Prepare for Trouble? Make it Double!
Transmission Begins:
‘ATTENTION Pokemon TRAINERS! There have been reports of criminal activity spotted across the world of Pokemon, battling trainers in an attempt to take their Pokemon and rule over all. From casual trainers to gym leaders and even members of the Pokemon Elite Trainer Teams have been spotted battling the ruthless, flimflam menaces. Sudden surprise attacks appear to be the motif of the organisation that authorities are calling-’ BZZZTTT
Prepare for Trouble? Make it Double!
Transmission Begins:
‘ATTENTION Pokemon TRAINERS! There have been reports of criminal activity spotted across the world of Pokemon, battling trainers in an attempt to take their Pokemon and rule over all. From casual trainers to gym leaders and even members of the Pokemon Elite Trainer Teams have been spotted battling the ruthless, flimflam menaces. Sudden surprise attacks appear to be the motif of the organisation that authorities are calling-’ BZZZTTT
Transmission Resumes:
Welcome, one and all! Fear no more as we have answered the call. To protect the world from devastation, to unite all people within our nation. To denounce the EVILS of truth and love, to extend our reach to the stars above. Jessie. James. Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light! Surrender now or prepare to fight!
Transmission Ends…
Team Rocket and many of the famous gym trainers or Pokemon rivals have returned to the Pokemon TCG within the aptly named Pokemon Scarlet & Violet: Destined Rivals set, bringing with it many iconic characters from the video game and shows for Pokemon Trainers to now play with in the card game. Especially featuring the infamous Team Rocket consisting of around half of the set and getting all of the spotlight on them from pack arts to the design of the Elite Trainer Box, as well as featured on most of the Illustration and Special Illustration Rare Art cards. The set is varied from across the generations with Pokemon and trainers across the first four generations with Cynthia, Ethan and Misty to the entire of Team Rocket represented with Pokemon all the way up to the modern day generations. Let’s take a look at what trouble is being stirred in this set.
The Trainers seek out their next opponent!
The Destined Rivals set consists of Japan’s Heat Wave Arena and The Glory of Team Rocket sets that were released prior, so many of the cards seen in these two sets are also seen here with the exception of a couple Illustration Rare cards that we will get to in shortly. Each trainer receives a collection of Pokemon and Trainer cards that represents a variety of the main six Pokemon that the trainers use as well as a collection of iconic items and stadiums, letting you customise your own trainer themed decks or add in your favourite trainers partner Pokemon. This includes many fan favourite Pokemon and characters across the games and shows; some of the Pokemon featured are Misty’s Pysduck, Ethan’s Ho oh and Cynthia’s Garchomp. Amongst these are Team Rocket’s Pokemon as well, featuring the likes of Team Rocket’s wobbuffet, Meowth and the infamous Mew Two.
It’s great to see support and strategies available for each of the trainer cards as each plays uniquely to each, utilising different strategies to achieve victory while also emulating the strategies of the Pokemon Trainers. Misty’s deck specialises in pure water type Pokemon, where you attempt to gather enough of your Misty’s Pokemon on top of your deck to do massive amounts of damage with Gyarados. Surprisingly, it is also the smallest of the Pokemon rosters as Misty only has four of her Pokemon available out of a possible six. In fairness, this may be to emulate the team we see Misty with in the original Pokemon game and we may see a couple more cards for misty come out over time, a Misty’s Togepi would be a great addition especially since it is her partner Pokemon in the anime. Ethan’s deck on the other hand is much more diverse and features a proper collection of six Pokemon with an emphasis on fire type Pokemon, featuring Ho oh EX which is able to attach up to two energy onto one of Ethan’s Pokemon that is on the bench. This ability works very well in tandem with the supporter card Ethan’s Adventure as it allows for the user to search out any mix of Ethan’s Pokemon and Fire energy from your deck into your hand. This setup also works very well with both Ethan’s Typhlosion and Slugma as they do increased amounts of damage based on the number of Ethan’s Adventure cards in the discard and the number of energy attached to them respectively.
Why do I hear boss music…?
But more is to come as you finally get to play as Cynthia and her Pokemon for the first time in since as far back as 2009 and with her return is also her abominable Garchomp EX! The devilish pair return in full force, accompanied by many of Cynthia’s other iconic Pokemon teammates from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. Amongst Cynthia’s roster are her Roserade, which provides an additional 30 damage for all Cynthia’s Pokemon, Milotic, capable of spreading damage across your opponent’s benched Pokemon, and last but definitely not least Cynthia’s Spiritomb. What makes Spiritomb particularly special is its attack increases based on the number of damage counters spread across all of your Cynthia’s Pokemon, for example Cynthia’s garchomp has a HP of 330 points that can also be increased to 400 HP thanks to the addition of a Pokemon Tool card called Cynthia’s power band that increases the Cynthia’s Pokemon this is attached to by 70 points. Cynthia’s Spiritomb’s attack does damage equivalent to the amount of hp lost from all of your Cynthia’s Pokemon, resulting in it being able to hit for over 400 damage in some instances when your team is injured.
Not only do you get to play as an infamous gym leader, you also get to play as the several of the leaders of Team Rocket and their Pokemon from the Video Games and Anime, with some cards featuring the one and only Giovanni. Team Rocket features a diverse catalog of Pokemon cards and Trainer cards that are either designed to boost the strategies of Team Rocket Decks or act as great new tech cards to add into existing decks in the format. There are quite a few options available to Team Rocket in the set, but to highlight a couple notable cards, Giovanni’s most known pair of Pokemon feature in the set as Nidoqueen and Nidoking EX letting players relive the original generation of Pokemon once more. Additionally from the first generation of Pokemon, all three of the legendary birds have been made into Team Rocket’s Pokemon as they come soaring into battle. But possibly the most iconic Pokemon in the Team Rocket set is none other than Team Rocket’s Mew Two EX. With possibly the highest amount of health for a Basic EX and an attack that can do up to 280 damage after discarding energy, it definitely makes it a tough Pokemon to battle. There do appear to be some limitations placed on Mew Two however, thanks to a unique ability, the Pokemon is unable to attack unless there are at least four Team Rocket Pokemon in play on your side of the field, possibly to slow down how quickly trainers are able to get attacks off with it after going second on the first turn.
The Nostalgia keeps coming
The artwork on many of the Illustration and Special Illustration Rare cards in the Destined Rivals set is truly spectacular, ranging from fun pieces that display or highlight the personality of an otherwise overlooked Pokemon, such as Electrike, to showing off the intricate details of one of the most sought after cards in the set, as seen in Moltres EX. The set is divided evenly into a selection of quality art designs for each of the archetypes featured: Misty can be seen either resting on the beach with lapras or going for swim with her Psyduck, Ethan is either battling with his Typhlosion or Ho oh outside of adventuring around on his Trainer Card, even Cynthia can be seen defending her title as champion with both Roserade and Garchomp surrounded by the cheers of a packed stadium.
Team Rocket steal the show again though as many of their Illustration cards feature members of Team Rocket alongside the Pokemon, from the lowly level grunts chasing down trainers with Crobat EX or Orbeetle, to each of the Team Rocket Bosses standing menacingly with notable partner Pokemon as seen with Archer and Moltres EX. Many of the grunts are seen dashing around in every time of location as they rummage around vents with Raticate, rest in the park with Weezing. Some of the bosses can be found enjoying moments with Pokemon by their side after a battle or intense session of scheming over how to achieve world domination: Ariana hangs out on the balcony of a skyscraper with her Pokemon partner Murkrow, Giovanni is even seen enjoying the company of none other than Meowth amongst the cozy atmosphere of a private study.
Outside of this, there are still many fun Pokemon Illustrations that are worth looking out for while collecting the set as best as possible; Rotom exploring the notes around a trainers computer, a close up of a worried Crustle, the dramatic incoming front kick of a Blaziken and even the cute greetings of a Kangaskhan and their child as they pass by a quagsire.
Team Rocket is blasting off again…!
Team Rocket is back and ready to challenge every Pokemon trainer they can find out there to a duel for their Pokemon and a chance at becoming champions.But with many of the most popular trainers coming out in the set as well, it’ll be a tough battle who gets crowned champion in the end. Many of the cards in the set will definitely find a home in the meta for the Pokemon TCG, but this may change later as we slowly approach a new format with the release of the latest entry in the Pokemon series, Legends Z-A and the return of Mega Pokemon to the TCG. This is a perfect set for collectors especially since there is a wide range of fan favourite Pokemon and trainers available, but it is best recommended towards those who are interested in collecting cards to play in with friends and at all forms of tournaments.
Now get on out there and catch them all, before Team Rocket can and escape out of sight.
Meowth, that’s right!
Zatu Review Summary
Zatu Score
85%
