“Pokemon TCG Pocket” New Cards, Crown Rares, Gameplay, Mechanics, and Soft Launch Date!

By: Water Pokémon Master · Posted Posted onSep 19, 2024 at 9:50 AM · 28 Comments

Last week The Pokemon Company held media events around the world to demo Pokemon TCG Pocket. The review embargo was just lifted.

Here’s all the newly revealed information:

New Cards

More cards may be added here throughout the day, keep checking back!

Soft Launch

The game will soft launch in New Zealand on Thursday, September 26th at 6 AM PDT.

For the rest of the world, the app will launch on October 30th.

Battles

Players will construct 20-card decks. You can’t have more than two copies of a card in your deck.

At the start of the game, you draw five cards and put down your Active Pokemon and up to three Benched Pokemon.

There are no Prize cards. The first player to win three points wins the match (one point for a regular Pokemon, two for a Pokemon ex).

The player going first can’t draw a card on their first turn or use an Energy. You can use a Supporter card. You can’t have more than 10 cards in your hand.

As we’ve known for a while, there are no Energy cards in the game. Instead, when it’s your turn, an Energy will be generated in your Energy Zone. You will also be able to see the Energy that will be generated during your next turn. The Energy Zone only holds one Energy at a time. If a card lets you attach another Energy, such as Meltan, that Energy will appear in your Energy Zone for usage.

The generated Energy are based on the types of Pokemon in your deck.

Ranked Mode

There will be no ranked mode available for the game, at least at launch.

Real-World Events

There are currently no plans for integrating Pocket with Play! Pokemon events.

Pack Opening & Collecting

By default you can open one booster pack every 12 hours, for a total of two packs a day. The app will begin a countdown timer for when you can open your next pack.

This means you will have to check in to the app at least every 12 hours.

The app will send your phone a notification when you can open another pack.

Pack Hourglasses

An in-game currency called “Pack Hourglasses” allows you to reduce the pack opening timer by one hour. If you use 12, for example, you’ll be able to open another pack right away.

You can earn Pack Hourglasses in a variety of ways, such as by increasing your player level or as mission rewards. You can use Pack Hourglasses as soon as you get them.

Poke Gold

The other in-game currency is “Poke Gold,” which you purchase with real money.

  • 5x Poke Gold costs $0.99
  • 15x costs $2.99
  • 50x costs $9.99
  • 500x costs $99.99

Each Poke Gold reduces the pack opening timer by two hours.

If you want to open another pack right away, it will cost 6x Poke Gold (around $1). If you want to open 10 booster packs, it will cost 60x Poke Gold (around $12).

You can’t use more than 720x Poke Gold per day (120 packs, or $150).

Poke Gold can also be used to purchase virtual TCG accessories.

Pack opening will thus work by using a combination of your daily packs, Pack Hourglasses, and Poke Gold.

Pack Points

You will earn 10 “Pack Points” for every booster pack you open.

You can exchange these points for any card in the game. This is handy if you can’t pull a certain card.

  • 35 points: a ♢ card.
  • 70 points: a ♢♢ card.
  • 150 points: a ♢♢♢ card.
  • 400 points: a ☆ card.
  • 500 points: a ♢♢♢♢ card.
  • 1250 points: a ☆☆ card.
  • 1500 points: a ☆☆☆ card (immersive cards).
  • 2500 points: a ☆☆☆☆ card (crown rares).

The rarest cards in the game will be gold full art cards with a ☆☆☆☆ rarity. These are called “crown rares” and there are only three in the game. None have been revealed yet.

Premium Pass & Premium Missions

As posted before, the $9.99/month “Premium Pass” allows you to open a third booster pack each day and also unlocks “Premium Missions.”

These Premium Missions will reward promo cards and accessories, like card sleeves and coins. The promo cards will be alternate art versions of existing cards.

Meowth’s full art will be one of the exclusive promos for Premium Missions. Meowth is still available in Genetic Apex, so these alternate art promos won’t affect deck building if you don’t buy the Premium Pass.

Players will be allowed to try the Premium Pass two weeks for free.

Pull Rates

To comply with certain gaming laws, the game tells you the chances of pulling any one card. A specific ♢ card will have a 0.02% chance of being pulled. A ☆☆☆☆ card will have a 0.013% of being pulled.

The game will not be available in the Netherlands, Belgium, or other countries with strict gaming laws.

Shine Dust

You can convert duplicate cards in your collection into “Shine Dust.” This allows you to add custom animations or flares to individual cards, such as shiny stars or Poke Balls.

Connecting with Friends

You can use a custom code to battle or trade other players, whether locally or online.

Trading will not be available at launch.

Starter Pokemon

When you first open the game, you’ll get a booster pack with one of the three Kanto Pokemon as well as its ☆ version.

Item Cards

Item cards like Poke Ball are not available in Genetic Apex‘s main set. This will prevent them from clogging up pack openings. You can easily get Item cards through tutorials and other means.

Future Sets

There will be no predetermined schedule for releasing new sets. The developers will assess how much of the playerbase has collected sets before releasing another one.

Missions & Progression

There are countless daily missions you can complete to earn rewards, such as Pack Hourglasses. A few examples include:

  • Log in
  • Open 4 booster packs
  • Reach Player Level 3
  • Trade
  • Collect cards following certain themes, such as all Electabuzz & Magmar cards, all Kanto Starter Pokemon, all Eeveelutions, etc.

There is a solo mode for battling against the AI.

You can use AI to battle for you and even create decks based on cards you have. The game will also offer preconstructed decks for rental.

More Information

The following pages have been updated with all of today’s information:

View thread (28 replies)
I am semi-excited to play this. It seems like a nice change of pace and I enjoy playing other formats from Standard (Expanded, GLC, and even the current "Expanded" in PTCGL), but I don't know if I'll stick with it for too long. It's almost certainly gonna be pay to win, and if not at launch then certainly not long after as with practically all games with in-game purchases.

Also I said it before, I'll say it again, I really wish they adopted the point system over prizes in the real TCG... I know it's been there since the game's inception, but it's the worst aspect of it (an extra level of RNG that can cost you games before the match even begins, even if you build around the mechanic and make your deck clunkier to try and compensate for bad prizing), and it's never too late with how many revisions they make (like changing tools to no longer be items), even if it makes some cards less useful or useless.
 
TheRainmaker said:
I am semi-excited to play this. It seems like a nice change of pace and I enjoy playing other formats from Standard (Expanded, GLC, and even the current "Expanded" in PTCGL), but I don't know if I'll stick with it for too long. It's almost certainly gonna be pay to win, and if not at launch then certainly not long after as with practically all games with in-game purchases.

Also I said it before, I'll say it again, I really wish they adopted the point system over prizes in the real TCG... I know it's been there since the game's inception, but it's the worst aspect of it (an extra level of RNG that can cost you games before the match even begins, even if you build around the mechanic and make your deck clunkier to try and compensate for bad prizing), and it's never too late with how many revisions they make (like changing tools to no longer be items), even if it makes some cards less useful or useless.
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I get why ppl don’t like prizes, but prizes is what separates the pokemon TCG a lot from other card games. I would also say that the fact you don’t have access to 6 random cards at the beginning of the game changes each game and makes it unique. I don’t think that they should get rid of it, as prize checking and figuring out what ur prizes are very good for a skilled game. But I understand why ppl don’t like it.
 
MarlinRimes said:
I get why ppl don’t like prizes, but prizes is what separates the pokemon TCG a lot from other card games. I would also say that the fact you don’t have access to 6 random cards at the beginning of the game changes each game and makes it unique. I don’t think that they should get rid of it, as prize checking and figuring out what ur prizes are very good for a skilled game. But I understand why ppl don’t like it.
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I agree, the implementation of prize cards is very flawed but as a concept, being denied particular cards in your deck as a test of skill is excellent. I've played pokemon with "points" instead of prize cards before and although it prevents some occasional frustration, it's honestly really lame to play with and it doesn't make the game more fun.

It probably works fine for a simplified mobile app, but... in the actual game, you have so much draw power and so many search options that prize cards actually do a lot of work to prevent the game from getting stale quickly.

Again, it could definitely be improved upon. Perhaps it should more closely resemble the "shield" systems of TCGs like Duel Masters, Digimon, etc. But the basic mechanic of having a new, unique imperfection in your deck in every match is great.
 
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TheRainmaker said:
I am semi-excited to play this. It seems like a nice change of pace and I enjoy playing other formats from Standard (Expanded, GLC, and even the current "Expanded" in PTCGL), but I don't know if I'll stick with it for too long. It's almost certainly gonna be pay to win, and if not at launch then certainly not long after as with practically all games with in-game purchases.

Also I said it before, I'll say it again, I really wish they adopted the point system over prizes in the real TCG... I know it's been there since the game's inception, but it's the worst aspect of it (an extra level of RNG that can cost you games before the match even begins, even if you build around the mechanic and make your deck clunkier to try and compensate for bad prizing), and it's never too late with how many revisions they make (like changing tools to no longer be items), even if it makes some cards less useful or useless.
Click to expand...

God I can't agree more with the prize system. Right now you have some degree of control with prizes with Hisuian Heavy Ball but losing Peonia after rotation killed a lot of consistency with slower decks that rely on trainer cards. My decks are so consistent that the only reason I lose at this point is because I have an energy or vital trainer card like Pal Pad stuck in prize at the very last moment when I need them. Daisy's Help will be the only way to keep track of prizes moving forward next year and it taking up a supporter slot is not ideal.

Sincerely hope they make a Rotom ex that lets us manipulate prize cards in some way, or a spiritual successor to the Hisuian Heavy Ball.
 
Do want to say I'm very intrigued by TCG Pocket and I'll definitely be trying it, but the way its structured seems like matches could end within a split second at any point. Not particularly a fan of the Energy Zone, but the points system is interesting.
 
First, an amazing looking Articuno card, and now there is a Moltres. If they kept it up with Zapdos and then released them as awesome RL promos, I might just be the happiest man on earth :)
 
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