After a month of Buzzwole and other upsetting Ultra Beasts, Pokemon TCG Pocket players have been surprised with a min-expansion that is filled to the brim with adorable art. The Eevee Grove expansion features all the Eeveelutions in an array of brightly colored cards. The set also includes some of the first ex Eeveelutions to enter the meta, with many packing a surprisingly powerful punch. However, players won’t be able to use this set to the fullest thanks to one broken mechanic.
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When playing physical Pokemon TCG matches, one of the most important deck-building skills to learn is the multi-type deck. Mixing types is critical to balancing a deck against different opponents and ensures players won’t be devastated if they go up against a deck that has a type advantage over them. Popular mix-ups have included Psychic/Fighting, Electric/Fire, Water/Electric, and Grass/Rock among many others. These type mixes offer a range of attacks and strategies important to successful gameplay.
Unfortunately, this is one of the most important elements of the Pokemon TCG that Pocket has dropped the ball on, and it hits particularly hard with the release of Eevee Grove.
A Missed Opportunity for Pokemon TCG Pocket
Pokemon TCG Pocket uses an abbreviated version of the standard TCG match with the mobile app. Because of this, they have introduced a new mechanic called the Energy Zone. Once a turn, players are guaranteed an Energy card from this pile to attach to their active cards. They can’t be stockpiled in a hand, however, so it’s take it or lose it.
The Energy Zone is a great mechanic in theory. Anyone who has spent a whole match pulling anything but Energy cards knows how important those little, colored pulls can be. However, when running a dual-type deck, players can’t choose which Energy they need from the pile. Instead, the Energy type is chosen at random.
Whole matches can go by where a player might have a deck of Fire and Electric-type cards, and only pull one Fire Energy. Even the addition of type-specific Energy acceleration Trainer cards hasn’t improved this, leading few trainers to run anything other than a single-type deck.
It is a big flaw in the Pocket battle system, and one that has limited strategy from day one of the game.
No Mixed Decks for Eevee Grove
While players have done an admirable job of working around the broken dual-type system in Pokemon TCG Pocket, it has hit particularly hard with Eevee Grove. Eeveelution cards are designed to run together. Even Pocket has Trainer cards that specifically benefit the number of Eeveelutions on the bench or Active positions.
However, Pocket players know better than to run their Jolteon with their Flareon together, despite the power the combination would offer. The chances of having an unusable Pokémon as a primary element of your deck are too risky. This greatly reduces the usability of the Eevee Grove set and forces players to match Eeveelution cards up with other Legendary or powerful cards of the same type from previous sets.
While an Embreon and Darkrai Ex or a Leafeon and Serperior combo sounds exciting, those wanting to run an Eeveelution-specific deck can’t do it, and that hits hard for those who have been waiting for Eeveelutions to take the spotlight.
Pocket Could Fix Broken Dual Type Decks
The fix for this problem in Pokemon TCG Pocket is surprisingly simple. Players are already promised on Energy of a specific type while playing a single-type deck. To fix the issue, all they need to do is allow players to choose what Energy type they would like to use that turn.
While it might seem like an unfair advantage, single-type deck users already have this ability. They are guaranteed the Energy type they need, and can place it however they see fit. If someone is running a dual-type deck, they don’t get a bonus Energy pull. They get to choose which single Energy card they would like to take that turn.
Not only would this make dual-type decks more usable, Pocket could also introduce Trainer cards that benefit players trying to run three or more types. We have already seen the introduction of cards in Pocket that would make these types of changes more fun. Cards like Dragonite ex and many other Dragon types actually require multiple Energy types to run. However, the only way to safely run them is in a Normal-type deck, and even then, there is no way to ensure a player will get the Energy they need to use the card.
While these changes would be beneficial to Pokemon TCG Pocket players, there has been no word from the development team that dual-type issues are a priority for upcoming updates. Because of this, it could be a while before anyone can run a proper Eeveelution deck in ranked battles.
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