PTCGL touts itself as a completely free-to-play game with no microtransactions. Gone are the days of being forced to trade 30 packs for Mew VMAX on the day of release–and thank Arceus for that. That’s right, there’s no more trading between players like there was with PTCGO, but this is a most welcome change because now all cards are easily obtainable through crafting regardless of popularity. More cards can be obtained through various methods, including the Battle Pass, booster packs, and the new crafting system. When starting PTCGL, players will be given a handful of ready-to-use, 60-card decks to play with. It currently lacks a numbered ranking system upon reaching the top level, so it’s unclear what will motivate players to continue playing after reaching the top of the ladder. Ranked Mode allows you to advance to new tiers of competitive play, earning rewards along the way. PTCGL offers both a Casual Mode (Standard Format with Expanded coming soon) and Ranked Mode (Standard only), the latter of which is a new, long-awaited feature for online Pokémon card players. Again, Pokémon features a cast of numerous iconic characters each with their own signature outfits–have you seen Cynthia’s eye-catching, all-black battle lewk?–but you wouldn’t know that from the simple sweaters and shirts on the rack in PTCGL. The same could be said for the player avatars, which have a decent amount of fun customizable options but come off a bit odd with their overly smooth features, exaggerated smiles, and empty eyes. Pokémon Trading Card Game Live game board. Pokémon is a franchise bursting with substance and flair, but as far as this demo is concerned, little of it is on display in PTCGL. When comparing the PTCGL game board to other digital TCG games such as Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel or Magic: The Gathering Arena, the lack of style is even more apparent. PTCGL offers improved visuals over PTCGO, to be sure, but so far it doesn’t feel like it pushed its innovations far enough. The presentation is flashy and clean, but also sparse and basic. Pokémon cards rise into the air to deliver attacks, and the board lights up with a neat flourish corresponding to the Pokémon’s elemental type. Though we didn’t get to try it out ourselves, playing cards seemed easy and fluid. Pokémon TCG Live will be free to download and available to play on mobile devices (including iPhones), on macOS, and on Windows PC.Cards are played by dragging and dropping them to their appropriate place on the board, with highlighted prompts helping to guide your hand. For those who played the beta of Live, all their progress made while playing it will carry over to the global launch, a FAQ said. Additionally, those who log in between May 2 and June 6 will receive special in-game aesthetic items like a coin, card sleeves, and deck box. To lure players to the new app, the developers announced that players will be able to play the newest Pokémon TCG expansion, Scarlet & Violet - Paldea Evolved, a day ahead of its retail release beginning June 8. Should this change, players will be notified in advance,” a FAQ said. At this time, players will continue to be able to migrate their account even after the Pokémon TCG Online sunsets. “There is no current deadline for when Pokémon TCG Online players will need to sign in to Pokémon TCG Live to migrate their account. As for now, The Pokémon Company has not specified if there is a deadline on how long you have to migrate your old account. Players can get additional details on which specific Pokémon TCG Online items can be transferred to Pokémon TCG Live in an FAQ. The Live app’s beta was available to players stateside in March, but players immediately ran into issues as users reported bugs and expressed confusion over how in-game currency migrated over. It’s been a long and drawn-out process to move players from the older client to the new one.ĭeveloper and publisher The Pokémon Company International delayed the official release of the Live app in 2021, and instead announced that a region-specific beta would be released in 2022. If you live stateside, there are currently two ways to play the Pokémon TCG digitally There is a legacy client called Pokémon TCG Online that’s more than a decade old, and the newer Pokémon TCG Live that was released stateside as part of an ongoing beta in March 2022. As a result, the developers will be sunsetting the legacy software called The Pokémon TCG Online officially on June 5, according to an FAQ. The card game’s digital client, The Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) Live app will be officially launched worldwide on June 8. Fans of the Pokémon Trading Card Game are in for a big change this summer.
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