Summary
- Pokemon TCG Pocket’s meta is evolving with new decks, but some older cards are still present in the meta.
- Fans want updates in collecting cards like full-art versions of staples like Professor’s Research and Poke Ball.
- Future expansions should consider adding full art versions of Professor’s Research and Poke Ball to appease fans.
Pokemon TCG Pocket‘s new Triumphant Light set is seeing many new decks make their way into the meta thanks to some powerful cards like Arceus Ex, Irida, Sky Support Shaymin, Leafeon Ex, and more. Existing decks have changed over time and other new archetypes were born, with cards like Exeggutor Ex becoming much less prominent after the debut of Leafeon Ex and Sudowoodo countering Arceus Ex in Pokemon TCG Pocket‘s new Fighting decks. Even in the face of this constant evolution of meta decks, some staples have remained ever since Genetic Apex, and the next big expansion for the game shouldn’t ignore a popular request about them.
There are many changes that would make the game much more enjoyable, from small quality-of-life updates to Pokemon TCG Pocket changing Pack Points and how they are obtained or stored. Some of these would take precedence over anything else if it were up to fans, but not all of these suggestions are likely to make the cut in the future. However, after the release of more expansions since Genetic Apex, there is one glaring omission in Pokemon TCG Pocket, and that’s full art versions (or other rarer versions) of some huge staples of each deck – Professor’s Research and Poke Ball.
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How Pokemon TCG Pocket Could Make Good on One Highly Requested Feature
Professor’s Research is a great card in Pokemon TCG Pocket because it allows players to draw two cards, which out of a 20-card deck is a considerable number. Likewise, Poke Ball is virtually in every Pokemon TCG Pocket deck in two copies or at the very least one, as it fetches a random basic Pokemon from the deck and puts it into the player’s hand. These two Trainer cards are some of the best in the game, even if they don’t win games on their own, but they are only available in their base versions.
While these are essentially free cards and they typically make one-fifth of any meta Pokemon TCG Pocket deck, the fact that they are so consistently used across the board makes them good candidates for some special art treatment. Considering that every set since Genetic Apex featured full art Trainer cards, from the popular Leaf in Mythical Island to the OP Cyrus card in Pokemon TCG Pocket‘s Space-Time Smackdown update, it would only make sense for Professor’s Research and Poke Ball to get some love in terms of their appearance. Currently, this is limited to players acquiring multiple copies of these cards and then giving them a sparkly effect by consuming them and Shinedust.
How Pokemon TCG Pocket Can Give Professor’s Research and Poke Ball New Full Art Versions
A good way of introducing special versions of Professor’s Research would be to adopt a similar method to Pokemon TCG‘s physical version. What this would mean is that Pokemon TCG Pocket‘s next expansion could feature a different Pokemon Professor from Professor Oak based on the main video game generation the set draws from, and then give it a full art treatment. For example, a dedicated Gen 9 set could feature a secret rare of Professor’s Research based on Professor Sada or Turo based on the booster players choose to open, so Scarlet or Violet in this case.
As for Poke Ball, this could simply be a full art shiny version of the original card, much like other full art Trainer cards in Pokemon TCG Pocket. Including different types of Poke Balls in the art would be interesting and potentially great for collectors, but it could end up limiting the options for future sets if the developers want to add different types of Poke Balls to the game. Either way, this is purely a cosmetic change that wouldn’t really affect gameplay, and thus it would arguably take low priority. Still, it has been requested for months now, so it would be fair to give Professor’s Research and Poke Ball some more love in the coming sets in order to appease fans.
