Pokémon TCG Pocket gets its first battle event with Lapras

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket was released on Oct. 30, and already the game’s second in-game event is live. The event — which appeared on the author’s app around 1 a.m. EST Tuesday and which runs through Nov. 17 — allows collectors to add a powerful Lapras ex and a handful of other new cards to their digital binders.

Unlike the mobile game’s first event, which is still ongoing and offers a chance at pulling new cards by simply utilizing the Wonder Pick system, Pokémon TCG Pocket’s drop event is all about battling. Taking part in a limited series of solo battles against a CPU opponent that wields powerful Water-type decks gives players a wide array of random rewards, including special Promo Pack A Series Vol. 1 boosters, which hold one card each.

Lapras ex, with its massive health pool and an attack that both deals big damage to opposing Pokémon and heals itself, is the obvious highlight of the promotional series. But players can also expect to snag useful Butterfree, Pikachu, Mankey, and Clefairy cards while chasing the big prize.

The battles themselves are easy enough to complete with a basic deck and a little luck, even at the most difficult Expert level. Pokémon TCG Pocket does limit attempts with a slowly recharging stamina bar — it’s a gacha-style game, after all — but that bar only depletes if you win. This means you can throw together whatever Electric-type cards you’ve collected so far and try your luck without worrying about losing and wasting the opportunity before the event ends.

The game, The Pokémon Company’s latest entry in its hit monster-collecting franchise, has apparently been a huge commercial success, earning more than $12 million since launching on October 30. If Pokémon TCG Pocket continues adding cards at this pace, it’s not hard to imagine that success extending into the foreseeable future.