Pokemon TCG Pocket launched earlier this week, and players are already falling in love with a certain Pokemon. He's cute, he's mighty, and he has great deck utility (and great duck utility)…it's Farfetch'd!
For those who aren't playing Pocket, it's essentially a card collecting/pack opening sim with the ability to play a truncated version of the Pokemon TCG. The rules are simpler, the battles are shorter, and it's a lot easier to build an interesting competitive deck due to the game being free-to-play and the availability of booster packs for players who don't spend any money.
Right now in Pocket, there's only one "set" of cards available to collect, called Apex Evolution. It's a great idea to start everyone off with just one set, from scratch, so there's a fairly even playing field at launch and the meta is still shaking out. But as spotted by ComicBook, Farfetch'd specifically has been rising above the rest as a component of just about any viable deck you want to make due to its unique combination of advantages.
For one, it's a Basic Pokemon, so you can play it right from the start of the game without having to evolve it. Second, like most other Basic Pokemon, it has an attack that only costs one Energy, so it can attack pretty much immediately without any build-up. But more importantly, that attack (Leek Slap) does a whopping 40 damage, which is an enormous amount for a one energy cost, Basic Pokemon move. As a common card, Farfetch'd is easy for anyone to obtain, so there's no major expense or long effort to getting one or two in your deck. And finally, because Farfetch'd is a "colorless" card, it can be included in any deck and can use any type of energy, so it's very versatile.
Of course, Farfetch'd ultimately isn't a long game winner. It's great if you want to play aggressively, as you can get it out on the board quickly, do a lot of damage, and then retreat for the cost of just the single energy it already had on it before its 60 HP gets too low. But in the Pokemon TCG, that's usually enough. Farfetch'd can keep your opponent busy while you build up your bigger monsters on your bench, and can help stall your opponent from making similar big moves as fast as you can. Truly a mighty bird, and fans are praising it accordingly.
We did a preview of Pokemon TCG Pocket back in September. As our previewer wrote, it's "mainly a card-collecting destination, and maybe that’s all it needs to be." But with Farfetch'd on the team, maybe dipping into the battles is worth it after all. Now when are we getting a full art of this guy, or an EX version?
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.