The time has come for another new expansion in Pokemon TCG Pocket, and you might be feeling the grind. With multiple sets now available to pull from, and nowhere near enough free packs or Pack Hourglasses to cover all the bases, collecting every card feels impossible. However, I have discovered a trick that might help you out, and it doesn’t include Pack Hourglass hoarding.
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As of April 30th, the Celestial Guardians expansion is now available to pull from. This set includes exciting Legendary debuts like Lunala and Solgaleo, a powerful Rayquaza ex, and the coveted Rare Candy Trainer card, among other options. Getting them all sounds daunting, but I’ve been making use of a hack that is better than Pack Points or simply opening as many boosters as possible.
Start Using Wonder Pick Correctly
When Mythical Island first debuted, I did the same grind as every other Pokemon TCG Pocket player. I held on to every Pack Hourglass, subscribed to the Premium Subscription option for better drops, and tried to keep as many shop credits as possible to purchase more Pack Hourglasses as quickly as I could. Unfortunately, without spending real money, there is a hard limit on how much of this currency can be squared away.
As expansions began to drop more quickly, the Pack Hourglass hoarding technique became even less reliable. I started to get overwhelmed, and even put the game down for over a month after Space-Time Smackdown drained all my saved currency with abysmal drops.
One of the hardest things about Pokemon TCG Pocket is that it is a gacha. Every time you open a pack, you are rolling the dice on a fairly extensive card list, and each option has a percentage point for when it might be pulled. This makes it easy to waste pack pulls on dozens and dozens of duplicate cards that won’t help you build decks for competitive play.
However, through all of this, I had overlooked one very important element of the game: Wonder Pick.
Wonder Pick feels like an afterthought mechanic. You only interact with it to get the daily bonuses or to complete tasks for rewards. It’s fairly rare that I even bothered to click in, even with Wonder Events going, because I just didn’t figure it was worth it.
However, with the drop of Celestial Guardians, I knew I wanted two Rare Candy for my Celebi ex deck. I was at the 200+ card list and immediately felt the wash of overwhelming despair. How on earth am I going to get that needle in the haystack?
That was when I opened Wonder Pick on a whim. I realized I had over 600 Wonder Hourglasses, simply because I hadn’t been using the mechanic for a few weeks. Wonder Hourglasses are much easier to horde than Pack Hourglasses, and when used effectively, you can increase your odds of pulling the right card by picking from someone else’s already selected packs. Instead of a 1 in 200+ with varying pull odds, you are looking at 1 in 6 with equal chances of selecting what you might want.
Lucky for me, people had already started pulling the Rare Candy I wanted. Now all I have to do is wait for a Wonder Pick that is offering the card, and I can give it a shot with much better odds.
How To Horde Your Wonder Hourglasses
Related: First Official Pokemon TCG Pocket Merch Is Coming Soon
The best way to horde Wonder Hourglasses in Pokemon TCG Pocket is to avoid the Wonder Pick outside of immediate releases. It can be tempting to go in and roll the picks when bored, just to burn the currency or to chase additional rare cards other players might have grabbed, but it will waste the picks. Try to only use the system when your timed charges are full, and leave the Wonder Hourglasses untouched.
Wonder Hourglasses also cost fewer shop credits than Pack Hourglasses. Players can grind for credits by doing the battle events and daily tasks for rewards, and then use them to buy up bundles of Wonder Hourglasses to add to the pile.
Wonder Hourglasses are also given more frequently and in larger quantities than Pack Hourglasses. Scope out which tasks will offer Wonder Hourglasses as rewards, and focus on completing them so you get as much of the currency as possible.
Once an expansion releases that has cards you specifically want, don’t rush off to the Wonder Pick and spend them all on every player pull for the new expansion. Take your time, check back frequently, and only use the Hourglasses you’ve stored on Wonder Picks that have cards you truly want. You’ll have time to pull plenty of randoms in packs while the expansion is live. Use the Wonder Pick to specifically curate the pulls you want, and aim for the core components of the decks you want to build.
With all of those Wonder Hourglasses saved up, you’ll be able to grab as many cards as you need from the Wonder Pick. I know I’ll be using them to bulk up on key Item and Supporter cards during the Celestial Guardians expansion. I might even try to grab a Shiny or two while I am at it.
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