2011-8-2 UL Rare Candy 082

[waynegg]

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[gal= 50139]2011-8-2 UL Rare Candy 082[/gal]​

 

[Otaku]

Adapted from my Pojo Review on 7/11/11

Rare Candyh how I hated and loved you!

The erratum that this card received fundamentally changed the game. When first released all the way back in EX-Sandstorm Rare Candy revolutionized the game by allowing you to instantly Evolve a Basic Pokémon into either its Stage 1 or Stage 2 form. The reason this was so strategically important was because it allowed the largest, most powerful Pokémon to see play first turn! Later cards like Pidgeot (FireRed/LeafGreen 10/112) showed how obscenely broken this could be, and I doubt most of us would want to see what an Emboar (Black & White 20/114) deck would be like with Rare Candy still working as it used to but available first turn! Let us not forget that we now (or soon will have) cards like Double Colorless Energy, PlusPower, and Pokémon Catcher currently available to us.

So now, now Rare Candy is treated as if it reads “Choose 1 of your Basic Pokémon in play. If you have a Stage 2 card in your hand that evolves from that Pokémon, put that card on the Basic Pokémon. (This counts as evolving that Pokémon.) You can't use this card during your first turn or on a Basic Pokémon that was put into play this turn.” What this change did was allow TPC to restore to us the use of first turn Trainer cards (all Trainer cards, not just Items) as well as level the playing field again between Basic, Stage 1, and Stage 2 Pokémon (or at least equally well made, fully Evolved versions). Sadly since Rare Candy has been re-released so frequently (and recently), they couldn’t just rotate out all sets that had it: the last printing was as recent as HS: Unleashed! This is unfortunate because they could have simply re-released Pokémon Breeder, and then Rare Candy could have remained as it was without an erratum, or perhaps had time to develop a better erratum that kept Rare Candy its own distinct card, reflected the video games and... didn't ruin it for Unlimited play, where its power meant people who wanted to play Unlimited had a lot more options: not its more "donk or be donked" from what I hear.

Keeping Modified healthy is much more important, and if it weren’t for one other fact, I’d be completely at ease. Although I recently reviewed this card on Pojo, Rare Candy has been important enough to earn multiple reviews and about a year ago I looked at this card I said I wished we would have Pokémon Breeder instead of Rare Candy for better balance, but I also said that was only good “as long as we don’t have cards like Gust of Wind or Double Gust”. Now we are all counting down the days until we get Gust of Wind with a new name (Pokémon Catcher) and I am a little worried.

Still, we are far from the exact conditions of when Gust of Wind was available for major tournament play, and Baby Mario made an excellent point when he reviewed Pokémon on Pojo that hey, this format might have been designed to start out so slow initially for a reason: Pokémon Catcher was meant to speed things up. Thinking about it, I'd rather we had potent Stage 2 Pokémon that were worth Benching two copies of the Basic first turn, knowing one copy is almost certain to be KO'd but being confident that the survivor is all you really needed to get your deck going strong.

So in all formats you have it available, you’ll run Rare Candy (though you could use Pokémon Breeder if you felt like it in Unlimited). In Constructed formats I don’t recommend maxing it out unless it is for more than one Evolution line: you should have at least a few of the Stage 1 due to devolution tricks or Trainer denial and its wasted space to run some of the Stage 1 and four copies of Rare Candy for a single Stage 2. It is still a great card and a staple for decks with a Stage 2 Pokémon: even getting them into play one turn faster is amazing. If there are multiple Stage 2 lines, this allows you to “share” the slots for the Stage 1! This is also true of Limited play, where the card is somehow even better: often it is hard to pull a complete line but this one automatically fills the gap between Basic and Stage 2.

Ratings (Stage 2 using decks only)

Unlimited: 8/10 – I can honestly see attempting to use Broken Time Space instead. This does not indicate Stage 2 decks are that strong in this format, for the record.

Modified: 9/10 – It is this or the actual Stage 1, and even a single turn of acceleration is well worth it! Just remember you’re vulnerable to being devolved.

Limited: 10/10– Unless you lack a Stage 2!

Summary

I really am torn about Rare Candy having its effect altered to basically match Pokémon Breeder. I don’t think there was any other practical way to handle this, but besides hurting Unlimited a little, it also makes the upcoming Pokémon Catcher very scary since it might make Stage 2 Pokémon incredibly hard to play successfully. Until then it remains a needed change to balance the format.

 

[Darksanctuary]

Otaku basically said everything but personally i love this card since i started despite its rule change (which was needed imo). 9/10

 

[Dio Brando]

This card has been nerfed to an almost obsolete level. I started playing this game when Legends Awakened just came out, and at local league I was donked and donked and donked by Kingdra. Now, I was new and I couldn't let that get me down. I learned that Rare Candy was a very valuable card and you either go with the pace of the game or get left behind. Now, after three years they decide to push the ruling change back to such a gimp level that I find hard to adapt to. I think that it is somewhat unhealthy that they chose to to make it so useless. Stage 2 decks cannot compare to Stage 1 speed in this format. If you are running a Stage 2 deck you better be hoping you get the opening start so you get the lead in set up. If it was up to me I would keep the the Rare Candy as it was back then, but with a slight change in rulings for it.

Basically each opponent cannot play rare candy on his or her first turn.

It gives time for both opponents to set up, Stage 2 would actually have a chance to see more play, and I think it would open up for type of decks who are too afraid because of speed issues.

Sandstorm-Triumphant format: 10/10
HGSS-On format: 6/10

When Pokemon Catcher comes out you can basically say goodbye stage 2.

 

[Regis_Neo]

Today's CotD is Rare Candy from UL, a great staple ever since it first arrived in SS way back. Just remember, due to recent errata Rare Candy operates differently now; you can't play it to evolve a Basic right away when you first bench it, and you can only use it now to skip to a Pokemon's Stage 2 (not that many people used it to get to the Stage 1 form, but it's still to be noted). So yeah...even despite the nerfs, Rare Candy is still a needed staple for any deck running Stage 2s, because it still gets you to that form quicker than having to go through all the evolutionary lines.

Modified - 8/10 (No longer quite as powerful, but you'll still be using it in any Stage 2 deck almost guaranteed)
Limited - 5/10 (Obviously take it if you get any Stage 2 lines you want to run, otherwise don't run it)
Unlimited - ??/10 (Still better than Poke Breeder, but I bet most probably would opt for BTS since it bypasses the restrictions Candy normally has)

 

[Miamisportsfan45]

Even for not being powerful as compared to before, had it never been around before (had it not been for the previous rulings) it'd be looked upon more highly. 10/10

 

[ArceusRules]

Fantastic card! Very useful for evolutions. It's a shame they hacked it and made it so you have to wait a turn after you bench a Pokémon. Plus it can be blocked by the likes of Vileplume. But other than that, it's a fantastic card and 4 is a staple for Stage 2 Decks. Especially not that BT-S has been phased. 10/10.

 

[cvmerchanary]

A reprint of Pokemon Breeder, great card, a staple, and a card that will be remembered well.

Unlimited (9/10)
Modified (9/10)
Limited (10/10)

 

[SLOW DECK]

The prior ratings must be based on "PRE-B&W". If pre-B&W rules rare candy was 10/10, then it lost 2 points to make it 8/10 for post B&W rules.

It is still a good card, but the it lost much of it's greatness due too rules change.

I ran a 4-4 Donphan and 3-3-3 Serperior, and would not consider Rare Candy because it was inconsistent. I think it is the play for a multiple stage 2 deck, but not sure it is an AUTO PLAY of having 4 rare candy any more.

8/10 for Current Modified

 

[adamisclassy]

8/10
Stages 1's are better than Stage 2's right now. Maybe they will make a comeback but catcher says otherwise.

 

[wulfboy15]

Well, the Errata on Rare Candy is both a curse and a blessing. A curse because now Stage 2 decks are slowed quite a bit but a blessing because it reduces the amount of times you can get donked. Maybe they'll remove the errata in the future and reprint Breeder~
Overall, I'd say:
Modified: 8/10 (most decks still use at least one Stage 2)
Unlimited: 8/10 (same as above but BTS is here too so that's helpful)
Limited: 10/10 (pulling this, a basic and a stage 2 while not pulling a stage one of an evolution line can be a game changer)

 

[untitled]

I miss the old Rare Candy. A lot of excitement in this game for me came from looking at my opponent's board full of useless basics, but knowing they could drop Duskull, Rare Candy, Dusknoir, Warp Point, Dark Palm, Scramble Energy, attack for 100 and suddenly have the same turned completely around in their favor. Where are you, Rare Candy/Warp Point/Scramble Energy? :'(

Now Rare Candy is a shadow of what it used to be, and quite honestly I'm disappointed. Running multiple Stage 2's in this format seems to be an idea long dead at this point. However, it's still a must-have staple in any Stage 2 deck and I'm glad it still exists to an extent. I really hope they bring back the old Rare Candy. Surprises and 1-0-1 techs are no longer surprising/even existent really. I miss the ex days :/

Before the errata: 10/10
Now: 5/10 it's honestly not enough to keep stage 2 decks strong in a format with Catcher.