Pokemon TCG Pocket Is Fixing The Biggest Issue With Its New Packs (But There’s A Catch)

Many Pokemon TCG Pocket fans were excited when the Deluxe Pack: ex was first announced. This set, which features re-releases of rarer cards, looked like a chance to finally get rare chase cards. And it is, but with a pretty big caveat. Cards that you obtain through the Deluxe Pack ex register only to that specific card dex. For those of us trying to fill gaps in the pack dex for prior sets, it’s no fun pulling cards only to realize they won’t count towards completing those collections. Thankfully, DeNA is once again listening to player feedback, and some big changes are coming to the card dex in Pokemon TCG Pocket.

Like many players, I’ve been frustrated pulling cards from the limited-time pack that I’ve been chasing for ages, only to see those gaps remain in the sets they originally came from. Fans have been pretty vocal about this being a terrible move for Pokemon TCG Pocket, and it looks like DeNA has heard us loud and clear. On October 24th, the Pokemon TCG Pocket developer shared its plans to update the card dex. But that update is going to take a lot longer than you might expect.

Pokemon TCG Pocket Confirms Card Dex Update for “After Summer 2026”

Let’s start with the good news here. Pokemon TCG Pocket will be updating how cards that appear in multiple booster packs register. Once the new update arrives, a 4 Diamond rarity card from an older pack like Genetic Apex will register in both that original pack and newer special sets it might be included in. That means the Deluxe Pack: ex and other sets will no longer have fully separate card dexes.

Even better, these changes will apply retroactively. So, that Decidueye ex I finally pulled will one day correctly fill the slot in Celestial Guardians, not just Deluxe Pack: ex. But if you’re hoping to get that satisfaction before the limited-time boosters expire, that’s where the bad news comes in. This massive and much-needed quality-of-life improvement for Pokemon TCG Pocket isn’t coming this month. It’s not even coming this year. Instead, the changes are expected to arrive “after summer 2026.”

For many fans, this is a baffling timeline. On the surface, it doesn’t seem like a massive feature change, though the code involved could be more complex than it first appears. Pokemon TCG Pocket is currently gearing up for a massive anniversary update that’s bringing in quite a few big changes. So some fans are wondering why this one couldn’t be thrown in along with the other updates, or released sometime shortly after. But for whatever reason, the card dex update isn’t coming for several months.

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One potential reason for the wait is that the card dex changes won’t be the only adjustments in this planned post-summer 2026 update. According to the social media post from Pokemon TCG Pocket, the update will also bring in “related UI improvements.” From the sounds of it, this update could wind up being a more major overhaul of the entire card dex system in Pokemon TCG Pocket.

At any rate, this news is at least confirmation that DeNA is going to fix this glaring issue with its new limited-time packs. We’ll be waiting a while to see those gaps in older sets filled, but at least we know we’ll get credit for pulling them from the Deluxe Pack: ex eventually. And given that more similar re-release packs are planned for the future, it’s good news DeNA is working to fix this sooner rather than later. Similar to how quickly they responded to complaints about trading, this quick response to player feedback is a good sign for the future of Pokemon TCG Pocket.

What do you think of this card dex update? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!