Pokemon TCG Pocket Review
A Fresh start for the iconic card game
WARNING: THIS ARTICLE MAY CONTAIN DISCUSSIONS involving SPOILERS FROM THe Pokemon TCG Pocket Mobile Game. CONSIDER WHEN AND WHERE IT WOULD BE APPROPRIATE TO READ THIS PIECE.
Platforms
We Reviewed our copy of POkemon TCG Pocket on Android.It is currently also available on iOS and iPadOS.
When Pokemon Company International first announced a brand new mobile game that looked to reinvent the long running Trading Card Game that has become arguably the most influential card game on the planet, I was stoked to say the least. I’m a longtime Pokemon TCG player who has periodically left and returned as new rotations slid in. Like most competitive card games over the years, the meta just continued to get more convoluted and complicated with things like Lost Zone graves and V-Star counters.
Long gone are the days of Haymaker decks where a simple higher number attack was enough to power through a deck build. In some ways, Pokemon recognized this as I suspect most people who buy Pokemon cards don’t actually bother to learn how to play the game. They’re collectors first and foremost. So how do you introduce the mechanics to an awesome trading card game without confusing fans who are only interested in collecting? Well, the answer is that you still focus on the addictive nature of pack ripping, while dumbing down the match gameplay to the bare basics. That’s what you get with Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket.
A new Way To Play
A new quicker way to play the classic card game
Pokemon TCG isn’t the first Pokemon TCG app to feature the longstanding card game. Just last year, Pokemon migrated its official full TCG gaming platform from the classic Pokemon TCG Online, which had been running since 2011, to the newly designed Pokemon TCG Live. Unlike that game, which is a digital mirror of the full fledged Pokemon TCG world with actual sets releasing concurrently with the print versions, this TCG Pocket game is a compact window into the world of the card game. There are quality of life changes to the format to make the game much simpler. Instead of a bench zone of 5 monsters, Pocket gives players only 3 slots to set up their roster.
The biggest change is the auto-generation of energy. They aren’t even physical cards you draw into. Every turn beginning on turn 2, players will automatically generate one energy guaranteed. When constructing a deck of 20 cards, you can select up to two different types of energies to be generated. This completely eliminates a key component of the full fledged TCG which is the resource management of energies. There are entire engines of deck builds dedicated to the effective management of energies which can decide the direction of an entire match within the first few turns.
Speaking of changes to deck constructions, since the deck size is halved, no more than two sets of each card can be added to a deck list. Another major change to the gameplay includes the removal of prize cards. Instead of collecting 6 prize cards, you simply have to knock out three of your opponent's Pokemon to win the match. EX Pokemon, or what I explain to newbies as boss monsters, count for two Pokemon knockouts when they go down. The rest of the game harkens back to the early days of the franchise.
Two active Pokemon square off in a mathematical battle of might and strategy. I’m slightly oversimplifying the strategy aspect behind the TCG Pocket mechanics, but the great thing is that I’m not doing so by much. It’s an easy process to understand that many original Pokemon TCG fans from 1999 will want to pick up because it's the game they remember learning as a child. The EX Pokemon type of card is the only somewhat modern implementation to Pocket’s gameplay as of launch. Even then, the EX style of play where an EX Pokemon is worth two prizes was created and implemented during the Gen 3 era of the card game in 2003. It's not a new thing by any means.
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Pokemon TCG Pocket also isn’t the first card game to reinvent itself after pushing mechanics to the limits of obscurity. Konami launched Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links back in 2016 on nearly all available gaming platforms to address the exact same issue Pokemon is facing today. The modern gameplay is so convoluted and advanced that it's hard for new players to join into the aging system of techniques and strategy. I’ve also contributed hundreds of hours on Duel Links and from the get go, I can clearly see similarities to that ecosystem here on Pokemon TCG Pocket.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m having fun right now. It’s the early days of the honeymoon period thanks to an extremely limited pool of cards. Like real printed cards, Pocket uses a rarity system. It's a diamond indicator that ranges from one to four diamonds to illustrate the rarity of the cards pulled from packs. Right now, common, uncommon, and rare cards are all viable within the current level of competitive play. If we were to refer to this with the actual TCG language, it’ll be as if players were playing matches using their bulk cards. The ones no one really cares about when opening packs.
This is where a game like Pocket shines brightest. Players get a chance to appreciate not only the artwork, but the movesets of bulk cards they most likely tossed to the side the minute they opened them in real life simply because they were not ultra rare or special illustration rare cards. The Pokemon TCG world for adults can be somewhat toxic in mentality. It’s a gold rush hunt.
Pocket does simulate this aspect as it wants you to continue to log into the game to open digital packs by tempting exclusive, beautifully illustrated full art cards to acquire. But at least from a competitive standpoint, there won’t be another period of time where easily accessible cards will be viable in matches like the launch of a new game.
Trust me, I’ve seen this play out over at Duel Links. Like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh had a meteoric rise in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. The anime became a Saturday morning cartoon staple and as a result, an entire generation of duelists were born. The early days of Duel Links were so refreshing. Like the current meta of TCG Pocket, you could build a deck with easily accessible cards and still play at a high level. As the years went on and the gameplay mechanics pushed past the GX era (which was the end of the original Yu-Gi-Oh format in my opinion) and into XYZ, Synchro, and Link summons, players began leaving the once popular game. It wasn’t necessarily because they were getting bored either. The once simplified alternative to the convoluted real game had evolved into the messy world it sought to be different from. Fewer decks became viable. Everyone was running the same exact cards and deck lists. The cost to acquire multiple copies of the same top tier cards was piling up. It became tough to keep up. So naturally people quit.
Premium Promo Cards
Premium Passes are the only way to acquire limited time promo cards
Right out of the starting line, Pocket has a gameplan mapped out that has pay to win written all over it. Microtransactions are a staple for mobile games, but they also have the most potential for destabilizing a card game. Free to play players are provided two booster packs to open a day with a 12 hour period waiting cycle between each pack.
Like the native Japanese packs, each booster contains 5 cards. On paper, Pocket offers players 10 free cards a day, but players have the option to purchase a Premium Pass that allows gamers to open an extra booster a day to bump the total number to 3.
Premium Pass holders for that month will also receive special premium missions that when fulfilled will reward the player with what are essentially promo cards and other limited time items like themed coins, sleeves, and play mats. It costs $9.99 a month to access the Premium Pass as of publishing of this article.
Monthly passes are a part of mobile gaming. I’m not opposed to this at all, but it’s going to be a battle of temptation for free to play gamers if they can’t contain their need to collect them all from the digital realm. I’m more than guilty of spending enormous amounts of money ripping packs to collect pieces of cardboard as evidenced by our Pokemon TCG channel Jackpot Tiger. To me it’s like I’m preserving pieces of print history. I’ve felt that way for comic books and cards dating back to my youth. As a real life collector, I will say that Pocket does a terrific job of simulating the collection aspect. It does it far better than its Yu-Gi-Oh counterpart.
Pocket’s ripping animation is such a satisfying viewing experience to the point where I actually spend some time admiring the digital data I’m pulling. It also helps that Pokemon didn’t necessarily only use illustrations from existing real life cards. The special illustration rare cards are actually unique to this digital platform and don’t have a real life counterpart (as of publishing). That’s completely addictive and unfair as I would love to own and a real life copy of some of this amazingly illustrated art. They’ve also mixed and matched iconic current and past art with new attacks to fit into this scheme. I’m happy to see a pity system implemented into the card ripping portion of the game. Each time you open up a pack you accumulate some points that can be used to purchase any card available in the booster packs. This is something we usually see in the full blown TCG games like Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel and Pokemon TCG Live, so it’s a welcome addition to the condensed format.
The game also lets users form their own collection binders to curate cards they want to personally display for others to see. Personalizing the avenues in which your collection is stored on is such a real thing that collectors obsess over in real life. It’s a genius addition to a TCG focused app. There seems to be a card trading mechanic that will be released down the line. If it’s anything similar to the other Pokemon TCG games, it will be a sort of board posting system.
One on One
I can’t honestly say I can tell whether Pocket wants to be a card battling game or a card pack ripping simulator. From a gameplay perspective of the battling flow, the interface is reminiscent of TCG Online and TCG Live. It’s a clean and easy way to play that anyone can access. The only action players have to do is drag and drop.
Jumping into an online match is quick and usually doesn’t last longer than 5 minutes.
Jumping into an online match is quick and usually doesn’t last longer than 5 minutes. This is perfect for a mobile platform as you really can get a game completed while waiting for a cup of coffee or while charging your car.
Like Duel Links before it, there will be an eventual power creep sooner rather than later. Everyday that passes further from the equal start day will allow someone out there to gain more resources than others. It’s part of competitive mobile gaming. There will also be an inevitable format change that introduces more advanced mechanics to the gameplay as play gets stale over time. That’s how the real life card game got to where it was in the first place.
I’m a little disappointed that the QR code cards that are included in real life Pokemon TCG packs aren’t compatible with this format of TCG. I understand the decision to keep that distinct to TCG Online, but it doesn’t make it easier for me to accept. Seeing as TCG Pocket is in some ways a modified anomaly of the real life TCG, the cards simply don’t match up with sets. At launch, Pocket has three booster pack choices from a series called Genetic Apex. The art in these sets range from Pikachu in Base Set, to recent ones like Charizard ex from 151. There’s just no way to implement a correlation to real life.
What does the Future hold?
There’s a lot of potential here on TCG Pocket that excites me, but there’s an equal amount of concern that makes me worry about the quality of life of this game. There’s only so many missions to accomplish and variations of basic attacks and skills to recycle before a format change to something like Tag Team or V-Star will be thrust upon the game to keep it fresh. That’s the danger zone where Pocket will be faced with potentially losing its minimalistic identity to that of a full TCG format.
For now, an extra energy generator from a Gardevoir to Mewtwo EX is enough to be considered high quality play. Manual retreats and even potions see common play in competitive matches.
Enjoy the simplicity as long as you can, because one day we’ll be looking back at this point of the life cycle with envious eyes and a nostalgic mind. Just ask old Duel Links players.
Alex
Caught in between the conundrum of his fascination with retro and the future, Alex has a very unique taste in technology. Never one to follow trends like his millennial peers yet constantly desiring to get ahead of the curve, he sees technology like he does his other love: comic books. Always looking for the best value or a hidden gem, his collector mindset reflects on some of his favorite gadgets: the Moto X (2015), HTC U11 and the Google Pixelbook. If there’s a good tech deal out there, Alex is on the hunt!