{
  "url": "https://www.moonstonehq.com/articles/the-delta-species-run",
  "slug": "the-delta-species-run",
  "title": "A 191-Card Set Nobody Printed: the Delta Species Run",
  "summary": "Between 2005 and 2007 the game printed cards whose type was deliberately wrong, marked only by a small δ. They were scattered across eight sets instead of gathered into one, so the run is a set that exists only if you go looking. We price 191 of them in English, every single one, averaging $95.71, with two sets carrying 131 of them and a Dragon Frontiers gold star Mew at $3,500 on top. It is also the mechanic that broke our own cross-language matching, because the Japanese prints spell out what the English prints mark with a symbol.",
  "section": "Market Structure",
  "published": "2026-09-17",
  "readMinutes": 6,
  "publisher": "moonstone",
  "findings": [
    {
      "value": "191",
      "measures": "English delta species cards we price",
      "basis": "every one of them carries a live price"
    },
    {
      "value": "8",
      "measures": "sets they are scattered across",
      "basis": "no single set holds even half of them"
    },
    {
      "value": "$95.71",
      "measures": "average price across the whole run",
      "basis": "against a catalogue whose typical card is worth a few dollars"
    },
    {
      "value": "$3,500",
      "measures": "the most expensive of them",
      "basis": "the Dragon Frontiers gold star Mew"
    }
  ],
  "tables": [
    {
      "title": "Every set holding English delta species cards, by average price",
      "columns": [
        "Set",
        "Delta cards",
        "Average price"
      ],
      "rows": [
        {
          "Set": "POP Series 4",
          "Delta cards": "3",
          "Average price": "$276.41"
        },
        {
          "Set": "Legend Maker",
          "Delta cards": "1",
          "Average price": "$211.85"
        },
        {
          "Set": "Nintendo Black Star Promos",
          "Delta cards": "1",
          "Average price": "$194.80"
        },
        {
          "Set": "Crystal Guardians",
          "Delta cards": "12",
          "Average price": "$114.04"
        },
        {
          "Set": "Delta Species",
          "Delta cards": "35",
          "Average price": "$102.05"
        },
        {
          "Set": "Dragon Frontiers",
          "Delta cards": "80",
          "Average price": "$101.66"
        },
        {
          "Set": "Holon Phantoms",
          "Delta cards": "51",
          "Average price": "$70.38"
        },
        {
          "Set": "POP Series 5",
          "Delta cards": "8",
          "Average price": "$47.70"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "charts": [],
  "sections": [
    "Where they are",
    "Why a scattered run behaves like a set",
    "The mechanic nearly broke our own data",
    "What to do with a run like this"
  ],
  "method": [
    "Read from moonstone production on September 17, 2026. A delta species card is any English catalogue row whose name carries the δ marker, minus one row that carries the marker and is not a delta species card: Skyridge's Mystery Plate δ, a 2003 e-Reader trainer named for the Greek letter two years before the mechanic existed. That leaves 191 rows, and all 191 carry a live price, so no selection on price was applied and no card was dropped. Prices are the canonical printing price the card pages publish, not the raw provider market field, read on the morning of September 17 and live enough to move by a dollar or two by the time you read this. Set averages are arithmetic means over the cards in that set and are therefore measuring the rarity mix of each set as much as anything about the mechanic: rows with one or three cards are reported because the run really is that scattered, not because a three-card average carries weight. The scarcity comparison between Dragon Frontiers and Holon Phantoms is an argument from the sets' contents and is not a measurement of print runs, which we do not hold. The Japanese side of the run is named “(Delta Species)” rather than marked with δ; the counterpart join that reconciles the two is described in the body and shipped on September 17, 2026. RECHECKED 2026-09-22: the catalogue carries no history, so September 17 cannot be replayed, but rebuilding the census today returns the same 191 cards in the same eight sets with the same per-set counts, and the average has moved to $96.49. Set averages read POP Series 4 $276.41, Nintendo Black Star Promos $249.66, Legend Maker $211.85, Crystal Guardians $115.54, Dragon Frontiers $102.60, Delta Species $102.05, Holon Phantoms $70.38 and POP Series 5 $47.85, against the $276.41, $194.80, $211.85, $114.04, $101.66, $102.05, $70.38 and $47.70 printed for the same sets here, so two rows have since swapped with a neighbour: the single-card Nintendo promo, and Dragon Frontiers, which has edged past Delta Species. The rarity claim in the body was wrong when published and is corrected: Holon Phantoms holds a gold star too, Gyarados ☆ δ at $1,333.56, its dearest delta, and its median delta is $9.37 against Dragon Frontiers' $3.04, so the average gap is the top of each set rather than a thicker layer of commons."
  ],
  "terms": "Figures are moonstone's own recorded measurements, dated as published. Quote them with the population stated beside them. The article at `url` is the human form of this file."
}