With the (most of the) Trainers and all of the Energy out of the way, it’s finally time to see some Pokemon again, and it starts off with Rocket’s Articuno ex. Like most Rocket’s Pokemon-ex, it was a bit strange, as it took Energy based on its normal type (in this case, Water), but was actually a Darkness-type. This let it use R and Darkness Energy, but took away almost any chance to pick on important Weaknesses. It’s a shame that it couldn’t use Ice Wing to KO a Magcargo or Blaziken, but at least being Darkness-type had a little use.
Rocket’s Articuno ex had 100 HP, which was probably the worst possible on a Pokemon-ex. While 100 was very good for Basic standards, Desert Ruins was very popular and chipped away at Articuno quite quickly. The Metal Weakness was quite manageable for the RS-On format, but when Metagross δ, Dragonite δ, and Raichu δ became popular later in the format it became a pretty annoying Weakness. The retreat cost was quite good at just 1, so it wasn’t hard to get Rocket’s Articuno ex out of harm’s way… Unless Desert Ruins was still hitting it, of course.
Rocket’s Articuno ex had a solid Poke-Body, Darkness Veil. If Rocket’s Articuno ex had any Darkness Energy attached to it, all effects of attacks except for damage from an opponent’s attack were nullified. This could prevent some random Special Conditions, but it didn’t prevent damage from Stadiums or Poke-Bodies and didn’t prevent Special Conditions from something like Flareon ex either. This made the Poke-Body better on paper than in practice.
Freeze Shield could provide some minor Energy acceleration. For a single Colorless Energy, it did 10 damage and let the user search their discard pile for a Water Energy card and attach it to Rocket’s Articuno ex. This could get Ice Wing powered up on the second turn, which could be quite nice, though it was less useful later in the game when Articuno would likely be taking much stronger hits.
Ice Wing was a very average attack that did 50 damage for 2 Water and 1 Colorless Energy. Its main draw was if it was powered up really early, as 50 at that point of the game was pretty good, but its usefulness declined with time. A lot of good cards could out-damage it in the middle and later parts of a game, several of which weren’t even Pokemon-ex.
Rocket’s Articuno ex was one of those cards that was okay, but okay wasn’t enough to be really competitive. Water decks were going to have better choices even in Basic Pokemon-ex, such as Suicune ex for its higher potential damage and Articuno ex for its ability to swoop in out of nowhere. That left Rocket’s Articuno ex without a deck to really work in, and while it could be adequate in a few places, other things always overshadowed it.
Rocket’s Entei ex really didn’t have much of a chance. It did have a strong sniping attack, but it required heavy Energy acceleration to really work. No matter when it was used, however, there was always a better alternative to do the same thing. That really left Rocket’s Entei ex without a chance, and having problems against multiple good decks just made it worse.
100 HP was not good at all for a Pokemon-ex, as it was affected by Desert Ruins and could be quite frail for something that gave up two Prizes. The Water Weakness could be a pain against Ludicolo, Vaporeon ex, or the occasional Suicune ex, but that Poke-Body could end up nullifying that so it wasn’t much of a problem. The retreat cost was relatively low at least at just 1, so getting it back to the Bench wasn’t too hard.
Rocket’s Entei ex had a really nice Poke-Body, Dark Condition. If Rocket’s Entei ex had any Darkness Energy attached to it, the Pokemon had no Weakness. This was really nice, as it prevented Water-types from getting 2 Prizes too easily. As Entei could be relatively frail for Pokemon-ex standards, any help was nice.
Energy Link did 10 damage for a Colorless Energy and let you search your discard pile for an Energy card and attach it to Rocket’s Entei ex. Interesting idea, but having other Pokemon get Energy to it was usually much better. Entei wasn’t the type of Pokemon to want to sit up front for long periods of time.
Volcanic Ash was really the only reason to consider Rocket’s Entei ex. For the cost of 2 Fire and 1 Colorless Energy, it did 60 damage to one of the opponent’s Pokemon. 2 Energy also had to be discarded, which balanced out the fact that it was 60 damage to anything, meaning sniping the Bench was completely possible. That was great, but there was that one nagging problem…
Other things did it far better. Blaziken decks in RS-On had Blaziken ex, which cost 1 more Energy to use but did 100 damage instead of 60. 100 was enough to hit a ton of important KOs while 60 wasn’t, which made it far superior. Blaziken ex also fit alongside normal Blaziken quite nicely. HL-On had Blastoise ex along with Holon’s Pokemon to accelerate, but Steelix ex did 100 there. It was just hard to fit Rocket’s Entei ex into a place where it wasn’t outclassed, and it wasn’t amazing to begin with. This was probably best left in the binder and not in a deck.
