Playing pocket fully f2p. I was able to make 2 good decks so far. Enjoying that there is no ranked ladder stress, progression and cards are actually achievable in multiple ways and the gameplay is pretty good imo
@@OzoneGamerStationuntill now only if you're going for cosmetics, in 2/3 weeks I've got over half (count up to 2 of each) the rarest noncosmetic cards & there is still 2 months untill the 2nd expansion, even if you exclude the 6 I got on the first day it is still more then enough, in SNAP it took me a week to get a single series 5 after I already found & locked it.
I started the day after launch and have not spent any money and I have the Mewtwo Ex Gardivoir deck already. The gameplay seems pretty shallow to me but I have only been playing for like 2 days so that might be a snap (lol) judgment.
It amazes me how people really said that Pokémon Pocket is the Snap Ender. Both games are entirely different experiences. I love Snap for how fun the battle system is. Gameplay is the most important for me so the simple gameplay is a turn off for me. Especially when the battle mode isn’t even a main feature or even main mode in the Pokémon Pocket UI. Battling is like the 4th small icon at the bottom of the menu. But I understand the appeal of collecting in Pokémon. They certainly excel in the rush of opening packs and what is contained inside. That’s the nature of Pokémon. So far I’m going to be trying out Pocket for a few weeks to see if Pocket is going to be a long term game I’ll be playing alongside Snap.
The difference in their tutorials is very telling, too. When you first boot up Snap, it drops you right into a battle. When you first boot up Pokemon Pocket, it takes like 20 minutes of painfully slow handholding to finally get to a battle.
People actually said that? First I don't think it needs a "killer", and second I could tell without ever having played it that that wasn't gonna be true. Lol
I get most of my snap exposure from KM Best, so I haven't seen reddit or Discord or anything. But I think his concern could be warranted. If enough people play pokemon for a couple of months, because snaps main weakness is the returning player experience, people could be frustrated and drop snap. Not a killer necessarily as tcg players love to exaggerate. But it could lead to a bigger dip in snap active players even though the experiences are quite different.
I'm just SO tired of snap, so this games been giving me a nice break as much as people say snap isn't a collection game, it takes soooo long and so much upkeep to actually get new cards. they desperately need to get over spotlight caches and make something new
LoL if you are "soooo tired of snap" that's on you by that logic anything can be Soo tiring if you kept playing and doing it for 24/7. Take a break go outside touch grass and you'll be good
i have seen multiple other creators telling doing what you did in this video and i have to tell you yours is by far the best, differentiated, and the most informing!
@@YorkshireSpudsure... easiest card game I've ever played. Reached infinite on auto pilot 😂 Now that I got reminded of it, I'll give my account to my 7 year old nephew. He will have a blast!
I’m just glad this game exists, it means competition, which means SD can’t be complacent. I want this game to thrive, because that means marvel snap thrives more too. W all around imo. Also grinding for packs is much more manageable in the beginning than it is in marvel snap too. It is too hard to get new cards in snap honestly.
I feel like Snap is more of a card game where the card collecting ability is pretty much on the side, whereas Pokemon Pocket just feels like a full on card collection app with a game that comes with it.
I very much enjoy the gameplay for both, but your point on Snap's gameplay mastery resonates with me. Case in point - every time I have a good hand/opener in Pocket I'm thinking: "where's the Snap button??" 😆
That's also subjective as I personaly realy love pokemon pocket and believe it's gameplay is better. Is snap more complex in metas and dynamics? Ofcourse it's been out longer. Is it better well that's subjective
@@Colorado-Coyote Pocket is just the same decks over and over. So many people forfeiting. It's so boring when everyone retreats when I counter then turn 1.
@yeeterofannoyingpeople4003 I actually like the tempo playstyle of Pokemon a little more than Snap. But the meta of those 2 games will heavily affect my enjoyment of both
PVZ Heroes was so goated back then. Really wish more players supported it so that the devs could put in more content. One of my favorite digital card games by a mile
I don't comment often, but I enjoy your videos a lot, Regis! Just wanted to say that I've been playing Pokemon TCG Pocket free to play since the first few days of the soft launch and if you don't count the alternate art cards, I am only missing 22 cards, 11 of which are random 3 Diamond Rarity cards, like Poliwrath and Blastoise. I currently have 725 Pack Points, and I'm only missing 3 EX Pokemon, none of which I particularly want or need. I know a lot of someone's experience with what they have will come down to luck, but I am really glad that Pack Points are a thing at all, even though I think that buying cards with them is difficult considering how many Pack Points you need. However, Wonder Pick has been an immense help in targeting cards that I want, so I think that overall the game is definitely more accessible and free to play friendly than Marvel Snap. I love both games though and I really hope both companies do a good job at making them the best they can be.
For me, I couldnt stop playing Snap until i was pissed off from losing. For Pokemon, i just stop playing after 5 battles regardless if i win or lose and the play another 5 battles after a few hours. Pokemon is more casual for me while Snap gets to my nerves. Both are still fun in their own ways.
I know a lot of your viewers are probably ex-Hearthstone players so they might have already made the decision of whether they want to play it, but I think a video like this but about Hearthstone would be interesting just to see your collected thoughts on it and comparisons to marvel snap and pokemon pocket. But honestly a video like that could help you out too, for instance you could talk about Hearthstone's current state and what you like and dislike about it and perhaps bring more viewers from this channel to your Hearthstone channel.
For me SNAP isn't as fun as it use to be. I'm still grinding for series 3 cards and I feel so burnt out grinding for cards I need for decks I wanna play. POCKET is fun and it has that collection aspect I like. It's fun to play but it's nothing like SNAP where you can get some sick plays.
considering you are not series 3 complete yet I dont think you can make that judgement about the game. every f2p game has a grind aspect. and you being not series 3 complete yet havent played the game enough to make a judgement about its grind aspect.
@@notrichaf9071 brother the grinding of series 3 is what is burning him out. Are you telling him that he cannot say shit taste like shit because he havent finish eating his shit? Every f2p game has a grind aspect sure, but you dont need to keep grinding to tell if the grind is burning you out or not, because you'd already stop playing before then. which is the main point of his comment
@@notrichaf9071you really thought you cooked,huh? That’s the dumbest logic I’ve ever heard. I’m at 17,000 collection level and im missing half the new cards that came out and old ones that should’ve been series 3 already. Nothing the dude said was incorrect
The biggest thing for me is the guarantee that we will be getting trading. Now as long as there are no weird shenanigans, it should be relatively ok to get at least a deck you want through trading pulls you didn't want. Snap having basically no catch-up mechanics or ways to offload cards you didn't want from spotlight caches really sucks.
I’ve played Snap before, but didn’t really get that into it. I was never a huge marvel fan when I was a kid and I care even less now. However, Pokemon was an obsession for me growing up. The collection aspect feels so good in Pocket and the battle system is complex enough to keep me engaged. I expect it will become even better as new sets are released.
i feel like both are going good in there own way, snap for me will be my me time playing a card game while pokemon ill probably play against friends in discord lol
Maybe there is some depth I am missing in Pocket, but the decks seem to pilot themselves and there aren’t a lot of significant choices. It’s basically just a question of who gets their win condition first. The dominant decks are: 1) The Mewtwo/Gardevoir deck. If you can build a Gardevoir on the bench while Mewtwo is active, then you can one-shot everything. If not, you’re stuck doing 50 damage per turn, which is likely not enough if the opponent builds their wincon. 2) Pikachu. If you draw enough Pokemon to fill your bench, Pikachu can start dealing a ton of damage with just two energy. He tops out lower than M2, but gets going sooner, and can win the game before the slower deck builds its sandcastle. 3) Articuno and 18 trainers. If you draw Misty and get at least 1 extra energy out of her, you probably win. This deck is often unbeatable and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it if Misty ramps up Articuno. In general, whoever can cycle their deck with Professor’s Research will usually get their thing first and win the game. If both players are using meta decks, the game seems to boil down to who gets their wincon online faster. Far shallower and less satisfying than Snap.
I agree with you on a lot of points. If the games were a bit quicker/snapper it would be more fun to battle (i.e. set a 30 second timer to do your moves and if you can't do it, it's your own fault). The game needs a massive attack animation overhaul, literally all attacks look the same which makes the game kinda boring to look at. Where are the lightning bolts, water splashes, rock flings, flamethrowers/magma? Also, they need to streamline the menus, I shouldn't have to swipe left and right to see all the tabs in the missions/events area (clicking tabs at the top should bring you to the correct area).
i like pokemon pocket, but theres nothing to do lol once you beat the solo stuff, you can play against other players, for no reason? you get nothing but a measly 15exp compared to the 75exp from the solo matches. theres no ranked or anything. so theres really no point to spend money or grind hard. if youre a fan youll love it. but theres nothing to keep the average player coming back.
@jamicassidy7955 oh I make zero comparisons here. I like pokemon much better. I'm just struggling to find a reason to get on and play people for nothing other then to waste time lol
Maybe I just got really lucky, but I haven't spent a dime. Got the free trial premium pass. And grinding all the solo missions. In the end I have multiple complete meta decks. Pure FTK Articuno EX Starmie EX Articuno Mewtwo EX And just a couple cards away from a complete Venasaur EX deck and Charizard/Moltres EX deck. Only thing I did was reroll til I pulled an EX I wanted (Articuno Ex)
As a person who has played card games for 20 years I'm just happy to have another fun free card game. So many options people have these days. SNAP, PTCG pocket PTCG live, duel links, master duel, hearthstone, runeterra, magic arena, etc. We are spoiled for options these days.
One thing I wanted to add: you mentioned how getting duplicates feels wasted but I guess you missed the whole "Flair" feature - basically you can spend the duplicates you have of a card to add special effects to that card like gold sparkles and other animation effects during gameplay and display. Also if you get duplicates of 4 star rarities specifically, you can exchange them for the black and gold tickets that after you collect enough you can get these really nice sleek playmats/card sleeves/coins/etc. So they did consider the duplicates scenario.
I did not miss it. It just has no value to building a collection, the entire emphasis of the discussion. If you could turn them into pack points, that would be a consideration.
Pocket is definitely more of a collection game. Free packs every 12 hours, plus the daily quests give you hourglasses(even if it's very little) for opening those packs. Plus, as you said, the variants are just cool. Snap requires work to get quests done, and is centralized on gameplay. And while gameplay is probably deeper, the pocket gameplay is similar to pokemon tcg. I'm sure more depth will come with more expansions. However, while you say you don't know if pocket is affordable; it really isn't. After the first wave of hourglasses, it slows down so much. I think in marvel snap I really had fun without spending any money. I built decks with things from only pool 3, and while that was probably over a year ago, I doubt that has changed too much. Pocket needs double copies of the best cards to make decks work, because consistency is important. There are cheaper decks, like marowak ex or dragonite decks, but they aren't really cheap. And wonder picks are really important to hit. A note on pack points: you need 500 pack points for an EX card, which is 100 packs opened, which takes about 43 days free to play (ignoring any extra hourglass rewards aside from the daily quests) Totally different games, both fun, good points in this video.
I know the game has only just launched, but i do wish there was more to do. Ive already completed all the solo battles and with how unrewarding pvp feels im not doing much beyond getting my daily packs and then playing snap instead
@randomhero6365 ... i know that, I'm just disappointed how little incentive there is in the game currently to do anything beyond the daily packs. If the game is only going to offer 15 xp on a win and nothing else, then there really feels like i have no reason to do anything except get my dailies and leave, which isn't exactly fun for me
I pay for the season pass in Snap and a few knick knacks here and here, but I'm by all means not f2p on Snap. I agree, it's a 10/10 experience, love playing it everyday. I'm trying to approach TCG Pocket as f2p, and man is it a slow burn. Only on day 3- day 1 was a blast with all the packs you can open, from there it's a slow crawl. Even if I pay for premium, it'll only last for so long and I get an extra booster everyday. Meh.. To top it off, you have to /win/ to get experience in PVP, which I understand, it keeps bots from farming, I guess, even though there's an auto option. But here's the kicker, you only get 15 exp for winning. I'm level 10, and need over 100 more exp to level up. Yoo no way. Snap is miles better from a progression standpoint, but yeah, I'll just play Pocket casually everyday and let it catch up to Snap.
I ended up quitting snap due to burn out and the competitive nature got boring for me personally even after infinite there’s always a ton of meta decks and Pokémon pocket is no where near strategy wise to snap however there is more strategy than people give it credit for and I have to say as a more casual/f2p friendly experience it’s been a really nice change of pace to snap. It wouldn’t hurt to try it out if you want something casual and chilled but ultimately if you’re after that competitive decision making based gameplay snaps always gonna be the better option imo
I feel like since it just came out the game is pretty basic, but it could be a SNAP situation where over time they add more and more to make it almost a mini quick duel version of the actual card game
I have issues with both but leaning towards staying with snap. My issue with snap is the card acquisition and cost of the game to keep up. I love the gameplay but man, getting cards is the worst and they need to fix it. My issue with PTCGP is the gameplay which feels too snowballing sometimes and super luck dependent like running into misty on articuno ex otk all day today. Just too many feel bads due to the luck and card pool not being big enough for little to no efficient counter play currently unlike snap that had direct counter cards in the pool at launch
I’ve a marvel snap fan for a long time pretty much have all the cards in the game it’s just something about this pkm game that has a slight edge over snap for me in my personal opinion
I'm absolutely shocked how bad of a game PTCGP is, lol. The collecting is fun (but incredibly, incredibly slow considering the abysmal rates) but the battles? That's not even a game in my opinion. Absoutely baffling
Thanks! This basically affirms my first impressions. Which are kind of like fourth impressions, since I've dabbled with the paper and other online versions, too. I doubt I'll stick with it the way I have with Snap and Hearthstone before it, but for now it's opening the early free packs they throw at you!
i have 340 cards and have spent zero dollars..... you can get sooo many packs doing just the intro stuff..... and unlock a lot of full art cards with out dropping a dime.... and i win around 2/5 matches online.... i do wish there was a way to earn more exp or even like 5 exp for losing battles...... i know they are trying to make as much money as possible but i have a few pretty decent decks at this point..... one is already the counter to the mewtwo deck
I love Pokémon and I don't give a damn about Marvel. On the other hand, I have always been a gameplay first guy, so I will stay with Snap for now until something convinces me to switch (I don't have time to play both, unfortunately). Maybe if some of my friends start playing it? Because despite of my efforts I wasn't able to convince any of them to try Marvel Snap.
I feel like the only person that is not playing Pokemon.. I tried to play it on my phone and it doesn't even let me finish signing up to play. Deleted it, re-downloaded, and still the same problem =( Maybe its a sign that I shouldn't try to play another card game since I already play Snap, and MTG.
Time will tell, but I worry you're falling victim to the same curve Snap uses to lure people in and give them false hope. Pocket front loads a ton of packs and hourglasses for starting the game that won't be there for future sets. And we're getting sets every 6 weeks it seems. I think we're going to find people start rapidly falling behind. And it'll be harder and harder to catch up. The best cards will be dispersed across many packs, making it hard to target what you need, and crafting is gonna feel super inefficient. My one hope that combats that is if decks remain made up of primarily trainer cards, that does reduce the demand a little bit, but I fear not enough. So, in essence I think it'll be very similar to Snap in the long run. People thought Snap was super generous early on too.
@RegisKillbin that is a fair assumption... but the game will introduce trading and will probably have events that will give you free stuff, i assume more than snap. But you are correct. Time will tell
@@RegisKillbinwell I played SNAP on launch, it never really fell f2p friendly tho... & the quick release made me quit because it was literally impossible to get every card for a deck (more specifically if required series 5) before new cards released & the meta changed entirely, in PTCGP I've got already multiple decks & counting duplicates I have half of the 4◆ cards (which are the rarer ones excluding cosmetics) in a couple of weeks.
Easy way to improve pocket. Make the code cards work in game for more packs. Can’t get people to spend money in the game? Well just make them buy irl packs!
As someone who has enjoyed Pokemon TCG for years and has played a lot of the online counterpart over the past decade, I don't know if there's an appeal for the Pocket version for me personally since it's essentially just the same game cut in half. It'd be like if a new mobile version of Hearthstone was released that had half the board space, starting health, and deck size, etc while the original one still exists. Would that actually make the game more fun and accessible for the average person? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I think what makes it stand out for me (been playing both Live & Pocket) is that removing energy cards make it feel like an entirely different game, I think both the regular TCG & Pocket are fun, but right now I prefer the latter, maybe is just because of how powercrept the TCG is tho, haven't played it for more than a year & the variance between finding too few or too many energies makes adds extra ways to not play a match when half the time you will have a full set up by turn 3 if your deck is slow.
to be very simple and direct, pokemon is a real tcg, however the way pocket is at the moment there are very few activities to do and we still don't have ranked matches, Snap is currently a MUCH more complete game exactly for how long it has been and everything that it developed, however, in my opinion, the polls on snap hinder those who came from tabletop TCGs where this idea of you being limited to a number of cards and opening others over time is annoying, if I want to play on snap with a deck from goal how long does it currently take me to put together this deck? and We have the RNG factor which is huge in the snap, the idea of the 3 fields that change from game to game is great and shit at the same time, in the same way that it brings variation to the game it can also slow you down or even completely nullify your deck, Snap is a lot of fun, but you can't take a game where RNG is so present seriously and that's exactly what put me off snap after the first year... Another important point is that the investment needed to have practically all Pokemon decks at the moment is very low compared to the investment needed to play with whatever you want on snap exactly due to poll limitations
For me I watched a ton of your pokemon stuff and one thing I hardly see mentioned is variety, there is a good reason locations exist even if they can get annoying, but with how much draw and the system of always having a pokemon just makes it feel like you're not playing against a deck and more so just the one ex. It feels like I'm already bored of watching it, since it's always the same few tech and draw cards.
Nunca habrán turnos simultáneos en Pokémon Pocket 🤷🏻 la mayoría de TCG se juegan turno a turno un solo jugador, y tienen un sistema para darle alguna desventaja al que empieza primero. Es algo super normal en la mayoría de TCGs
Pocket TCG is suffering from the same thing Pokemon GO did atm, it's def not in it's final form and I'd say it'll be in a good spot in like 4 months at the earliest
Here's my issue I'm f2p and so snap has gotten worse for me over time. Where pocket feels like a breath of fresh air. And I know it's cause it's new. But if they maintain the same formula grinding at least a good meta deck won't feel like a chore. Where snap slowed down to like 1 or 2 cards a month and passing up cards you might want unless you pay them all the time
i played Pokemon Pocket. It isnt good. Coin flipping is not for me. Balance is shit. I keep playing vs people with turn 1 ex pokemon i can not do anything about. pretty much played for a day and a half and I'm done now.
Snap is a better game with better artwork and gameplay(battle features) but the monetization aspects for attaining new cards is so bad, and the insane amount of nerfs actually ends up making it the less enjoyable game.
Should you play Pokemon Pocket? What steered me to say "NO" was that Pocket wants to be a glorified NFT collector, with little to no importance given to the competitive aspect. Even the deckbuilder is made to be annoying, placing an unreasonably large table with the rarities at the top of the card filter, and you have to scroll for the useful filters like types, trainers etc Asking the question "is Pocket the Marvel Snap kiIIer?" is like asking "is the skateboard market threatening the production of luxury cars?"
I enjoy Snap more but card acquisition is so much better in Pokémon pocket. If Snap would just give us packs and get rid of spotlights for new cards and just make it variants only Snap would win hands down. I just get bored playing pocket so just run auto mode and walk away.
I disagree with you saying snap is better, I played snap for a few months as a time filler and eventually quit, pocket I’ve enjoyed way more than I ever enjoyed in snap but like they say different strokes for different folks
Well, that's my suggestion too in a way, but it's not that simple. Card games often demand a lot of time and financial commitments to maximize your experience. Some people can't commit that to both, so both experiences suffer. My recommendation at the end was to try Pocket as a side game, just opening packs and enjoying the nostalgia of it without making a big commitment.
Imo there is just nothing to do in pokemon pocket. The battle system is......fine but after two matches I'm over it. Just not enough going on to keep my interest
I don't really get this game. Why does every deck have the same 4 tutors in them and run like 3 or 4 pokemon max? Why are half the pokemon vanilla attack sticks rather than having cool abilities? The typing system which gives a lot of the the games their depth is dumbed down so everything has a single weakness. It seems like a lot of wasted potential for the IP.
This is how the card game is, albeit very stripped back. Think about it like this, unlike marvel snap where your entire deck is cards that individually do cool things, pokemon has your main pokemon that have abilities/unique attacks or ways to establish energy, and then a deck that facilitates it.
I mean, a lot of that is because it's based on the physical TCG, which has a lot of infrastructure (the basicness of what types are, the most things being based on vanilla attacks, etc.) thing left over from the fact that it's actually a very old card game at this time. The compression to small decks making a handful of trainer cards being optimal is likely also a consequence of compressing that set up to the handheld "faster" game format.
Pokemon pocket is painfully boring. Neither the card game aspect or the collecting aspect are very fleshed out. If you wanna collect pokemon cards play Card Shop simulator and get the Pokemon mod. If you want to play card game play any other card game. It's not as fun a game as Snap, but it's definitely more f2p friendly than Snap. The currency and purchasing systems are also significantly less convoluted than snap.
I know the pack system can be predatory if you spend money but I do think it is way nicer as a F2P player to know I will have some cool new stuff to look forward to every day, meanwhile I can unlock maybe a card per week in Snap. I think it depends a lot on how rigidly they stick to their release schedule of a new set every 6 weeks -- I think its fine as a f2p player (or maybe a battlepass only player) since the game seems to be more casual and collection focused. You are sacrificing immediate power but I'd imagine you can get pretty close to a full collection as F2P, you will just be behind the whales which is the case in any pay-to-progress game. I do agree that the gameplay itself isn't as engaging as snap is for me. I do like the slower paced math/control style and the flexibility of cards. IDK if its true for all archetypes but at least for the pikachu EX one, you can just stack your bench with any electric pokemon in your collection. I'm sure it isn't as optimal but compared to snap where even a 1/2 drop can be crucial to whether or not you can play a deck, its nice to have less of a restriction on building.
Here's my Pokemon Pocket channel if you want to check it out: th-cam.com/channels/hJo8FuF6whF99XY_B5OgHg.html
I'm still learning the game I learned the basics already
Pokemon TCG got me into marvel snap. Marvel snap led me to Regis. And now Regis brings me to pocket. The cycle is complete
And then pocket brought you to failure, and when you couldn't live with your own failure, where did that bring you? Back to me.
Regis?
Same journey for me lol!
lol same
Playing pocket fully f2p. I was able to make 2 good decks so far. Enjoying that there is no ranked ladder stress, progression and cards are actually achievable in multiple ways and the gameplay is pretty good imo
The game just launched. We can’t say how f2p the game is. We’d need to give the game months to know if it’s F2P friendly or not.
@@OzoneGamerStationwell... at lot of people have been playing for a month already
@@ralfg4mer did you hear what Regis said? The game is going to be expensive. And that’s just 1 month. So…
@@OzoneGamerStationuntill now only if you're going for cosmetics, in 2/3 weeks I've got over half (count up to 2 of each) the rarest noncosmetic cards & there is still 2 months untill the 2nd expansion, even if you exclude the 6 I got on the first day it is still more then enough, in SNAP it took me a week to get a single series 5 after I already found & locked it.
I started the day after launch and have not spent any money and I have the Mewtwo Ex Gardivoir deck already. The gameplay seems pretty shallow to me but I have only been playing for like 2 days so that might be a snap (lol) judgment.
It amazes me how people really said that Pokémon Pocket is the Snap Ender. Both games are entirely different experiences. I love Snap for how fun the battle system is. Gameplay is the most important for me so the simple gameplay is a turn off for me. Especially when the battle mode isn’t even a main feature or even main mode in the Pokémon Pocket UI. Battling is like the 4th small icon at the bottom of the menu. But I understand the appeal of collecting in Pokémon. They certainly excel in the rush of opening packs and what is contained inside. That’s the nature of Pokémon. So far I’m going to be trying out Pocket for a few weeks to see if Pocket is going to be a long term game I’ll be playing alongside Snap.
The difference in their tutorials is very telling, too. When you first boot up Snap, it drops you right into a battle. When you first boot up Pokemon Pocket, it takes like 20 minutes of painfully slow handholding to finally get to a battle.
People actually said that? First I don't think it needs a "killer", and second I could tell without ever having played it that that wasn't gonna be true. Lol
I get most of my snap exposure from KM Best, so I haven't seen reddit or Discord or anything. But I think his concern could be warranted. If enough people play pokemon for a couple of months, because snaps main weakness is the returning player experience, people could be frustrated and drop snap.
Not a killer necessarily as tcg players love to exaggerate. But it could lead to a bigger dip in snap active players even though the experiences are quite different.
I'm just SO tired of snap, so this games been giving me a nice break
as much as people say snap isn't a collection game, it takes soooo long and so much upkeep to actually get new cards.
they desperately need to get over spotlight caches and make something new
nahh patience is a virtue
@@kian6186 nahh the collection is terrible
@@kian6186 I smell cope here
I smell crying here 😢
LoL if you are "soooo tired of snap" that's on you by that logic anything can be Soo tiring if you kept playing and doing it for 24/7. Take a break go outside touch grass and you'll be good
i have seen multiple other creators telling doing what you did in this video and i have to tell you yours is by far the best, differentiated, and the most informing!
snap is a game to play, pokemon its a game to collect, at least for me
Snap is straight rng guessing. Even the simplistic Pocket has more of a skill gap. Live can't even be compared.
@@yiannos7129 Skill issue if you think Snap is straight RNG guessing
@@YorkshireSpudsure... easiest card game I've ever played. Reached infinite on auto pilot 😂 Now that I got reminded of it, I'll give my account to my 7 year old nephew. He will have a blast!
I’m just glad this game exists, it means competition, which means SD can’t be complacent. I want this game to thrive, because that means marvel snap thrives more too. W all around imo. Also grinding for packs is much more manageable in the beginning than it is in marvel snap too. It is too hard to get new cards in snap honestly.
Agreed all around
I don't think they're comparable, PTCG focus' on collecting and snap... Well let's just say I get anxiety sometimes from matches.
I feel like Snap is more of a card game where the card collecting ability is pretty much on the side, whereas Pokemon Pocket just feels like a full on card collection app with a game that comes with it.
I very much enjoy the gameplay for both, but your point on Snap's gameplay mastery resonates with me. Case in point - every time I have a good hand/opener in Pocket I'm thinking: "where's the Snap button??" 😆
Basically, play what games you want; but on a gameplay stand point, SNAP is better
That's also subjective as I personaly realy love pokemon pocket and believe it's gameplay is better. Is snap more complex in metas and dynamics? Ofcourse it's been out longer. Is it better well that's subjective
@ that’s not which one you think is better, that’s the one you enjoy more; which isn’t to say that it’s wrong
@@Colorado-Coyote Pocket is just the same decks over and over. So many people forfeiting. It's so boring when everyone retreats when I counter then turn 1.
@yeeterofannoyingpeople4003 I actually like the tempo playstyle of Pokemon a little more than Snap. But the meta of those 2 games will heavily affect my enjoyment of both
For now, Pokémon pocket could get more complex over time
I really like the animations during battles in Marvel Snap, it was something that made me play PvZ Heroes for a long time.
PVZ Heroes was so goated back then. Really wish more players supported it so that the devs could put in more content. One of my favorite digital card games by a mile
I don't comment often, but I enjoy your videos a lot, Regis! Just wanted to say that I've been playing Pokemon TCG Pocket free to play since the first few days of the soft launch and if you don't count the alternate art cards, I am only missing 22 cards, 11 of which are random 3 Diamond Rarity cards, like Poliwrath and Blastoise. I currently have 725 Pack Points, and I'm only missing 3 EX Pokemon, none of which I particularly want or need.
I know a lot of someone's experience with what they have will come down to luck, but I am really glad that Pack Points are a thing at all, even though I think that buying cards with them is difficult considering how many Pack Points you need. However, Wonder Pick has been an immense help in targeting cards that I want, so I think that overall the game is definitely more accessible and free to play friendly than Marvel Snap.
I love both games though and I really hope both companies do a good job at making them the best they can be.
For me, I couldnt stop playing Snap until i was pissed off from losing. For Pokemon, i just stop playing after 5 battles regardless if i win or lose and the play another 5 battles after a few hours. Pokemon is more casual for me while Snap gets to my nerves. Both are still fun in their own ways.
I know a lot of your viewers are probably ex-Hearthstone players so they might have already made the decision of whether they want to play it, but I think a video like this but about Hearthstone would be interesting just to see your collected thoughts on it and comparisons to marvel snap and pokemon pocket. But honestly a video like that could help you out too, for instance you could talk about Hearthstone's current state and what you like and dislike about it and perhaps bring more viewers from this channel to your Hearthstone channel.
For me SNAP isn't as fun as it use to be. I'm still grinding for series 3 cards and I feel so burnt out grinding for cards I need for decks I wanna play. POCKET is fun and it has that collection aspect I like. It's fun to play but it's nothing like SNAP where you can get some sick plays.
considering you are not series 3 complete yet I dont think you can make that judgement about the game. every f2p game has a grind aspect. and you being not series 3 complete yet havent played the game enough to make a judgement about its grind aspect.
@@notrichaf9071 brother the grinding of series 3 is what is burning him out. Are you telling him that he cannot say shit taste like shit because he havent finish eating his shit? Every f2p game has a grind aspect sure, but you dont need to keep grinding to tell if the grind is burning you out or not, because you'd already stop playing before then. which is the main point of his comment
@@notrichaf9071tf is that logic😂
@@notrichaf9071you really thought you cooked,huh? That’s the dumbest logic I’ve ever heard. I’m at 17,000 collection level and im missing half the new cards that came out and old ones that should’ve been series 3 already. Nothing the dude said was incorrect
@@YungNealdefinitely sounds like a skill issue to me, I’m at 14,000 and I’m only missing 10 - 15 cards give or take. 🐸 🍵
The biggest thing for me is the guarantee that we will be getting trading. Now as long as there are no weird shenanigans, it should be relatively ok to get at least a deck you want through trading pulls you didn't want. Snap having basically no catch-up mechanics or ways to offload cards you didn't want from spotlight caches really sucks.
Mobile game + pokemon don't expect they will give trading for free , the rare cards might cost like 100 gold per card or some shit .
@@LEBUMONyeah there must be a catch. They are not stupid. They know people will abuse trading with multiple accounts if its so easy to trade.
I’ve played Snap before, but didn’t really get that into it. I was never a huge marvel fan when I was a kid and I care even less now. However, Pokemon was an obsession for me growing up. The collection aspect feels so good in Pocket and the battle system is complex enough to keep me engaged. I expect it will become even better as new sets are released.
i feel like both are going good in there own way, snap for me will be my me time playing a card game while pokemon ill probably play against friends in discord lol
Maybe there is some depth I am missing in Pocket, but the decks seem to pilot themselves and there aren’t a lot of significant choices. It’s basically just a question of who gets their win condition first.
The dominant decks are: 1) The Mewtwo/Gardevoir deck. If you can build a Gardevoir on the bench while Mewtwo is active, then you can one-shot everything. If not, you’re stuck doing 50 damage per turn, which is likely not enough if the opponent builds their wincon.
2) Pikachu. If you draw enough Pokemon to fill your bench, Pikachu can start dealing a ton of damage with just two energy. He tops out lower than M2, but gets going sooner, and can win the game before the slower deck builds its sandcastle.
3) Articuno and 18 trainers. If you draw Misty and get at least 1 extra energy out of her, you probably win. This deck is often unbeatable and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it if Misty ramps up Articuno.
In general, whoever can cycle their deck with Professor’s Research will usually get their thing first and win the game. If both players are using meta decks, the game seems to boil down to who gets their wincon online faster. Far shallower and less satisfying than Snap.
Snap > pokemon pocket.
Will i still want to play pokemon pocket? Yes.
Wait for a weeks Pokemon pocket will throw snap just wait
Im so early so I need to ask. Regis what product do you put in your hair?
Zeus himself descends from Olympus each morning to rub ambrosia into my golden locks.
Oh wait no I just use Old Spice pomade. Same thing.
Old spice sponsor this man 😂
🎉🎉thanks for all your videos
I agree with you on a lot of points. If the games were a bit quicker/snapper it would be more fun to battle (i.e. set a 30 second timer to do your moves and if you can't do it, it's your own fault). The game needs a massive attack animation overhaul, literally all attacks look the same which makes the game kinda boring to look at. Where are the lightning bolts, water splashes, rock flings, flamethrowers/magma? Also, they need to streamline the menus, I shouldn't have to swipe left and right to see all the tabs in the missions/events area (clicking tabs at the top should bring you to the correct area).
How does Regis look like Jimmy Neutron and Carl Weezer at the same time?
Regis, Pokémon does nothing for me, but you yapping for 20-25 minutes is always a good time.
i like pokemon pocket, but theres nothing to do lol once you beat the solo stuff, you can play against other players, for no reason? you get nothing but a measly 15exp compared to the 75exp from the solo matches. theres no ranked or anything. so theres really no point to spend money or grind hard. if youre a fan youll love it. but theres nothing to keep the average player coming back.
Data mines found a Ranked mode so we'll get that soon. Hard to compare a two year game with a new game.
@jamicassidy7955 oh I make zero comparisons here. I like pokemon much better. I'm just struggling to find a reason to get on and play people for nothing other then to waste time lol
@@TANK1xEMK - Yeah fair lol it is dull for now but should be a LOT more later. Extra currencies, ranked mode, trades, etc.
@jamicassidy7955 yea, im hyped for it lol
Maybe I just got really lucky, but I haven't spent a dime. Got the free trial premium pass. And grinding all the solo missions. In the end I have multiple complete meta decks.
Pure FTK Articuno EX
Starmie EX Articuno
Mewtwo EX
And just a couple cards away from a complete Venasaur EX deck and Charizard/Moltres EX deck.
Only thing I did was reroll til I pulled an EX I wanted (Articuno Ex)
As a person who has played card games for 20 years I'm just happy to have another fun free card game. So many options people have these days. SNAP, PTCG pocket PTCG live, duel links, master duel, hearthstone, runeterra, magic arena, etc. We are spoiled for options these days.
I don’t even think these games are in the same category really.
I have tried to snap like 5 times playing pocket. I didn't realize how great of a feature that was until I played a tcg without it.
One thing I wanted to add: you mentioned how getting duplicates feels wasted but I guess you missed the whole "Flair" feature - basically you can spend the duplicates you have of a card to add special effects to that card like gold sparkles and other animation effects during gameplay and display.
Also if you get duplicates of 4 star rarities specifically, you can exchange them for the black and gold tickets that after you collect enough you can get these really nice sleek playmats/card sleeves/coins/etc. So they did consider the duplicates scenario.
I did not miss it. It just has no value to building a collection, the entire emphasis of the discussion. If you could turn them into pack points, that would be a consideration.
Pocket is definitely more of a collection game. Free packs every 12 hours, plus the daily quests give you hourglasses(even if it's very little) for opening those packs. Plus, as you said, the variants are just cool.
Snap requires work to get quests done, and is centralized on gameplay. And while gameplay is probably deeper, the pocket gameplay is similar to pokemon tcg. I'm sure more depth will come with more expansions.
However, while you say you don't know if pocket is affordable; it really isn't. After the first wave of hourglasses, it slows down so much. I think in marvel snap I really had fun without spending any money. I built decks with things from only pool 3, and while that was probably over a year ago, I doubt that has changed too much.
Pocket needs double copies of the best cards to make decks work, because consistency is important. There are cheaper decks, like marowak ex or dragonite decks, but they aren't really cheap. And wonder picks are really important to hit. A note on pack points: you need 500 pack points for an EX card, which is 100 packs opened, which takes about 43 days free to play (ignoring any extra hourglass rewards aside from the daily quests)
Totally different games, both fun, good points in this video.
I know the game has only just launched, but i do wish there was more to do. Ive already completed all the solo battles and with how unrewarding pvp feels im not doing much beyond getting my daily packs and then playing snap instead
Yes it's a game you collect and play for fun.
@randomhero6365 ... i know that, I'm just disappointed how little incentive there is in the game currently to do anything beyond the daily packs. If the game is only going to offer 15 xp on a win and nothing else, then there really feels like i have no reason to do anything except get my dailies and leave, which isn't exactly fun for me
Thanks for this. My question was affordability and I already spend too much on SNAP to add another one of these games to the list.
its fun for collecting cards the battling is simplified from its normal TCG but its very difficult to master
I pay for the season pass in Snap and a few knick knacks here and here, but I'm by all means not f2p on Snap. I agree, it's a 10/10 experience, love playing it everyday.
I'm trying to approach TCG Pocket as f2p, and man is it a slow burn. Only on day 3- day 1 was a blast with all the packs you can open, from there it's a slow crawl. Even if I pay for premium, it'll only last for so long and I get an extra booster everyday. Meh..
To top it off, you have to /win/ to get experience in PVP, which I understand, it keeps bots from farming, I guess, even though there's an auto option. But here's the kicker, you only get 15 exp for winning. I'm level 10, and need over 100 more exp to level up. Yoo no way. Snap is miles better from a progression standpoint, but yeah, I'll just play Pocket casually everyday and let it catch up to Snap.
Thanks, now I'm addicted to 2 digital TCGs 😂
I ended up quitting snap due to burn out and the competitive nature got boring for me personally even after infinite there’s always a ton of meta decks and Pokémon pocket is no where near strategy wise to snap however there is more strategy than people give it credit for and I have to say as a more casual/f2p friendly experience it’s been a really nice change of pace to snap. It wouldn’t hurt to try it out if you want something casual and chilled but ultimately if you’re after that competitive decision making based gameplay snaps always gonna be the better option imo
great video!
I feel like since it just came out the game is pretty basic, but it could be a SNAP situation where over time they add more and more to make it almost a mini quick duel version of the actual card game
Keep up the good work
this is a good game, but there is also The bazaar that release today which is for me where I will spent most of gaming time for months
I'll just enjoy both!
I wanna see like snap if poke patch how will "balance" the cards. If they could modify the numbers in-game of the card and text
I have issues with both but leaning towards staying with snap. My issue with snap is the card acquisition and cost of the game to keep up. I love the gameplay but man, getting cards is the worst and they need to fix it. My issue with PTCGP is the gameplay which feels too snowballing sometimes and super luck dependent like running into misty on articuno ex otk all day today. Just too many feel bads due to the luck and card pool not being big enough for little to no efficient counter play currently unlike snap that had direct counter cards in the pool at launch
I’ve a marvel snap fan for a long time pretty much have all the cards in the game it’s just something about this pkm game that has a slight edge over snap for me in my personal opinion
I'm absolutely shocked how bad of a game PTCGP is, lol. The collecting is fun (but incredibly, incredibly slow considering the abysmal rates) but the battles? That's not even a game in my opinion. Absoutely baffling
Thanks! This basically affirms my first impressions. Which are kind of like fourth impressions, since I've dabbled with the paper and other online versions, too. I doubt I'll stick with it the way I have with Snap and Hearthstone before it, but for now it's opening the early free packs they throw at you!
The lack of interesting animations really drags the game down a lot for me. Every match feels the same.
i have 340 cards and have spent zero dollars..... you can get sooo many packs doing just the intro stuff..... and unlock a lot of full art cards with out dropping a dime.... and i win around 2/5 matches online.... i do wish there was a way to earn more exp or even like 5 exp for losing battles...... i know they are trying to make as much money as possible but i have a few pretty decent decks at this point..... one is already the counter to the mewtwo deck
I love Pokémon and I don't give a damn about Marvel. On the other hand, I have always been a gameplay first guy, so I will stay with Snap for now until something convinces me to switch (I don't have time to play both, unfortunately). Maybe if some of my friends start playing it? Because despite of my efforts I wasn't able to convince any of them to try Marvel Snap.
I feel like the only person that is not playing Pokemon.. I tried to play it on my phone and it doesn't even let me finish signing up to play. Deleted it, re-downloaded, and still the same problem =(
Maybe its a sign that I shouldn't try to play another card game since I already play Snap, and MTG.
Hey regis any chance you are going to play bazaar?
Thanks for this video, Regis. You are the broest of the bros
I play snap but my real pain point is I play ptcglive. And that game is super generous. Packs are essentially .10-50c
Pokemon is way more f2p friendly, in 1 month being f2p i have almost all relevant cards and i can craft the ones i dont have...
Time will tell, but I worry you're falling victim to the same curve Snap uses to lure people in and give them false hope.
Pocket front loads a ton of packs and hourglasses for starting the game that won't be there for future sets. And we're getting sets every 6 weeks it seems.
I think we're going to find people start rapidly falling behind. And it'll be harder and harder to catch up. The best cards will be dispersed across many packs, making it hard to target what you need, and crafting is gonna feel super inefficient.
My one hope that combats that is if decks remain made up of primarily trainer cards, that does reduce the demand a little bit, but I fear not enough.
So, in essence I think it'll be very similar to Snap in the long run. People thought Snap was super generous early on too.
@RegisKillbin that is a fair assumption... but the game will introduce trading and will probably have events that will give you free stuff, i assume more than snap. But you are correct. Time will tell
@@rlznyf I hope so. It'd be nice for the game to be as approachable as possible.
@@RegisKillbinwell I played SNAP on launch, it never really fell f2p friendly tho... & the quick release made me quit because it was literally impossible to get every card for a deck (more specifically if required series 5) before new cards released & the meta changed entirely, in PTCGP I've got already multiple decks & counting duplicates I have half of the 4◆ cards (which are the rarer ones excluding cosmetics) in a couple of weeks.
@@RegisKillbin perfectly said
What do you use to capture the screen?
IMO it’s worth a shot. Like watching HS but snap is kinda bunk imo so I’ll give this a shot.
Easy way to improve pocket. Make the code cards work in game for more packs. Can’t get people to spend money in the game? Well just make them buy irl packs!
As someone who has enjoyed Pokemon TCG for years and has played a lot of the online counterpart over the past decade, I don't know if there's an appeal for the Pocket version for me personally since it's essentially just the same game cut in half.
It'd be like if a new mobile version of Hearthstone was released that had half the board space, starting health, and deck size, etc while the original one still exists.
Would that actually make the game more fun and accessible for the average person? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I think what makes it stand out for me (been playing both Live & Pocket) is that removing energy cards make it feel like an entirely different game, I think both the regular TCG & Pocket are fun, but right now I prefer the latter, maybe is just because of how powercrept the TCG is tho, haven't played it for more than a year & the variance between finding too few or too many energies makes adds extra ways to not play a match when half the time you will have a full set up by turn 3 if your deck is slow.
Yu-Gi-Oh Duel links was a stripped down version of the main game and it was hugely successful. It even gave birth to actual TCG speed duel format.
to be very simple and direct, pokemon is a real tcg, however the way pocket is at the moment there are very few activities to do and we still don't have ranked matches, Snap is currently a MUCH more complete game exactly for how long it has been and everything that it developed, however, in my opinion, the polls on snap hinder those who came from tabletop TCGs where this idea of you being limited to a number of cards and opening others over time is annoying, if I want to play on snap with a deck from goal how long does it currently take me to put together this deck? and We have the RNG factor which is huge in the snap, the idea of the 3 fields that change from game to game is great and shit at the same time, in the same way that it brings variation to the game it can also slow you down or even completely nullify your deck, Snap is a lot of fun, but you can't take a game where RNG is so present seriously and that's exactly what put me off snap after the first year...
Another important point is that the investment needed to have practically all Pokemon decks at the moment is very low compared to the investment needed to play with whatever you want on snap exactly due to poll limitations
For me I watched a ton of your pokemon stuff and one thing I hardly see mentioned is variety, there is a good reason locations exist even if they can get annoying, but with how much draw and the system of always having a pokemon just makes it feel like you're not playing against a deck and more so just the one ex. It feels like I'm already bored of watching it, since it's always the same few tech and draw cards.
Not having simultaneous turns is actually so jarring for me now since playing Snap for ~2 years.
Nunca habrán turnos simultáneos en Pokémon Pocket 🤷🏻 la mayoría de TCG se juegan turno a turno un solo jugador, y tienen un sistema para darle alguna desventaja al que empieza primero.
Es algo super normal en la mayoría de TCGs
PTCG is my palate cleanser, SNAP is my guilty pleasure. This sums it up for me
Pocket is amazing as a fun casual card collector, but theres not much for hardcore players and grinders.
How are you playing on pc?
Pocket TCG is suffering from the same thing Pokemon GO did atm, it's def not in it's final form and I'd say it'll be in a good spot in like 4 months at the earliest
Here's my issue I'm f2p and so snap has gotten worse for me over time. Where pocket feels like a breath of fresh air. And I know it's cause it's new. But if they maintain the same formula grinding at least a good meta deck won't feel like a chore. Where snap slowed down to like 1 or 2 cards a month and passing up cards you might want unless you pay them all the time
i played Pokemon Pocket. It isnt good. Coin flipping is not for me. Balance is shit. I keep playing vs people with turn 1 ex pokemon i can not do anything about. pretty much played for a day and a half and I'm done now.
10:26 "As long as Marvel Snap is a thriving and healthy game" lol who knew?
If you ask me…why not play both?
is it worth to get the premium pass?
Snap is a better game with better artwork and gameplay(battle features) but the monetization aspects for attaining new cards is so bad, and the insane amount of nerfs actually ends up making it the less enjoyable game.
I like Pokémon, but I'm not into it as much to leave Snap. I left Hearthstone for Snap before, but I don't need more cardgames.
Tcgp is more a way to store digital pokemon cards. Matches give no rewards and no ranked so it’s basically pointless.
I'm going to play both
Should you play Pokemon Pocket?
What steered me to say "NO" was that Pocket wants to be a glorified NFT collector, with little to no importance given to the competitive aspect.
Even the deckbuilder is made to be annoying, placing an unreasonably large table with the rarities at the top of the card filter, and you have to scroll for the useful filters like types, trainers etc
Asking the question "is Pocket the Marvel Snap kiIIer?" is like asking "is the skateboard market threatening the production of luxury cars?"
FACTS ✅
Im trying really hard to get into pokemon TCG, but I just CANT get into the gameplay, its so slow and boring for me I just cant
Snap is definitely better, but i did miss playing the pokemon tcg, do its pretty nice
At least in Pocket I can't lose an 8 cuber and have my opponent Ms Marvel emote me.
I enjoy Snap more but card acquisition is so much better in Pokémon pocket. If Snap would just give us packs and get rid of spotlights for new cards and just make it variants only Snap would win hands down. I just get bored playing pocket so just run auto mode and walk away.
I disagree with you saying snap is better, I played snap for a few months as a time filler and eventually quit, pocket I’ve enjoyed way more than I ever enjoyed in snap but like they say different strokes for different folks
I don't see why someone would need to do one or the other. Just play a bit of both
Not enough time
Well, that's my suggestion too in a way, but it's not that simple. Card games often demand a lot of time and financial commitments to maximize your experience. Some people can't commit that to both, so both experiences suffer.
My recommendation at the end was to try Pocket as a side game, just opening packs and enjoying the nostalgia of it without making a big commitment.
Oh wow, uploaded 30 seconds ago!?! Absolutely insane timing, lol. I’ve already spent money on the Pokémon TCG so I’m already committed 💀
I hate wasting 20 in a pokemon match and if you lose you get nothing
Yeah the new Pokemon is definitely for more of collecting aspect than the gameplay
I'm just opening packs in Pocket since you get two free ones every day. The battle isn't anywhere near as much fun or challenging as Snap.
I think Snap is more of a puzzle solver when compared to like Hearthstone
game just okay for me, not really hooked into it. im still learning wizard variant daphne so i dont have time to dive into this game
Yes its good RIP Snap but I stop playing that weeks ago anyway
Imo there is just nothing to do in pokemon pocket. The battle system is......fine but after two matches I'm over it. Just not enough going on to keep my interest
Marvel snap for Fun,
Pokemon Pocket for the Nostalgia.
Damn, i'm old. 🤣
Man I really wanted to like the game, it is fun and very nostalgic for me.. but honestly not that much fun for VS others
I don't really get this game. Why does every deck have the same 4 tutors in them and run like 3 or 4 pokemon max? Why are half the pokemon vanilla attack sticks rather than having cool abilities? The typing system which gives a lot of the the games their depth is dumbed down so everything has a single weakness. It seems like a lot of wasted potential for the IP.
This is how the card game is, albeit very stripped back. Think about it like this, unlike marvel snap where your entire deck is cards that individually do cool things, pokemon has your main pokemon that have abilities/unique attacks or ways to establish energy, and then a deck that facilitates it.
I mean, a lot of that is because it's based on the physical TCG, which has a lot of infrastructure (the basicness of what types are, the most things being based on vanilla attacks, etc.) thing left over from the fact that it's actually a very old card game at this time.
The compression to small decks making a handful of trainer cards being optimal is likely also a consequence of compressing that set up to the handheld "faster" game format.
Marvel Pocket
Pokémon Snap
Pokemon pocket is painfully boring. Neither the card game aspect or the collecting aspect are very fleshed out. If you wanna collect pokemon cards play Card Shop simulator and get the Pokemon mod. If you want to play card game play any other card game. It's not as fun a game as Snap, but it's definitely more f2p friendly than Snap. The currency and purchasing systems are also significantly less convoluted than snap.
I know the pack system can be predatory if you spend money but I do think it is way nicer as a F2P player to know I will have some cool new stuff to look forward to every day, meanwhile I can unlock maybe a card per week in Snap. I think it depends a lot on how rigidly they stick to their release schedule of a new set every 6 weeks -- I think its fine as a f2p player (or maybe a battlepass only player) since the game seems to be more casual and collection focused. You are sacrificing immediate power but I'd imagine you can get pretty close to a full collection as F2P, you will just be behind the whales which is the case in any pay-to-progress game. I do agree that the gameplay itself isn't as engaging as snap is for me. I do like the slower paced math/control style and the flexibility of cards. IDK if its true for all archetypes but at least for the pikachu EX one, you can just stack your bench with any electric pokemon in your collection. I'm sure it isn't as optimal but compared to snap where even a 1/2 drop can be crucial to whether or not you can play a deck, its nice to have less of a restriction on building.