As a lifelong Pokémon fan, it’s been incredible to see the competitive scene evolve and expand over the years.
I don’t think I’d be alone in saying that the younger me could never have predicted the heights that the competitive scene would reach when playing Pokémon for the first time—the level of skill from players across the board is monumental.
While the events have grown bigger and brighter, one question has plagued me. When will Pokémon TCG Pocket be added to the mix?
The mobile game came out in October 2024 and has since exploded in popularity, developing a passionate following of collectors and competitive players. While there is a bustling community of players who enjoy the game on a casual basis, the competitive side of Pocket cannot be ignored.
Tournaments started appearing on platforms like Limitless TCG less than a week after Pocket was officially released, and community organizers leaped at the chance to introduce something new to the competitive scene.
Since then, competitive events have popped up on tournament platforms almost every day, accompanied by an active community of content creators and competitors. Some events are on the smaller side, but others comfortably reach player counts of 500 to 600, with some breaking past 1,500.
Considering that it’s not even been out for a year, I’d say these numbers point to a bright future for Pocket.
Community members have started pressing for official support for the competitive Pocket scene, with a tournament organizer and content creator sharing a handy infographic and kickstarting a debate on the matter.
The creator, Ursiiday, praised the growth of Pocket’s grassroots competitive scene as “astounding,” pointing out the number of unique competitors on Limitless TCG and skill expression from competitive players.
One player replied, “Would love to see official support for tournaments and even an internal ranked system!”
Another chimed in, “It’s been awesome to see the grassroots competitive Pocket scene grow & thrive in the short amount of time it’s been out, thanks to yours & all the other organizers’ dedication & hard work. Here’s hoping we get to see the support it deserves.”
Adding a new area of competition to the already packed schedule of official Pokémon events may not appeal to everyone. After all, there’s already plenty to dig into at these events with VGC, TCG, Go, and UNITE, and having two kinds of TCG in the schedule may be confusing to some.
Not adding Pocket to this schedule would be an immense shame, though, as it would leave scores of potential competitive players out of the official scene.
While plenty of Pocket players like myself are long-time Pokémon fans and likely dabble in other forms of competitive gameplay, for others, it’s their first experience with the franchise. The new wave of players and clear desire for competitive content could help the Pokémon community grow even bigger.
Online players constantly refine deck lists, perfect strategies, and participate in tournaments. While some may complain about in-game events like the Emblem events, others relish the opportunity to test their skills and battle other players.
Pocket has never looked better, thanks to the addition of new card types from expansion sets like Space-Time Smackdown and the consistent support of content creators and community organizers.
It will only benefit from more expansion sets and Supporter cards for players to experiment with, of course, but the community support for competitive content is already there, and I’m certain that it’ll only continue to grow as the game gets bigger.
Will we ever see Pocket at Worlds? Only time will tell, but I’m crossing my fingers.
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