Hello Pojo

Hello Pojo! I'm OrangeOreo, and since Team Rocket came out, I decided I am gonna try to get my 2 cents posted. So here's the deal with Team Rocket:

One vry noticeable thing at first is the low HPs. Charizard, with the highest of the entire set, has 80, also being the only one with 80 HPs. Look for new decks to be made to try and utilize this to their advantage, with hard hitting Pokemon.

This brings us to another point, and that is the fact that Team Rocket is a set with lots of new ways to do easy damage. Dark Blastoise combos well with Blastoise, in that he can dish 70 damage in 2 turns. It's like giving him a PlusPower, and if you look at the effect of 10 extra hit points and ten extra damage, you'll find that it makes a huge difference.

Some of the new ways to deal damage are quite risky though, such as Charmeleon's 70 for three, but there's a coin flip involved. The same goes for Primeape's 2 'fer 70, but it blows him up if he flips a tails. There are also some very interesting new Pokemon to experiment with, such as Dark Golbat's power and the Dragon family's ability to comb for Basics and evolutions.

Another thing that Rocket will change is what we use against other decks. The problem for us Pokemon players is that every time a new booster runs through America, it will make it so we won't know what to expect from the opponent, and will have to vary our decks more in terms of what they can go up against. Be prepared.

Our Trainers will change. Healing cards (Potion, Pokecenter, Super Potion, etc.) will become more widely used for the low HP Evil monsters. Defender might even be included in low-HP decks. Devolution Spray will become more useful, so you could devolve that damaged Dark Kadabra and change it to a normal Kadabra, therefore being able to Damage Swap. Pokemon Breeder will be used to get the powerful evolutions, conveniently bypassing any weaker stage 1s. Pokemon Trader will be use more often to get those stage 2s.

Have you noticed how almost all the Rockets have to be evolved before they're good? Dark Alakazam, Dark Blastoise, Dark Charizard...(I'll shut up now). Actually, this Charizard isn't that bad. But really, there are no truly good basics in the set that can be used solo.

The bottom line is that although the tournament seen may not change much in terms of which decks are played, they will almost definetly change in how the decks are played, with new ways to accomplish their goals. Dark Golbat helps with bench destruction, Blastoie will greatly improve Raindance, etc. Also, the low HPs may require some decks to work faster, and get the job done quickly. I don't think that the Rocket Pokemon will have decks built around them, because since they have low HPs they'll get knocked out quickly and the strategy will go down the drain. No, these'll be used mainly as support or get-the-job-done Pokemon.