Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Genetic Apex set looks amazing, but there’s one big problem

Questions about what and for whom Pokemon TCG Pocket was intended were soundly put to rest when the mobile title launched on iOS and Android devices on October 30.

Catering to a wholly different audience of Pokefans rather than cannibalizing Pokemon TCG Live‘s competitive-minded player base, Pocket is all about delivering dopamine for collectors.

In a genius marketing move ensuring players are compelled to rip packs, Pocket’s first and currently only set, Genetic Apex, contains bespoke card art found nowhere else in the TCG, digital or otherwise.

The inaugural set’s chase cards are miniature masterpieces adorned with gorgeous, hand-drawn portraits of creatures no doubt selected for their star quality (when in doubt, pick Charizard).

With early reports indicating that TCG Pocket is already making money hand over fist – even inching out Niantic’s Pokemon Go – the appetite for collecting cards made of pixels rather than cardboard is huge, but why does there need to be a disconnect between the two?

Pokemon TCG has printed some absolute bangers over the last two decades for physical releases, but for every Evolving Skies ‘Moonbreon’ there exists countless cards sullied by CGI and 3D art frequently derided by the community.

TCG Pocket has its fair share of these very same less-inspired cards, too, but taken as a whole, Genetic Apex’s art quality surpasses Stellar Crown, Twilight Masquerade, and any other Scarlet & Violet-era release, for that matter.

Even for the likes of Pokemon poster child Charizard, the ultra-rare full-art chase card printed in Obsidian Flames doesn’t hold a candle to a special art version found in Genetic Apex. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course, but by nature, art is easier to display and appreciate when it’s not on a screen.

There’s absolutely value in TCG Pocket placing import on eye candy, its success is a testament to that, but it feels like a missed opportunity at best and negligence of the physical game at worst, not to make Genetic Apex’s cards a real-world collectible.

There is, of course, every chance TPC will see Pocket’s success and decide to bridge the gap by taking Genetic Apex and future sets to the printers.

Considering the paper game’s already crammed release schedule, though, it’s more likely that if cross-pollination happens, it’ll be as a one-off special set in the same vein as 2022’s Sword & Shield-era Pokemon Go tie-in or as promos.

A handful of Pocket’s cards already sport illustrations from Wizards of the Coast-era cards, so the precedent, however small, exists for expanded crossovers to happen in the future.

Pokemon TCG Pocket is available now on iOS and Android devices. See our guide on all the rarest cards and their respective pull rates for more information.