Despite only being out for less than half a year, Pokémon TCG Pocket has developed an immense following, with tons of talented players flocking to online tournaments and digging into the game with friends.
While at EUIC thanks to a media pass provided by The Pokémon Company, I had the opportunity to sit down with Ursiiday, a content creator and organizer who hosts some of the most popular Pocket tournaments around.
We dove into the game’s popularity and why she thinks it deserves a spot alongside the mainline games at championship events, exploring the possibility of seeing the beloved mobile title in the competitive scene alongside behemoths like VGC and Pokémon Go.
There’s no official word on whether this’ll happen any time soon, but the idea of seeing Pocket at an event like EUIC or even Worlds has many community members intrigued.
When I asked about how she got into running online Pocket tournaments, Ursiiday noted that she’s always enjoyed competitive gameplay and that as soon as Limitless allowed for Pocket tournaments to go live, she wanted to give it a shot.
“The community has been so receptive to it,” she added, saying that her experience running the popular online events so far had been a delight.
Sharing her thoughts on the current meta and the impact of the Space-Time Smackdown expansion, Ursiiday noted that the Cyrus Supporter has been one of the heaviest hitters, completely changing the way the game is played. It allows the user to switch in a damaged card on the opponent’s side, making for easy knockouts.
She also mentioned that dual Energy decks are steadily rising in popularity, with Magnezone being one of the most important contributing factors to this. Energy management is crucial in Pocket, especially with decks that feature two or more types of Energy Tokens.
The idea of Pocket being introduced into the official Pokémon competitive scene came up, with the creator firmly declaring that the mobile game deserved a spot alongside the other mainline titles at events like EUIC. Ursiiday shared that accessibility and ease of understanding were the best things about Pocket, saying, “For some people, it’s their first card game.” She described how she’d seen people enter the world of Pokémon for the first time thanks to the game, hunting down physical cards at local game stores to accompany their digital collections and exploring the franchise further.
“We all want to see it,” she continued, highlighting the strong social media engagement and online tournament presence that Pocket has already developed since its release. “The community is receptive and … we would love to see that type of support from Pokémon, definitely.”
Ursiiday finished by encouraging new players to check out Pocket, sharing, “If you haven’t played Pocket yet, go try it! It’s so much fun… the app is so smooth, there’s zero bugs.” She considers it a perfect card game for players of any experience level, calling it one of the best mobile card games on offer.
If you’ve never dug into Pocket before and you’re curious about where to start, make sure to take a look at our current deck tier list and a full breakdown of Space-Time Smackdown. The most recent addition to the game added a slew of new cards, decks, and tactics, making it feel richer and more vibrant than ever before.
The game is only getting better as time goes on, and maybe we’ll see it alongside the Pokémon TCG at a championship in the future. Nothing official has been announced about this, but it’s clear that the Pocket community is growing with every passing month and that many are sold on the idea of seeing the mobile game at major tournaments like EUIC.
Published: Feb 23, 2025 03:58 pm