If you have missed it, Creature Inc and Dena has released TCG Pocket, a new TCG app that is designed like a typical gacha game, you pull 5 cards every 12h or you could pay. I think the app and especially the new card design look good. I think it’s a nice app for the crowd, casual collect some of the cards. Sadly the battle system got changed, and doesn’t got better. They rediced the amount of points required to win for shorter battles and changed the energy System. I think it’s balanced quite bad, but even worse, it’s not the oroginal TCG game people play in tournaments.
I comparison there is TCG live, a horrible buggy app that is available for Windows, mac, Android and IOS. So has a better compability to different Systems, which is good. Opening that service, i just think it’s confusing, how do you get cards, you already have a lot pre build decks and i guess you get cards by playing with the battle pass. But i think at least, you play the real TCG game, with original rules.
I don’t understand why the Pokemon Company has created two servives, Creature inc is involved im both. Both services lack in different features. I would just like to play the TCG game online but both services are not fun enough for me.
TCG Live is for people who actually care about Pokemon TCG and the complexities and depth it offers. It’s not that confusing; there are maybe 3 currencies, and one of its features, like it or not, is that you can’t just swipe a credit card and get everything you want. The only money-to-game translation is buying IRL boosters and scanning in the codes. Yes, the app can be fairly buggy, but it’s what we’ve got for now, ever since they closed Pokemon TCG Online. It doesn’t have trading, which is to prevent people from just having a dozen accounts and amassing all the value into one.
The currencies aren’t too bad: Coins are for cosmetics. Crystals are the “premium” currency for unlocking the battle pass or buying the equivalent of IRL sealed products (boosters, display packs, bundles, etc). Credits are like dust from other TCGs. Duplicate cards beyond 4 are “dusted” and you can convert them into the singles you want for deck building.
TCG Pocket is to slowly attract people into collecting actual cards again. After you get into the cadence of opening your 2 free packs a day, people might start to be interested in collecting physical cards, which pulls them into paying for boosters (rather than just buying singles) and trying the actual card game. It’s just a small bonus that TCGPocket might also earn them a bit of money, largely off of old art and minimal playtest work.
I don’t really care about IRL card to scan them, not want to buy them, so i think it would be better if TCG live has another system to get cards. But it’s for sure a better service for real TCG player.