Do The Pokemon TCG Pocket Space-Time Smackdown Pull Rates Seem Lower?

As a day one player, I had no issues with the Pokemon TCG Pocket pull rates. I have felt the excitement of unpacking a gold Charizard. I've never seen a god-pack but I have collected all of the illustrator cards in Genetic Apex and Mythical Island, ripped hundreds of packs, and found some really awesome, very rare cards.

But with the release of Space-Time Smackdown on January 31st, 2025, it seems like the excitement has faded a bit and frustrations have hit an all-time high. After opening a few sets of 10 and my 3 a day (including premium subscription packs) I've been left feeling a tad underwhelmed.

A Pokemon TCG Pocket Pull Rate Conspiracy?

Don't get me wrong, it hasn't been all bad. I have assembled a Darkrai EX deck that is the bane of several trainers' existence. I pulled an extremely shiny and very dapper-looking Volkner and in my first 10 set, I got my hands on the super rare staircase Palkia EX.

Past the initial high though, it feels like the pull rates are far lower than previous sets. The rates listed in the app are the same across all booster packs. Across all boosters, you have a 2.572% chance of finding a 1-star illustrator card with drastically decreasing odds of unpacking 4-diamond to crown rares.

Even against those odds and approaching 100 rips, I have uncovered 5 special art cards. That's about a 1% pull rate. This makes me sadder than a ketchupless Pikachu.

Am I the Only One?

Now all of this may be a case of about 2-weeks of bad luck. I may have just hit a bad patch, like buying a bummer of a booster box and being left underwhelmed. However, the sentiment seems to be shared by several of those online.

The lovely people of Reddit have taken to the streets of the internet to voice the same concerns. Expressing their lack of quality cards and the correlation to the expenditure of real-life currency. That's a fancy way of saying money gone, bad cards.

When coupled with lackluster events it's tough to say how long this lull could last. I'm still working my way to 45 wins for the set badge so there are reasons for me to keep the app open. But if players don't start pulling some shiny cardboard Pokemon TCG pocket could see some trainers give up on their journey to be a Pokemon Master and move back to Marvel Snap...