The Pokémon Company Reveals Plans To "Sunset" Pokémon TCG Online

I misread the title as though the TCG was coming to an end, period. 😂

I recently bought a pack of cards for the son of a coworker, and was blown away by the inflated numbers on the cards. Coming from the Base Set days, and not having touched the TCG since 2000 or so, I felt so lost.

And this is why I'll stick to the old GBC games to get my TCG fix.

The new TCG live app is a mess, missing a tonne of features and doesn't fit well on mobile phones due to the small screen size.

PUT IT ON SWITCH

I played it for a good while, even got slightly addicted to it at one point, but it gets boring after a while when there's zero interaction, and you can't really learn much from the tutorials when it comes to deck building, you have to go online to find out that stuff. Even then, with the meta constantly changing, it gets a bit much for me, because of the randomness of the pulls. The meta in a fighting game is fine when everyone has access to the same thing, in a card game, it's throw money at it or drag behind because the only way to get more cards without spending money is by winning, and what do you need to win? Better cards, or at least the ones that allow you to win in the current meta... so after a while I just focused on pre-made decks and playing irl. It's more fun that way, I get more out of it than just a 'victory' on a screen with an empty feeling.

...so can we get this on Switch?

@Mando44646 This. Bring it to the Switch!!

tcg live sucks. wish i could go back to the online game… too late and now they’re shutting it down

@Father-Noo ...personally I think they should look more at Yu-Gi-Oh duel links. It kinda highlights cards if you can do something with them and sorta aids players who might get lost in all the metta until they learn how their cards work.

Pokémon TCG is a mess but it is very beginners friendly
In PTCGO I am only playing theme decks because I don’t have all the cards for any good deck but in live I have several really good decks

@kal_el_07241 @Mando44646 : No, thanks. I’d rather have a successor to the GBC games, with no predatory post-purchase monetisation. I hated TCG Online because it’s so ridiculously stingy with giving away cards (and of course the fact that it’s always online).

And I would absolutely grab every instalment if it were to turn into an annual series, featuring the latest cards (while phasing out some of the older ones).

Hell, I wish they’d go back to the beginning so that we can play with the classic cards, and gradually move up to the more modern ones in subsequent instalments.

I love the card game, but I’m not interested in amassing a collection of them.

I gave the TCGL a shot when it the beta became global (I have a nearly-complete TCGO account that I could migrate at any time but I’ll wait until I accrue 125 packs and I complete Celebrations o do that) and it’s a genuine pain in the rear if you’re starting out fresh.

You get some decent-ish starting decks but they can’t really compete with the Tier 1 decks that many other players have and will be affected by the rotation happening in April, the rate at which you get the two forms of currency in the PTCGL (Credits and Crystals) is super low compared to how often you get TCGO’s tokens, the avatars are still bad despite the shift to 3D, and the UI still needs to be fixed for tablets (the lack of a proper landscape mode for tablets is just plain wrong), and the game often develops more bugs than it quashes with each update.

But my biggest complaint so far has to be the animation for avatars. You have cringy animations when you start a match, win/lose a match, and when your opponent uses the in-match emoticons. And the worst part is that you’re not given the option to turn ANY of this off.

But there is one plus that I admit are better than what the TCGO offers. The Credit system allows you craft almost any card (barring some promos like Tropical Beach and Champion’s Festival) and makes Tier 1 decks that much easier for players to get.

@Sisilly_G As much as I’d love to see a GBC-like Pokémon TCG video game come out it’s just not in the cards, The Pokémon Company doesn’t seem to be too interested in not pushing out spin-off games as of late. It’s also worth noting that both the TCGO and TCGL are TPCi-funded ventures.

@ZebZed : It's wishful thinking on my part. I don't expect such a game to actually materialise, but they won't seeing much of my money on the TCG front any other way (apart from the rare gift).

@Browny yeah it is pretty crazy. Especially considering Base Set and the other launch sets were already over powered as is, now Pokemon are even more over powered. Kinda sucks. In other TCGs a lot of common cards and weaker characters can be used and played competitively, even sometimes outshining more rare cards. But in Pokémon TCG you really have to have only rare overpowered Pokemon in your deck to play. If it cant 1 hit KO everything, its not worth playing. Making most of the cards in the game useless other than for collectings sake. At least they did tone down the power of trainer cards a bit though.