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The era of A3 is upon us! Rare Candy is far from the only paradigm-shifting card released with Celestial Guardians; we're going to have to keep at least a couple of extra cards in mind when we're getting ready to deckbuild:
DeNa wanted to be sure that Big Basic EX was, if not dead and buried, at least not a lock for the most dominant archetype. Oricorio snuck in as the set released as a hard counter to decks relying solely on EX attackers. Even though it's not immune to Ability damage from Darkrai EX's Nightmare Aura, it still takes four energy attaches to KO an opposing Oricorio, meaning Darkrai EX is getting outraced by Zzzap. Giant Cape or Rocky Helmet can attempt to shift the race back in the Darkrai EX's favor, but Oricorio has an additional partner to ensure it comes out on top: the Tool-destroying Guzma!
At a minimum, Guzma functions as a Red against opposing Pokémon with Giant Capes attached, EX or no. At his best, Guzma and an attack can surprise-KO both an active and a Benched Pokémon that was being kept safe by its Cape. Putting the two together, at least a few archetypes are in danger of going extinct, not the least of which being the notorious Water 18-Trainers thanks to its total inability to even deal damage to Oricorio. Where possible, our brews are going to have to include at least one 1-point attacker to not auto-lose to Oricorio. With that out of the way, let's get cooking!
Sophocles
This is the most disruptive example of a deck looking to take advantage of Oricorio. We can use Rare Candy to accelerate a Grubbin directly to Vikavolt, utilizing its Disconnect attack to attempt to item-lock our opponent. Items aren't quite as strong as they are in the paper game, but we can attempt to evolution-lock an opponent that didn't quite get their own Rare Candy up in time, prevent healing with Potion, stifle X Speed pivots, or disable topdecked Poké Balls. Oranguru is a second disruptive piece, combining well with cards such as Sabrina and Cyrus to lock down an opposing Active. Sophocles combined with Vikavolt and Togedemaru gives us an actual damage threat in the matchups where Oricorio doesn't just carry us to victory on its own.
Other options: Strong Basic Attackers (Kangaskhan, Farfetch'd etc), Giant Cape, Red
Big Pika Energy
If you want to play Oricorio while still going for the barbaric win condition of Big Damage Numbers, this might be more your speed. Oricorio is fantastic at both instantly beating EX mons and also putting Rare Candy EX decks in a catch-22; either get outraced by Zzzap (since your basic likely can't fight an Oricorio straight-up), or evolve and get outraced anyway (since your EX Stage 2 can't hurt Oricorio). Against one-point heavy decks, we use the time Oriocorio buys in the front to build up two haymaker finishers; Magnezone, using its pre-evolved form to ramp energy for free, and the Shining Revelry Pikachu EX to delete threats we can't otherwise deal with, such as Rampardos - or simply win the last points with a massive 150-damage Thunderbolt. Our supporter core naturally is here to contribute to big damage, be it with Red's ability to further punish EX Pokémon, Sabrina to force out unfavorable matchups, or Guzma to delete Giant Capes and Rocky Helmets we don't want to deal with. Notably, we're a Stage 2 deck that has no interest in Rare Candy, as Magneton is what enables our Magnezone in the first place.
Other options: X Speed, Rocky Helmet, Cyrus, Giovanni (in case Red is unnecessary to punish EX mons)
Solgaleo EX
Solgaleo EX is an incredibly efficient attacker with the unfortunate rider of being shackled to the horrendous Cosmog and Cosmoem, meaning we need Rare Candy to consider playing it and Iono to consistently find our pieces. In order to buy us time, I'm electing to use the new Kangaskhan + Ilima core to put on early pressure for relatively 0 risk. Farfetch'd functions as another early efficient attacker with the obvious downside of being much more fragile. Once we have at least one Solgaleo EX online, we should be in position to slam out 120 damage a turn for the rest of the game; if we get two evolved, our opponent is going to be hard-pressed to deal with the sheer pivot potential we have available thanks to Rising Road. The alternative shell I was looking into was Skarmory, but that requires a minimum of 6 deck slots to be worth considering as we'd need to also include 2 copies apiece of Giant Cape and Rocky Helmet. That said, the IlimaKanga shell is 4 slots, so it might be worth it to drop the attackers along with one of the tempo Supporters if the consistent 50 damage early is more appealing.
Other options: Other strong attacking basics, Leaf, Pokémon Communication
Dark Decidueye
Darkrai EX gets yet another partner! Decidueye EX does not require any particular energy type in order to threaten 100 damage with Pierce the Pain, which lends itself naturally to synergizing with Darkrai EX's Nightmare Aura. This build once again uses the Kangaskhan + Ilima combo; partially as a nod to the existence of Oricorio, and partially as a strong frontliner to push out consistent damage while building up our Decidueye EX. As Dartrix requires to do anything, I'm taking the risky option of not including it at all, relying more heavily on Rare Candy and Iono. Two copies of Cyrus ensure that our own Darkrai EX and Kangaskhan can isolate a damaged target in the event our evolution line is coming along too slowly.
Other options: Mars, Druddigon + Leaf, Rocky Helmet, Dawn
Garchomp EX
Among the EX Pokémon quietly snuck into the set release was Passimian EX, which combines with Rare Candy to set up the previously underwhelming Garchomp EX for success. Notably, Gible and Gabite race Oricorio perfectly thanks in part to hitting for weakness, meaning we can afford to go more all-in on our big Stage 2 EX finisher. Thanks to Offload Pass, we can effectively ride our Passimian EX until it gets KO'd, racking up as much damage as possible while we evolve into Garchomp EX, then relocating the energy to swing for triple digits for the rest of the game. Rare Candy sets up one of the most disgusting turn 2's in the game when going first, allowing for a rushed Linear Attack to deal with low-HP basics such as Manaphy or Magikarp in the powerful Gyarados EX deck, or to pile on pressure on a passive Giratina EX loading up energy. Mars works in tandem with Passimian EX; since we plan on it getting KO'd anyway, we might as well reduce our opponent to one card in the process!
Other options: Lillie, Guzma, Giant Cape
A New Meta, A New Hope
I wound up mostly taking a break from TCG Pocket during the Shining Revelry metagame; the lack of great ways to punish the durdle-fests that were DarkTina and Gyarados EX made the meta distinctly not enjoyable for me. With the addition of Rare Candy and several interesting Pokémon to take for a spin, I'm intrigued where the meta can go from here.
Until next time, may Oricorio never wall you!