They're technically classified as "crown" rarity, the only cards that have this prestigious mark. The latter two cards - Pikachu ex and Mewtwo ex - are especially significant, as those cards are at the centre of some of the best decks in Pokemon TCG Pocket.
Draw from packs. These cards have a very small chance to be drawn from the Genetic Apex packs. The odds on this are very, very low: as laid out in the offering rates, getting a gold card has a 0.16% chance every time you draw a pack (which equates to 1 out of 625). Meanwhile, drawing a specific gold card is even less likely, at 0.053% (53 out of 10,000). There are also the special rare packs you can get (a random 1 of every 2000 packs) that each have a 5% chance to drop a gold card. It's more likely that you'll get a lot of duplicates to put towards the Pokemon TCG Pocket flair system before you get one of these.
Wonder Picks. This is just Wonder Picking as normal: if a friend happens to have drawn a gold card, you can do a Wonder Pick and pray you get the 1-in-5 chance of getting the same card as them. Keep an eye on your Wonder Picks for the flash of gold…
Pack Point Exchange. All three cards can be bought from the Pack Point Exchange. They're the most expensive cards in the exchange, costing 2500 Pack Points each. Considering that each pack you open gives you 5 pack points, you'll need to open 500 card packs to get just one of them.
The great tragedy of all this is that not only are these golden crown cards so rare, but it turns out that the rumour circulating about Pokemon TCG Pocket bent packs providing better cards isn't even true, so you can't weigh the odds in your favor.
Of course, not every deck has to be stuffed full of rare cards. One of the reasons that people are trying to create various Pokemon TCG Pocket Dragonite decks is because the Dragonite isn't one of the rarer cards in-game.
There's also one more card that's rare, in its own way: the Pokemon TCG Pocket Mew card. This legendary card can't be drawn from a pack, but is actually the reward for a special challenge that the game keeps secret until you've already completed it, as we'll explain in the attached guide.
I’m not really looking for another hobby or living game in my life right now. Between day-to-day commitments and juggling games like Fortnite and Honkai: Star Rail, it’s hard to fit more games into my schedule. However, Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket has shimmied its way into the ever-shrinking window of time I have to play a video game daily. It’s not an adventurous Pokémon game, nor is it the deepest, but the low commitment has made it a new mainstay in my regular rotation of games.
Developed by DeNA, Creatures Inc., and The Pokémon Company and released on Oct. 30, TCG Pocket is a mobile game where players open card packs to assemble a collection of digital Pokémon cards. Each day, I log on, open a couple packs of cards, and log off. That’s really it. The game features an adapted version of the competitive trading card game, but you can still play the game even if you aren’t looking to battle a ton. Day by day, I gradually assemble a varied collection of digital Pokémon cards that includes anything from stunning full art of classic creatures like Bulbasaur to “immersive cards” that play a video cutscene for the art.
When you start out, the game rains loads of free packs. (TCG Pocket is free to download. I signed up for the free two-week trial of the paid premium pass, allowing me to open one additional pack daily.) I have not spent a single dollar in this game, but I amassed a collection of 400 cards, including duplicates. I’ve been lucky enough to pull six one-star, full-art cards and one two-star full-art Articuno ex. After I collect these digital cards, I sort through them and arrange them in a digital binder. As I drag and drop the cards, I try my best to create a pleasing, and balanced arrangement of all the different colors and art on the page — just like I did as a child.
If I want to look closely at a card, I can tap one and the game pops the card out from the array of cards for me to examine up close. I pull the digital card side to side, I observe the parallax effect on my rare Articuno card — a visual trick made possible by the digital format. It’s not as impressive as holding a physical card in your hand, since I prefer to see the vibrancy of a print in a physical card, but it feels pretty dang nice to see the Pokémon and sparkles pop from the card background behind it with the digital 3D effect.
TCG Pocket emulates the experience of opening booster packs, and with that comes some baggage. Just like with the real-life card game, you never know what you’re going to get, so some online worry that the gacha-like mechanics — or gambling — can be addictive. In my experience, it’s definitely something to be aware of, but I was pleasantly surprised that the free-to-play aspects were enough to keep me playing.
In the large-scale gacha RPGs I’ve played, you need to grind quests and daily tasks to earn the in-game currency you cash in for gacha pulls. But in TCG Pocket, the ability to open a card pack automatically refreshes every 12 hours, so you aren’t forced to grind the game at all to get your two packs a day. Additionally, it’s easier to collect specific cards with features like Wonder Pick, which allows players to pick one card from another pack that a friend or stranger has already opened. The card pull is random, but you can see what the pack contains before you choose.
I played a couple hours the first two days the game came out, but after that, my time spent playing decreased. I can play this game for five minutes, open some packs, and close the app feeling like I got something out of it. That doesn’t make the game necessarily special — I found the sterile UI and soundtrack contrast poorly with the brilliant card art — but the game still has its enjoyable moments. One night, I got dinner with friends, so we all opened our packs together and shared our pulls.
TCG Pocket is not the be-all, end-all way to experience Pokémon. It doesn’t replace the social elements of other mobile games, like Pokémon Go, nor the joy of physical card media. However, for now, TCG Pocket makes sense for my life. It has served both as a much-needed replacement for some social media scrolling time, and a chill activity to start my day as I lay in bed. So for now, I feel perfectly content to jump in and build a new collection of cards one pack at a time — so long as the developers keep up with all the daily freebies.
All the best cards in Pokemon TCG Pocket can make a huge difference in any deck, whether you're building one around them or just out to make a particular splash in a certain type. Often referred to in the community as "chase cards", the best Pokemon TCGP cards aren't necessarily the same thing as the rare ones - there's some overlap, but it's not necessarily one-to-one.
With that in mind, having played a lot of Pokemon TCGP over the last few weeks, we've got all the best cards from the Genetic Apex set listed below, so you know what you're looking for and what will really fill the gaps in your deck with the greatest effect.
Below we've catalogued some of the best cards we've seen for every type of deck, so players who have holes in their line-up (or want new ideas on deck formation) have something to work with, or to know what you should be looking out for when it comes to the time to use the Pokemon TCG Pocket Wonder Pick system to get a card from another player's deck.
If you want a precis on the best cards across all types though, here are 10 cards you should definitely try to get (ideally two of each).
PokemonKeep in mind that while there is some overlap between the best cards and all the Pokemon TCG Pocket rare cards, there are still powerful cards that are easy to obtain or at least somewhat common, that we've included. Yes, the "ex" cards tend to be the central point in a deck, but they're often supported by other cards around them that are far less noteworthy, and certain decks (especially Dark-types) can flourish with basic, common cards.
Fire-type cards normally focus on high damage and high energy use, with many of those cards involving discarding energy in the process. The best fire-type cards will either make that sacrifice worth it, or help mitigate it in some way.
Charizard ex: The most damaging card in the game for raw power, this upgraded Charizard can do 200 damage in a single attack, but discards 2 energy each time. Find out how you can get the most out of this ability with the best build for the Pokemon TCG Pocket Charizard ex deck.
Moltres ex: This is most notable for the Inferno Dance, which lets you put up to 3 energy on your benched Pokemon - a great early ability.
Ninetales: A decent mid-game option, Ninetales does 90 damage at the cost of 1 discarded energy. You'll have to evolve Vulpix to get it on the field though.
Water-type cards are diverse and often sturdy, with high health pools and some more surprising abilities. The Pokemon TCG Pocket Lapras ex event is focused on fighting water-types, with some Pokemon you'll see in those decks reflected below.
Articuno ex: The icy legendary bird can be deployed relatively quickly, and has a three-energy Blizzard attack that does minor damage to all the enemy's benched Pokemon too.
Starmie ex: Two energy for 90 damage is already good, but Starmie's secret power is a zero retreat cost, which allows you amazing battlefield control and reaction.
Greninja: Levelling up Froakie twice is a pain, but Greninja's Water Shuriken is a free ability that lets you snipe any opponent Pokemon - even the benched ones - for 20 damage.
Venusaur ex: While it's not the most powerful in terms of damage, Venusaur's ability to heal itself while attacking gives it near unrivalled durability. You can even build a deck around it - the sturdy Pokemon TCG Pocket Venusaur ex deck build has a strong place in the meta.
Exeggutor/Exeggutor ex: Both the "ex" and regular versions of Exeggutor are cheap tanks with single-energy attacks, who double their power if you win a coin flip. Both versions are very valid in Grass decks.
Electric cards are generally focused on speed and striking early, often with low health pools, making a lot of these decks into "Glass Cannon" options. One of the two S-tier options of the Pokemon TCG Pocket best decks is a electric deck, with cards reflected in the list below.
Pikachu ex: The Poke-mascot couldn't avoid being treated well, as Pikachu's attack is a two-energy strike that does 30 damage for every benched Pokemon you have - meaning you can start doing a reliable 90 damage on turn two of any match. It's become the backbone of the S-tier electric build, and you can make your own Pokemon TCG Pocket Pikachu ex deck here.
Zapdos ex: Zapdos is probably the most powerful of the three legendary bird "ex" cards, with a cheap 1 energy attack and a 3 energy option that does 50 damage per coin flip… and you flip four coins. That's potentially drawing with Charizard for the game's most powerful attack.
Pincurchin: A cheap 2 energy attack that has a 50% chance to paralyse each time? That's a good card, especially if you're buying time to power up other cards on your bench.
Electrode: No special abilities, but two energy for 70 damage is always respectable, plus it's a little tankier than most cards that do that damage. It's also got a free retreat option, so it's very versatile on the field.
