A Pokemon TCG Pocket player has noticed a major discrepancy in the stat spread of Stage 1 Pokemon that leaves one particular monster high and dry.
Nothing has hooked fans of catching them all in recent years quite like Pokemon TCG Pocket. The digital facsimile of the popular trading card game has drawn in over 30 million users and even overshot Pokemon GO’s considerable earnings.
Players are obsessed with cracking packs to hunt down the rarest cards and using those same pulls to build up powerful meta decks in competitive battles with friends. It has all the hallmarks of the physical TCG albeit, slightly more condensed.
While popular, Pokemon TCG Pocket isn’t perfect, and like in any competitive cardboard fixation, there is some wheat and some chaff. Reddit user Handsome_Claptrap has done some digging and discovered a discrepancy that shows one Stage 1 evolution has been done dirty by the devs.
Liepard might be Pokemon TCG Pocket’s worst Stage 1 evolution
Handsome_Claptrap broke down the key stat spread on Stage 1 Pokemon that only require a single energy to attack. Thanks to their speedy setup and minimal investment, these can be beneficial in the early game to clean up your opponent’s team before they can get set up.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
A closer look reveals some apparent design conventions for balancing these particular Pokemon. The bulk standard is to give these monsters a respectable 100 HP, and a one-Energy attack that doles out 40 damage.
As a means of spicing things up and maintaining balance, cards like Primape might sacrifice some of that HP for a stronger attack like the creatively named ‘Punch’ which deals 60 damage. Other Stage 1 evolutions might get a free retreat in favor of some extra bulk. One Pokemon gets neither of these benefits.
Poor Liepard is the single outlier in this category being cursed with 90 HP while maintaining a meagre 40 damage and still having to pay for a retreat. It’s yet another layer to the Dark-type discrimination that seems to plaguing Pokemon TCG Pocket.
Fortunately for Dark-type players looking for a Stage 1 staple, Weezing is available with a larger HP pool, Poison, and a boost from Koga. There’s also room for an improved Dark-type roster in future sets.
