When the update is released on Jan. 30, it’s likely that the 140 new cards will include at least several Pokémon Tool cards, as evidenced by the description of one card shown during the teaser trailer. The Pachirisu ex card has a move called Sparkling Gadget, which mentions having a Pokémon Tool attached. It’s the first mention of the card type beyond the filter system.
It’s still unclear how the Pokémon Tool cards will function in Pokémon TCG Pocket, but they’re likely to be similar to the physical trading card game. Pokémon Tool cards are basically like held items in the video games: if you attach a Float Stone to a Pokémon in the physical card game, retreat cost is decreased, for instance. There, you can attach berries, stones, shards — all sorts of things that add a new variable to how the cards interact in the game.
Trainer cards in the game, so far, are Items, Fossils, or Supporters. Pokémon Tool cards add another element to slide into your decks.
A lot hinges on how Tool cards are implemented. Will the Pokémon Company increase the amount of cards you can hold in your deck due to the new card type? Will the cards be adjusted for Pokémon TCG Pocket? There’s still a lot that we don’t know, but it could be an interesting variable that injects some freshness into the battling system, which can feel stale when the same decks get run over and over again.
Without a deck size increase, the addition of tools means players will have to strategize over whether to prioritize Tool cards or other types — there’s likely to be more variety seen across decks as players decide what better suits their particular playstyle over purely what’s in the meta.
An increase of deck size would be a major change to Pokémon TCG Pocket, and it feels less likely that we’ll see that. But there’s really only one guarantee: Come next week, with the injection of 140 cards into the game, expect a meta shakeup — and tons more cards to collect.
