amphibious_ReViews

After obsessively playing the Pokémon Trading Card Game on two different official clients for the longest time, I finally fell out of love with the competitive scene about a year ago. Since then, I've still enjoyed collecting the cards physically, but I don't have much disposable income to direct their way. The recently released Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket introduced an entirely independent TCG with a focus on collecting that scratches that itch without breaking my wallet. Impressively, it's simplified ruleset also allowed me to play competitively without navigating any of the issues I took with the official game. The elevator pitch for PTCGP is that you get to open two packs of Pokémon cards a day at no cost. While the digital cards aren't one-to-one with their physical counterparts, that's still analogous to a minimum $10 investment you're getting for free. While I appreciate that the other two live-service Pokémon TCG clients supported the full rules and...

The biggest draw of the mainline Pokémon series for me is the collecting. I get a lot more enjoyment out of filling out the Pokédex than I do out of crafting the perfect team. However, sometimes a good old-fashioned Pokémon battle is just what I need. This urge really picked up for me once news about the Sinnoh remakes and Legends: Arceus started dropping more regularly, but I didn't want to start playing a whole mainline game with those right around the corner for fear of getting exhausted by the formula. That's when I remembered Pokémon Masters . I had previously passed it up thanks to its focus on battling over collecting, but suddenly it felt like the perfect fit. The battle system in Pokémon Masters EX  is far from traditional, but it works well and offers some unique nuance relative to the standard format. To start, battles are no longer one-on-one, or turn-based. Instead, you'll be directing three Pokémon , with the assistance of their trainers, in real-time figh...