Pokémon TCG Pocket: How to obtain flair

If you’ve been playing Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket since launch, you may have noticed that you can spruce up your decks a bit with some nice flair. But, how do you obtain flair and how can you get more flair options?

What is flair in Pokémon TCG Pocket?

Before we talk about how to obtain flair, we need to talk about a couple of terms used in Pokémon TCG Pocket to help you understand what you need to do.

In the physical Pokémon TCG that has existed for decades, you generally can get holofoil (or holographic) cards that shimmer in various ways. Additionally, you’d be able to obtain “reverse holo” versions of cards where there is a shimmery pattern on the text portion of the card instead of the art.

Flair allows you to upgrade your card, no matter what card you get, even cards already considered “holographic” in normal terms. Flair can come in various forms and it is specific to the numbered card. For instance, flair obtained for a Lapras ex card won’t work on any other card, even other Lapras cards.

Flair can come in two forms, Cosmetic and Battle, but are visible during any deck battle. “Cosmetic” flair stays on the card from the second you pull it until the moment it’s off the table. “Battle” Flair is more impactful and shows up only when you play the card, causing a visual radius effect for a moment.

How to obtain flair in Pokémon TCG Pocket

The next term to know is “Shinedust”. Shinedust is a currency obtained in various ways. It looks like a cute little bottle with a star charm attached. This is your primary way to earn flair for your cards.

But, you also need another sacrifice to obtain flair in Pokémon TCG Pocket: duplicate cards. Since decks can only have two of the same card in the roster, you’re likely to eventually earn way more than just that.

Most cards need three sacrificed cards, but won’t let you drop below two to use to obtain flair. However, holos, special cards, ex cards, and promo cards generally only need one (or sometimes more) to sacrifice. Similarly, Shinedust costs for flair may vary for each flair.

Your initial flair for each card is always going to be “Sparkles Flair: Gold (Cosmetic)”. You can’t unlock oddities or anything else until you do the first one. But, the sparkles are nice as a starting point in any case.

But, and this is important for those planning to use flair in decks, you cannot use the same flair twice in a single deck. However, you can unlock as many of each flair as you want. I don’t recommend unlocking more than you need for each.

If you’re looking to hear our thoughts on Pokémon TCG Pocket, we have a review that you can check out. You can get it on Android or iOS for free. Otherwise, happy collecting!