The Tricks (No Tricks) to Card Collection in TCG Pocket

Before one can play with the cards, one must collect said cards. This is the norm that applies to the real and full-fledged Pokémon TCG as well as the Pocket version, the latter of which having been released recently. That is also what I wish to discuss in this post, and not so much of the former. For that, plenty of players have mentioned a few "tricks" that may hold water (and in one case, previously) for getting certain cards, although in some sense such a body of "tricks" is non-existent. Such is the situation that I will attempt to explain here.

First, it is important to understand how one collects and procures cards in the game. The main method of doing so is of course through booster packs; in the case of the current Genetic Apex expansion, it's one of three editions (Charizard, Mewtwo, and Pikachu). A selection of 15 virtual packs is generated for one of these, and one can examine their "physical" aspects before deciding to open one of them by swiping (emulating a "tear-off"); as with real packs, they contain five cards of random kinds, most likely of Pokémon. One can also perform a Wonder Pick to "snipe" a duplicate card from a recently opened pack by a friend or someone else in the world, or to get one from special events. The former, in fact, will be the primary action before one reaches Level 3, at which point they can battle.

Now, that "physical" aspect examination is the important (and equally dicey) part. Apparently, it used to be that some packs would "curl" at the edges, and this could be taken as a sign of packs with venerable cards; now they don't, and the examination of other "physical" aspects may become the key. The theory is that some packs could appear "plumper", which may indicate those venerable cards, though admittedly this is kind of hard to point out. Meanwhile, some packs also appear upside-down initially, and this might also be a sign, though not always. Still, these "tricks" to physical examination may be worth a try, and might just lead to a truly venerable pack with very special cards.

Then there are other supposed "tricks" to getting a venerable pack, though I'm apt to discount them as "no tricks" to getting one. Turning a pack upside-down manually - which forces the cards to be revealed from a face-down state - is claimed to work, but it might be still dicey as above. Yet other "(no) tricks" include selecting a pack by "roulette" fashion (as they are arranged as such), watching for signs of "sparkles" in the back, and skipping the animation for when packs are opened. They can be tried to enhance the experience, but I still would discount them as "tricks" for getting really special cards.

In any case, collecting cards is necessary in TCG Pocket before being able to play with them, and at least some things may be discerned in order to be able to get good and special cards for playing. Whether they may be "tricks" or "no tricks", getting the cards themselves is still the point of it all, as accomplished through its implementation, which is not too far off from the full-fledged Pokémon TCG and might just be as intricate and arcane as anything else related.

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