Pokémon TCG Pocket - Released Globally - Ongoing Events: Emblem and Fire Wonder Pick

i dont wanna play the actual Pokemon Trading Card Game because i dont like all of the mechanics and ABCDEFGHIJKLMONPQRSTUVWX cards that have 280 hp and 160 damage for 3 energy but then also their ability fetches 1 extra card once per turn and then and then
It's a little funny to me that your exaggerated nightmare card wouldn't even see use outside of pre-release formats and the playground.

Rough days out there.
 
It's funny to compare Pocket Farfecth'd to their older versions, same damage for triple the energy and can't use it twice in a row

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Ok learning about the hidden challenge to get Mew, I suppose I am now slightly more inclined to pull. But I think I still want a stockpile.

I am nothing if not a big mark for dumb collection gimmicks
 
The reason I'm avoiding them is because the hour glasses are going to fall off. Level ups will taper off, missions will whittle away and then you're just getting a couple from dailies.
I am specifically banking on the next set probably power creeping this one and at that point I'd rather go hard on that.
At the very least I want to see what the "regular" month of a game looks like; the math'll change if they refresh quests often, have more events with things to pull on, add more of a PVP incentive (not even just a ranked ladder, but maybe like gimmick tournaments or whatever), etc. But right now I'm going to bide my time, mostly stick to the single player, kvetch about things and just give side-eye to standard gacha practices. Having a stash of hour glasses probably is a good idea in general.

Less qualms using the wonder pick hour glasses, though.

They definitely are, but the offset is you get actual physical components you can do things with. Even bulk can be offloaded in the worst case, even if its for relative pennies.
And of course you can just buy the card you want. I just bought a full art Larry a while back, no need to worry about digging through packs for those.
You could always cash in all of them and then delete your account if you didnt strike rich. "reset Festival" is a term around these type of games for a reason.

Also I focused hard on Mewtwo packs and have fallen in love with Koga poison wall strats. Using it on Gengar, Muk, and even Dragonite decks.Its just so fun just sitting on a wall, whittling away at your opponent slowly and just when they think they have broken through, you koga and reset the process. Diabolical behavior.
 
While we are on the topic, really how bad are the gacha mechanics on this game specifically?

I have played too many on the past (and wasted money on the real TCG from time to time, but mostly on the collector side, still trying to get every gen 9 mon; but competitive-wise EX ended up being a mistake and only know they seem to try to change its effects with ex return) to know I could probably sink hours on this, specially since I had a lot of fun playing online on the previous, now dead app. But at the same time, I can't shake off the feeling it's pointless given that, by nature, the game will eventually end and I won't even have physical cards as a leftover. I can't justify spending money on it. So how worth is to try and be F2P for now? As a Mewtwo and Charizard fan I should be excited, but I know how painful rerolling can be.

Ok learning about the hidden challenge to get Mew, I suppose I am now slightly more inclined to pull. But I think I still want a stockpile.

I am nothing if not a big mark for dumb collection gimmicks
What is this challenge about if I can ask?
 
While we are on the topic, really how bad are the gacha mechanics on this game specifically?

I have played too many on the past (and wasted money on the real TCG from time to time, but mostly on the collector side, still trying to get every gen 9 mon; but competitive-wise EX ended up being a mistake and only know they seem to try to change its effects with ex return) to know I could probably sink hours on this, specially since I had a lot of fun playing online on the previous, now dead app. But at the same time, I can't shake off the feeling it's pointless given that, by nature, the game will eventually end and I won't even have physical cards as a leftover. I can't justify spending money on it. So how worth is to try and be F2P for now? As a Mewtwo and Charizard fan I should be excited, but I know how painful rerolling can be.


What is this challenge about if I can ask?
Collect the other 150 Kanto Pokemon (any type of card, you just need one of each species) from Genetic Apex.
 
While we are on the topic, really how bad are the gacha mechanics on this game specifically?

I have played too many on the past (and wasted money on the real TCG from time to time, but mostly on the collector side, still trying to get every gen 9 mon; but competitive-wise EX ended up being a mistake and only know they seem to try to change its effects with ex return) to know I could probably sink hours on this, specially since I had a lot of fun playing online on the previous, now dead app. But at the same time, I can't shake off the feeling it's pointless given that, by nature, the game will eventually end and I won't even have physical cards as a leftover. I can't justify spending money on it. So how worth is to try and be F2P for now? As a Mewtwo and Charizard fan I should be excited, but I know how painful rerolling can be.
So, wanted to come back to this.

I think that as the game currently is right now it's...not F2P unfriendly? Obviously there's the chase cards that incentivize spending to, uh, chase but if you just want the cards in general it's not too bad. Just sort of lazily playing, you do get a lot of hourglasses up front from missions, dailies, the rapid fire early level ups, etc.

For you specifically, Charizard & Mewtwo do have a bunch of chase cards. The regular cards, EX cards, EX full arts, Immersive arts and Crown rares (golds). I think there's art rare regular Charizard & Mewtwo too? If you are someone who really really really wants all of them you will probably be pulling for a long time, F2P or otherwise, but there's also no current expectation that the packs will go away, so time pressure is minimal.

If you aren't like me and trying to plan ahead, you could probably spend your hourglasses and eventually get the cards you want. I actually did decide to do a 10-pack pull because my desire for Mew outweighed my "save for the next set" tendencies. and those 10 packs to the 8 or 9 freebie packs I'd opened to that point did help fill in a lot of holes in decks I could build and cards I didn't have. And I could probably grab another...30-40 more packs?

And honestly even planning ahead is probably not needed at this point. The solo player content is designed as something you can whittle away at and has no time gates and the rewards are comparatively minimal. The PVP is currently just "friendlies" that only gives you exp. It's possible we get Ranked and PVP (or Pull-focused) timed events, but who knows if/when those happen or what the payouts for those will be.
 
If you aren't like me and trying to plan ahead, you could probably spend your hourglasses and eventually get the cards you want. I actually did decide to do a 10-pack pull because my desire for Mew outweighed my "save for the next set" tendencies. and those 10 packs to the 8 or 9 freebie packs I'd opened to that point did help fill in a lot of holes in decks I could build and cards I didn't have. And I could probably grab another...30-40 more packs?
How does the 10-pack button work? Every time I've pressed it it's asked for gold. Is it just "do you have 120 hourglasses"?
 
I've updated the first post with DrPumpkinz' friend code. I'll keep a list if you want to add yours.

I have spent the weekend opening the app every hour or so, to pull from the free wonder pick event. I didn't bother with the Chansey Special as two units is expansive for cosmetics, and I managed to grab two event Meowth and one event Chansey from the free pick anyway, which is more than enough to finish the event. I am confident I will get the second Chansey before the end of the event.

Edit: I just got my second Chansey, as I don't care about flairs, the event is completed!

The event itself is underwhelming, but at least, that's some free stuff that gives a reason to come back during the day.

Competitively speaking, I have mainly played Pikachu Ex, since he is my strongest duplicate. The deck is really good, I'd just need Zapdos Ex now to optimize everything. But as long as there's no ranked or anything remotely competitive, I will hold my hourglass and craft points, opening two Pikachu packs a day, the yellow bird will eventually drop.

How does the 10-pack button work? Every time I've pressed it it's asked for gold. Is it just "do you have 120 hourglasses"?

If you have enough hourglasses, it only takes the hourglasses (108 + amount of hours until your next available pack).
 
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Today is the first day of the Lapras event, a PvE event that yields five promo cards (three alternative arts and two new ones).

https://www.serebii.net/tcgpocket/events/laprasexdropevent.shtml

That Mankey looks interesting, since Primeape does 100 damages if it is already damaged. Lapras Ex looks underwhelming compared to the other Water types, it does not look better than the current options.

It's good to note that losing does not consume the event currency, and only the final stage has a 100 % drop rate on the event pack (the pack is one random card among the five, 20 % each). So it's optimal to play the easiest difficulties only once (or five if you want the wonder hourglasses), and even forfeit before winning if you don't meet the requirements for the additional rewards.

It's not clear (at least to me) if the event hourglasses are lost after the event. If they are not, the 32 free battles should be enough to get two of each promo card, so I will probably save the hourglasses for a future event, or at least wait until the final day of the event to make a decision.
 
New event, one every other day, that's a lot.

This time, we have our first PvP event: play 10 VS battles for a total of 24 hourglasses, and win 50 VS battles for a total of 3850 Shinedust. Getting 1/5/25/45 wins also rewards some brag emblems.

We have three weeks, that should be more than enough to get the 50 without grinding. I've played a bit with my Pikachu deck and it works just as much as on the regular ladder. I've noticed that people tend to thank more on this ladder, but maybe my sample is low.

The start of something remotely competitive almost got me to spend 240 hourglasses in packs. Almost. As loses don't matter, I'm still fine.

(I know I'll start spending when competitive starts)
 
New event, one every other day, that's a lot.

This time, we have our first PvP event: play 10 VS battles for a total of 24 hourglasses, and win 50 VS battles for a total of 3850 Shinedust. Getting 1/5/25/45 wins also rewards some brag emblems.

We have three weeks, that should be more than enough to get the 50 without grinding. I've played a bit with my Pikachu deck and it works just as much as on the regular ladder. I've noticed that people tend to thank more on this ladder, but maybe my sample is low.

The start of something remotely competitive almost got me to spend 240 hourglasses in packs. Almost. As loses don't matter, I'm still fine.

(I know I'll start spending when competitive starts)
Would also add that Primeape decks are thriving (with the promo Mankey) and ton of Mewtwo-EX + Gardevoir ramp too.
 
If anyone wants my friend code, since I finally fell into this: 2049100916937826

No idea if I will reroll or not, I was happy to get Mewtwo and the ilustration Bulbasaur so...thats something I guess? No idea if Charizard or Pikachu would have been better. I guess the former is trickier given its a Stage 2...
 
I've gotten enough Lapras EX that I unlocked all the cosmetics for it, any further will be added to my collection for bragging rights in my Flair Folder.

Also, my FC is 3097463872106899
 
Okay, I'm loving the game so far. Managed to get a second copy of Mewtwo ex but no Gardevoir, so instead I'm using Jynx. It's...surprisingly effective? I had a Charizard with like 9 energies suicide into it. Did they not read the card?
Only got one card from the event but it's Lapras ex itself so, maybe I'm done?
Marowak ex can also be surprisingly fun considering it's free.

It's refreshing compared to the original TCG and not as satisfying because of the smaller deck and exes being 2/3 of your victory, but it's still cool.
 
I have accumulated more event shop tickets than is reasonable from Bonus Picks. I really wish that they either offered more items in the shop (at least let me keep exchanging for Shinedust) or converted them into something once the event ends.

I’ll through my FC into the ring too: 4822604018985575
 
Trading coming in January and being a slow roll of "certain cards" at first is so annoying because it probably means starting with the 1-3 diamonds, then later on the 4 diamonds, and then maybe after GA is old & crusty maybe they'll let you get the secret rares

I have extra secret rares I am never going to use and would want to just trade.
 
I started playing this when the Lapras Event began and I haven't played the physical TCG, so I can't really compare them. All I can really say is I'm having fun... at least until coin flips get involved... I hate using Kangaskhan. 100 HP and a 1 Energy Attack that deals 30 Damage on average is too good to not use, but it's two coin flips and... How do I put it without comparing my coins to Buizel? Anyway, I know RNG is a major part of TCGs because of random deck order, but cards that use even more RNG? It's fine if the RNG is a possible upside to something that isn't too bad without RNG, but stuff like Misty and Kangaskhan, where the RNG can easily say you get nothing, is just irritating. It's even more irratating when the cards like that are too good not to use.


On a more positive note about luck, my luck with EX and Full Card Art cards has been interesting. If I have 2 of a rarer version, I don't have any of the more common one. Charizard broke this pattern, but it's the only exception to this rule so far. I opened my second Charizard EX after I had 2 Normal Charizard. (Side Note: I still only have 1 Charmander, 1 Charmeleon, and 1 Moltres EX. I know the last one isn't part of the same Evolution Chain, but good luck telling me you can play Chariazard without Moltres EX's Energy Generation.)

I have 2 of Gengar EX, Full Art Dragonite, Gengar EX, Full Art Gloom, and Charizard EX. If you count cards I got a second of through Wonder Pick, there's also Marowak EX and Full Art Ditto. (I go with Wonder Picks that have at least 2 cards that are either EX or Full Art.)

It would be one thing when it's just not getting 3 Diamond Rarity cards, but getting 2 Full Art Gloom and 2 Marowak EX without the common ones?! What makes that even more absurd is that isn't even my most insane luck. Listing Gengar EX twice wasn't a mistake. I opened 4 Gengar EX! The last one was one pack before my second Gastly and second Haunter. After that I switched from opening only Mewtwo Packs to Pikachu or Charizard Packs so I wouldn't open a fifth Gengar EX. Right now I'm going with Pikachu Packs. because I need 1 Caterpie and 2 Metapod to make a Grass Deck I want to try. :P

Edit: The weird pattern was broken again by opening a second Pikachu EX last night, but I can still claim I haven't opened a normal Pikachu EX because both of mine are the 3 Star Rarity one! BTW, there's something special about 3 Star Cards (not spoiling it if you haven't seen it) but that'd still be my favorite art of the Pikachu EX cards even without the special thing.


My main deck's strategy: Dragonite. I send out fodder and either let it get KOed or use an X Speed right before it gets KOed until I have a Dragonite with 4 Energy. Draco Meteor's 200 Random Damage is still 200 Damage, so it's pretty effective for an RNG attack. (Also, it's fun RNG. Either something gets KOed or the opponent's Pokemon are almost KOed afterward. Sometimes lots of stuff gets KOed and I've gotten the message +4 Points multiple times.) There's also the funny yet common situation where I want Dragonite out but it will be in two turns because I'll need to switch out my active Pokemon... then the opponent KOs it and I get to destroy them a turn sooner with the free switch. PSA: Sometimes it's better not to attack. Sometimes you should stall a turn to try and draw an Evolution or another Pokemon to bench for the sake of having more HP.

My deck's other Evolution Chain is Pidgey because Pidgeot's Drive Off Ability forcing switches is fun and can make opponents waste their Energy switching back to the Pokemon they want to use, but it sucks before becoming Pidgeot and Drive Off doesn't feel as good with Dragonite's RNG Attack. I'll try Jolteon when I open a second one. Only needing to evolving once sounds really good when I can feel the problems two Evolution Chains that need to evolve twice causes and 40 Damage per Coin with 4 Coin Flips is enough for me to not complain. It's 80 on average and much less likely to end up being a Double Buizel. Also, DrPumpkinz had a good point about how it should work if the 50 Damage version works for Zapdos EX.

Looking at what I have right now instead of waiting for a second Jolteon, how insane is Weezing? The Gas Leak Ability causing Poison is like an attack that doesn't use Energy, 110 HP is pretty nice for a Stage 1, and I can chose to have only Electric and Water Energy in my deck instead of having to have Electric, Water, and Dark. It's not like I'd want to put Energy on Koffing unless it was to retreat... at least 90% of the time... Okay, probably less than 80%... Not being able to Tackle be a problem. It's a completely insane idea. There's no way I'm using it without testing it in Single Player a lot first... Um... Whoever Scream7x is, wow. I don't think you're reading this, but wow. I thought someone read this then tried Weezing in a Dragonite Deck, but turns out I didn't post this last night. I'm amazed I'm not the only guy who thought of this and I'm going with it now. Scream7x won because I couldn't draw anything other than Pidgey. I can tell they were even crazier than me because they used Koga too! It only works on Weezing and Muk, but guess it's like an X Speed.


By the way, who remembers the classic Surfing Pikachu? (Actually, with how old it is, the real question is more like who's heard of it?)

250px-SurfingPikachuWizardsPromo28.jpg


Did you know Surfing Pikachu is in the game? It doesn't have its own card, but Pikachu on a Pink Surfboard is in the background of another card. I put it in a spoiler tab in case anyone wants to try to find it instead of just being shown.
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This Lapras belongs in the best TCG Art thread. It feels wrong to say art this beauteful is barely in my Top 5, but the dark and stormy night of the Full Art Gyarados and Full Art Legendary Bird cards are EPIC!

My Friend Code if anyone's interested: 7213-1476-4812-7885
Please message me if you try to add me because I might reject you if I think you're someone just sent I just battled.
 
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I hate using Kangaskhan. 100 HP and a 1 Energy Attack that deals 30 Damage on average is too good to not use, but it's two coin flips and... How do I put it without comparing my coins to Buizel?
Kanga also suffers from a high retreat cost, and since you're probably not putting more than one energy on her before moving to focus on your bench, you often get stuck in situations where you'd really like to swap her out for something that can deal guarenteed damage but she's just stuck out there flipping tails and being setup fodder. It's actually why I dropped it from my own Dragonite deck. I've been trying out a few new mons like Farfetch'd for that early damage or Dodrio for the free retreat, but nothing is really clicking.

What is clicking is swapping out Tentacruel and Heliolisk for Vaporeon and Jolteon. The Fighting weakness early on hurts, but having two Eeveelutions on a team is amazing. The deck feels so much less reliant on Dragonair and Dragonite, in fact a lot of the time the Eeveelutions take care of everything while Dratini just looms ominously from the bench. It also may or may not throw the opponent off the scent of it being a Dragonite deck.
 
Kangashkan has the best HP-damage ratio of any colorless basic, plain and simple. The retreat issue can be minimized with X Speed. Sure, it's setup fodder if you roll low, but setup fodder is an inherent issue with Dragonite decks. Gotta accept EXs will outsize you.
 
Kangashkan has the best HP-damage ratio of any colorless basic, plain and simple. The retreat issue can be minimized with X Speed. Sure, it's setup fodder if you roll low, but setup fodder is an inherent issue with Dragonite decks. Gotta accept EXs will outsize you.
Eh, unless you draw both X Speeds, you still have to waste a turn's worth of energy putting one onto Kang to retreat her. And for an energy-hungry mon like Dragonite or even Dragonair, that one turn can be a big deal. Even more so if it gives the opponent a chance to use Sabrina to attack what Kang was supposed to be defending.

Kang doesn't need to last until the end of the game, just long enough to get Dragon and/or Vaporeon set up (Jolteon doesn't need that much energy and so does a pretty good job of being the second line of defense while the others charge up) and in my experience it usually lasts too long after that.
 
Is anyone else playing this and hearing the absolutely slapping battling music from the original Pokemon TCG Game Boy game whilst laying down some cards?

No?

Just me showing my age again?

Alrighty then.
 
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