Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket players have voted Charizard ex the best card in the game, with his meta game rival Mewtwo ex coming in a close second.
An IGN poll asked players which of 10 popular cards was the most popular and, with 20.8% of more than 1,000 votes, Charizard ex took the crown. This Stage 2 Pokémon has the highest damage attack in the game, with Crimson Storm's 200 power able to take down any other card in a single shot.
Charizard ex is extra powerful because of fellow fire type Moltres ex though. This card lets the player flip three coins and add a fire energy to a bench Pokémon for every heads, so players use it to overload a Charmander, Charmeleon, and eventually Charizard on the bench so it's not impacted by the loss of two energy when using Crimson Storm.
The second best card in Pokémon TCG Pocket, as per our player poll, is the biggest rival of Charizard ex at the top of the meta: Mewtwo ex. It came in at just a touch below with 20.1% of votes, so the two are practically neck and neck.
Mewtwo ex works in a similar way as Charizard ex, though as a basic Pokémon itself, players will often put it directly into the active Pokémon slot. It also has a two energy, 50 damage attack, and 150 hit points to keep it around and doing damage, meaning players have enough time to set up a Gardevoir on the bench.
This Stage 2 Pokémon takes some time to set up, with Ralts and Kirlia coming before it, but once it's on the bench, players can use its Psy Shadow ability to add one energy to the active Pokémon. This again counters the discard two energy cost of Mewtwo's 150 damage attack, as the standard energy joins the Gardevoir energy each turn to add two at a time.
Following Charizard ex and Mewtwo ex came Pikachu ex in third place, with 17% of votes, and in fourth place, but way below, came Starmie ex. Both of these have high damage, low cost attacks, meaning if players can deploy them quick enough it's hard for opponents to build a strong board.
Next in the poll came the infamous Trainer card Misty at 7.3%, followed by Professor's Research at 5.2%, Farfetch'd at 5%, Sabrina at 4.5%, and Dragonite at 4.1%. Only the last of these is the leader of its own deck and not a supplementary card, and seemingly the only non-ex Pokémon to stand a chance against the meta leaders.
All of this could change when another set comes out, of course, and while developer Creatures Inc. hasn't revealed when this will be, a datamine of Pokémon TCG Pocket alluded to an expansion set in December and the next full release in January.
Pokémon TCG Pocket arrived in October on iOS and Android as a digital version of the beloved trading card game. It lets players open packs, collect cards, build decks, and battle others, a simple formula that has already proved popular given it made $12 million in just four days and was downloaded more than 30 million times in just nine.
Creatures Inc. is keeping interest high by releasing myriad events catered to different playstyles. The first offered players freebies in the form of Wonder Picks, and to entertain more than just collectors, Creatures Inc. soon launched battle events both in single player and player versus player.
The Lapras ex Drop Event lets players take on a handful of water decks for a chance of winning the beloved Pokémon, while the PvP event embraces Pokémon tradition by putting badges on the line.
On the collecting front, some players are focused on a conspiracy theory about crinkled corners while most are swooning over mythical god packs that award five alternate art cards in one go. There's also a secret Mew card hidden in the game that's not super difficult to get.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
