Pokemon Pocket TCG’s Pokedex completion reward isn’t worth the effort

Scott Baird
Pikachu female Goh's Pokedex Pokemon Journeys Anime

The reward for completing the first Pokedex in Pokemon TCG Pocket and gathering all the cards isn’t worth the effort, as it involves mostly forgettable items that will quickly become redundant.

At launch, Pokemon Pocket features 226 cards, not including alt art variants. In order to acquire them all, players will need to start ripping packs. Fortunately, the game gives you lots of freebies, but they’re spread across multiple log-ins and completing in-game tasks, ensuring engagement.

A thread on the PTCGP Reddit has discussed the reward for acquiring all of the cards that are currently in Pokemon Pocket. It turns out that you’ll get a measly three icons for your trouble: one of Pikachu, one of Charizard, and one of Mewtwo.

Most of the users in the thread haven’t achieved this feat, as they still need to draw more cards to complete the set. As the random nature of the draw means it’s unclear when they’ll get the chance.

Fortunately, they don’t have to rush, as it has been confirmed that the booster packs from the Genetic Apex set won’t go out of rotation when the next expansion launches. Beyond that point, however, is unclear.

The reward for completing the Pokedex is pointless, especially as Icons are purely cosmetic rewards that the player already has access to. More are going to be added over time, so a static image of a popular Pokemon will soon be dime a dozen.

It would have been better if the reward was an exclusive card, which it already does, as acquiring all of the Kanto Pokemon will give the player a secret Mew card.

Failing that, some extra items or currency would also have been welcome, as it could be saved for the next expansion.

Either of these solutions would have driven engagement more, as seeking out an exclusive card or getting a stockpile for the next event would be worth working towards.

As it stands, farming packs for Icons doesn’t feel worthy. Then again, that matches the early days of the franchise, when completing the Pokedex was only worth a cosmetic reward.

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