New Feature: If you think this review is too long to read, just skip straight to the scores and then read the summary for a concise overview!  Yes, the summary now lives up to its name.

Name: Rocket’s Scizor ex

Set: EX: Team Rocket Returns

Card#:

Type: Dark

Stage: 1 (Evolves from Rocket’s Scyther ex)

HP: 120

Weakness: Fire

Resistance: Grass

Retreat: C

Poké-Body: As long as Rocket’s Scizor ex has any (M) Energy attached to it, Rocket’s Scizor ex is both (D) and (M) type.

Attributes: Rocket’s Scizor ex.  This review will be brief.  No, I have not played this card, but I really doubt I’ll need to.  I’ll explain.  Let’s start with the beginning.  This is a Stage 1 Dark Rocket’s Pokémon ex.  Good news is that means it can use Darkness Energy for extra damage, and gets the treats that Rocket’s Pokémon now get.  The bad news is that it breaks the normal rules: Rocket’s Scizor ex is not a Basic, like all other Rocket’s Pokémon.  It also breaks another rule: it Evolves from another Pokémon ex: Rocket’s Scyther ex (which should have been covered in the previous CotD).  Now, keeping these things in mind, let’s begin the evaluation.

It has 120 HP.  Now, as a Stage 1 Pokémon, it should be about 80.  So far so good.  Now factor in that it is a Pokémon ex.  120 isn’t the greatest, but this is a “smaller” Stage 1 normally, so it’s still at least solid.  Now factor in that this must evolve from a Pokémon ex as well.  Now 120 HP expected at best.  Still, I’ll be generous and say it’s enough, since it only has a single Weakness, which breaking the 120 HP cap usually alters.  It is Weak to Fire Pokémon.  This is pretty serious, but there are worse Weaknesses in either format.  Resistance to Grass is nice, but more useful in Unlimited than Modified.  Finally, we see a single Retreat Cost.  This is actually good!  Not the best, but even factoring in its painful climb to get here, it’s good.

Abilities: Dual Armor returns!  Only this time, it adds a more useful type: Metal.  Metal Weakness is seen on many cards, like Team Aqua’s Walrein.  It will rarely matter that it is only there when Metal Energy is attached.  However, it is still not really that good.  It adds a vulnerability that could be exploited.  Given that this is the Pokémon ex Evolution of a Pokémon ex, they should have skipped the Poké-Body and just made this a Dual-type Pokémon to begin with.

The attack seems pretty good, until you remember how hard you worked to get this thing into play.  (CCC) for 50 is a bonus 20 damage, but then again, you expect an extra 10 to 20 damage for a Stage 1 Pokémon.  There is also a useful effect: you can discard an Energy from Rocket’s Scizor ex and then attach a different Energy card from your discard pile.  So you can reclaim lost Darkness and Metal Energy cards.  This would also be an acceptable bonus for a Stage 1 Evolution.  I will go with the effect of the attack as a reasonable “Evolution” compensation, then the extra damage as compensation for being a Pokémon ex.  Too bad this is still not enough: this is a Pokémon ex that Evolves from a Pokémon ex.  That means tricks like an opponent using Ancient Technical Machine [Rock] would still get two prizes if you had taken the pre-requisite 80 damage.

Uses/Combinations: The best use is proving you are either very rich, very lucky, or very good at trading.  If you want a big, Dark/Metal Pokémon that can retrieve Energy from the discard pile and attach it to itself and make use of the “Team Rocket” support… try Dark Steelix.  It has 10 less HP and two more retreat, but the Energy retrieving attack requires of any only Energy and doesn’t require a discard.  That means it can speed powering up its second attack: which for (FCCC) hits for 60.  Did I mention that since it is Dark Steelix, it can make use of all Team Rocket support cards (Rocket’s Scizor ex can’t use Rocket’s Poké Ball, for example) and won’t cost you two prizes when it gets KO’d?

Ratings

Unlimited: 1/5-No.  If you want to use this, use Dark Steelix instead (though I recommend using neither).

Modified: 2/5-You can use it here, but you might as well use the much more versatile Dark Steelix.

Limited: 1.25/5-In general, none of the Special Energy you can retrieve would be worth doing so: you wouldn’t be Energy ahead since you have to discard an Energy card to get an Energy.  The exception being R Energy; it gets discarded at the end of the turn anyway, so chucking one of it isn’t a big deal.  There is also a slight advantage in that you just might actually face a Metal-Weak Pokémon, so as long as you pulled a few Dark Metal Energy cards, you might actually be able to get double damage.

Summary

Rocket’s Scizor ex is the first Evolved Rocket’s Pokémon and the first Pokémon ex to Evolve from another Pokémon ex.  These traits to actually help it: quite the contrary, they make it much harder to play.  This card has solid stats and decent abilities… but not when you realize how truly painful it is to get into play and powered up.  The nail in the coffin is Dark Steelix, which is basically a more versatile Rocket’s Scizor ex, save that it has 10 less HP and two more Retreat.

-Otaku