“Pokemon TCG Pocket” Gameplay Differences Analyzed, 40 “Genetic Apex” Cards Revealed So Far!

Water Pokémon Master

I like Pokemon more than you! :p
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Now that I have some time, let’s analyze the gameplay differences between Pokemon TCG Pocket and the regular Pokemon TCG!
The app was revealed two weeks ago on Pokemon Day. It features digital Pokemon pack opening and quick battles. It will release sometime in 2024.


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You can only have up to three Benched Pokemon — instead of five.


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Three Benched Pokemon



Instead of Prize cards, each player earns points. A player wins the game when they earn three points (or presumably Knocks Out all of their opponent’s Pokemon). Knocking out a regular Pokemon yields one point. Knocking out a Pokemon ex yields two points. This also means your deck won’t have any cards locked up in...

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Hate that they're reusing so much artwork as "new cards" that have nothing else in common with the older existing cards.

Especially when they clearly don't mind making actual new artwork for the chase cards but aren't making physical copies of those (that we know of so far). Truly the worst of both worlds.
 
I get that the mechanic has been part of the TCG since its inception, but I have always maintained that prizes are the worst mechanic in this TCG and I infinitely prefer the point system that they'll be using here.

With prizes you can lose simply by prizing an important card(s) before either player even gets a turn:
-Running more copies to compensate for prizes with regular kinds of cards results in more clunky decks, and even then if you run 3 copies of say, Gardevoir ex or Baxcalibur in their respective decks, there is still that small chance you prize all 3 and likely immediately lose... very small chance yes, but it adds an extra element of luck that some other TCG's do not have.
-Radiants/Ace Specs are 1 ofs, so you can't even run more copies to compensate for prizes, and if yours is prized and your opponents isn't then you're at a huge disadvantage, especially if you never get a chance to get them out of your prizes before they win, possibly even from the huge momentum they gained from having access to theirs.
-Cards like Peonia and Gladion while great are a bit clunky being supporters (I wish we got more cards like Hisuian Heavy Ball), but even if you're running them, you're likely only running 1, and... they may also be prized along with the card(s) you want to dig out your prizes.
 
Quicker and easier will probably take me two months two fully understand the game in total collector brain go derrrrrr :p. (Incoming Collector take/rant) But with the release of pocket do you think they ever stop with innovative changes to the physical tcg art wise. We've gone all the way from Rainbow to VMAX variations to IR and SIR. Wonder if they think that people will just move onto pocket and ditch physical in the future cause of the animations . Each upcoming and growing generations are being more reliant on technology. Anyways ,its a whole mess about generations and how gen Z is the inbetween technology addiction and touching grass and it seems to me those who still collect the physical are older , my age or -3 at most.(born in 00). I'm basically having the boomer moment looking at my cards I got as a kid and seeing this new animated cards on the screen and going "Damn they aint make it like they use to".
 
I get that the mechanic has been part of the TCG since its inception, but I have always maintained that prizes are the worst mechanic in this TCG and I infinitely prefer the point system that they'll be using here.

With prizes you can lose simply by prizing an important card(s) before either player even gets a turn:
-Running more copies to compensate for prizes with regular kinds of cards results in more clunky decks, and even then if you run 3 copies of say, Gardevoir ex or Baxcalibur in their respective decks, there is still that small chance you prize all 3 and likely immediately lose... very small chance yes, but it adds an extra element of luck that some other TCG's do not have.
-Radiants/Ace Specs are 1 ofs, so you can't even run more copies to compensate for prizes, and if yours is prized and your opponents isn't then you're at a huge disadvantage, especially if you never get a chance to get them out of your prizes before they win, possibly even from the huge momentum they gained from having access to theirs.
-Cards like Peonia and Gladion while great are a bit clunky being supporters (I wish we got more cards like Hisuian Heavy Ball), but even if you're running them, you're likely only running 1, and... they may also be prized along with the card(s) you want to dig out your prizes.
Had a game where all my grass energy were prized as giritina, and then a game where all my garde were prized
 
Hate that they're reusing so much artwork as "new cards" that have nothing else in common with the older existing cards.

Especially when they clearly don't mind making actual new artwork for the chase cards but aren't making physical copies of those (that we know of so far). Truly the worst of both worlds.
I don't care too much about artwork of digital cards, but didn't we learn that many artists when designing artwork for cards, submit 2+ artworks and then one is picked?, so there should be lots of unused artworks. Plus all of the artwork from contests. So I am sure there are 100s if not 1000s of unused artworks that would be ready to be used for those digital cars, which sounds useful.
 
There is a few ways this mechanic could work (I know, shocker).
1. You get one Energy per turn into your Energy zone.
This would mean "ramp" is more of a reward for missing Energy attachment, such as when it's still early in the game. That is possible, but we haven't seen any cards that add Energy into the Energy Zone, nor is Energy being added back when Snorlax gets KO'd. Getting that extra Energy in this system would be quite difficult.
2. You can more than one Energy per turn put into your Energy zone.
This seems likely, but is perhaps the least interesting option. The issue here is that you'd basically fill your Energy Zone extremely quickly. It also seems like only a few cards interact with the Energy zone. The fact that a "late game" situation only has 1 Energy per zone makes this improbable.
3. The Wild Option
Believe it or not, but the closest comparison to Pokemon TCG right now (at least in active development) is Genshin Impact TCG. In that game, you don't get any type of "Energy progression" - you get a set amount of Energy every turn, and have to spend it on attacks. Then you duke it out until both sides run out of moves, at which point you reroll Energy again. While it's not likely Pokemon will do something like this, I am absolutely sure they're looking at their competition and trying to learn what works and what doesn't.
 
Kinda weird that the a lot of Pokémon have colorless in their attacks if you would only get energy of one type. Really confused but excited to see what it'll be like.
 
I get the goal of this product, and it looks like it will deliver on it, I actually think this is great. My only complaint is, why the hell wouldn't they monetize Live to begin with, if you could buy cards and trade them, it would be amazing, and they would also have the money to justify investing on the game so it wasn't the pile of garbage that it is.
 
I get that the mechanic has been part of the TCG since its inception, but I have always maintained that prizes are the worst mechanic in this TCG and I infinitely prefer the point system that they'll be using here.

With prizes you can lose simply by prizing an important card(s) before either player even gets a turn:
-Running more copies to compensate for prizes with regular kinds of cards results in more clunky decks, and even then if you run 3 copies of say, Gardevoir ex or Baxcalibur in their respective decks, there is still that small chance you prize all 3 and likely immediately lose... very small chance yes, but it adds an extra element of luck that some other TCG's do not have.
-Radiants/Ace Specs are 1 ofs, so you can't even run more copies to compensate for prizes, and if yours is prized and your opponents isn't then you're at a huge disadvantage, especially if you never get a chance to get them out of your prizes before they win, possibly even from the huge momentum they gained from having access to theirs.
-Cards like Peonia and Gladion while great are a bit clunky being supporters (I wish we got more cards like Hisuian Heavy Ball), but even if you're running them, you're likely only running 1, and... they may also be prized along with the card(s) you want to dig out your prizes.
Prize cards is one of the reasons I dont play....
 
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