Upcoming Pokemon TCG Pocket Item card may change the way the game is played

The Pokemon TCG Pocket meta may be on the verge of a serious shake-up. A brand-new item card, Rare Candy, is generating massive buzz in the community — and for good reason. This isn’t your average tool or gimmick; it’s a potentially meta-defining addition. Designed to streamline evolution, this item card unlocks aggressive strategies that previously took too long to set up.

While Pokemon fans are no strangers to explosive combos, Rare Candy could push certain decks from fringe play to top-tier threats. Whether it dominates the meta or just enables wild new tech, the implications are hard to ignore.

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Why Pokemon TCG Pocket Rare Candy could break the game

Rare Candy card as revealed in the trailer (Image via The Pokemon Company)

At its core, Rare Candy is deceptively simple. It allows you to evolve a basic Pokemon directly into its Stage 2 form — skipping Stage 1 entirely — as long as that basic wasn't played this turn and it’s not your first turn of the game.

Most notably, it’s an item card, not a supporter, which means you can play it in tandem with cards like Iono or Professor's Research to dig for combo pieces. This alone makes it an absurdly flexible tool in any deck running Stage 2 Pokemon.

Since the game's release, the biggest issue with Stage 2 decks has been consistency. Requiring three cards — a basic, a Stage 1, and a Stage 2 — to get a fully evolved Pokemon onto the field made such strategies clunky and slow.

Rare Candy obliterates that bottleneck. You now only need a basic and the Stage 2 in hand, massively accelerating your game plan.

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Pokemon TCG Pocket Rare Candy: Strategies that will receive buffs

Cards that benefit from Rare Candy (Image via The Pokemon Company)

The real strength of Rare Candy isn’t just that it speeds things up — it changes the entire tempo of how Stage 2 decks operate. Decks that previously needed three or more turns to get off the ground can now start applying pressure much earlier. In some cases, you can even get powerful effects or attacks online by Turn 4 — a previously unheard-of pace for many of these evolutions.

Take Charizard ex from Shining Revelry as an example. On its own, it’s a strong card with the ability to charge itself using "Stoke," but getting it online fast enough has always been the issue. With Rare Candy, you can go from Charmander to Charizard ex by Turn 3 and immediately use Stoke to load four energy onto it. That’s a massive tempo swing that can catch even seasoned players off guard.

Where Rare Candy really gets terrifying is when paired with Stage 2 Pokemon that have low energy requirements. Cards like the upcoming Solgaleo ex (two Metal energy), Greninja (zero energy required to chip 20 damage per turn), or Infernape (two energy with high payoff) become not only viable but potentially oppressive. Being able to immediately access powerful abilities or disruptive effects gives these decks a huge edge in both control and aggressive matchups.

Even more strategic plays are quickly evolving Pokemon like Gardevior and Serperior, which power up Active Pokemon from the bench. Removing the need to wait for Kirlia and Servine means faster access to the Psyshadow and Jungle Totem, making the cards like Mewtwo ex and Celebi ex resurface in the meta.

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Pokemon TCG Pocket Rare Candy: A game-changer for disruption and control

Disruptive cards that benefit from Rare Candy (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Control decks are often about getting specific Pokemon with unique abilities online as quickly as possible. With Rare Candy, cards like Dusknoir (which redistributes damage), Gengar ex (which shuts down Supporters), and even Pidgeot (which forces opponents to switch their active Pokemon) can hit the board before your opponent has time to stabilize.

These aren't just “cool tricks” — they can be devastating to decks that rely on setup or momentum. Disruptive plays that once took too long to pull off are now within reach in the early game.

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Pokemon TCG Pocket Rare Candy: Fossils just got relevant again

Fossil Pokemon will be picked more often in the future meta (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Perhaps the most shocking revelation about Rare Candy is that it works on Fossil Pokemon. Yes, fossils like Skull and Dome Fossil can now evolve directly into Stage 2s using Rare Candy.

This opens the door to a whole new tier of fossil-based decks that no longer need to clumsily crawl their way up the evolutionary ladder. You could potentially have a Rampardos or Kabutops dealing impacting damage by Turn 3.

This interaction breathes new life into one of the game’s most underrepresented archetypes and could lead to Fossil decks finally seeing serious tournament play.

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Rare Candy is shaping up to be one of the most impactful item cards introduced in the Pokemon TCG Pocket. It doesn’t just enhance existing strategies — it enables entirely new ones.

The card is more than just a consistency tool — it's a meta-defining powerhouse that shifts the balance of the game toward Stage 2 strategies that previously lagged behind.

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