Summary
Coming out in just five days,Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Celestial Guardians set is all about Alola and its critters, also including special events aimed at celebrating the six-month release of the mobile title. Not a lot is known about Celestial Guardians so far, even though the official teaser trailer did include more cards than usual, revealing several Pokemon cards and a bunch of Supporter ones themed aroundSun and Mooncharacters.Pokemon TCG Pocket’s new Alolan Raichu Exis sure to change the meta when Celestial Guardians drops, but there is one more card that will most likely do as much, only it will change which Ex cards are viable.
It’s rare to find good, reliable decks inPokemon TCG Pocketthat completely avoid using Ex cards, and the reason is that they are typically more powerful than average mons while also being harder to knock out thanks to high HP. This is particularly true for Stage 2 Ex Pokemon, which usually have the highest amount of HP in the game and sometimes some of the best attacks too, such as Charizard Ex from Genetic Apex. However, Stage 2 Pokemon cards can be hard to play consistently, and that’s where Celestial Guardians' Rare Candy comes in handy.
Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Rare Candy Can Reshape The Ex Meta
Rare Candy inPokemon TCG Pocketwas more of a question of when rather than if, as the item is a staple of the video game series and also of the physical version of the trading card game. Still, Rare Candy can be tricky because it essentially allows players to skip one evolutionary stage, so it’s hard to balance it from a pure gameplay perspective and a deckbuilding one. In the case of Celestial Guardians, Rare Candy allows the user to immediately evolve a Basic Pokemon into its Stage 2 form, provided that it wasn’t put into play that turn and that it’s not turn one.
This is very useful for most decks that run Stage 2 Pokemon cards, though there are exceptions, like Magnezone, which instead needs its Stage 1 Magneton to generate Energy for it to attack. More importantly, this is a game-changer for Ex cards that are not Basic Pokemon, as they are hard to make work in a consistent manner right now. There are cards to help with that, such as Professor’s Research, Pokemon Communication, and evenIono inPokemon TCG Pocket, but it can be a struggle nonetheless.
Rare Candy can finally allow Stage 2 Ex Pokemon to break free from the chains of RNG by adding at least one or two copies to a deck, so that players end up having more chances of getting their Stage 1 critters or something that skips them entirely. There is a huge benefit in immediately evolving aBasic Pokemoninto a Stage 2 one, at least for many cards, and that’s because it accelerates the game by a good margin. Some previously unexplored Stage 2 Ex Pokemon will likely see some play now thanks to Rare Candy, and other ones that did get featured in decks may become more consistent.
Why Basic Pokemon Ex Cards May No Longer Be The Best in Pokemon TCG Pocket
The Basic Pokemon Ex meta may also shift dramatically, as these Pokemon were often used due to their ease of access. For example,Articuno Ex decksrely on the fact that a starting hand inPokemon TCG Pocketmust have a Basic Pokemon card in it, so one can run two copies of Articuno Ex and 18 Trainer cards. These decks will likely still exist and maybe perform well, but Rare Candy may be the missing piece of the puzzle for Stage 2 cards to get their due time in the limelight.
