A player has discovered a critical flaw inPokémon Trading Card Game Pocket’s search feature, which they claim renders the function “completely useless.” The official mobile platform for the collecting and trading ofPokémoncards,Pokémon TCG Pockethas become immensely popularwith fans of the franchise everywhere. However, it’s still in its early days, andTCG Pocketis missing several features that players say it’ll need if it wants to compete with physical card collection in the long run.

One of those features, as noted by Reddit userleetshoe, isan improved search function. While attempting to find Pokémon with restorative abilities amid their card library, they typed “heal” into the in-game search bar. However, instead of returning a full list of Pokémon who can heal their teammates, it only returned two versions of Butterfree. This is becauseTCG Pocket’s search function doesn’t allow players to search the entire text of the card. This led commenterDoctorNerfariousto call the search feature “completely useless.”

The Cyrus card from Pokémon TCG Pocket next to Cyrus from the anime.

Player Notices The Search Function In Pokémon TCG Pocket Does Not Work As Intended

Pokémon TCG Pocket Doesn’t Let Players Search The Entire Card

The reason leetshoe couldn’t find all their healing Pokémon with a search is simple:Pokémon TCG Pocketonly lets players search the names of Pokémon, the names of their abilities/attacks, and the names of card artists. Ability descriptions are inexplicably left out of the search function, which makes it difficult to find a particular kind of ability if you don’t know its specific name. Butterfree has a move called Powder Heal, which is why it showed up - searching a word only returns results that contain it in their move titles, not in their descriptions.

Pokémon TCG Pocket: Why Cyrus Is the Best Supporter Card Right Now

Cyrus is the ultimate Supporter in Pokémon TCG Pocket, letting you control battles by forcing weakened foes into the Active Spot for easy knockouts.

This can make it especiallydifficult to build any kind of competitive deck. Say you want to center your playstyle oninflicting a certain status effect, or you realize, like leetshoe did, that you could probably use more healers on your team. You’ll have to know by heart which Pokémon can use the type of move you’re looking for. You could, of course, search for Pokémon with the right moveset online, but you’ll still have to be intimately familiar with your ownTCG Pocketlibrary, or you’ll spend a lot of time uselessly searching through it.

Pokemon TCG Pocket Infernape and Moltres ex cards

Our Take: Is The Search Function Is Pokémon TCG Pocket “Useless”?

It’s Not Perfect, But Can Be Improved

Frankly, I think it’s a bit of a stretch to call the search function “completely useless.” It’s not great - it’s one of many features that need to be improved, along with trading. It’d be more accurate to say thatthe current iteration of the search feature isn’t for the faint of heart. If you know your Pokémon well enough, you won’t necessarily need an enhanced search function to find out which ones can heal. Still, this system is pretty hostile to new players, and it needs a lot of work.

And it’s a simple point of fact thatPokémon TCG Pocket’s main focus isn’t battling- it’s collecting and trading. While it does have a battle feature, it’s greatly simplified compared to the physical card game, and wasn’t even available at launch. This search feature wasn’t made with battling in mind; players who simply collect cards without battling them are more likely to search their libraries by name or artist instead of for keywords in ability descriptions.

pokemon-tcg-cover.jpg

Best Infernape Ex Deck In Pokemon TCG Pocket (Best Strategy & Cards)

Infernape ex is one of the strongest current decks in Pokémon TCG Pocket when set up with the right cards due to the speed of its attacks.

Thankfully,Pokémon TCG Pockethas been getting better with updates. Its developers have listened to fans' pleas before, so it’s likely this search feature will come up for improvement eventually. For now, though, players will have to content themselves with aPokémon Trading Card Game Pocketsearch feature that’s a lot less than perfect.