If
you find the review is too long, skip straight to the
Ratings and Summary!
Name
:
Rocket’s Poké Ball
Set :
EX: Team Rocket Returns
Card#
:
89/109
Rarity :
Uncommon
Type
:
Trainer
Sub-type:
Ball
Effect Text:
Search your deck for a Pokémon with Dark in its name,
show it to your opponent, and put it into your hand.
Shuffle your deck afterward.
Attributes:
Rocket’s Poké Ball is a normal Trainer. This means that as
long as its effect is useful, it should get played. You are
allowed to play as many Trainers (other than Stadiums and
Supporters) each turn as you can meet the requirements of;
only external factors such Neo Genesis Slowking’s
Mind Games Pokémon Power or Vileplume ex’s
Block Powder Poké-Body can change that. I will point out
that since it has “ball” in its name, it can be searched out
in Unlimited with Apricorn Maker. Since this
characteristic is emphasized by one card, I went ahead and
treated it as a Trainer sub-type.
Abilities:
This is the new, slightly improved version of The Boss’s
Way. Just like that card, Rocket’s Poké Ball
let’s you search your deck for a Dark Pokémon.
Remember, if it’s italicized, I am using the term “Dark” to
refer to “Dark in name” and not “Dark(ness) Type” Pokémon.
Sadly, it doesn’t affect Rocket’s Pokémon, and can’t nab any
Basic Pokémon other than Dark Celebi. So
between that and being a “ball”, it’s ever so slightly
better than The Boss’s Way, which states it can only
nab Dark Evolutions. Depending on the situation,
this makes it better or worse than the similar “Team”
Trainers, Team Aqua Ball and Team Magma Ball.
Those two Trainers will always be able to grab a Basic
Pokémon with the appropriate team affiliation, and roughly
half the time can grab an appropriately affiliated Basic or
Evolved Pokémon. Rocket’s Poké Ball, on the other
hand, can always grab a Dark Evolution card… but can
only grab one Basic Pokémon (Dark Celebi) that
is rarely played and cannot grab any Pokémon that is capable
of Evolving. So in the end, it’s a good effect, but only
for specific decks. You trade off versatility for
reliability, which is usually worth it: consider how few
people play Pokéball, or how lame it would be if
there was a cost involved.
Uses/Combinations:
If you have a Dark themed deck, this will essentially
act as a variable Evolution. Other than giving you a peek
at your deck, it’s not as good as having another copy of a
particular Dark Evolved Pokémon, but it can be better
than having two copies of two different ones. If you get
this and all Dark Pokémon are either in prizes or in
the discard, it’s only good for peeking at your deck. If
you do have two Dark Evolution lines in your deck,
this will make things flow a lot smoother, especially when
combined with Rare Candy (if at least on of those lines is a
Stage 2). If you only have a single Dark Evolution
line, it’s still pretty useful, but it you have a non-Dark
line with it you might find Celio’s Network
more productive, in spite of being a Supporter, since it
would work for anything Rocket’s Poké Ball would,
plus any non-ex Evolution or Basic.
Ratings
Unlimited:
3/5-While what I said hold’s true for Unlimited, it’s rarely
going to be as useful. You have Computer Search
for exact searches, even though it requires a discard, and
you have immense draw power from Neo Genesis Cleffa
and Professor Oak. Still, there are several decks in
which it is a wonderful time and resource saver.
Modified:
3.5/5-I’ve seen some potent looking rogue decks using
Dark Pokémon in them, and this card is a nice, painless
way to help them. I wouldn’t max out on it, but two copies
sounds good.
Limited:
4.5/5-This
is actually hard to score right. It’s a fantastic pull
unless you had the misfortune of not pulling a workable
Dark Evolutionary line. I suppose there is a decent
chance for it to be useless, since a deck in this format
will have few Evolutions in them, but as they are often
single copies of multiple lines, its function as a “variable
Evolution” is even more important.
Summary
Rocket’s Poké Ball
is a straight forward Trainer. It is designed to let you
search your deck for a limited class of cards, Dark
Pokémon, in a painless manner. In a deck where they feature
prominently, this will almost certainly improve your set up
and speed up your deck. In a deck that doesn’t use Dark
Pokémon, or uses very few, it will be worthless or
nearly worthless, respectively.
Pity it
didn’t match the one spoiler I apparently misread. ;) If it
could nab Rocket’s Pokémon as well, it would have
made it a tad more versatile, and possibly made decks
oriented around Rocket’s Pokémon more feasible. Oh
well.
