New cards, new gameplay— Pokémon TCG Pocket has taken the world by storm and offers a completely fresh experience, and it can be hard to figure out the most efficient strategies when starting the game.
Let’s dive into a comprehensive beginner’s guide of all things TCG Pocket!
Players can open a pack every 12 hours – so 2 packs per day. Packs will contain five cards, and each card will have one of the various rarities in the game. The game sends you a notification when your pack stamina has recovered and you can open a pack. It’s worth checking in every now and then to ensure you don’t lose out on any packs!
You can speed up the time to your next Pack opening by spending pack Hourglasses or Poké gold. Opening packs earns you XP, shinedust and 5 Pack Points.
Currently, the game has one card ‘set’ which is called Genetic Apex. The set has three pack types – Charizard, Mewtwo and Pikachu. Certain cards only appear in certain packs, like the Pikachu Immersive card being exclusive to Pikachu packs. You can double-check the offering rates or owned cards to see which pack a card features in.
We recommend picking the Mewtwo pack, as it offers a stronger deck for missions, particularly against Lightning and Darkness AI decks, and includes a guaranteed Bulbasaur. You can also opt for the Charizard pack, which comes with Exeggutor ex—a solid Pokémon in a Venusaur ex deck.
Pack Point Exchange
Pack points can be obtained as a bonus when you consume pack stamina to open a booster pack. They can be exchanged for cards according to the cards’ point cost.
Related reading:
- How Pull Rates and Rare Packs work in Pokémon TCG Pocket
- How to craft Rare Cards using Pack Points in Pokémon TCG Pocket
In Wonder Pick, you can get one of the cards chosen randomly from a booster pack that was opened by another player. Wonder Picks are updated at regular intervals. Booster packs opened by your friends may also appear as wonder picks.
Choose a wonder pick based on the card you are after. A little binder symbol appears in the bottom left hand corner of the card if you already have it. When you choose the pick, the 5 cards turn over and shuffle. You can choose any of the 5 cards as your pick, which is then revealed. The probability rate for each card is 1 in 5.
Cards will remain in the language they were opened from a pack in. This means using Wonder Pick is a great way to collect cards from different languages!
Wonder Picking requires Wonder Stamina, which recovers over time. There are 5 ‘bars’ of stamina, with each one taking 12 hours to recover. You can reduce the time it takes for Wonder Stamina to recover by using Wonder Hourglasses. Expired Wonder Picks can be made available using a Rewind Watch.
The second icon along the bottom ‘dock’ is where you will find all of your cards.
Some quick tips for navigating ‘My Cards’
- Toggle the ‘binder’ icon next to the search bar. This lets you see how many cards you have from each deck and where the missing cards are.
- The bottom right-hand icon lets you sort the cards by expansion order, card number, type, rarity, recent and no. of duplicates.
- If you click on a slot with a missing card, you can ‘Wishlist’ the card in the top right corner. This will show up as an icon in any Wonder Picks so you know not to miss it!
- Clicking on any card (even ones you don’t have) and scrolling will tell you all info, including which pack it is obtainable from.
- When viewing a card, the top left icon shows any flair you have for the card. The top middle icon shows you the languages you have the card in.
Related reading:
- How to get all Immersive Cards in Pokémon TCG Pocket
- How to get all Promo Cards in Pokémon TCG Pocket
Flair
Flair is a cosmetic addition to cards that can be displayed on display boards or during battle.
Flair can be obtained by exchanging duplicate cards and shinedust. You can only exchange if you will have 2 or more copies of cards after the flair has been obtained.
There are two types of flair:
- Cosmetic flairs are only craftable through ◊ and some promotional cards. They’re a constant effect on the card.
- Battle flairs only apply to Pokémon cards played in a deck. ◊ rarity Pokémon get at least one, while ☆ Pokémon exclusively get battle flairs. They only show up when a card enters the field.
There are four stages of flairs and you need to unlock the lower recipes in order before you can get the most expensive ones. The first type of cosmetic flair is always Sparkles Flair:Gold (Cosmetic), the first type of battle flair is always Tiny Twinkles Flair: Yellow (Battle). The following three flairs are ordered based on the very first pack you opened when you started the game. You can also trade shinedust and duplicates of ☆ rarity cards for special shop tickets.
There are a couple of exceptions to flair:
- Trainer Cards of ☆☆ Rarity do not have Flairs available.
- Promo cards have at least 2 different tiers in how their flairs are managed, depending on their art type.
- Pokémon that you can obtain only 1-of (Mew, Premium Pass Pikachu…) don’t need a duplicate for the recipe
- Promo cards cannot be exchanged for Special Shop Tickets.
Cosmetic Flair Costs
|
Rarity
|
Duplicates needed
|
1st flair shinedust cost (1x)
|
2nd flair (1.5x)
|
3rd flair (3x)
|
4th flair (4.5x)
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ◊ |
3 cards
|
50 shinedust
|
75
|
150
|
225
|
| ◊◊ |
2 cards
|
80 shinedust
|
120
|
240
|
360
|
| ◊◊◊ |
1 card
|
360 shinedust
|
540
|
1080
|
1620
|
| ◊◊◊◊ |
1 card
|
720 shinedust
|
1080
|
2160
|
3420
|
|
Promo
|
1 card
|
50 shinedust
|
75
|
150
|
225
|
Battle Flair Costs
|
Rarity
|
Duplicates needed
|
1st flair shinedust cost (1x)
|
2nd flair (1.5x)
|
3rd flair (3x)
|
4th flair (4.5x)
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
☆
|
1 card
|
500 shinedust
|
750
|
1500
|
2250
|
|
☆☆
|
1 card
|
1800 shinedust
|
2700
|
5400
|
8100
|
|
☆☆☆
|
1 card
|
4000 shinedust
|
6000
|
12000
|
18000
|
|
♛
|
1 card
|
20000 shinedust
|
30000
|
60000
|
90000
|
|
Promo
|
No card
|
500 shinedust
|
750
|
1500
|
2250
|
The shop has all the items you need in game. The first stop should be the daily free bundle, which includes a Wonder Hourglass and a Shop Ticket.
Shop Tickets can be earned through battles, missions, and interactions with others. They can be spent on Hourglasses, Special Shop tickets (stay with me), exclusive promo cards and binder covers.
Other items in the shop include coins, play mats, card sleeves and purchasing Poké gold with real money.
Multiple currencies are running in tandem in Pocket, I’d highly recommend the article below to help you get your head around it!
Related reading:
If you’ve bought some binders or display boards from the shop, you’re likely wondering what to do with them. They can be accessed from the top of the ‘My Cards’ page.
Display Boards
Display boards showcase one card in an artistic ‘frame’. You can have 15 display boards at a time.
To create a display board, click create new. A page pops up which lets you choose your ‘frame’ from your collection, when you have chosen you then need to click the plus which will let you choose a card to add to the ‘frame’.
When done, you can set the board to private, friends only or public and set some hashtags.
Binders
Binders are another kind of card showcase, which can house a collection of 30 cards. You can create a binder in a similar way to Display Boards. Maybe you want to show off your impressive promo card collection, full arts or EX cards, or just your favourite art. This is the place to do it!
Favourited for Home Screen
If you click on a binder or display board, the icon with a star in the top left can favourite the showcase to your home screen.
You can have a maximum of 2 showcases on your home screen. They will appear in the top left of the screen, acting as a quick way to access your showcases to show your friends.
The Social Hub is accessed by the middle icon along the dock.
Making Friends
The friends tab shows your current friends, any sent pending requests and friend requests sent to you. You can add friends by searching for a player using their code or sharing your code with others. This is accessed by clicking the + icon in the top right of this screen.
Friends are important as their pulls can pop up on your Wonder Picks and they can interact with your showcases.
A couple of ways to make friends:
- Reach out on social media
- Send a friend request after completing a Wonder Pick
- Send a friend request after completing a Versus Battle
Community Showcases
You earn shop tickets for each like on your binders or display boards. Try to go through and give your friends some likes so they can earn too!
These rewards come through as gifts and can be redeemed from the home page.
Decks
My Decks
In My Decks, you can build decks to use in battle. A deck is made up of 20 cards, you can have a max. of 2 copies of the same card in a deck.
You can auto-build a deck using the ‘Auto-build’ function. Select auto-build and then the desired energy types, and a deck will be automatically built using cards you own.
Your playmat, card sleeves and Pokémon coin can be customised for each deck in the build deck interface. You can have 15 decks.
Rental Decks
Rental decks are a kind of deck that let you borrow a set of 20 cards to use in battle. They can be obtained mainly by completing deck missions.
The rental decks you have obtained can be seen from the Deck Menu. A rental deck has a limited number of uses.
Theme Deck Lists
Theme deck lists can be used to easily build decks.
If you select a theme deck list when building a deck, a deck will be built using cards you own. To build a theme deck, you must own all of the cards required by the theme deck list.
Theme deck lists can be obtained by completing ‘deck’ missions.
Types of Battles
- Solo Battles are battles against a computer. There are 4 stages to complete: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Expert. Each stage has multiple battles to complete, each with their own rewards. The ‘auto-battle’ feature can be toggled and the battles can be played automatically.
- Versus Battles are online battles against other players. Private matches can be played against specific people, by setting a shared password. Random matches are played against anyone online, you can set your battle stance based on experience. Beginner is recommended for novice battles. Trading Card Game Player is recommended for players who are familiar with battling.
Battling Basics
Navigation
- You can tap and hold a card to see it in detail.
- Your active Pokémon is the Pokémon that is being used to attack
- The three slots are your bench, you can place cards from your bench into your active slot by retreating or losing your active Pokémon
- Your hand is at the bottom of the screen, you can place cards from your hand onto your bench. You can have up to 10 cards in your hand.
- Your card deck is on the right face down, you draw a card from the deck every turn. You can tap on the deck to find out how many cards are left.
- Your discarded cards show up below the deck. You can see all your discarded cards by clicking on this pile.
Setting Up
- At the start of a battle a coin will flip. Heads means you are going first, tails means you are going second.
- You must place a basic Pokémon in your Active spot. You can put other basic Pokémon on your bench. It is recommended to have at least one card on your bench at any time, so you do not automatically lose the battle if your Active Pokémon is defeated.
- Once you are set up, click ‘Start Battle’.
Battling
- The player going first does not draw a card from their deck and they do not generate an energy. They can use a supporter card.
- Players score 1 point by defeating a regular Pokémon and 2 points for defeating a EX Pokémon. The first player to 3 points wins.
- Weaknesses can be seen in the bottom left hand corner of the card. Weaknesses deal +20 damage. There are no resistances.
The Energy Zone will provide you with Basic Energy that your Pokemon needs. The type of the Energy that the Energy Zone provides may vary depending on how many types your deck runs. It is either random or the game checks your Pokemon in play’s Attacks’ Energy Costs.
Some Pokemon are able to Evolve. You can evolve a Pokemon on your Bench or the Active spot by dragging a stage 1 or 2 Pokémon from your hand over the card in the active slot or on the bench. Just like the TCG, you cannot evolve a Pokemon that has just come into play, or any Pokemon on your first turn.
Some Pokemon have Abilities that require you to activate manually. You can do this on your turn.
Trainer Cards can be played on your turn. You can play one Supporter or Stadium Card per turn, while you can play however many Item Cards as you want. Trainer Cards get discarded into the Discard Pile after use.
Pokemon Tools are Cards that can be attached to Pokemon. Similar to Item Cards, you can play as many as you want during your turn, but you can only attach these to Pokemon who do not already have a Tool equipped to them.
You can retreat a Pokémon for an energy cost. You can retreat once per turn.
Attacking is the last action you can do on your turn. You can attack by having Energy attached to your Pokemon and having the necessary Energy for an Attack’s cost.
Players are given twenty minutes each to play a match. When a player’s time runs out, points will be checked to see who wins the match. If both players have the same number of points at the end of the time limit, the Battle ends in a draw.
Missions can be accessed by the ‘Missions’ tab. They are extremely varied and can be completed to earn rewards.
Daily
There are daily missions you can complete. Completing 3 of the daily missions below rewards you 3 Pack Hourglasses.
- Log in
- Open 1 booster pack
- Open 2 booster packs
- Wonder pick 1 time
- Participate in 1 battle
Dex
Dex Missions focus on how many cards you have registered in the dex and can be completed by opening packs and collecting new cards.
Deck
Deck Missions list 20 cards to collect, when you complete the mission you will obtain its theme deck list. The theme deck lists are based on rental decks, for which there is a limited amount of uses. This means you can build that deck anytime from the Decks screen.
Event
Event Missions are based on any current events running in game.
Premium
Premium Missions are available for people that have the subscription. These missions mainly reward Premium tickets for the shop.
Themed Collections
Themed collections are a subset of Missions that involve collecting multiple Pokémon based on a specific theme. Alternative and ex versions of Pokémon also count toward completion, while some are explicitly required (their ◊ counterparts won’t count). Once completed, you’ll earn rewards like Wonder Hourglasses, Pack Hourglasses, Shop Tickets, Emblem Tickets and occasionally icons.
Related reading:
Emblems
In the user profile in Pokémon TCG Pocket, there is a gap for three Emblems. These Emblems are on display whenever a profile is seen, and also display when you are playing against other people in battle alongside your name and user icon.
These emblems can be found in a variety of ways. First, they can be purchased using Emblem Tickets obtained by completing Themed Collections. These Emblems are designated by set so only Emblem Tickets from that set can purchase Emblems from that specific set. Others are obtained as rewards for Themed Collections
You can change your emblems but clicking on them in your profile.
Icons
Icons are used as your profile picture in Pokémon TCG Pocket.
There are 6 default icons to choose from when starting the game. Further icons can be unlocked by completing themed collections or completing a set of cards.
To change your icon, tap on your icon at the top of the home screen to take you to your profile. Tap on your profile icon again to edit it. Select the icon you want to change to, then tap on OK.
Tagline
Under your name on your profile you can set your tagline from a list. Your tagline will show alongside your icon and emblems at the start of a battle.
The premium pass is a paid service that allows you to receive several in-game benefits for a set monthly fee. For more information about these benefits, see the Premium Pass screen within the game by navigating to the Home screen (leftmost button at the bottom of the screen) > Regular pass icon (third button from the right at the top of the screen) > Premium Pass > Subscribe > scroll to the end of the Attention section, then tap the button at the bottom of the screen.
This subscription, among cosmetic benefits, allows you to open 1 more booster pack per 24 hour period. The subscription does not alter the pack pull rates. Something that I’m really enjoying about TCGPocket so far is that it does not feel like you’re at an unfair advantage by being free-to-play.
