Pokemon TCG Pocket is a simple game to understand and play but can cause a lot of anxiety when it comes to how to start and how to get the best start. If you want to get started quickly without knowing everything you can follow the short step by step guide. After that, you can continue on as we go as in-depth as possible on everything you need to know in this game.
Step By Step Guide For The Best Start in Pokemon TCG Pocket
This mainly takes into consideration PVP because if you’re a collector there is no need to pull certain packs and you can just evenly pull all of them for the best chance to complete your collection.
- After you choose your name (Don’t Link Account) choose the Mewtwo Pack to start
- The wonder pick will give you a Full Art Bulbasaur
- Complete the daily quests and open as many Pikachu packs as you can with the given Hourglass
- Look for at least 1 Pikachu ex or 1 Pikachu ex + 1 Zapdos ex if you’re ok with spending some time rerolling
- If you don’t find any then reroll until you do and are satisfied. Once you finish rerolling, move on to completing as many missions as you can.
- Go to battles and complete the entire guide, 1-13
- After that, go to the shop and buy 2 Potion, 2 X Speed
- Go to decks and edit the sandslash deck to include the Marowak and Cubone
- Next go to Battle and Solo. If there is an event, go there 1st to spend the event energy and use the Marowak deck to auto battle.
- After that, do all the battles from Beginner to Expert using the Marowak deck either playing yourself or on Auto to let it play in the background. The deck is RNG focused so you could lose a good amount but, you can definitely win on auto. There is no cost to battle so you can just keep going until you win. Don’t worry about completing all the Battle Task Missions just do the ones you can do now and go back to finish it later.
- Now you have a bunch of Hourglass and Shop Tickets. Use the Shop Tickets to buy all the Hourglasses you can. Then use the Hourglass to open Pikachu packs until you get a good Pikachu ex deck. (at least 2 Pikachu ex and a few electric types)
- You can also use the Wonder Pick to help you finish the Pikachu ex deck or start on a new one. (more on that below)
- Sabrina is a high value card that goes into all decks. So try to get at least 2 copies from the Charizard pack or Wonder Pick.
- Once you have your Pikachu ex deck you can now look into other decks and pull other packs. With your Pikachu ex deck you can go into Versus Battle, which is against other people and not AI, and have a really good meta deck that has a high win rate. The best way to get EXP for free is winning battles. (losing gives no EXP)
- After that, everyday you’ll claim your daily gift, do the events, open packs, get your shop tickets, and battle if you want to.
Other Things To Know
Linking your account does not affect the reroll strategy but I don’t do it until I’m ready to commit to the account
Do not start the premium pass if you are rerolling it will be attached to that one account
You can keep the same username and aren’t restricted to a 1 time use (no bad words)
Reasoning and Explanation
Battling is one of the main things to do in Pokemon TCG Pocket. Through battles you can gain EXP and interact with other players. It can be frustrating if you don’t have good cards and have almost no chance of winning. In order to prevent that, you need to find cards that are strong, easy to use, and can be used right away.
Pikachu ex is one of the best options for this. It is a basic Pokemon so there is no need to evolve and only needs 2 energy to attack. Its attack is based around having electric Pokemon on the bench which you can easily find through opening packs.
The other fun thing to do in this game is opening packs and getting cards. In order to open more packs, besides the 2 daily free ones, you need Hourglasses. The Shop and Solo Battle Rewards are great ways to get Hourglasses. Another way is to level up which gives you 12 Hourglasses every time.
What do you do in Pokemon TCG Pocket?
The only things you can really do in this game are collect cards through opening booster packs + Wonder Pick and battle people with those cards. The game is very simple and doesn’t take up a lot of time unless you want to battle all day.
This game is not the same as the real life Pokemon Card game. If you want to play a more challenging Pokemon Card game, try Pokemon TCG Live. Live has way more cards and a bigger deck size so there is much more strategy involved.
Why should you play Pokemon TCG Pocket?
If you like any or all of these reasons, this is a great game to pick up and play.
- If you’re a fan of Pokemon
- like a low commitment type of game
- fan of simple card battles
- Fan of digital art and like to collect digital cards
If you’re going to play then the choice of your very 1st pack is important.
What Pack to Choose As Your 1st Pack?
In the beginning you will get a choice of what pack to choose. This choice determines what other free stuff they will give you. (Afterwards you can pick whatever you want)
Charizard pack = Exeggutor EX and Charmander Illustration Rare, Pinsir starter deck
Mewtwo pack = Marowak EX and Bulbasaur Illustration Rare, Sandslash starter deck
Pikachu pack = Arcanine EX and Squirtle Illustration Rare, Rapidash starter deck
This is how I would rank the packs for the 1st ever open
- Mewtwo
- Charizard
- Pikachu
The top 2 packs give you the best chance to auto battle your way through the solo battles and get some wins for the rewards.
After your initial choice you will get the EX card associated with that pack and the starter illustration card from a Wonder Pick. After the initial 2 packs you can choose whatever pack you want to pull from.
What Pack Should You Open Afterwards?
This choice is dependent on what kind of player you are and what you enjoy in the game. If you’re a collector type, splitting your hourglass and free packs evenly would be best for filling out your “Pokedex”
If you’re more battle/PVP focused I would choose the Pikachu pack until you get the most, if not all, the cards necessary for the Pikachu EX deck. If you use the Reroll Strategy(more below) you can give yourself a big head start in building a deck.
After Pikachu I would open Charizard packs until I had 2 Sabrina’s. Then I would do an even split on all 3 packs or focus on one that has the cards I need for a specific deck. Listed below are the best cards to look for in each pack.
The best cards to go for in Charizard pack
- Starmie EX
- Moltres EX
- Charizard EX
- Exeggutor EX
- Sabrina
The best cards to go for in Pikachu pack
- Pikachu EX
- Zapdos EX
- Wigglytuff EX
- Raichu
- LT. Surge
- Misty
The best cards to go for in Mewtwo pack
- Venusaur EX
- Mewtwo EX
- Gardevoir
- Marowak EX
- Dragonite
- Weezing
- Koga
Should You Reroll Your Account?
Short answer, Yes. If you’re looking to give yourself the best start then you almost have to reroll. If you enjoy letting fate take the wheel, then don’t reroll and you could potentially be ahead of the people that do reroll by getting an extra pack in or being lucky later.
Yes, If | No, If |
Looking for a specific card | Don’t want to waste time and it’s annoying |
Looking to build a meta PVP deck | |
Looking to build a specific deck |
If you reroll and open a god pack it doesn’t matter what is in it, you should stop rerolling and have that be your main account. It’s a 1 in 2000 chance for a god pack. They are extremely rare but that doesn’t mean you should reroll your account until you get a God pack. You could be at it for days and not see one.
If you have an interest in PVP and battling I’d suggest looking up some decks that you think you want to play or build a deck around a card you like. Some top cards to build around for the GENETIC APEX packs are, Pikachu EX, Mewtwo EX, and Charizard EX.
Link to reroll guide if you’re interested in rerolling.
Personally, I don’t reroll and I stick with what my first packs are. I think this is way more enjoyable (esp bad packs) since it forces me to find new or different ways to win. Getting a win on a meta deck knowing they potentially spent a lot of time and money just to lose… it’s amazing.
Of course, rerolling will give you way better odds at a meta deck and with a meta deck you’ll almost always win more than you lose. So there is that side too. I think a happy medium is to set an achievable goal or limit for yourself so that you know when to stop. I’d aim for getting 1 desired EX card or 2 EX cards if I’m feeling lucky.
Honestly, rerolling can be a bit of a pain and the idea that you can always get something better will be on your mind. I’ve played different games where I spent days rerolling to get the “best” start, only to drop the game a week later because I felt so burnt out and didn’t associate fun with the game anymore.
Opening Packs and Pack Hourglasses
One of the best things to do in this game is open packs and get cool cards. Every day you’ll be able to open 2 packs for free. The free packs have a recharge timer of 12 hours per pack. If you want to open more packs you can spend Pack Hourglass to shorten the timer by 1 hour per hourglass. You will not lose any time by using the Hourglass and the game is very good at making sure the time rolls over.
There is a maximum of 2 free packs that can be held. You never want to reach the max since it will mean losing out on time for the next pack. If you hold 2 free packs the timer will stop and will only start again once you open at least 1 pack.
There is no trick when it comes to opening packs. The game already determines what cards you will get as soon as you choose to open one. So the carousel of packs, the bent packs, and the flipped packs mean nothing and are purely there to make it look more fun.
Pack Hourglasses are a very important resource to keep track of, especially if you’re a free to play player. They allow you to open more packs but you should always ask yourself if it’s worth it. In the beginning you should open a ton of packs to build your collection and decks.
Once you have a solid deck you can hold your Hourglass for new Pack Sets. You might find out there are cards you like better in those sets. There will always be a rotation of packs going on and the set will not be around forever. For example, on launch, Genetic Apex was the set everyone could open but eventually it went away for a new set.
You can get Pack Hourglass from, Daily Missions, Event Rewards, Leveling Up, Shop, Solo Battle Tasks, and using Poke Gold.
Another way to open an extra pack a day is to subscribe to the Premium Pass.
It costs real money and is $9.99 a month. It is currently the best value in the game for pack openings. There is a 2 week free trial which you can take advantage of. You should always go for the 2 week free trial since you can cancel your subscription immediately and it will still give you the 2 weeks for free.
If you want to cancel the Premium Pass without getting charged, you need to do it at least 24 hours before the end date. If you know you’re not going to spend any money on this game, just cancel the same day you start. It will still give you the full 2 weeks of free packs.
Pack Points
Opening packs in a specific set will earn you pack points. These pack points are not interchangeable and are limited to the pack that you obtained them from. So Genetic Apex A1 pack points are different from A1a pack points.
Pack points also go away when the set goes away. So make sure to use it all up before a set disappears.
Pack points are a great way to get cards that have been difficult for you to obtain. I do not suggest saving up for the crown rares unless it is a really important card to you. If you’re a free 2 play player I suggest using the pack points to get cards that fill out the decks you’re trying to build.
It’s also a great way to get a card that you really want and just can’t seem to pull but just know it will probably cost a lot of points which can only be gotten by opening packs.
Wonder Picks and Wonder Hourglass
This is another system in the game that is designed to help you get more cards. It relies on a stamina system where you get 1 stamina every 12 hours. You can then use the stamina to choose from packs that your friends or strangers have already opened and get 1 card. It is random who appears on your Wonder Pick list and just because your friend opened a pack, it doesn’t mean you will definitely see it as well.
It costs more stamina depending on the rarity of the cards in the pack and is the better choice to use when looking for specific cards. There is no trick when it comes to choosing cards in Wonder Pick. It is likely the game already determines what card you will get as soon as you spend the stamina.
If you’re looking to get Immersive Basic Mew, utilizing this system will give you the best results. Link To How To Get Mew Here.
Wonder Hourglass works the same as Pack Hourglass and can be gotten the same ways.
Getting EXP and Leveling Up
In the beginning you’ll want to reach level 6 to unlock everything in the game. Each level will require more EXP than the last and is currently capped at Level 50.
Another reason you want to level up is because you get rewards every time you do.
Level Up Rewards
- 12 Pack Hourglass
- 12 Wonder Hourglass
- 1 Rewind Watch
- 1 Poke Gold (2 for every 5 levels)
All the ways to get EXP are,
- Open a Booster Pack
- Wonder Pick
- Solo Battle
- Win a Versus Battle
The first 2 options are limited by your Hourglass resources and Solo Battles are a 1 time thing when you first win in that stage. The only way to farm EXP and get as much as you want is through Winning Versus Battles. Please note that you do not get EXP for doing Private Matches and you MUST WIN in Versus in order to get EXP. If you lose a Versus Random Match, you’ll get nothing.
Pokemon TCG Pocket Terms You Should Know
Chase Card – This refers to a card that you or someone else really wants. This can either refer to a card that you just like or a card in a pack that is good for battles.
God Pack or Rare Pack – This refers to a pack where all the cards are rare cards(3 Diamonds and Up). The odds that a pack you open is a God Pack is 1 in 2000.
Immersive Card – This refers to a card that, when you obtained it, will trigger a short cutscene and show a larger picture of the card art. These cards will all be of 3 star rarity. (Charizard ex, Pikachu ex, Mewtwo ex, Mew)
Full Art Card – This refers to cards that don’t have small panels that separate image and text. Instead the entire card has art and is very shiny.
Rainbow Bordered Card – This refers to certain cards that have multi-colored borders and is also full art.
Meta Deck – This refers to what is currently the most popular decks that have a high win rate. For example, at launch, a Pikachu ex deck was considered a meta deck.
Off Meta Deck – This just refers to a deck that isn’t common and not considered one of the strongest decks.
Card Dust – This is what some people call your Pack Points which you can use to exchange for cards.
Craft – When people say this, they are referring to the Pack Point Exchange where you can obtain any card you want if you have enough Pack Points.
Crown Rare – This refers to specific cards in the game that are super rare. You can tell it is a Crown Rare if it has a Gold Swirling background and a crown on the bottom left of the card.
Pokedex – This usually refers to your collection in this game. The 2nd tab on the bottom will show the cards you own and can also show what you do not have and how to obtain them.
Top Deck – A saying people use when they want to draw the card they need next turn.