Flair refers to the decorations you can add to your card in Pokémon TCG Pocket. These can be Cosmetic Flairs, which will appear both in battle and when a card is in a Display Board, and Battle Flairs, which, as the name suggests, only appear in battle.
First things first though - how do you get Flairs in Pokémon TCG Pocket? Well everything has a price and Flairs are no different. To help you figure out exactly how much you'll need to spend we've outlined the Flair costs down below and taken a look at how to get duplicate cards. (Since you may end up needing quite a lot of these.)
So let's take a look at how to get Flair in Pokémon TCG Pocket, along with the differences between Battle and Cosmetic Flairs.
On this page:
To obtain a Flair in Pokémon TCG Pocket you first need to collect two things - Shinedust and duplicates of the card you wish to add the Flair to. We've got a dedicated guide covering how to obtain Shinedust and look into ways you can obtain card duplicates further along in this guide.
It's also important to note that both of these requirements differ depending on the rarity of the card, so you'll need to make sure you have the right amounts before adding a Flair. Creating a Flair also consumes the duplicate cards, which makes the act adding Flairs also an act of destruction. Keep in mind though that you can only add two of each card in a deck and cards can be reused in multiple decks, so there's no need to hoard your duplicate cards.
The amount of Shinedust you'll need to spend will also increase as you unlock more Flairs for a card. Coupling this fact with the other requirements means it's worth planning out which card you wish to apply Flairs to, especially if you want to add one to an especially rare card. It could help prevent any Shinedust farming in your future.
When it comes to adding a Flair itself, you first need to find the card you wish to add one to in your Pokémon card collection. Once found, select the 'Obtain Flair' option. If you're yet to meet all of the requirements, you'll receive a message pointing out that fact to you. If you have met the requirement though, you'll then be sent to a menu where you choose the Flair you wish to add to your card.
Once you've decided upon the Flair you wish to add, select 'Exchange' before confirming you're happy for these duplicate cards to be consumed. You'll then watch a little cutscene showing the Flair being added to the card!
Congratulations - you now own a Flair card!
The amount of Flair options available to you depends on how many Flairs you've locked for a specific card. For example, if you've added a Flair to one Ponyta card, this means there will be two options available the next time you wish to add a Flair to a Ponyta card. Though it should be noted that you can only apply one type of Flair to each individual card. Helpfully, once you're looking at a specific type of card, you can organise them by which ones have Flairs and which don't.
Diamond rarity, Promo and Trainer cards will begin with only one Flair option - the Sparkles Flair: Gold (Cosmetic). Meanwhile Gold Star rarity or higher cards begin with two Flair options - Tiny Twinkles Flair: Yellow (Battle) and one other Battle Flair specific to their type. This means that Gold Star rarity cards have their first two Flairs automatically unlocked from the moment you obtain the card. We touch upon the difference between Cosmetic and Battle Flairs later on in this guide too.
As you add more Flairs to an individual card, you'll gradually unlock new kinds of Flairs for it. These will often be themed around the Pokémon's type, such as Fire-type cards sprouting flames. Just remember - these unlocks will be tied to the individual card you're applying Flairs to and, while the number of duplicates remains the same, you will need more Shinedust for the fancier Flairs.
There are some expectations to how Flairs work:
Now let's take a look at the Shinedust cost and duplicate requirements for each type of Pokémon card rarity…
Every Flair you add to a card in Pokémon TCG Pocket costs you a certain amount of Shinedust and duplicate cards. Since Flairs are tied to individual cards and the price increases as you add more, this can quickly become quite the costly activity.
To help you decide which cards you want to add Flairs to, we've listed all of the Flair costs for each type of card rarity, going from Common to the rarest, down below. This table includes the rising Shinedust card for the four Flairs you can unlock for each card.
Note - cards of Gold Star rarity will have their first two Flair types automatically unlocked from the moment you obtain the card.
| Rarity | Card duplicates required per Flair | Shinedust Cost |
|---|---|---|
| One Grey Diamond Common | 3 |
|
| Two Grey Diamonds Uncommon | 2 |
|
| Three Grey Diamonds Rare | 1 |
|
| Four Grey Diamonds Double Rare / Ultra Rare | 1 |
|
| One Gold Star Illustration Rare | 1 |
|
| Two Gold Stars Special Illustration Rare | 1 |
|
| Three Gold Stars Immersive Cards | 1 |
|
| Crown Hyper Rare | 1 |
|
| Promo (Trainer) | 1 |
|
| Promo (Pokémon) | 1 |
|
When applying Flairs to your cards in Pokémon TCG Pocket, you may notice that some are labelled as 'Cosmetic' and others as 'Battle'.
There are two main differences between these types of Flairs with the first being how 'Battle Flairs' only appear when actively using this Pokémon in battle during a Pokémon Pocket match. This means, unlike 'Cosmetic Flairs', these Flairs will not be shown when you put the card in a Display Board.
Gold Star rarity cards or higher also don't have 'Cosmetic Flairs'. This is most likely because, due to being full artwork cards, they already get a shiny little introduction when you place them on the field in a match. Due to this, only Diamond rarity cards have access to both Flair types. While this may be annoying, remember that you can add multiple Flairs to a card so it's not like you're losing out on anything you unlock. (Don't forget that the Flairs you unlock are tied to individual cards.)
Below you'll find a list of the Cosmetic and Battle Flairs we've found so far in Pokémon TCG Pocket:
On the surface obtaining card duplicates in Pokémon TCG Pocket - all you've got to do is open booster packs and try your luck at Wonder Pick. Yet, notice my use of the word 'luck' there? Yeah obtaining duplicates for any card in Pokémon TCG Pocket is nearly completely down to how lady luck favours you. Want to add a Flair to your Common rarity Caterpie? Well you'll still need to obtain at least three duplicates to do so.
There is a way around this though and that's by spending Pack Points. We cover the in-and-outs in our Pokémon TCG Pocket Pack Points guide, but the basic gist is that you earn Pack Points every time you open a booster pack. These can then be saved up and spent on a specific card of your choosing. (It's not exactly a pity system like in other gacha games, but it's all Pokémon Pocket has…)
The catch, because there's always a catch, is that you have to open a good number of booster packs to purchase even a Common rarity card. If you're looking at using Pack Points to obtain rarer cards, then you're looking at needing 1,000 or higher points. The super rare golden ex cards, for example, cost 2,500 Pack Points each. For this reason, it's a good idea to spend your Pack Points wisely and possibly not at all for cards you wish to add Flairs too. After all, while it might take a while to gather enough points, spending Pack Points is a guaranteed way to get one of these golden ex beauties for your collection.
Finally, don't forget that the duplicates you use for Flairs will be consumed. While you technically only need two of each card - as only two of each card can be within a deck and the same cards can be used across multiple decks - you may want to save them up for different Flairs.
Have fun adding Flaris to your card collection and, if you'd like to learn more about the game's competitive side, check out our Pokémon TCG Pocket tier list.