Pokemon: TCG Pocket Review
Since its launch on Oct 30th of last year, I have said “I fucking hate this game” more times than I can count. And still, I play around 10 H2H games every day. I have every badge, I have every base card in the first 4 packs with plenty of their special cards to boot. The thrill of opening a new pack and hoping for a new card, rare or otherwise, or the missing piece to the deck you’re trying to build hardly loses any luster from the real thing.
The fun doesn’t end at the collecting but the gameplay is aggravating, to say the least. First, the game’s current state is broken - The fact that a Machirisu ex deck, which only runs two copies of the same Pokémon, is a tournament-winning strategy is embarrassing. It has also shown it’s easy to manipulate the guaranteed starter Pokemon rule in the game. If there’s one thing you want from a Pokemon game it’s fewer Pokemon! The main solution I could see would be putting a hard limit on Pokemon that must be included in a deck. A minimum of somewhere between 4-6 seems a good balance of still using plenty of trainers, items, and tools while not taking the Pokemon out of Pokemon. Also, we need emotes or some way of communicating during the game. Emotes are a staple of games of this genre, and not being able to put up a Squirtle Squad cool guy or a Shocked Pikachu is a major disservice.
Two other areas of frustration with the game are the overwhelming amount of coin flips that manufacture chance and the other being how quick the games are to play.
Games of chance are some of the most popular in existence. From Poker to Backgammon, games involving plenty of chance alongside skill are beloved by many. Where frustration stems for Pokemon is that the chance is so plain to see and can be extremely impactful. I have had many games come down to a literal coin flip where the bonus damage to be dealt or release from being asleep is all that’s needed to secure a win only to hit tails and lose. The worst of these spots is where you have multiple opportunities to flip heads and win to no avail. I would say at times the coin flips are overvalued putting too much emphasis on chance for a card game that has more than enough depth to promote strategic choices instead of relying on flips. Coin flips undeniably have a place in the game but too many games are won and lost far too directly as a result of them.
Another possibility for promoting strategy is slowing down or lengthening the game. As it stands a game is typically around 10-15 turns compared to 15-25 for the physical card game. Since it is a pocket version you can assume that the developers wanted the game to be more compact and allow for players to complete a game in a relatively short amount of time. Adding another victory point would suit the game well as many games already end with the winner gaining an additional unneeded point but would allow for more strategic options throughout like utilizing non-ex Pokemon to defend a benched ex Pokemon longer while you build it up, and surely many more creative options with an additional point at your disposal.
Despite the issues, the majority of additions that came with the newest set, Space-Time Smackdown, have felt like strong additions that allow for more creative builds and strategic gameplay within the matches. Multiple Trainers like Cyrus and Dawn have entered the meta as must-roster cards, along with the addition of Tools where both the Rocky Helmet and Giant Cape have become essential components to a competitive deck. Sorry Lum Berry but the utility of your sister cards and the small deck sizes leave you on the outside looking in.
We’ve seen some very strong new deck builds also arise - I have been running a few different builds all centered around Dialga Ex with my current deck including Skarmory & Wormadam. It plays well and can beat some meta decks but doesn’t have the big-time power you’ll find on the high end that I’ll look at now.
The biggest homerun power I'll call it is the Palkia ex decks. Or really I should call it Manaphy, Misty decks. Getting extra energy out is one of the pillars of success in this game and water decks overall have had some of the best cards to take advantage of that. Successfully hitting heads on Misty’s is winning games. I could see Misty being a card that’s banned in tournament play in the future because of its overbearing early-game value with really no downside. Manaphy on the other hand is a guarantee of getting 1 energy on 2 benched Pokemon but you have to have a 50hp Pokemon with no attack in your active spot which will often give your opponent 1 point but the trade-off is favourable, especially if you can get two or more off first. For your actual damaging dealing Pokemon Palkia is a current fave but I’m averse to Pokemon who lose their energy from attacks. I’d be using a Vaporeon that can move energy amongst your Pokemon with Articuno ex and Gyrados ex over Palkia myself. Gyrados ex may lose an energy off itself but whenever it pulls from your opponent provides you a big advantage.
A deck I have been seeing a lot of lately that appears dominant is Darkrai ex with Greninja and Druddigon. This deck just punishes you, you cannot escape. You better hammer them fast because if you’re taking up to 80 damage a turn before any attacks have even happened it’s too late. I don’t know if I have just had bad luck when facing these decks but I’m seeing Greninja as fast as possible in most games. Put a Rocky Helmet on a Druddigon you’re taking 40 damage to attack it so you better get it in 1 go - then taking 20 damage from an energy being put on Darkrai and 20 from Greninja. All that without actually attacking, since Druddigon is just there to defend while Darkrai gets enough energy to attack if you haven’t built up someone strong enough to take out Darkrai in 1 attack you’ve most likely lost. Consider yourself extremely lucky if you get a 2nd shot at him.
Pokemon: TCG Pocket has plenty of enjoyable elements. The most excitement the game provides is with opening packs and pulling rare cards. The gameplay itself has faltered with the additional sets but has strong bones that hopefully. as the game progresses, we see find a balance that provides long-lasting value beyond the nostalgic value of opening Pokemon cards and hoping for the rarest of the rare.
