Pokemon TCG Pocket crafting explained: Pack Points, best cards, more

Crafting in Pokemon TCG Pocket is the easiest way to fill gaps in your collection or stack your decks with powerful cards. Here’s how to do it.

Pokemon TCG Pocket has gripped players worldwide accumulating over 30 million downloads and beating out Pokemon GO’s daily revenue in short order. Those in its grasp are burning through booster packs in an effort to collect the rarest cards or take on the strongest meta decks in its PvP mode.

Of course, knowing how to use your cards effectively is also important but you have to get ahold of them first. If you’re growing tired of relying on luck, there’s an important mechanic in the game that you can take advantage of.

Pokemon TCG Pocket’s crafting can be a total game-changer once you get your head around all of the moving parts. This guide will give you the ins and outs so you can be the very best, that no one ever was.

How to craft cards in Pokemon TCG Pocket

The randomized nature of Pokemon TCG Pocket’s booster packs can be a fun introduction to the joys of gambling but there’s a way to guarantee the cards you want. Every Time you open a booster pack ahead of schedule using Pack Stamina, you’ll be awarded a resource called Pack Points.

Pack Points are used to engage with Pokemon TCG Pocket’s crafting mechanic. To access crafting in the game, you’ll need to head to the booster pack menu from the home page and tap the Pack Points icon in the lower right-hand corner.

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The icon will also show the current number of Pack Points you have to use for Pokemon TCG Pocket’s crafting. Using Pack Stamina to open a pack will reward you with five Pack Points each time you do it and rarer cards will require more of them to craft.

Cards at the lower end of the rarity spectrum will cost a mere 35 Pack Points to craft while the rarest cards in the game cost a whopping 2,500. Grinding out that amount of Pack Points can be time-consuming, to say the least, but the payoff to using crafting in Pokemon TCG pocket is you can guarantee the card you’re looking for.

Every card in the game’s base set is craftable but special promo cards will require you to engage with in-game events that they are attached to.

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Why use crafting in Pokemon TCG Pocket?

There are three primary reasons to use Pokemon TCG Pocket’s crafting mechanic. The first is to fill out gaps in your collection. If you can’t seem to pull that particular EX card you’re after, you can ensure you get ahold of it by spending Pack Points to craft one.

The second reason that you’ll want to use crafting is to help you build a deck for the game’s PvE and PvP battles. You might want to get an extra copy of a key card for your deck’s strategy or maybe you’re missing the basic Pokemon in a powerful evolution line. If you’re sick of missing out in booster packs, crafting is a sure-fire way to finish your deck.

Finally, you can also use crafting to ‘cheat’ out certain Missions in Pokemon TCG Pocket. The Deck and Themed Collection missions give you rewards for collecting specific cards and the ones you create with crafting will still contribute to their completion.

Regardless of what type of player you are, Pokemon TCG Pocket’s crafting is an incredibly useful tool. If you’re not using it, you’re missing out on a bunch of handy ways to make your journey with the game easier.

Best cards to craft in Pokemon TCG Pocket

Everyone’s collection will be a little different and you might already have some of the cards on this list. The ones we’ve chosen here are important because they’re either must-haves for the game’s competitive meta or because they’ll help you complete missions and unlock the more powerful rental decks to use until you can craft a meta deck of your own.

With that in mind, these are our picks for the best cards to craft in Pokemon TCG Pocket.

Mewtwo EX

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Mewtwo EX is expensive to craft and requires 500 Pack points but if you don’t have it in your collection yet, it’s well worth the investment. Crafting Mewtwo EX will unlock the Mewtwo EX rental deck which is one of the best ones available and can help you complete PVE events with ease.

It’s also useful if you want to build a Psychic-type deck of your own as Mewtwo EX is the centerpiece of any good deck that uses this particular type. Even if you already have one in your collection, crafting a second can help with consistency as you’ll be more likely to draw your key player.

Pikachu EX

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Pikachu EX cost 500 Pack Points to craft and it’s our second pick for useful cards to craft in Pokemon TCG pocket because it will unlock the Pikachu EX rental deck. This deck relies less on evolutions for success than the Mewtwo EX deck and performs well against water-type decks which are a real pain to deal with in the current meta.

Pikachu EX is a really powerful card in its own right thanks to your ability to play it immediately and the low energy requirement for its Circle Circuit attack. If you have a full bench, this attack will do 90 damage and can win games quickly by swiftly taking out weaker basic Pokemon.

For similar reasons to Mewtwo EX, crafting a second one to shore up your existing Pikachu EX deck is a smart move. Having early access to this Pokemon puts you in a great position to steamroll opponents.

Misty

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Misty is a little more situational but we have to include her here because she’s been hailed as the most “broken” card in the game. She’s an auto-include for any Water deck and her low crafting cost of 70 Pack Points means it’s relatively easy to pick up the two that you’ll need for every Water-type deck you’ll ever make.

Misty is a Supporter card that allows you to pick any one of your Water-type Pokemon and flip a series of coins. You’ll continue to flip coins until you finally land on tails. For every heads the coin lands on, you can attach a Water Energy to the Pokemon you’ve selected. In theory, you could attach over 100 Energy to the Pokemon of your choosing, and that makes Misty a stellar card.

Giovanni

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Crafting Giovanni in Pokemon TCG Pocket should be a priority because this supporter card is useful in any deck you make. Like Misty, Giovanni costs 70 Pack Points meaning you can easily craft the two you’ll need for a full playset.

Giovanni adds an extra 10 damage to attacks you use against your opponent’s active Pokemon during the turn you use him. While this doesn’t sound like much, it can be a real difference-maker if you’re going to fall just short of a KO.

Sabrina

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The best card to craft in Pokemon TCG Pocket is undoubtedly Sabrina. This Supporter is one of the most versatile cards in the game and is a necessary inclusion in every competitive deck regardless of type. Much like the other two Supporters in this list, a low crafting cost of 70 Pack Points makes her a no-brainer for crafting.

Sabrina forces your opponent to switch out their active Pokemon to a benched Pokemon of their choosing but with some strategic play, she can be used to score points or deny them to your opponent. If your Pokemon is in trouble, you can force a switch to less prepared Pokemon on your opponent’s field. Alternatively, they can bring out a weaker Pokemon that yours can take care of quickly.

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That’s everything you need to know about Pokemon TCG Pocket’s crafting mechanic. With this information, you should be able to use it to pad out your collection in whatever way suits you best.

For more on how to improve your experience, check out our guides on rarity in Pokemon TCG Pocket and what we know about the trading feature coming to the game.