Pokemon TCG Pocketreleased its Eevee Grove expansion about two weeks ago, and it was the game’s eighth set overall. The meta is very much still adjusting, with new strategies being tested in the various online tournaments held by fans and other organizers, but it seems that yet another expansion will be released forPokemon TCG Pocketas early as the end of July. Each set in the game has its merits, especially for collectors, but for deckbuilding purposes, this is not exactly true.
S-Tier Expansions in Pokemon TCG Pocket
Celestial Guardians: A very solid set overall, and perhaps one of the most influential thanks to the introduction ofPokemon TCG Pocket’s Rare Candy, which makes decks relying on Stage 2 mons extremely more consistent and fast. On top of that, cards like Incineroar Ex, Solgaleo Ex, Decidueye Ex, Turtonator, Kiawe, Lunala Ex, Poison Barb, Leaf Cape, Ilima, Guzma, and Lillie all make for meta picks in many decks, or at least have potential to in the future with a little more support.
This set is also home toPokemon TCG Pocket’s Safeguard Oricorio, which has been a great and simultaneously problematic addition since Celestial Guardians' release. The set also features plenty of amazing, rare cards to collect, and it’s the ultimate example of an expansion done right.
A-Tier Expansions in Pokemon TCG Pocket
Space-Time Smackdown: A lot of cards from this set are still being used in meta decks, and others rotate in and out of the meta regularly, such as Infernape EX and Rampardos. Cards like Cyrus, Giant Cape, Dawn, Magnezone,Darkrai Ex, Pokemon Communication, and Mars will almost always see play, unless the set rotates out. Since it’s a two-booster expansion, there are many cool cards to collect, but the best ones may be harder to get since they come from different packs.
Triumphant Light: It’s a small set, and thus it should be easier to collect, with a variety of cards that are still being used in meta decks after so many months. Snorlax, Garchomp Ex, Leafeon Ex, Crobat, Raichu, Carnivine, Irida, Barry, and thenPokemon TCG Pocket’s Arceus Exitself are all either very valuable now, or at least tend to pop in and out of meta decks consistently.
Extradimensional Crisis: This set shares a lot of DNA with Shining Revelry, in the sense that it was a sort of self-sustaining environment on launch, thanks to cards like Celesteela, Buzzwole Ex, and Lusamine comboing with one another seamlessly. Eevee Grove’s release made a lot of its strategies moot or less reliable overall, but it’s a very easy set to collect with only 69 cards in its core.
There are some very powerful cards to get from Extradimensional Crisis, likeBuzzwole Ex, Pheromosa, Kartana, Luxray, Tapu Koko Ex, Zeraora, Shiinotic, Nihilego, Guzzlord Ex, Silvally, and Celesteela on the Pokemon side, with Repel, Electrical Cord, Gladion, and Lusamine all being decent Supporters or items too. It’s unclear what the shelf life of this expansion will be, but it does contain many cards worth getting sooner rather than later.
B-Tier Expansions in Pokemon TCG Pocket
Genetic Apex: Most cards don’t see play anymore, but the set holds a special place for nostalgic players due to the focus on Gen 1, and it does still come with some very powerful, desirable cards. These include the likes ofPokemon TCG Pocket’s Gengar Ex(and non-Ex Gengar), Greninja, Magneton, Mewtwo Ex, Misty, Erika, Giovanni, and Sabrina. However, with it having three different booster packs, it can be harder to get everything one is looking for without opening a lot of packs.
Shining Revelry: The set is fairly small without counting all the shinies, and while it does add some great cards to the mix, not all of them make the cut in competitive decks.Charizard Ex is an S-tier deck inPokemon TCG Pocketright now, and it’s likely to remain a powerful card, but most others don’t have this same privilege. Mewoscarada, Giratina Ex, Red, Pokemon Center Lady, and Iono are all worth collecting, but with Darktina decks mostly out of the meta, Giratina Ex is seeing a lot less play, and the supporters are typically played in single copies.
Eevee Grove: The latest release in the game, Eevee Grove is a strange set because it was thought to be the ultimate expansion for Eevee fans, but it doesn’t include much love for the Evolution Pokemon beyond some new Eevee and Eeveelution cards and the new Penny Supporter and Eevee Bag Item cards. The rest of the set is a bit all over the place, and it doesn’t add too many powerful cards. Still,Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Sylveon Ex is OPand a glaring exception thanks to its Happy Ribbon ability, Flareon Ex is quite strong and is seeing play in an Eeveelution deck with Leafeon Ex from Triumphant Light, Hau is great with Incineroar Ex, and Leftovers made its way in Solgaleo Ex decks.
C-Tier Expansions in Pokemon TCG Pocket
Mythical Island: This is a very small set (but still bigger than some other mini-expansions) with cards that have mostly beenpowercrept out ofPokemon TCG Pocket’s meta. It does include some very cool cards to collect, though. For competitive, the most useful cards are probably Leaf and Mew Ex, maybe Serperior and Celebi Ex if they ever become meta again, but not much else.
