So uh, how is Pokemon TCG Online?

[Quinton]

I've never dabbled in online card games. Firstly, let me ask that folks can feel free to post suggestions for other card games and all, but I'm focusing on Pokemon for the purpose of this thread. That is to say, I'm sure there are better options out there but I'm in a mood right now so please also give me information pertaining to this. Drive-bys like "Just play Eternal lol" won't help me. :P

So anyway. Is this game a microtransaction festival? Is it totally pay-to-win? If I play against the AI alone, can I get away with not dropping too much cash? I want to practice because I'd like to play IRL at the local comics shop if when the United States ever recovers from coronavirus. <_< I've played maybe three times in all the years since turning 15 or so. To say that I'm inexperienced would be an understatement. I did win against the fellow who played against me in the intervening years, but to be honest it had nothing to do with my skill and more to do with the fact that he was always drunk as a skunk when we played.

Anyone here have firsthand experience? What'd you think?

 

[Westbahnhof]

I'm willing to look into it some day, but I've honestly never come across it. Is it new? Old? 0 marketing reached me.

...oh, and wouldn't this be a better fit for the gaming side? Being online and all

 

[Kouriozan]

I played it a bit, it does the job well but it lacks charm.
I don't think there is MTX, you have to buy real cards and input the codes you get to have them in-game.
You can definitely play it F2P and earn some though.

 

[Quinton]

I'm willing to look into it some day, but I've honestly never come across it. Is it new? Old? 0 marketing reached me.

...oh, and wouldn't this be a better fit for the gaming side? Being online and all

Click to shrink...

Hmm, I refuse to admit that I, a moderator, posted this in the wrong forum. However, I did.

 

[Quinton]

I played it a bit, it does the job well but it lacks charm.
I don't think there is MTX, you have to buy real cards and input the codes you get to have them in-game.
You can definitely play it F2P and earn some though.

Click to shrink...

Oh, that's super cool. For some reason I had no idea. I own a few cards here and there. I'll check to see if I left the code papers in the decks. What do you mean when you say it lacks charm?

 

[Giga Man]

Dabbled in it a bit when I had a sudden interest in Pokemon cards again.

It's just a TCG simulator. Just some generic graphics and characters teaching you how to play, and you can play online with other players. It's really boring if you're not really invested in the game.

 

[Don Fluffles]

Does a good job at what it sets out to do, though the art is a far cry from the Sugimori look we're all used to.

 

[QisTopTier]

I played it for a bit when fairy was newish and the gardivoir deck was really strong I enjoyed my time with it, I kinda just dropped of getting distracted by other stuff though.

The in game auction house is great if you ever want to deck build the main currency is un oppened packs

 

[valinthyne]

Played with family a lot as a kid and loved it. Picked it up on the iPad over the last year and it still plays exactly as I remembered it. Played it steadily for a few months but kinda fell off. I really wish it would find its way to other platforms like Switch.

 

[Westbahnhof]

I just looked at the new cards about to be released on July 10th and realized... I have no idea how to play this anymore. None.
I wonder if I should try again.

 

[Quinton]

Hmm. Thanks for all the answers, y'all! I'll give it an install on my tablet later tonight and see how things go.

 

[ZeroX]

Yeah it does lack charm. That's a good way of phrasing it. It exists as a way to play the game on digitally in the same way that old Magic games did. It's not super polished or smooth or whatever.

it's been two years since I played, and it didn't have microtransactions then but if you wanted cards the best way was to buy grey market codes from people who mass bought boosters IRL. That and like scouring Reddit. Granted it's pretty cheap compared to some other games

I'll recommend Legends of Runeterra. Really polished, great mechanics, it has microtransactions but the game is so generous you can get a full set without paying no problem.

 

[Pellaidh]

The online version itself has basically been on life support for years now. It still gets patched whenever new sets released, but that's about.

The core gameplay adapts the physical version faithfully, but sadly everything else about the digital adaptation is very lacking. There's basically only a casual queue with a hidden matchmaking rating, and automated tournaments with no real matchmaking. So no ranked ladders, no drafts or special events, no nothing other than just playing casual games.

The micro-transactions are also weird. The game itself doesn't allow you to spend money on anything ( I guess because it's aimed at kids), but the free-to-play rewards are really miserable. Basically, the only way to really get any good decks as a free-to-play player is to endlessly grind starter deck tournaments. Sadly, playing Pokemon with starter decks is incredibly boring, takes no skill, and basically comes down to a coinflip. It's essentially a completely different (and way worse) game than playing with a well built deck.

So you kind of have to spend at least some money to have fun. But the only way you can do that is to buy booster codes that come with physical boosters, which you can find either on ebay or on various resellers. Sadly, at least when I was still playing, there were constant stock issues, and trying to figure out what and from where it was actually worth buying without getting ripped off was way more work than it should have been. The only saving grace is that compared to other games on the market, it's way cheaper to buy cards here since you can trade for exactly what you want.

Also, I think you can only play against the AI with starter/prebuilt decks, which again suck really hard. And the AI isn't particularly smart either.