Pokémon TCG Pocket brings the popular trading card game to your smartphones. Even MeinMMO editor Lydia has caught the collecting fever. But what is the best method to open the packs?
I downloaded the new Pokémon TCG Pocket last week – a bit late – after all, it’s free, so what could go wrong? After the somewhat lengthy and detailed tutorial, I was able to open my first booster pack and participate in the miracle selection.
However, the game then wanted me to invest hourglasses to open another pack – for that, it even treated me to those things. But not with me. I simply pocketed the free items and let the 12-hour timer tick down naturally.
And even after that, I hoarded the hourglasses for a while. Is this frugality worth it in Pokémon TCG Pocket? I tried it for a week with 2 phones and kept my experiences here for you.
She only ventured into the Pokémon card game with Pocket. So this is not a sophisticated meta-guide, but a report of her experiences.
With saving, you quickly hit a wall
Especially at the beginning, Pokémon TCG Pocket is really generous with the pack hourglasses: By completing solo battles and leveling up, you quickly accumulate quite a few. However, I stubbornly stuck to not spending the items and only opened the 2 daily free packs.
Because I was aiming to open 10 packs at once. And I also wanted to keep a little emergency fund. Instead of the required 12 hourglasses, I attempted to save 220: 120 for opening and 100 as a solid reserve.
I wasn’t really getting anywhere quickly with that: I simply didn’t have enough cards to put together a coherent deck, and my starter deck was mercilessly beaten in PvP by players at level 15+ with their fancy Mewtwo decks. I also hit a wall in solo battles eventually.
With the second one, you do better
Now the collecting fever had taken hold of me, so I quickly created a second account on my old phone. There I only wanted one thing: to open packs. So I opened everything I could, and lo and behold: The game rewarded me by giving me more and more hourglasses for more packs.
Moreover, the new account was simply blessed with significantly more luck: On the very first evening, I drew Articuno-ex twice within 10 minutes, once even in the particularly rare full-art variant. A half hour later, I had the bird three times.
Only when there was no more supply did I put together my first decks and tried my hand at battles, both PvE and PvP. And quickly, I not only had significantly more success than on my original account but also simply much more fun.
On account number 1, I only collected my free stuff until I had enough hourglasses for a 10-pull. Admittedly, unlike other gacha games, Pokémon TCG Pocket does not promise rare cards when you open 10 packs at once.
Nevertheless, I was disappointed, as I did not get a single ex card in the end. The first account was thus treated with neglect, while I rocked the Lapras event that was taking place at that time with my second account.
What does it look like a week later?
After about a week, my first account has significantly caught up. I have also done two more 10-pulls there, and I can now also look forward to a respectable collection there. I can now also dare to venture into PvP with my Mewtwo-ex.
Nevertheless, I have an almost unbridgeable lead in wins on my second account, as I simply played much more there. Now I am facing the problem of which of the accounts I should make my main account. I have good cards on both, but I lack the time to play both in the long run.
I could also definitely imagine investing in the battle pass – but on which account? I will probably wait for the introduction of the trading feature and then make a decision.
What I can tell you is that I would not recommend waiting for the 10-pulls to anyone.
Yes, after a week, the first account has significantly caught up, but I didn’t have much fun during this time.
Hoarding or spending hourglasses, what pays off now?
If you’re not in too much of a hurry and see Pokémon TCG Pocket as just a nice little pastime, I would recommend that you mostly refrain from drawing with hourglasses and settle for the 2 (or 3 with the battle pass) free packs per day.
Over time, you can definitely build up a decent collection this way and add individual cards that you’re still missing to your deck with pack points.
Because with upcoming booster packs, new powerful Pokémon are expected to enter the game and shake up the meta significantly. Then you can jump in strong with your saved hourglasses.
However, keep in mind that to my knowledge, it is still not quite certain whether the hourglasses will actually apply across different editions. If things go badly, you have saved unnecessarily and will need to spend the items after all.
For most, the golden mean will therefore be the most sensible: Feel free to invest some hourglasses in the beginning until you have a deck that you’re satisfied with for now. From that point on, you can save and wait for what the next edition will bring.
Whether with or without hourglasses, once you have a few cards together, you can put together your first own decks. You can find out which combinations can really scare your opponents in PvP here: Pokémon TCG Pocket: Tier List of the best decks you can play
