Annihilape & Regirock ex From Japan's Team Rocket Pokemon TCG Set

Hi. In this post I cover the Pokemon cards Mankey, Primeape, Annihilape and Regirock ex from The Glory of Team Rocket Japanese set.

Mankey

This Mankey is a 70 HP Mankey with one retreat cost, Psychic weakness and a single attack. The Wild Kick attack is an all or nothing type of attack. It does 30 damage if you flip Heads. If you flip tails then this attack does nothing (0 damage).

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Primeape

Primeape is the Stage 1 evolution of Mankey. The Drag Off attack for one Fighting Energy switches in 1 of your opponent's Benched Pokemon to the Active Spot. Then you deal 30 damage to that new Active Pokemon.

Annihilape

Annihilape is the final evolution of Mankey. This version has 150 HP, two retreat cost and Psychic weakness. The Impact Blow attack requires 2 Fighting Energy to deal 160 damage. The drawback of Impact Blow is that you cannot use this attack again during your next turn (unless you switch it out and put it back into the Active Spot).

The Vessel of Rage ability activates if this Annihilape has 2 or more damage counters on it. Attacks from this Pokemon would deal 120 more damage to the opponent's Active Pokemon. The Impact Blow attack would deal 280 damage instead. Dealing 280 damage in theory is quite powerful. I just don't think this attacker is great as Stage 2 Pokemon are not that easy to put into play.

Regirock ex

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Here is Regirock ex. This does seem out of place in a Team Rocket set but you cannot spell Rocket without Rock.

This one has 230 HP, 3 retreat cost and Grass weakness. The Regi Charge attack for one Colourless Energy allows you to attach up to 2 Basic Fighting Energy cards from your discard pile to this Pokemon.

The second attack of Giant Rock requires one Fighting Energy and 3 Colourless Energy. Its base damage is 140 damage and does an additional 140 damage if the opponent's Active Pokemon is a Stage 2 Pokemon.

Because of its large energy cost requirements and low attack numbers, Regirock ex does not seem too playable in the competitive metagame. There are better Fighting attackers than this one.

Thank you for reading.