Pokémon TCG Pocket features a rarity system for its cards exclusive to the mobile game, but it isn’t the same as the physical cards we’ve grown accustomed to all these years.
While the regular card game has many rarities, whether holographic, rares, or an abundance of outdated card types like Tag Team, Pocket has decided to go a different direction with a streamlined rarity system for its digital collections.
All card rarity symbols and what they mean in Pokémon TCG Pocket
There are eight different rarities in Pokémon TCG Pocket, with the game using a symbol system to distinguish the rarity of a card you either pulled or traded for when using the game. Whenever you open a pack, it’s important to keep track of the rarity symbols that appear under the card to get an idea of what you just got was incredibly rare or stupidly common.
Silver diamonds represent the first four rarities.
The rarities start with one diamond, then two, three, and four diamonds follow it. One diamond in the Pokémon Trading Card Game’s terms is like getting a common card; two diamonds are the same as an uncommon card, three diamonds are rare, and four diamonds are reserved for ex-cards, like the Arcanine above.
The card’s 3D effect and holo shine increase as the rarity increases. The higher the rarity, the prettier the card.
These are the basic cards you can get, and for the most part, every card in the set will have a card in one of these four rarities. If you want to play the game and collect basic cards, these are the symbols you’ll see the most. Afterward, it’s all about those pretty alternative art cards.
After silver diamonds, you get gold star rarity cards. The gold stars go from one to three. These cards are Special Illustration Rares and Full Art cards—cards that exist as common, uncommon, and so on, but have unique artwork.
From two gold stars onwards, cards get holographic patterns on their borders and illustrations, and three stars is the pinnacle of what the game has to offer. These are the special, immersive cards that, when you hold the corner of the screen, let you enter into the card to explore its world. They don’t offer any benefits in-game and are only to show off.
There is another rarity past gold stars, but we don’t think we can talk about it yet or show you what it is. We will update this article closer to Pocket’s Oct. 30 launch, so stay tuned for more information.
