Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket is taking us back to Sinnoh with the Space-Time Smackdown expansion
I woke up this morning thinking it would be a refreshing change of pace not to talk about Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket. But then they go and release a huge amount of data about the next card expansion, so here we go again. Space-Time Smackdown launches on January 29th, and we are going back to Generation 4.
The first thing that jumps out to me personally is that it seems we are returning to the multiple-pack approach, with Dialga and Palkia sets. That bugs me a lot because it just feels greedy. If you are pulling loads for the rarest cards in the Palkia set, you aren't even getting the basics from the other. It seems like a way to encourage spending, and I am not a fan.
Of course, we will see all our favourites from the Sinnoh region, including starters Piplup, Chimchar, and Turtwig. The trailer below shows a few select cards from this collection, and Dialga Ex in particular looks pretty good. Its four energy for 100 damage is a bit weak, but for 2 energy you can deal 30, and attach two Metal Energy to a benched Pokemon. That is some phenomenal value right there.
I also want to mention my own personal heartbreak. Serebii dropped some sneak peeks at other cards over on their TwiX account, and they have relegated Lucario to support. Two energy for 40 damage is a bit poor, but I suppose if their Fighting Coach ability, increasing Fighting-type damage by 20, affects themselves that is 60. Which isn’t too bad, but damn it, I wanted to Aura Sphere people through the floor!
Finally, we had more clarity on the trade feature coming on January 29th, and it is worse than I expected. It will take two forms of resource to trade; Trade Hourglasses and Trade Tokens. On top of all the other restrictions we have already covered, what is the point? We will have to see how these resources are replenished, but I am astonished they managed to somehow make it even worse.
Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket is available to download from theApp Store and Google Playbut act quickly before they add Installation Hourglasses or Log-In Hourglasses.