The introduction of Rare Candy in Pokémon TCG Pocket has made playing Stage 2 Pokémon easier than ever—enough to consider removing Stage 1 Pokémon from a deck to get Stage 2 Pokémon ex into hand that much quicker. This rock-solid deck featuring the hard-headed one-point Pokémon Rampardos can force your opponent to work a harder to earn their stars, while you take advantage of Rare Candy to get the Stage 2 Pokémon into play sooner than they might expect.

Game plan: Your first goal is to get the Stage 2 Rampardos into play as fast as possible! Rampardos evolves from Cranidos, which evolves from the Skull Fossil Item card. With the help of the new Rare Candy Item, though, you can evolve your Skull Fossil straight into Rampardos as soon as it’s in play and forgo the inclusion of Cranidos altogether.

Rampardos’s Head Smash attack deals a whopping 130 damage for only one Energy, so you should be able to attack as soon as the Pokémon hits the field. While 130 damage is a lot (and you’re likely to land easy Knock Outs on lighter opponents), you’ll still probably have trouble one-hit KOing bulkier Pokémon ex. The damage boost from Red can help close the gap against those higher-HP opponents.

Since Skull Fossil is an Item and isn’t treated as a Basic Pokémon for the purposes of drawing a starting hand, you’re guaranteed to draw the only Basic Pokémon included in the deck: Rockruff. It’s an excellent starting Pokémon with enough HP to weather most first-turn attacks as well as an inexpensive attack that helps it evolve quickly. Be careful, though—Rockruff’s Signs of Evolution attack only puts Lycanroc in your hand, not into play!

Any damage Rockruff might sustain will turn into an advantage when it evolves into Lycanroc, whose Blood Fang attack does 50 more damage if the Defending Pokémon has more remaining HP than it. Play your cards right and you’ll have two Pokémon dealing triple-digit damage for very little Energy (and both with very low retreat cost).

A Lillie Taste of Victory

You can adjust the rest of your deck to taste, but consider keeping the new Lillie Trainer card, which could turn potential ties into victories. Since Rampardos deals 50 damage to itself when a Pokémon is Knocked Out by damage from its Head Smash attack, Lillie can keep it refreshed and out of Knock Out range from Head Smash recoil damage by healing 60 damage from it.

Get your reps in with this -type deck, Trainers, and see how it can lift you to victory!