Pokémon TCG Pocket Adds Its Most Challenging Event to Date

The most challenging Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket event so far has arrived today, December 9, and tasks players with winning consecutive battles against other players.

The Genetic Apex SP Emblem Event 1 will be active until December 16 and offers a wealth of rewards including 24 Pack Hourglasses (allowing for two extra packs to be opened) and 1,850 Shinedust. Players will also compete for bragging rights, however, as a handful of new emblems are awarded to those able to win again and again.

The Versus Battle page once again includes an Event Match option that lets players compete for these emblems. Those able to win two matches in a row will earn the purple Participation Emblem, those who win three matches in a row will earn the Bronze Emblem, four matches nets the Silver Emblem, and five nets the Gold Emblem.

Regular rewards don't require consecutive wins, as event missions have been added to award the aforementioned Pack Hourglasses and Shinedust. Merely participating in one, three, five, and 10 versus battles awards players with three, three, six, and 12 Pack Hourglasses respectively.

Winning one, three, five, seven, and 10 versus battles, consecutively or not, awards 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1,000 Shinedust.

Players will likely take decks centred around Mewtwo ex, Charizard ex, Pikachu ex, and Starmie ex into the event as they look to claim their five consecutive victories, as these decks have dominated the Pokémon TCG Pocket meta since its release.

This could change soon after this event concludes though, as developer Creatures Inc. is releasing a smaller set of cards into Pokémon TCG Pocket that could shake things up. The next main set almost certainly will shift the meta when it arrives in January.

Pokémon TCG Pocket is a certified hit for Creatures Inc. and The Pokémon Company, having earned an estimated $200 million in its first month. It follows the standard mobile and free to play game model, flooding players with rewards in the opening few days before soon drying up, with spending real world money the only real way to re-experience that early thrill.

Completing Genetic Apex, the first set of cards which totals 226 officially but also contains 60 rare alternate art cards, will take players not spending money around two years according to one estimate, while those looking to make it rain can wrap up the collection after dropping around $1,500.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.