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!

Name: Rocket’s Entei

Set: EX: Team Rocket Returns

Card#: 97/109

Rarity: Pokémon ex

Type: Darkness

Stage: Basic

HP: 100

Weakness: Water

Resistance: None

Retreat: (C)

Poké-Body: Dark Condition

As long as Rocket’s Entei ex has any (D) Energy attached to it, Rocket’s Entei ex has no Weakness.

Attack#1: (C) Energy Link [10]

Search your discard pile for an Energy card and attach it to Rocket’s Entei ex.

 

Attributes: As always, it is good to be a Rocket’s Pokémon.  It gives you access to a lot of built in combos, and only a few cards are now denied you for the change.  Being a Pokémon ex means you lose two prizes instead of one if Rocket’s Entei ex is KO’d.  It is a Darkness-Type Pokémon.  Again, I wish they would have made it dual-typed, but at least if it gets stuck with only one type, it’s Darkness, which means nothing Resistant, a small number of Pokémon that are Weak to it, and most important of all, the ability to get extra damage from Darkness Energy.

 

Rocket’s Entei ex is a Basic Pokémon.  This is the best: long as there is room, you can drop it into play.  It has 100 HP.  For a Pokémon ex, this is not a happy number.  It more or less breaks even with 90 HP, so it is acceptable, but due to the large amount of Desert Ruins being played, there are many times when this thing will seem like it only has 90, 80, sometimes even less HP as those damage counters from said Stadium pile up.  Fortunately, there are many excellent Rockets’ Stadiums to run as counters.  For the record, I wouldn’t honestly expect much more HP anyway: I can’t recall a basic Pokémon ex that has exceeded 120 HP, and most of the Evolutions that do get saddled with a double Weakness.

 

Now we come to the bottom stats.  Water Weakness is not a happy thing: Water may not be a dominant type in Modified, but it is pretty strong, and in Unlimited, it is vying for dominance.  Still, as we will see later, Rocket’s Entei ex has a way of dealing with this.  The Resistance is the worst: nothing.  At least is harder to nail down a Resistance for Fire Pokémon so it doesn’t seem so bad (in terms of card craft).  Obviously in game terms, it is the worst, as you would have gained some advantage from Resisting a type.  The final bottom stat is the near perfect Retreat of one: as long as you wouldn’t be discarding something really important, it’s usually no problem to retreat.

 

Abilities: Like most of Rocket’s Pokémon ex, Rocket’s Entei has a Poké-Body and two attacks.  The Poké-Body is a mixed bag: no Weakness is the best Weakness, and the Poké-Body grants that.  Unfortunately, it’s only when you have something providing (D) Energy attached that this is so.  This card requires a good deal of Fire Energy to use its second attack, so it’s a pain to worry about keeping non-Fire Energy attached.  Also, having a Poké-Body opens you up to certain counters.  Still, it is beneficial.

 

The first attack, Energy Link, helps this card a lot.  To explain how, let me jump to the second attack: Volcanic Ash.  Volcanic Ash requires (RRC) to attack.  So that means you’ll want a smaller attack to use while powering up.  Second, Volcanic Ash requires a discard of two Energy cards, meaning you’ll really want another method for getting Energy attached.  Is Volcanic Ash even worth using?  Yes, barely.  You pay for 60 damage; the initial (RRC) should yield 40 and the (CC) discard should pay for 60.  Then you get a nice non-Evolving Basic bonus: you can nail any of your opponent’s Pokémon in play.

 

Wait, isn’t this a Pokémon ex?  Indeed it is, and that “bonus” appears to be where the Poké-Body (already mentioned) and the first attack come in: Energy Link does 10 for (C), which breaks even, then it has a very rare effect in the world of Pokémon: it allows you to attach an Energy from the discard pile to Rocket’s Entei ex.  Wait, why is that rare?  Because there is no restriction about Special Energy.  Send Rocket’s Entei ex up, drop a Fire Energy on it, reclaim a discarded Darkness Energy.  Sweet.  It is also a nice, inexpensive opening attack that of course allows you to attack one turn sooner than normal if you had an Energy card in the discard.

 

Uses/Combinations: In Modified, there may be a good deck for this, but the best I can come up with right now it TecHing one copy into a typical Blaziken/Pidgeot/Delcatty style Firestarter deck.  Why?  It can hit the bench with fewer resources than Blaziken ex, and thus usually do it sooner.  It’s okay that it does 40 less damage if its first few attacks are almost all against low HP Basic Pokémon.  Also, especially for the few people who are considering abandoning Rayquaza ex, this could help handle Water decks a little better: out quickly, and able to snipe most Pokémon that are still being Energy Rained on.  For that matter, it could also help against other Firestarter decks since it can hit a Pokémon that has gone to the bench to recharge its Energy.  Remember, you can have this ready to go on your second turn without a Firestarter Blaziken: you just need discard an Energy card with TV Reporter, Rocket’s Mission, or Energy Draw Delcatty.  Okay, so that is harder than it sounds since you can’t play a Supporter first turn.

 

Ratings

 

Unlimited: 3/5-As usual, you can try sticking it with stuff like Dark Vileplume (and perhaps Harvest Bounty Venusaur if you feel lucky) and have a fun gag deck that stands a change at winning some games, but it will only be some games, and not the majority.

 

Modified: 3/5-Once again, I can’t help but think there is something the majority of us players are missing.  However, for now all I can do is find use for it as so-so Firestarter TecH.

 

Limited: 3.75/5-Good here, if you plan carefully.  If you can set it up safely and they have nothing nasty out yet, you can get three quick kills, possibly game from it.  Sniping benched Pokémon is amazing here.  The only catch is that you need to make sure it’s safe to do so.

 

Summary

Rocket’s Entei ex, like so many of the Rocket’s Pokémon ex taunts us with unrealized potential… or maybe not.  Use it only for gag decks in Unlimited, maybe a little bit of TecH for Modified, and keep searching for ways to break it.  Who knows, maybe the only real problem is that, right now, it’s being overshadowed by so many overpowered cards.

 

I don't like this card at all.  The weakness to water I can understand, and a retreat cost of one is not too bad, but the Poké-Body only helps when you're facing a water deck and you still have to have a dark energy attached.  With the first attack for one colorless, you can get back an energy card from your discard pile and do 10 which can speed this card up a bit.  But the problem is early game you need to have an energy card in your discard pile to grab, and late game while you use your attack to grab an energy card your opponent can do a lot of damage if not knocking out Rocket's Entei ex in one hit.  As for the second attack, discarding two energies to do 60 damage is just not worth it, even if it is to any of your opponent's Pokémon. It will probably take out any of your opponent's normal basic Pokémon in one hit, but since a lot of your opponent's Pokémon will have more hit points, it would probably take two to three shots to KO it.  Not to mention Desert Ruins will devastate this card.  The bottom line is leave this card in your binder; it's not worth playing, and it's just going to be a couple of easy prizes for your opponent.

 

Unlimited: 1/5

Modified: 1/5

Limited: 2/5