Rescue Energy is a new type of Special Energy that was just recently released, and probably one of the greatest cards for stage 1 or 2 decks to compete on an even level with SP variants. Like most of the Special Energies, it provides 1 Colorless Energy on the attached Pokemon. However, the effect of the card is that when the Pokemon with Rescue Energy attached is knocked out by damage from an attack, instead of going to the discard pile, the Pokemon is sent to your hand (all attached cards are discarded). WHAT?! This card gives you an instant recovery after being knocked out by damage! This card brings all stage 1 or 2 decks to a new level and probably going to see play in almost any stage 1 or 2 deck.

Like always, whenever something good walks in, you can’t help but wonder what are the bad things that come along with it. Rescue Energy, a great card, also has pretty bad drawbacks. First of all, the Pokemon has to be knocked out by damage from an attack, which means that placing damage counters (Gengar SF mainly), Poke-Powers (Crobat G’s “Flash Bite”), and knock outs by conditions will render the card useless.

However, I firmly believe that the pros of this card outweighs the cons greatly and it is definitely a card that will see play in all stage 1/2 decks and even some SP decks. Just imagine you finally knock out that Gengar SF with Uxie to avoid “Fainting Spell” only to see it again next turn with the help of Broken Time-Space. Or how about having to knock out the same Gyarados over and over again.

Rating 4.5/5

Card of the Day – Rescue Energy (Triumphant TM 90) is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

Instead of analyzing the pros/cons of specific Pokemon, I would like to instead focus on the best way to get your Stage 2 Pokemon in play and evolved so that you can start wreaking havoc on your opponent.

Step #1- Get Off to a Great Start

We sometimes forget that the key to getting your Stage 2 Pokemon out quickly is getting the basic form of that Pokemon in play as quickly as possible. With some exceptions, the best way to get these into play is using Call Energy, Supporters or Trainers that help you search for the ones you need. My personal preference is to play with 4 Call Energy and Roseanne’s Research to have the best chance of getting the basics needed in play either T1 or T2. Of course, you can always use Bebe’s Search or Luxury Ball to find a basic, but if possible, try to save these to find either Stage 1 or Stage 2 Pokemon.

Step#2- Evolve ASAP

Must-Have #1- Rare Candy. Rare Candy is absolutely critical to every Stage 2 deck. It’s a Trainer and lets you skip the Stage 1 evolution to get those big, beefy Poke-Powered and -Bodied Stage 2 Pokemon in play. You should play with 4 Rare Candy in every Stage 2 deck.

Must-Have #2- Bebe’s Search or other Supporter or Trainer Pokemon Finders. All Stage 2 decks should have a nice collection of Trainers and Supporters to help you find the Pokemon you need to evolve to the next stage. My preference is to play with 4 Bebe’s Search and 1-2 Luxury Balls, but there are other good options with the HGSS set like Pokemon Communicator and Professor Elm’s Training Method.

And now for some Optional Tips.

Option #1: Broken Time-Space. Broken Time Space is a Stadium Card that allows you to evolve your Pokemon as many times as you want during your turn so that you don’t have to wait until next turn. This can be extremely helpful to you (and unfortunately to your opponent), especially when you can get the basic, Stage 1 and Stage 2 in your hand your 1st or 2nd turn.

Option #2: Spiritomb AR. I have found that adding 4 of these is uber for speed and consistency. I used to play more BTS but have found that playing Spiritomb helps in an additional way. Since Stage 2 decks require the extra Pokemon for Stage 1 and Stage 2 evolutions, these decks tend to get off to worse starts than their lesser-evolved relatives. By playing 4 Spiritomb, you greatly increase your odds of getting a basic Pokemon in play which also helps you set up more quickly.

Note: a few words of caution when playing Spiritomb. Playing this with Rare Candy in the same deck can cause problems as an active Spiritomb prevents you from playing Trainers like Rare Candy. Even though this is a risk, it is manageable and still beneficial to have both. You just have to be careful when you retreat/play/sacrifice Spiritomb in order to not trainer lock yourself at the wrong time. Also, Spiritomb is more than likely going to wind up getting knocked out in the 1st few turns of the game, and you will often lose the 1st prize card in return for setting up your Pokemon. This means playing comeback (which is a great Hollywood theme anyway) which can sometimes be challenging.

Option #3: Poke-Power speed. One additional way to really give your deck a boost is to leverage Pokemon with good setup powers. Claydol and Uxie are the most obvious choices here, but there are others that tend to help specific Pokemon types. For example, Beedrill from Rising Rivals has the “Flutter Wings” Poke-Power which lets you search for any one Grass-type Pokemon once a turn. This is an incredibly helpful power when trying to get a Stage 2 Grass deck set up quickly. Other notable Pokemon that have similar boost searching powers are Magnezone SF with “Magnetic Search” and Gardevoir SW with “Telepass” that can often let you use its power to perform a second Bebe’s Search or Roseanne’s Research to find the Pokemon you need.

Well, that’s about it. Thanks for reading, and get those Stage 2 tanks moving!

Jump Start Your Stage 2 Deck! is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

Most Underrated: Kricketune (PL)

Most players probably never even touched this card this year, except maybe to stick it in the binder. When you really look at Kricketune paired with Dawn Stadium, though, you see it had genuine potential at it’s time. I think this little bug deserves a closer look. I believe that a Kricketune / Vileplume / Yanmega / Shaymin Lv.X / Regice deck could still be a dominant force now.

Attach a Grass Energy to Vileplume (LA) to put the Defending Pokemon to sleep. Bebe’s Search for a Kricketune or Kricketot and use Regice (LA) to discard it along with a Grass Energy. Use Yanmega’s (SV) Poke-Power to attach the discarded Grass Energy to itself. Then, attack with whichever of Kricketune’s attacks is stronger at the moment. If you run low on Grass Energies, bring in Skymin Lv.X (PL) and use Seed Flare to move all Grass Energies from Vileplume to Yanmega, then retreat for Yanmega and use a very powerful Wind Return, giving you Grass Energies in your hand which you can play again on Vileplume. This deck definitely deserves a chance.

Most Feared: Flygon Lv.X (RR)

Decks based around this card were common ever since its release, and they still are very powerful. More decks were built to counter this card than I have ever seen before. Some people even think that Shuppet decks originated as a counter to Flygon Lv.X. Overall, this card is a very devastating card to its opponents.

Best Starter: Weavile G (PL)

This Pokemon was the ideal starter for SP decks, allowing you to search out ANY 2 of your SP Pokemon per turn. Honchkrow G was also a good starter for SP decks, but its use became limited after the first turn. Weavile, on the other hand, could survive entire games, constantly bringing in more and more SP Pokemon.This card allowed SP Decks to set up even faster than they were already capable of, leaving many other decks in the dust.

Most Over-hyped: Blastoise (PL)

This card was widely praised before its release. It’s function as an Energy accelerator and as a main attacker earned Blastoise a good deal of attention prior to the Platinum set being released. However, once it was actually obtainable, nobody… really… played it. At all. The few players who did create decks based off of this blue turtle actually were fairly successful, but for some reason, the Blastoise bandwagon crashed pretty quickly.

Most Obnoxious: Dialga G (PL)

Anybody who has ever played against Dialga G has endured true frustration and despair after being hit with Deafen. Still one of the best attacks today, Deafen stops you from using trainers entirely. This was extremely detrimental to Shuppet decks, but annoying for everybody. Having those Trainer cards in your hand but not being able to use them really makes for a rather unpleasant experience.

The Card That Came Too Early: Shaymin Lv.X (PL)

This card was somewhat hyped before its release, but was virtually ignored afterward. It’s Poke-Body was great, but its attack, which allows you to place as many Energies from your hand as you like and did more damage when you placed more Energies, was essentially disregarded. Why? Because there was no practical way of amassing large amounts of energies in your hand quickly enough.

However, I have looked at the cards being released in Heart Gold and Soul Silver, and there is a card that makes Shaymin Lv.X practical: Blissey Prime.  This Pokemon has a coming-into-play Power that allows you to remove all damage counters Energies from a Pokemon and place them in your hand. Combined with Super Scoop Ups, these two could have made a dominant deck in this format. Alas, it was not so.

The Card That Came Too Late: Broken Time-Space (PL)

2009 marked the ascent of the big Basic Pokemon, mostly Pokemon SP. Stage 2 decks couldn’t compete withthese decks that were so effortlessly set up. It is unfortunate, then, that Broken Time-Space couldn’t have come in 2008, when Stage 2s were a much more common sight.

Best Lv.X: Infernape 4 Lv.X

Now, I know most people would pick Luxray GL as the best Lv.X, but I believe that Infernape 4 left a much more prominent mark on the TCG world. While cards like Luxray GL were being manipulated to try to gust in weak Pokemon as much as possible, Infernape 4 Lv.X was able to switch the opponent’s Pokemon EVERY SINGLE TURN. Although your opponent got to choose, the general disruption which this card was able to inflict upon other decks was unmatched this year.

Best New Staple: Cyrus’s Conspiracy

As all readers of this article know, SP decks have been hugely successful this year. Cyrus’s Conspiracy is the main reason why. Cyrus is a deck engine all by itself. When played in succession, it gives you constant access to the Energy and the Tools you need for an SP deck to run. In a year in which SP decks have dominated, it would be insane to leave their pivotal card off this list. Cyrus’s Conspiracy was the card this year of which you could never just run one.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…

Card of the Year: Expert Belt

A game-revolutionizing card. The abundant uses and combinations that the release of Expert Belt has opened up are only starting to be discovered. This card has transformed fading decks into tournament-worthy ones, including decks with Kingdra, Shuppet, Gyarados, and Nidoqueen. Even now we are starting to see SP decks cut back an Energy Gain or two to include this card, and this is only a month after its release! Expect to see a lot of this card used in new and unexpected ways in 2010. Although this card wasn’t given enough time to shine, it continues to change the face of TCG today.

If you think differently on any of these categories, please comment!

Willy G’s TCG Awards – 2009 is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.