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 Scyther ex
Set:
EX: Team Rocket Returns
Card#:
102/109
Type:
Grass
Stage:
Basic
HP:
80
ex
Rule:
When Pokémon ex has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2
Prize cards.
Weakness:
Fire
Resistance:
Fighting
Retreat:
C
Poké-Body:
Dual Armor
As long as
Rocket’s Scyther ex has any (G) Energy attached to it,
Rocket’s Scyther ex is both (G) and (D).
Attack#1:
(C) Bounce [10]
After your
attack, you may switch Rocket’s Scyther ex with 1 of your
Benched Pokémon.
Attack#2:
(CCC) Slashing Strike [40]
Rocket’s Scyther ex can’t use Slashing Strike during
your next turn.
Attributes:
Rocket’s Scyther ex is a Basic Dark Pokémon. Being
Dark is interesting: like the Team Magma/Aqua Pokémon, the
“true” type can be subverted by the influence of “Dark”
people. Being a Basic is great: you can put it into play
without any restraining conditions. I can’t confirm this,
as no scans of it will load, but Rocket’s Scizor ex
is supposed to Evolve from this card.
Rocket’s Scyther ex
has 80 HP. Even with the threat of Desert Ruins,
it could have 10 more HP and still be unaffected by said
Stadium. So the HP is definitely sub par. This is further
bad since we have a Weakness to Fire. With just 80 HP, most
Fire decks will find this an easy two prizes. At least this
card does have Fighting Resistance, which is bad. A lot of
anti-ex decks I have seen focus on Fighting. Unfortunately
for Rocket’s Scyther ex, many Fighting Pokémon
can ignore Resistance now. Finally, we have a Retreat Cost
of one. This is nice: you can afford to retreat with little
worry.
Abilities:
Instead of just making Rocket’s Scyther ex
a dual-type, they made it contingent on a Poké-Body and
having Grass Energy attached. Given that I already know the
rest of the card and feel Scyther got gypped, I can say this
Poké-Body is bad. Normally, I go on about how an option is
usually better than no option, but this isn’t really the
case. It should have just been a dual-type. The slight
advantage of not always being Grass (not applying Resistance
against most Metal Pokémon and a few “Dragons”) is not worth
the hassle. Either no Poké-Body, so that would wouldn’t be
vulnerable to certain game effects (Zzap comes to mind), or
one that let you shut off being Grass or just flat out
by-passed Weakness would have been better. So this must
have been meant as a limiting factor, and it was not needed.
The
attacks are a little better. Bounce is a tiny 10 damage for
one of any Energy, with the option of benching Rocket’s
Scyther ex after damage is done. So we have a
slight (at most another Energy of any type) discount. The
next attack, Slashing Strike, is poor. In exchange for not
being able to use that attack next turn, you get… an extra
10 damage? The attack only costs (CCC), which should yield
30 damage to begin with. Considering Bounce is mostly a
fall back attack, they could have at least given 50 damage.
And to
think, I haven’t even factored being in a Pokémon ex yet:
the abilities would be substandard even for a normal
Rocket’s Scyther. I had so hoped we’d see a permutation
of the original Rocket’s Scyther. I suppose Bounce
is a fair attack for a Pokémon ex.
Uses/Combinations:
Generic Team Rocket support cards. The new Rocket’s
Hideout effectively errata’s the old one, so it
can give a 20 HP bonus. Rocket’s Tricky Gym gives
you access to Neo Genesis Murkrow’s Feint attack, but
only requiring a single Energy. Rocket’s Mission
would draw four cards if you discard this. Since it is a
Dark Pokémon, it can use Darkness Energy to boost it’s
damage, and it can make use of R Energy, which provides (DD)
for a turn and +10 to damage… but is discarded at the end of
the turn. Yes, I took those last two things into account
when I read the attacks. Still sub par.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1.3/5-I think it is the only Basic Dark Pokémon that is
Resistant to Fighting. So I gave it a whole 0.05 bonus.
Since you have the old Rocket’s Pokémon here, I feel there
are enough that even a mono-Rocket’s deck can do better.
Also, it is needed for Rocket’s Scizor ex.
Modified:
2/5- Rocket’s decks can’t be as picky here, and Rocket’s
Scizor ex may be better here.
Limited:
2.5/5-It’s okay. I pulled one, but it didn’t really help me
out a whole lot. Basically it lucks out that it can use any
color of Energy and it can make use of a lot of the Dark/Rocket’s
combo cards in the set.
Summary
Rocket’s Scyther ex
is another sub-par Pokémon ex. It has HP that is a little
too low and abilities that would be considered poor for a
normal Basic Pokémon. It’s only saving grace is that it can
Evolve, something no other Pokémon ex or Rocket’s Pokémon
can do.
