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The Celestial Guardians trailer just dropped, and the card everyone’s talking about isn’t even a Pokémon TCG Pocket card: it’s Rare Candy. A long-time staple of the TCG, Rare Candy is finally coming to Pokémon TCG Pocket, unchanged from the base game.
Rare Candy lets you skip a Stage 1 evolution and play a Stage 2 card directly on a Basic Pokémon. This speeds up evolution considerably and adds consistency and flexibility to the stage 2 decks. With Rare Candy, you now have two ways to bring a Stage 2 Pokémon into play:
- Basic Pokémon → Stage 1 → Stage 2
- Basic Pokémon → Rare Candy + Stage 2
This makes Stage 2 Pokémon much more viable, as Rare Candy effectively acts as extra Stage 1 cards and allows you to bring Stage 2 Pokémon into play much earlier—by turn 3 or 4, instead of waiting until turn 5 or 6. Stage 2 decks have long trailed behind Big Basic Pokémon ex in TCG Pocket, but Rare Candy might finally close that gap. These evolved Pokémon hit harder, can activate powerful abilities sooner, and are bulkier, often surviving damage that would knock out a Stage 1 before it could evolve.
The impact of Rare Candy is significant enough that it’s worth re-evaluating Stage 2 Pokémon printed so far in TCG Pocket; this single item could completely revitalize them.
Impact on deckbuilding
Rare Candy changes how you build your deck. You can replace up to two Stage 1 Pokémon with Rare Candy, and this swap influences several aspects:
Search Pokémon attacks
Attacks like Sprigatito's Cry for Help pull a random Grass Pokémon from your deck. Reducing your Stage 1 count increases the odds of drawing a Stage 2.
Pokémon Communication
By removing Stage 1 Pokémon from your deck (and the total amount of Pokémon out of your 20 cards deck), the success rate of Pokémon Communication also increases considerably.
To further understand the math behind these cases, let’s break this down with an example deck:
If you have 1 Sprigatito in play and use Cry for Help, each of the 5 Pokémon in your deck has a 1 in 5 (20%) chance of being drawn, giving you a 40% chance to pull Meowscarada.
If you replace 2 Floragato with 2 Rare Candies, now only 3 Pokémon remain in the deck. Each has a 1 in 3 (33.3%) chance of being drawn, and Meowscarada now has a 66.6% chance of being picked!
Which stage 2 Pokémon are the best with Rare Candy?
Stage 2 Pokémon that benefit the most from Rare Candy are those with either a strong Ability or a low-energy attack–ideally both. These let them apply pressure as early as turn 3 or 4 (your second turn). For others, while evolving early is good, it doesn’t have the same payoff.
For example, Beedrill ex gains far more value from Rare Candy than Charizard ex (Genetic Apex). Beedrill’s low energy requirement means it can attack quickly after evolving. Charizard ex, on the other hand, still needs several turns to build up energy: evolving a turn earlier doesn’t change its attack timing.
Let’s break down which Stage 2 Pokémon are best suited for Rare Candy.
Pokémon with low energy cost
All these Stage 2 Pokémon can attack for 2 Energy or less. With Rare Candy, they can hit the board and start dealing damage on your first or second attacking turn, for much bigger damage than a Stage 1 would!
Top Picks
Beedrill EX
Crushing Spear discards a random Energy from your opponent’s Active Pokémon. Triggering this effect early is game-changing as your opponent might never get the chance to fully power up their attacker, especially under the pressure of 80 damage per turn. With Rare Candy, since Beedril ex only needs 2 Energy, you can realistically attack by turn 4 if you started second.
Charizard EX (Shining Revelry)
Originally seen as a worse version of Charizard ex (Genetic Apex), Charizard ex from Shining Revelry now finds its footing thanks to Rare Candy. You can use Stoke by turn 3 for just 1 Energy and follow it up with Steaming Artillery from turn 5, dealing 150 damage per turn. With its high HP, this can easily tip the match.
Gengar (Genetic Apex)
The regular Gengar from Genetic Apex blocks your opponent from playing Supporters starting on your turn 2 thanks to its Bother attack, and there’s no way to play around it. If you get it into play early, this lock forces your opponent into low-impact turns, starved of the stronger Supporter effects.
Its biggest drawback is its low damage and HP for a Stage 2, but Rare Candy helps it hit the board fast enough for that disruption to matter.
Honorable Mentions
Togekiss and Rampardos
I'm placing both cards together as they rely on landing heavy hits. Rare Candy lets them do it a turn earlier, which often makes the difference in tempo. They now hit for 120 and 130 damage respectively, before most decks can even stabilize.
Pokémon with Abilities
Another strong category are Stage 2 Pokémon with impactful Abilities, especially those that don’t require being Active.
Top Picks
Crobat
Originally more of a support piece for Arceus ex thanks to chip damage and free retreat, Crobat becomes a standalone threat when evolved early. Its low-cost attack and Ability start applying pressure right away, while you set up Arceus ex or even a Darkrai ex in the back to ramp up the damage with Cunning Link and Nightmare Aura.
Gardevoir
With the ubiquitous Giratina ex even bringing Mewtwo ex back in the meta, Gardevoir could become another valuable support. Its Ability accelerates Energy early, letting you power up these big threats faster. Usable from turn 3, you could now technically start to spam Psydrive from your third turn, which hardly any deck can recover from.
Greninja
A mainstay since Genetic Apex, Greninja has slipped out of the meta lately. Rare Candy might bring it back. Evolving early means you can start using Water Shuriken by turn 3 or 4 to weaken Benched and Active targets alike. Since Rare Candy is an item, it doesn't take away from your Supporter use per turn. You can then pair Water Shuriken with Cyrus, for a forced switch into a surprise KO thanks to Mist Slash, on a supposedly safe Pokémon.
Victreebel
Fragrance Trap is the only effect in TCG Pocket that works like the TCG all-time staple Boss’s Orders, letting you pull a specific Benched Pokémon to the Active Spot. Victreebel's Vine Whip damage is modest, but it’s enough to knock out Basics before they can evolve. And if they resist, they cannot resort to retreating to hope to protect themselves, since Fragrance Trap can pull them off again.
Honorable Mentions
Pidgeot
Pidgeot's Drive off ability is rather similar to Victreebel, but your opponent chooses which Pokémon to bring Active. Still, it’s flexible: Pidgeot attacks for and doesn’t need to be in the Active Spot.
Garchomp
Its Reckless Shearing ability to draw cards is amazing and its attack is strong and cheap, making it a strong Rare Candy target. The problem remains the energy consistency: needing two types means it’s either amazing or stuck waiting. When it works, though, it's very hard to overturn.
The end of stage 1 Pokémon?
In the mainline Pokémon TCG, Rare Candy has largely replaced Stage 1 Pokémon. These are often included as one or two-ofs, less for their function and more for consistency, since you can search them with cards like Ultra Ball, while Rare Candy usually requires a Supporter to find. But decklists generally feature more copies of Rare Candy than stage 1, as evolving a turn earlier is that crucial of an advantage.
In Pokémon TCG Pocket, it’s not so clear-cut. Rare Candy isn’t always the better option, because some evolution lines actually need their Stage 1. Take Scolipede, for example: Whirlipede's Poison Sting set it up to maximize the damage from Venoshock. Or Magnezone, which can be played in decks regardless of the Energy they run decks thanks to Magneton's Volt Charge to generate the needed Energy.
Going forward, we’ll likely see stronger and more purpose-driven Stage 1 Pokémon that give players a real reason to run them, making them an actual alternative to evolving with Rare Candy. Think of Kirlia’s Refinement in the TCG, which was so central to the strategy that most Gardevoir ex lists didn’t even bother with Rare Candy.
But for now? Expect Stage 2 Pokémon to make a huge comeback in TCG Pocket after spending the last six months essentially smothered by Big Basic Pokémon ex. It's about time they had their moment!
About Trapinch3D
Huge Pokémon fan since 2005 when I discovered Pokémon Sapphire. Retired competitive VGC player. Trapinch supremacy.