Article #5: Rare Candy

[Raikou Trainer]

This was originally written in mid 2006, so combos, ratings, etc. will be outdated.

Rare Candy

Choose 1 of your Basic Pokemon in play. If you have a Stage 1 or Stage 2 card that evolves from that Pokemon in your hand, put that card on the Basic Pokemon. (This counts as evolving that Pokemon.)

Analysis

Pros- This card can evolve a Basic into a Stage 2 without the Stage 1 card. Very useful if you have a powerful Stage 2 Pokemon that you can't wait to get out. Wondering why it mentions Stage 1 Pokemon as well? This card works on the first turn of the game, when normally evolution can't happen. My favorite example of this first turn evolution is Kingler from FR/LG. Evolve an Active Krabby into Kingler using Rare Candy, drop a Water Energy on it, and use its Salt Water attack to attach 2 more Water energy from your deck. Next turn, attach another Water Energy, and do 80 damage on the second turn of the game! You see, this card can be very powerful if used correctly.

Cons- Four words: Ancient Technical Machine (Rock)! This card can totally screw up your Candied Stage 2's! For protection, make sure you have at least 1 copy of the Stage 1 form in your deck, depending on your strategy. Otherwise, there's no other cons!

Combos

There are way too many to list. Try experimenting with this card and see what kinds of strategies you can come up with!

Ratings

Unlimited- Evolutions are hardly used here, so the rating suffers here a little. Pokemon Breeder is also available in this format, but it fails in comparison to Rare Candy. 6.5/10

Modified- Here is where it gets interesting. Stage 2's are fairly dominant in this format, but at the same time, ATM Rock can ruin your Candied Pokemon, so play Rare Candy with caution. 5/10

Limited- For the first time, I'm including ratings for the Limited format (used for prereleases). Anyway, in the three sets Rare Candy is available in, I don't think any of them have a way to de-evolve any Pokemon, so if you have a Basic and a Stage 2, but no Stage 1, Rare Candy will really help you out! Just hope that you pull one or you can't use it! 9/10


Final Thoughts

Rare Candy has really chenged the game, making Stage 2 Pokemon more playable, but has lost momentum due to ATM Rock. However, come September, ATM Rock will be gone and Rare Candy may dominate once again!