Never has opening trading card packs been so complicated. In Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, opening either the Genetic Apex Mewtwo, Pikachu, or Charizard booster packs freely will likely set you back on your way to building a full collection and a competitive deck as each one offers different cards – and different early-game rewards.
Luckily, we're here to help you decide which Booster Packs to open first. We've put together this guide to break down which pack to open, and which packs to go for in order to obtain specific cards.
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket - Which Genetic Apex Booster Pack To Open First
When you first create a new account in Pokémon TCG Pocket, you’ll be able to select one of three Genetic Apex packs: Mewtwo, Pikachu, and Charizard. Your choice will actually affect what rare EX card you receive, alongside one of three full-art starter cards and even your starting deck.
If you’ve already picked a pack and regret your choice, you can re-roll your account by deleting it by going into the game's Settings and under the account section. Do note that you’ll lose all your progress and any real-world money you spent, so only do this if you haven’t done so already.
After your first Booster Pack, each pack has a chance to give you an EX card, as well as some other exclusive rewards through Wonder Picks. We'll cover what EX card you can get with each pack below to help you start building one of those top tier decks we recommend in our Tier List.
Genetic Apex Mewtwo Booster Pack Rewards
- EX: Marowak EX.
- Wonder Pick full-art starter: Bulbasaur
- Starting deck: Sandslash Fighting-type deck
This pack is a great pick if you want to run a budget-friendly but competitive Marowak EX deck as the starting deck has a lot of the necessary cards. In our opinion, this is the best choice.
Genetic Apex Charizard Booster Pack Rewards
- EX: Exeggutor EX
- Wonder Pick full-art starter: Charmander (as you'd expect!)
- Starting deck: Pinsir Grass-type deck
This is a great second choice if you prefer building toward a powerful Venusaur EX competitive deck.
Genetic Apex Pikachu Booster Pack Rewards
- EX: Arcanine EX.
- Wonder Pick full-art starter: Squirtle
- Starting deck: Rapidash Fire-type deck
We do not recommend picking a Pikachu pack first unless you really like Squirtle as Arcanine EX is the weakest of the free EX cards available and doesn't have a deck built around current meta.
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket - The Best Genetic Apex Packs To Open
After choosing your starting deck, you’ll be inundated with beginner-friendly missions that will award you plenty of Pack Hourglass to reduce the time it takes for the next pack – but which of the three should you start ripping open dozens of?
On the pack selection screen, you can select Offering Rates to see the chances of drawing specific cards. While we generally recommend going for your favourite Pokemon, here are the highlights of each pack:
Best cards from each Booster Pack
Mewtwo packs have Venusaur EX, Articuno EX, Mewtwo EX, Marowak EX, and Dragonite in terms of cards you can build competitive decks around. They also have the Koga and Giovanni Supporter cards, the latter of which is a must-own for many decks.
Charizard packs have Exeggutor EX, Charizard EX, Moltres EX, Starmie EX, and Alakazam EX in terms of cards you can build a competitive deck around. Within, you can pull the Erika, Blaine, and Sabrina cards. Sabrina is a key card for most decks and Erika is vital in Leaf-themed decks with Exeggutor EX and Venusaur.
Pikachu packs feature Blastoise EX, Pikachu EX, and Zapdos EX in terms of cards you can build a competitive deck around. You’ll also find the Brock, Misty, and Lt. Surge Supporter cards in these packs. Misty is key for water-themed decks like Blastoise EX and Starmie EX.
First and foremost, you’ll want to decide on which type of deck you want to play. Pikachu packs offer the least value, but Pikachu EX with Zapdos EX decks are only rivalled by Mewtwo EX decks, for example.
Recommended Booster Pack opening order
Here's our recommended Booster Pack opening route for optimising your deck:
Open Mewtwo packs until you have a competitive Marowak EX deck, a Dragonite deck, or a Mewtwo EX deck. Use your Pack Points, obtained from opening packs, to craft key Supporter cards like Sabrina that are not available in Mewtwo packs.
Once done, you can move on to another type of pack of your choice. If you go this route, you should also begin with a Mewtwo pack to obtain one Marowak EX for free.
We went this route ourselves and have a complete Marowak EX deck and a Dragonite deck, both of which made our best decks list, but nabbed none of the cards necessary for a Mewtwo EX deck, so your results may vary.
We hope this guide helped you decide which packs to start ripping open in Pokemon TCG Pocket – may Arceus bless your packs with many full art EX cards so you have a competitive deck sooner rather than later.