Summary
- Red Card and Mars disrupt Rare Candy decks in Pokemon TCG Pocket, countering strong, fast Stage 2 evolutions.
- These cards reduce card advantage for control decks, adapting to the meta shift towards Rare Candy.
- Red Card and Mars are crucial in the current meta, used in many decks, including Darkrai Ex and Giratina Ex.
With the release of the Celestial Guardians expansion for Pokemon TCG Pocket came a lot of new cards and exciting strategies to try and build a deck around, and the competitive environment is ever-changing due to tournaments and new combos coming to light. Decks like Darkrai Ex and Giratina Ex are still going strong despite all the possible counters to this combo that came out with Celestial Guardians, but other strategies have risen to the top of the meta too, like Greninja plus Oricorio. One type of Pokemon TCG Pocket card gained a significant advantage in the current meta thanks to a Celestial Guardians card, but it is also the reason why players came up with a counter to it.
Much like Oricorio beats 18-Trainer decks in Pokemon TCG Pocket by simply being on the field, there are some ways to counter even the strongest deck archetypes in the game right now. Tapu Lele can be a powerful way to give Darkrai Ex and Giratina Ex a hard time, for example, and Rampardos still deletes many meta threats. However, it can be hard to beat turn-2 Rare Candy decks, and this is why two cards from before Celestial Guardians rose to the top of the meta with the new set.
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Pokemon TCG Pocket Players Shouldn't Sleep on Red Card and Mars
Rare Candy decks in Pokemon TCG Pocket can be quite problematic if one draws the basic Pokemon needed for the combo and immediately evolves it with the titular Rare Candy card on the following turn. It's one of the reasons why Solgaleo Ex decks became so popular, as this card only needs two Energy to attack for 120 damage. The whole ordeal is essentially based on luck, but one of the main things to possibly defeat decks using this strategy is by employing Red Card and Mars in one's deck.
How Red Card and Mars Counter Rare Candy
The reason why Red Card and Mars in Pokemon TCG Pocket can be such powerful cards to use against Rare Candy decks is that they "discard" a player's hand and make them draw a few cards in return, meaning that there are optimal scenarios where using these two cards can completely disrupt Rare Candy strategies. For example, if going first against a Rare Candy deck that puts just one basic Pokemon into play, Red Card is an amazing tool on turn one because it essentially makes the opponent discard a card for free.
Mars does the same thing, but since it's a Supporter card, one may want to use a different Supporter on turn one if available.
Since Pokemon TCG Pocket's Rare Candy decks are widely spread now thanks to how strong having a Stage 2 critter on turn two can be, and given that this is not a strategy one can actively do much about, Red Card and Mars both provide some kind of help against opponents stacking cards in their hand. For example, unless one is ready to evolve their basic Pokemon on turn two, they will most likely have either that critter's Stage 2 evolution or a Rare Candy in their hand, meaning that by making that player shuffle their hand into their deck and redraw, there is a fair chance the opponent will still be short on the combo.
If the opponent does have the combo ready, then there's an even higher chance that with Red Card and Mars they will not be able to evolve their Pokemon with Rare Candy on their following turn. On top of that, even if one is not using one of the more prevalent Rare Candy decks in the meta, Mars can be a mid- to late-game win condition because it allows the opponent to draw cards based on how many points they need to win. As such, if the opponent defeats an Ex Pokemon in Pokemon TCG Pocket matches or one or two non-Ex critters, they will only draw one or two cards with Mars.
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How Red Card and Mars Fit Into Pokemon TCG Pocket's Meta
Both Red Card and Mars are meant to reduce card advantage against decks that are happy to keep stacking cards in hand, such as control decks. However, the current meta shift toward Rare Candy decks led to the rise in usage of Red Card and Mars as means to counter fast Stage 2 evolutions by controlling how many cards the opponent has in hand - and quite successfully, while at it. This is just another example of how quickly Pokemon TCG Pocket's meta can adapt, but it also shows that sometimes, the creative use of an existing tool can solve a new problem.
On top of that, because Professor's Research in Pokemon TCG Pocket makes it easy to draw cards and look for missing combo pieces, it's not uncommon at all for opponents to have three or more cards in their hands. This makes Red Card and Mars more valuable even in general play, and they can make all the difference between a win and a loss in competitive matches.
It's worth noting that Red Card and Mars are often used in decks with high win rates in Pokemon TCG Pocket's Ranked Mode, both in high Ultra Ball ranks and Master Ball. Even decks like Darkrai Ex and Giratina Ex can benefit and, at the same time, be hurt by Red Card or Mars. Since this type of deck likes to have a decent number of cards in hand to deal with potential threats, such as Red or Cyrus, a well-placed Red Card or Mars can do quite some damage there. Likewise, however, this deck doesn't need a lot of slots for its Pokemon cards, so fitting Red Card and/or Mars into the deck is not a big ask.
Either way, the current meta found itself needing Red Card and Mars in many decks, which can be a double-edged sword. As much as it helps in some cases, it's yet another "mandatory" part of deckbuilding in Pokemon TCG Pocket, which is already filled with must-have cards like Poke Ball and Professor's Research.
- Released
- October 30, 2024
- Developer(s)
- DeNA, Creatures Inc.
- Publisher(s)
- The Pokemon Company
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- Yes
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Digital Card Game
