Flair inPokémon Trading Card Game Pocketallows players to add different effects to their cards, showing on both display boards and in battle. These can range from gold sparkles to light blue bubbles for Water-types or flame trails for Fire-types. While these cosmetics are a fun addition to the mobile game, the steep price of obtaining flair is limiting, especially for free-to-play players.
Since its release on August 14, 2025,Pokémon TCG Pockethas been a great success, though that doesn’t mean there’s no room for improvement.The game’s Flair system highlights a growing issue– it’s astronomically expensive. This therefore may leave budget-conscious players struggling to enjoy the featurewithout spending real money.
The High Cost Of Crafting Flair & Getting Shinedust
The Grind for Shinedust is Harder Than it Seems
In order for players to add these effects onto their cards, they need an abundance of two things – a currency called Shinedust and duplicate cards.Players can obtain Shinedust by completing missions and opening card packs. For example, to acquire the basic gold flair on Charmander, the player will need to exchange three duplicate cards and 50 Shinedust. This price can dramatically increase with rarer cards, with the Purple Bursts Flair for Mewtwo ex costing one duplicate and 18,000 Shinedust.
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With both Shinedust and duplicates not easy to come by, there is a high barrier to entry. This trickle of resources can be frustrating for players that want to spruce up their deck with different aesthetic effects. Flair offers no competitive advantage in battles, limiting its appeal even further. In order for this to feel worth it, either the cost of adding these elements needs to go down, or Shinedust needs to be easier to obtain.Due to its cost, Flair feels like a missed opportunitythat could have offered all players another level of freedom and excitement to collecting cards.
Why Flair Isn’t Worth the Cost for Free-to-Play Players
Flair Fails to Add Value Beyond Esthetics
For free-to-play players,obtaining Flair for cardscan feel both daunting and time-consuming due to its high cost. Without spending money,the grind for Shinedust is far from an easy task, as the majority of the currency that players will earn will be through packs. With only two packs available every 24 hours, this can be a lengthy task. While this can be sped up using Hourglasses to reset pack timers, Hourglasses are equally difficult to obtain without paying.
Considering the effort required, free-to-play players may find focusing on building stronger decks a better use of their time, rather than grinding for cosmetics. The Flair system is completely unrewarding, with the significant investment of time and resources failing to justify the aesthetic benefits of Flair inPokémon TCG Pocket.
Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket is a mobile adaptation that reimagines the classic TCG experience for iOS and Android devices.
