In our last article we discussed the recent (at time of writing) card set to be released; Team Rocket’s Ambition. We mentioned Pokémon cards that caught our eye and how you can use them in Battles. However, there are some cards that we missed the first time around. So in this article, we’ll discuss more cards we like and how you can use them in Battles!
Team Rocket’s Moltres EX:
This is a Fire Type Pokémon and the first of 4 EX Pokémon we’ll look at in this article. Like its non-Team Rocket counterpart it has 2 attacks. Its first attack is more of a setup for its second attack. You can use its first attack for 1 Energy and it does no damage. Instead you flip 3 coins and for each heads you attach a Fire Energy to this Pokémon. This is important for its second attack. It does 130 damage for 4 Energy and when used you discard a Fire Energy. The main risk factor here is that this Pokémon heavily relies on coin flips to gain Energy. There are ways to fix this however. For example you can use Will to guarantee one heads when you flip coins. If a coin outcome isn’t to your liking you can use Victini’s ability to retry your flips too!
Team Rocket’s Articuno EX:
This is a Water Type Pokémon and it’s also similar to its non-Team Rocket equivalent. Firstly it has 2 attacks that can both deal good damage. Its first attack does 40 damage for 2 Energy, nothing super special. However, its second attack does a lot more damage but with a catch. It deals 130 damage for 3 Energy but it also does 20 damage to your Benched Pokémon. This can be risky if you have Pokémon on your bench that have low HP. However, if you come prepared with plenty of health options you’ll survive! You can use cards like Potion, Giant Cape and the Starting Plains stadium to boost HP. If you want Water Energy quickly you can use Mantyke or Misty to build up Energy to attack! If you want to use this Pokémon, it is powerful but make sure you come prepared with healing options.
Team Rocket’s Weezing EX:
This is a Dark Type Pokémon and the only Pokémon in this article that uses Status Effects. We’ve done some articles discussing Status Effects so make sure you read those too! This Pokémon is most effective when you evolve it due to its ability. When you evolve into Weezing EX you make your opponent Poisoned and Burned! This means that you can deal 30 extra passive damage each turn! Its attack also has a Status Effect attached to it! It deals 60 damage for 2 Energy and automatically makes your opponent Confused. Having a Pokémon that can inflict 3 Status Effects is super powerful! This can be countered by the Active Pokémon retreating or using Pokémon Center Lady to cure the effects though. But if you’re prepared for this outcome this can be a great option to frustrate your opponent!
Team Rocket’s Raticate EX:
This is a Colourless Type Pokémon and one that can mess with your opponent’s Energy! It doesn’t affect it in the same way as Porygon-Z does however. Before we look at the upsides let’s look at the main downside; its health. It only has 120 HP which is shockingly low for a Stage 1 EX Pokémon. However, Elegant Cape can help solve this problem to an extent. Its attack and Ability makes up for this problem though! It deals 70 damage for 2 Energy and its Ability can be useful for frustrating your opponent! When you evolve into Raticate EX you can steal an Energy from your opponent and attach it to this Pokémon! This can either prevent your opponent from attacking or force them to make a change of plans. This is a Pokémon that is designed to take quick and powerful shots. It also has no retreat cost so you can retreat whenever you’d like at no cost!
This is a card set that doesn’t have as many unique cards as its previous sets. But it makes up for it by having some very powerful cards in its roster. So as always, make sure you experiment with different Pokémon to see how you can use them!