Card – Triumphant Light
Date Reviewed: March 14, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
Rotom (A2a 035) is a Basic, (P) Type Pokémon with 70 HP, (D) Weakness, (C) Retreat Cost, the Ability “Speed Link”, and the attack “Dash Attack”. Speed Link zeroes out this Pokémon’s Retreat Cost when you have a Pokémon named “Arceus” or “Arceus ex” in play. Dash Attack costs (C) and hits one opposing Benched Pokémon of your choice for 20 damage. Rotom is available as a ♦♦♦ rarity.
Being a Basic is the best. No waiting to evolve or making space for lower Stages. Access to Basic support1, with Poké Ball being a staple. There are anti-Basic effects1, but they see little to no competitive play. The (P) Type has solid support, while not being all that good at exploiting Weakness, however, neither of these are actually relevant to today’s Rotom, for reasons I’ll soon explain.
Rotom has 70 HP, which is okay for a non-evolving Basic. It’s a probable OHKO once your opponent has a half-decent setup, but at least it can survive a turn or two during the early game, and might force your opponent to expend resources in KOing it (versus something more fragile). (D) Weakness enables OHKOs from supporting (D) Type attackers, or some weaker main attackers without their full setup. A (C) Retreat Cost is easy to pay and zero out, but hardly matters given the Ability.
As long as Rotom is coexisting with at least one of Arceus (A2a 070) and/or Arceus ex (A2a 071, 086, 095, 096) on the same side of the field, its Retreat Cost is set to zero. Given its low printed Retreat Cost, this is a small but meaningful bonus, allowing it to function as a pivot Pokémon. That is something you can send up when something else leaves the field, knowing you can retreat it for free when you have your “real” Active ready.
Dash Attack cannot hit the opposing Active, which is why (P) Weakness doesn’t matter for Rotom. Dash Attack can be paid for with one of any Energy, making Rotom easy to splash into off-Type decks… though you should still be pairing it with Arceus or Arceus ex, as Dash Attack seems meant to prep a Benched target for Cyrus (A2 150, 190), before free-retreating into your main attacker. Who is probably Arceus ex.
Though Rotom can also come in handy if something really small, or really injured, is hiding on the Bench. Nothing in the game has less than 30 HP printed on it, but with other Bench hits or damage spread, you might be able to fake a OHKO. The main use, though, is softening something up for another attacker to finish. Either because your opponent is prepping their next Active on the Bench, or because you’ve got Cyrus handy for forcibly promote it next turn, for your other attacker to finish.
The only other thing to remember is that there is another Rotom, Rotom (A2 062, 164). Yes, there are multiple other cards with “Rotom” in their name, but nothing in the game (at least, for now) cares about “Rotom” in a card’s name. The 2 Copy Rule means each Rotom (A2a 035) you run is one fewer Rotom (A2 062, 164) you could run. Fortunately, neither card seems essential to the decks running them, so you could run one of each if you really wanted access to both. Odds are you’re just running one of one or the other, or neither.
Rating: 3/5
I did not think Rotom was worth it when I first saw it. Or when I saw it again. In fact, I had to see decks actually using it to accept that it was worth the effort. Not because of any surprise uses, either. I just didn’t think it did enough to justify its inclusion. Once again, I’m happy to have been wrong. That being said, Rotom is not seeing use in every Arceus ex deck. More of them probably skip it than use it, but enough do use it to earn it a review, and a solid score.
1Celestic Town Elder (A2a 073, 088), Combee (A2 017, 157), Poké Ball (P-A 005), and Shaymin (A2a 069, 081).
2Pokémon Flute (A1a 064) and Victreebel (A1 020)
3Gardevoir (A1 132) and Mythical Slab (A1a 065)
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