Pokémon TCG Pocket is Worth Your Time

When Nintendo announced Pokémon TCG Pocket, I was expecting to interact with the game quite casually, only logging in to collect a few cards for free each day. I’ve never been a big fan of the physical Pokémon TCG, as although the gameplay does a good job replicating the simplicity of the video games – it makes for a rather dull card game with a variety of core design issues. Like Magic: The Gathering, the Pokémon TCG has a mana system that relies on drawing specific resource cards in order to make any play.

The downside is that because of variance, there will be some games where you either draw no resources or too many of them. This results in a frustrating player experience where the outcome of a game is decided on luck rather than skill. On top of this, Pokémon has a secondary layer of variance within its evolution system, as failing to find key evolutions before your opponent will quickly cause you to lose to their more powerful late-game threats.

Finally, the core Pokémon TCG has by far one of the worst features I’ve ever experienced. That being the prize card system, which rewards the player in the lead by drawing them extra cards. As you might expect this means games are incredibly one-sided a majority of the time.

It came as a huge surprise to me, when I jumped into the versus mode on Pokémon TCG Pocket, to find that the team had fixed many of my core issues with the physical game. Energy is automatically generated at the start of each turn, allowing you to always make some kind of play on your turn and focus more on finding your key evolution lines. Additionally, the prize card system has been completely removed. Matches are simply decided by scoring three points, which are accumulated after knocking out one of your opponent’s Pokémon; regular Pokémon are worth one point while the powerful EX cards give two points.

These factors combined with a very generous free-to-play model make Pokémon TCG Pocket a very worthwhile experience. I haven’t spent a dime on Pokémon TCG Pocket since installing it about three to four weeks ago, and while I don’t have all the cards yet I can see myself acquiring the full 200-card set within the next month. Now if you’re looking to chase all the alternate arts you’ll probably have to start spending a little real money, but if you just want to get some games and build decks it’s quite easy to do so with no barrier to entry.

Pokémon TCG Pocket is still one of the most simplistic card games with repetitive play patterns, but it’s not as if the franchise hadn’t become successful through this aspect in the first place. Sometimes it’s nice to just sit back and build a deck around your favorite collectible critters while trying your hand at overcoming the top-tier decks. The small card pool might be an issue for some players, as typically this leads to stale meta-games where only a few decks can compete.

While I can see the truth in this argument I would have to disagree. I’ve had just as much success playing my own decks featuring underutilized Pokémon as I have with the most powerful archetypes. As time passes, however, this criticism will be less of an issue as the game will surely add dozens of more cards and game features. A Trade Mode and Ranked Mode are currently in the works, with the ongoing emblem event acting as a trial run for ranked PVP.

If you are still on the fence, Pokémon TCG Pocket also boasts one of the cleanest interfaces I’ve seen from digital clients and runs incredibly smoothly on mobile devices. The cards themselves boast a great mix of both modern and classic Pokémon art. Each of which can be further personalized by adding flairs to the frame; these are easily acquired by converting extra copies of cards you already own.

My only real complaints with Pokémon TCG Pocket thus far are some minor gripes with the crafting system and the implementation of multi-energy decks. Most digital card games have this feature which allows you to exchange some sort of in-game currency for the specific card that you want to add in your collection. Pokémon TCG Pocket has this feature in the form of pack points which are slowly acquired automatically simply by opening packs.

You’ll have to open almost a hundred packs to save up enough points for just one EX card. I wish the game also allowed me to exchange extra copies of cards I own for those of an equivalent rarity. It can be quite frustrating to pull the same EX multiple times when you already own a playset. Just having a shiny border often doesn’t make up for this, when I’d rather have a new card I can build around.

The second nitpick is the fact that most Pocket decks force you to build around one type of Pokémon exclusively. This is due to the fact that when you choose to run multiple energy types, the energy you generate each turn automatically will be random. I could see this being an issue later in Pokémon TCG Pocket‘s lifecycle as more Dragon-type Pokémon are introduced since they all require various energy types to function.

Not only that but there is certainly a limit to how much fun mono-type teams can be and it would be nice to see multi-type decks see the same level of success. As it stands now, while it is certainly possible to build a functioning and decently powerful multi-type deck, you open yourself up to increased variance, which can lead to higher amounts of auto-lose scenarios.

It feels as though more effort was put into Pokémon TCG Pocket than many of the newest mainline games, which as a fan saddens me but at the same time I’m happy I can find a way to enjoy the series again. Give Pokémon TCG Pocket a shot if you find yourself short on time or just looking for a relaxing TCG experience.