Hi everyone. This is my first time to ever write an article, and I hope it’s helpful, especially for all you SP-haters out there. My son Nicholas and I have been playing Pokemon for about 2 years, and my son also won the Northeast Regionals last year in the Juniors Division.
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!
