Pokémon TCG Pocket Players Call for Change to Going First Mechanic

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket adapts the beloved card game into a speedier experience more fit for mobile, but players can’t get their heads around one rule change regarding going first and are calling on developer Creatures Inc. to change it.

At its simplest, the Pokémon TCG works by players attaching energy to their Pokémon to do attacks, with more energy resulting in bigger damage dealt. Pokémon are eventually knocked out and, once a certain number are defeated, someone wins.

Card games commonly apply nerfs to the player who goes first so they don’t gain an unfair advantage over what’s essentially a coin toss, and the Pokémon TCG is no different. The player going first draws a card and can attach a single energy to a Pokémon, as normal, though isn’t allowed to attack.

This balances things out a touch as, while player two is the first to attack and therefore do damage, player one can swing back the following turn with two energy and a bigger attack. But Pokémon TCG changes this mechanic by only allowing a card draw on the first turn, making the entire thing, some players believe, completely redundant.

“As we seem to all acknowledge going first in this game feels awful, and don’t get me started about the one energy evolutions which benefit off going first,” Reddit user Seedler420 said.

“Can’t we trade the possibility of attacking turn one, which in terms of gameplay doesn’t make any sense, with the possibility of attaching energy turn one? This way the player going first would have energy advantage while the player going second would have the first attack.”

The way Pokémon TCG Pocket works essentially gives the advantage to the player going second, as they have both the energy advantage and the first damage advantage. “It would feel a little better if we at least got to put energy on a card first turn,” said one player in the comments. “It definitely feels bad,” said another.

Creatures Inc. did ask for feedback when it announced more than 30 million players had downloaded the game in just nine days, so perhaps if enough people complain a change will come about.

Pokémon TCG Pocket arrived October 30 as a streamlined and has players opening packs, collecting cards, building decks, and battling others; a simple formula that immediately proved popular given it made $12 million in four days.

Creatures Inc. is keeping busy since launch as it has already added three events to the game: one focused on collecting, one focused on solo battles, and one focused on player versus player battles.

The first offers players a free Wonder Pick with the chance of pulling either a Meowth or Chansey alongside event tickets and Wonder Hourglasses, with its second part also released today.

Next, the solo battle event let players take on a handful of water themed decks for the chance of winning new promo cards including Lapras ex. And a PVP event was later added too, putting badges on the line in true Pokémon fashion.

As you’d expect, players are looking to take the best decks into these events, and Mewtwo and Charizard are naturally dominating so far. One outlier comes via Misty though, whose heads or tails effect is driving many up the wall.

On the collecting front, some players are focused on a conspiracy theory about crinkled corners while most are swooning over mythical god packs that award five alternate art cards in one go. There’s also a secret Mew card hidden in the game that’s not super difficult to get.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.