The Best Item Cards in Pokemon TCG Pocket

In Pokemon TCG Pocket, Item Cards are a subset of Trainer Cards, providing utility and technical advantages in the game. Currently, there are nine Item Cards available: Potion, Pokedex, X Speed, Hand Scope, Poke Ball, Red Card, Helix Fossil, Dome Fossil, and Old Amber. While they share names with their physical Pokemon TCG counterparts, many have been revamped and reworked specifically for Pocket—some so extensively that even veteran TCG players may find them challenging to use competitively. With that being said, here’s a ranking of these nine Item Cards from least to most effective.

7 Fossil Trainer Cards

Useless Unless You’re Playing Fossil Pokemon

• Rarity: Promo
• Effect: A placeholder with an average HP

The Fossil Trainer card problem of the physical Pokemon TCG persists in Pocket. Players need them to drop Fossil Pokemon; they don’t have a particular utility outside of this. In Pokemon TCG Pocket, Fossil Item Cards—Helix, Dome, and Old Amber—do nothing but occupy one slot on the board, offering an HP of 40. And that’s why they’re the worst Item Cards in the game.

Fossil Pokemon cards in the physical TCG and Pocket have no Basic form. The lowest evolutionary tier among their species is Stage One. Therefore, players need placeholder cards like Fossil Item Cards to bring them into the game—because Stage One and Two cards cannot be played directly on the board.

Unfortunately, the high-risk process of merging Fossil Pokemon with Item Cards has a dismissible reward. Fossil characters in Pokemon TCG have long been deemed mediocre, making them and their placeholders skippable cards.

6 Hand Scope

Makes You Prone to Faints

• Rarity: One diamond
• Effect Pocket: Reveals the opponent’s hand

Judging by its description, Hand Scope seems a potent Item Card. However, due to Pokemon TCG Pocket’s fast-paced matches, foreseeing the opponent’s options doesn’t necessarily offer a significant advantage. On the other hand, professional TCG players can quickly respond to this move by changing strategies or drawing more cards.

Knowing what’s in the opponent’s hand can be advantageous in certain situations. For instance, there are no Ultra Ball Item Cards in Pocket, meaning opponents can’t discard cards from their hand and are mostly limited to drawing. Additionally, hands in Pocket are capped at five cards, unlike the seven-card limit in Pokemon TCG Live, which makes Hand Scope a worthwhile addition to competitive decks.

5 Red Card

Causes Annoyance, Not Advantage

• Rarity: Promo
• Effect: Forces the enemy to shuffle their hand back into the deck and draw again

When a player drops a Red Card, the opponent must shuffle their hand into the deck and then draw three cards. Such an effect could normally mess up the enemy’s chance to play on curve. However, the combat system in Pocket—and Pokemon TCG in general—is limited to one Energy at a time, and dropping cards requires none. So, the mana curve is mostly unaffected by the cards players draw—it’s affected by the cards already in the game.

Even worse, Pokemon TCG Pocket’s decks are not as extended as the actual Pokemon TCG and Live. Players can only have 20 cards in their lineups, which cuts back on the RNG involved in shuffles. In other words, forcing the opponent with a Red Card to shuffle and re-draw is unlikely to have a devastating effect.

4 Potion

Useful Only When It’s Plentiful

• Rarity: Promo
• Effect: Heals one Pokemon by 20 points

Healing can be a lifesaver in Pokemon TCG games, and Pocket is no exception to that. However, what’s offered by the Potion Item Card as a healing effect often falls short of saving the game. Giving a damaged Pokemon only 20 HP points is not necessarily going to turn the game around unless in rare scenarios.

Potion is less competitive because Pocket limits decks to only two copies of any card. This restriction means each player can only carry two Potions, restoring a total of 40 HP. In contrast, a Supporter like Erika provides 50 HP per card, totaling 100 HP, giving her a significantly higher healing capacity.

A
META deck in
Pokemon Pocket

typically includes two Potions and two Erika cards. The comparison between them isn’t to show that one is superior; rather, it highlights the Item Card’s effectiveness in context. Both cards complement each other in gameplay.

3 Pokedex

Good for Getting a Competitive Edge

• Rarity: Promo
• Effect: Reveals your deck’s top three cards

A good chunk of strategizing the board in Pokemon TCG Pocket is preparing the bench for big drops. Pro players usually keep the opponent busy fighting a sturdy Pokemon in the active spot while they’re cooking up their primary attacks in the back. For this very same reason, having the Pokedex Item Card in hand can become quite handy.

The Pokedex card allows the player to view the top three cards of their deck, helping them set up the board strategically. However, this plan can be disrupted by the Red Card, which shuffles the deck and alters its order. Despite this risk, the Pokedex card typically provides valuable insight to the player.

2 X Speed

A Reliable Tech Card

• Rarity: Promo
• Effect: Discounts a Pokemon’s retreat by one Energy

Pokemon Pocket has limited each match to three knockouts—as opposed to the traditional Pokemon TCG’s six prize cards. It’s a fast-paced duel akin to that of Marvel Snap. And X Speed suits this setup perfectly, as it accelerates retreats—a crucial aspect of combat.

When a player uses X Speed, their active Pokemon can retreat with one less Energy. Since most Pokemon cards in TCG Pocket only need one Energy to retreat, X Speed often allows for a free withdrawal, making it highly effective.

1 Poke Ball

A Must-Have in PvP

• Rarity: Promo
• Effect: Draws one random Basic card from the deck

Poke Ball has quickly entered Pocket’s metagame as the most critical Item Card for two reasons: 1) It guarantees drawing Basics, which are essential for playing high-stage Pokemon, and 2) decks in Pocket contain only 20 cards, which increases the chances of targeting specific cards with Poke Ball.

The revamped Poke Ball in Pocket is less utility-focused than its counterpart in the physical Pokemon TCG, where it allows players to search their deck for any Pokemon. Nonetheless, it remains the most useful Item Card in Pocket with universal synergy, making it a valuable addition to any deck.