Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Focus on Card Collection Instead of Battling Is a Smart Move

It was obvious that Pokemon TCG Pocket was going to be a massive hit. The Pokemon IP alone is enough to draw a huge dedicated player base, and when you pair that with a streamlined version of the TCG? Well, that’s a surefire winner if I ever saw one.

After spending a good month with the game, however, I’m slowly realizing that the real genius move of Pokemon TCG Pocket is the choice to make card collection the main appeal. I’ve gushed endlessly about pack-opening mechanics before, but right from the get-go, it’s clear that Pokemon TCG Pocket wants you to get excited about opening packs and getting new cards. This, more than anything, is what makes the game tick.

As a free-to-play mobile game, Pokemon TCG Pocket falls into the same mobile game trappings of including daily missions to get players to log in every day. The winning factor here, though, is that the daily missions are extremely simple to knock out. All you have to do is open two booster packs and use the Wonder Pick feature, and you’re done. You get your four free Pack Hourglasses, and you’re out.

You’ll notice that even though this is card battler, you’re not actually required to play any matches in order to clear your dailies. What this means is that if the meta of Pokemon TCG Pocket ever gets stale or boring — as I’m sure it will at some point or another — you can still keep up with the game, so to speak, by just logging in and getting your free packs and cards.

By making the dailies focused on card collection, the daily missions of Pocket will never feel like a chore. And that, I think, is the key factor that will give the game the longevity and staying power it needs to compete with other games in its genre. It’s difficult not to draw comparisons to Marvel Snap, the other popular mobile card battler that’s dominated the market since its release — especially now when the meta is so stale and concentrated on a couple of decks that are just dumpstering everything else in the game.

Unlike Pocket, Marvel Snap‘s dailies require you to play matches, sometimes in ways you may not necessarily enjoy. When that coincides with an unenjoyable meta state, simply knocking out daily missions in Marvel Snap can feel like a real slog. It’s one of the main reasons why I eventually fell off the game (though I’m trying real hard to get back into it once again), and why I’m so enticed by Pokemon TCG Pocket‘s casual nature and the ease of its daily missions.

At the end of the day, Pokemon TCG Pocket just wants you to have fun and feel excited about opening that immersive art Pikachu Ex or Mewtwo Ex. And for now, I’m happy to just keep that going for as long as I can.

Pokemon TCG Pocketis available now on mobile devices.