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
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Name:
Rocket’s Hitmonchan
Set:
Gym Heroes
Card#:
11/132
Type:
Fighting
Stage:
Basic
HP:
60
Weakness:
Psychic
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(F) Crosscounter
If an attack does damage to Rocket’s Hitmonchan during your
opponent’s next turn (even if Rocket’s Hitmonchan is
Knocked Out), flip a coin. If heads, Rocket’s
Hitmonchan attacks your opponent’s Active Pokémon for double
that amount of damage. (If Rocket’s Hitmonchan takes 20
damage, it does 40 damage to that Pokémon.)
Attack:
(FFC) Magnum Punch [50]
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Attributes:
Its name makes Rocket’s Hitmonchan a “Rocket’s Pokémon”.
Unfortunately, no specialized support for Rocket’s Pokémon
was ever released. With three exceptions, if it is supposed
to be a Basic Pokémon that doesn’t Evolve and works for Team
Rocket, it had “Rocket’s” in the name. The exceptions are
Team Rocket’s Meowth (which I believe predated these sets),
Rocket’s Scyther (which didn’t have an Evolved form until
after the card was already out), and Dark Celebi (perhaps it
was an error?). Basically, this card gets all the downsides
of being an “owned” Pokémon and none of the perks.
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EX: Team Rocket Returns SPOILER ALERT!
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If the translations of the Japanese cards are correct, the
new set contains both new Dark Pokémon and new Rocket’s
Pokémon! More importantly, the Team Rocket team-specific
Trainers and related effects refer to both Dark Pokémon and
Rocket’s Pokémon! If this holds true, it means Unlimited’s
old Rocket’s Pokémon might finally see some love. ;) That is
why I wanted to look at these cards, to get them into
people’s minds! If the translations hold true, add one to
the Unlimited score due to the new combos, including a
Supporter that works like the Team Aqua/Magma Schemers, a
“Ball” type Trainer for Dark and Rocket Pokémon, and two new
Stadiums. The one is like the old Rocket’s Hideout, but
includes Rocket’s Pokémon, pumping this ‘chan up to 80 HP.
The second gives all Dark and Rocket’s Pokémon access to an
extra attack.
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*************END SPOILER ALERT!**************
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Rocket’s
Hitmonchan is a Fighting Pokémon. This is a mixed blessing:
there are several Fighting-weak Pokémon that otherwise are
rather strong in Unlimited. Unfortunately, Tyrogue just
does that job better, being an early WotC that attacks for
30 on a flip with one of any Energy. Rocket’s Hitmonchan
has 60 HP, which is passable for a Basic Pokémon that
doesn’t Evolve. It’s not great, but most other Basics and
even many Evos can’t OHKO unless they are already “set-up”.
Moving on to the bottom stats, this ‘chan has the
traditional Psychic weakness (bad but no longer horrid), no
Resistance (the worst kind), and a Retreat of just one
(second best and useful).
Abilities:
Before Babies started to skew things, Crosscounter was a
pretty sweet attack. Now, before the Babies, some other
parts of game play were different than now. First, I speak
of the original Rocket On! Modified. In that format, you
had just a little less than we have now to switch out the
active Pokémon. Second, we had no Pokémon ex, so nothing
had more than a base 120 HP. Long story short, anything
that could OHKO Rocket’s Hitmonchan had to be both Fighting
Resistant and have at least 100 HP to only risk
serious damage from ‘chan. If your opponent tried to
whittle away your HP with small attacks, you had a decent
chance of KOing them via the accumulated successful
Crosscounters and a Magnum Punch, should you have chosen to
attach the Energy needed to ‘chan. Magnum Punch is a good
attack. It would be nice if there had been a third attack
on the card and/or more HP to allow Magnum Punch to reach
maximum usefulness, but as is, you pay for 40 damage and
deal 50. So you could use ‘Chan as a stalling opener (Test
your luck!) and if they tried to ignore it, you could devote
the resources to set up a solid attack.
Fast forward to modern Unlimited. Crosscounter is much less
useful. In spite of saying “Rocket’s Hitmonchan attacks”,
some cards don’t trigger (like Focus Band and the Baby
Rule), but others do (Erika’s Dratini’s Strange Barrier
Pokémon Power). As is, this still renders Crosscounter less
useful. Besides, someone can just GoW twice to remove the
effects of Crosscounter. Magnum Punch requires a lot of
effort to safely pull off in this format.
Uses/Combinations:
Magnetic Storm means that you can completely ignore
Resistance. Focus Band since your HP is low. Other than
that, there’s not a whole lot going for this card.
Ratings
Unlimited:
2/5-If you have Slowking out then your opponent has to deal
with Crosscounter. Sneasel does not like Crosscounter.
Team Aqua’s Walrein does not like Crosscounter. Suicune ex
does not like Crosscounter. No Psychic Pokémon that hits
for damage likes Crosscounter; Mewtwo ex would hit you for
140, so there is no way for it to soak the 280 coming back
at it! Even four Defenders and a Buffer Piece would be
unable to save it. Only Focus Band, which is that way for
just about everything. If this card had a little more HP,
or an extra attack, or just something to help it and not so
many other cards, it might be useful TecH. Might’ve been
fun to have for Modified:
Rayquaza ex hits for 80 damage!
*flips coin* Heads! That’s two prizes for me, just one for
you.
-_-
Limited:
4/5-If you see it, take it. Your opponent has little chance
of getting something that counters it well. Of course, its
low HP means that several weaklings can still overwhelm it.
And most importantly, if you are running a Limited Event
with this, you are either insanely rich or insanely “lucky”
that this stuff is still available for that in your area.
Summary
Rocket’s Hitmonchan was a solid Pokémon back
in the days of Rocket-On! Modified, but in the modern
Unlimited format, he’s mainly fun, flippy TecH to annoy the
modern Raindance deck or careless player of most other major
deck types.
