The Mythical Island Themed Booster arrives in Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket today and players are once again questioning if the pack carousel actually matters, but developer Creatures Inc. still isn’t giving a straight answer.
Looking to simulate the experience of opening a real booster pack, when players must profusely focus on a booster box of packs to determine which holds the shinies, Pokémon TCG Pocket gives players a carousel of packs to spin through before picking the correct one.
These packs can be spun around, moved up and down, and analysed for bent corners and crinkles (which spawned an all but defunct conspiracy theory among some players), but many have theorised that it doesn’t matter at all.
Speaking to IGN, a Creatures Inc. spokesperson gave a cryptic answer when asked if this was the case. “While we’re unable to share specifics, we’d like to touch on something we’ve paid special attention to,” they said.
“The opening experience is similar to the tabletop Pokémon TCG, and you can create your own routines for how you want to experience the game. Which booster pack you pick up is up to you, and I think everyone will develop their own way of enjoying the game. We paid particular attention to the process of selecting the booster pack, opening it, and looking at the cards so that it would feel fun.”
The reluctance to explicitly confirm that pack choice does make a difference suggests it doesn’t, and others have theorized this is the case too.
Wonder Pick is an additional method of obtaining cards that lets players pick one of five cards at random, with the choices coming directly from another player’s pack. If a player opens one containing a Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard, Charizard ex, and Blane, for example, there’s a chance a friend of that player, or even a complete random, will see this pack in their Wonder Pick section.
They can then choose to open this pack and be presented with the Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard, Charizard ex, and Blane, but each card is flipped around and players pick just one at random.
YouTuber PokéNinaa shared a clip of her opening a pack while a friend checked their Wonder Pick from her. The moment PokéNinaa selected Open a Pack, and was presented with the carousel of boosters presenting a choice, her Wonder Pick appeared on her friend’s account.
The Wonder Pick contained a pack PokéNinaa hadn’t open previously, and contained Pyukumuku, Blitzle, Slowpoke, Kabutops, and Melmetal. She then picked a booster pack from her myriad options and was presented with Pyukumuku, Blitzle, Slowpoke, Kabutops, and Melmetal.
Oher players have shared the same findings with Wonder Picks, leading to a general belief among the Pokémon TCG Pocket community that pack choices don’t actually matter. It certainly appears to be the case, especially with The Pokémon Company refusing to say anything to the contrary, but there’s a chance these findings were an unintended bug.
Mythical Island arrived today, December 17, and as a Themed Booster is a smaller set compared to the debut Genetic Apex, containing a total of 86 cards. Creatures Inc. has still added myriad new missions and solo battles for players to interact with though, which somewhat recreates that opening day feeling of the digital trading card game.
Pokémon TCG Pocket arrived October 30 and is a certified hit for Creatures Inc. and The Pokémon Company, having earned an estimated $200 million in its first month across more than 60 million downloads.
This huge amount of money comes as Pokémon TCG Pocket follows the standard mobile and free to play game model, flooding players with rewards in the first few days before soon drying up, with spending real world money the only real way to re-experience that early thrill outside of the occasional set drop like this.
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.
