-pack-style release roughly two months later. The sections below cover each set individually, then look at why the pairing and pricing shake out the way they do.

SV5K Wild Force: Cards and Chase Pulls

SV5K Wild Force is a 100-card set that released January 26, 2024, alongside its sister set SV5M. Together they form the Japanese half of what became “Temporal Forces” in English.

Roaring Moon ex (SV5K #98) is the set’s chase card — an Ultra Rare, Fire-type card with 230 HP.

The set also carries Raging Bolt ex (SV5K #100), an Ultra Rare, Dragon-type card with 240 HP. If Wild Force’s full 100-card list is what you’re after, our SV5K Wild Force card list covers it, and our separate Wild Force best-cards writeup goes deeper on individual pulls.

Why SV5K and SV5M Share a Release Date

SV5K and SV5M went on sale on exactly the same day — January 26, 2024 — which isn’t a coincidence. The Japanese game has used this split-pair structure before (SV1S and SV1V is another example): two sets built and released together as one themed drop, each with its own chase cards rather than duplicating content. Combined, SV5K and SV5M correspond to what English-language collectors know as “Temporal Forces.” Our Temporal Forces Japanese sets hub covers both halves of that pairing in one place.

SV5a stands apart from that pair. It released almost two months later, on March 22, 2024, as its own separate high-class-pack-style set rather than a split release. On the English side, SV5a’s content lines up with the “Twilight Masquerade” release alongside a different Japanese set, SV6 — our Twilight Masquerade Japanese sets hub has that pairing.

Practically, this means SV5K and SV5M are the pair to think about together if you’re building around that January drop, while SV5a is its own standalone box with a two-month-later release and a different set of chase cards.

Which Box Matches What You’re Collecting

There’s no single “best” box here — each one is a different set with different cards, so the right pick depends on what you’re actually after:

• Want the January pairing complete? SV5K and SV5M were released together as a themed drop, so picking up both gives you the full split-pair release rather than half of it.
• Chasing the Fighting-type Greninja ex? That card is exclusive to SV5a, printed as SV5a #90.
• Working to a lower entry price? SV5M is currently the least expensive of the three at ¥9,690, versus ¥12,480 for the other two.
• Interested in the Treasures of Ruin-style ex Pokemon? Roaring Bolt, Iron Crown and Iron Boulder are split across SV5K and SV5M — you’d want both boxes to cover that group alongside SV5K’s Roaring Moon ex.

We don’t publish pull-rate figures for these sets on this page — our linked card-list articles above go into that detail for anyone comparing pull odds directly.

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