Hi there. In this Pokemon TCG card overview I cover the card Raging Bolt ex from the latest Temporal Forces expansion set.
Raging Bolt The Ancient Pokemon
Raging Bolt is an Electric and Dragon Ancient Paradox Pokemon from the Scarlet Violet series and from the Indigo Disk expansion. It is said that is a relative of the Legendary dog Raikou. Some people nickname this Raging Bolt as long neck Raikou. What is that thing around its mouth area??!! A cloud?
The Card: Raging Bolt ex
This Raging Bolt ex card is one of the best cards from the Temporal Forces set. It is a big basic Pokemon ex card that has a whopping 240 HP. It is not common to have basic Pokemon ex cards or even basic Pokemon Vs to have 230 HP let alone 240 HP. It won't be easy to knockout this Raging Bolt ex in one hit. Attach an Ancient Booster Energy Capsule to Raging Bolt ex to boost its HP to 300HP!
The first attack of Burst Roar is okay. It could be good in the early game. Burst Roar allows the player to discard their hand and get a fresh new hand of drawing 6 cards.
Raging Bolt ex's second attack is something that cannot be ignored. For the cost of a Lightning energy and a Fighting energy you can discard any amount of Basic Energy from your Pokemon in play. The damage would be 70 times the number of Basic Energy cards discarded in this way. You can do either 70 damage from discarding one energy, 140 damage from discard two, 210, 280, 350 and so on. The highest damage you would want to do is 350 damage unless the opponent has a Pokemon past 350 HP.
Discarding energy is pretty costly so you do need supporting cards like Professor's Sada Vitality. Professor's Sada Vitality allows you to attach Basic Energy from the discard pile to your Ancient Pokemon and you can then draw 3 cards from the deck. Sandy Shocks ex is another Ancient Pokemon that can attach Fighting Energy from the discard pile to it once during your turn when your opponent has 4 prize cards or less remaining.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Base HP of 240 HP for a Basic Pokemon is really high.
- Attach an Ancient Booster Energy Capsule to give Raging Bolt ex 300 HP! This amount of HP is more into Stage 2 ex territory.
- There is no ceiling in its second attack of 70 damage times the number of Basic energy discarded for the attack.
- Ancient synergy with Professor's Sada Vitality
- Dragon type with no Weakness
Cons
- Three retreat cost
- Not ideal to discard energy to knockout single prize Pokemon.
- Dragon type: Cannot attack for weakness
- Can be hard to have Basic Energies available in discard if no Sandy Shocks ex ability available or Professor's Sada Vitality available
- Need two types of Basic Energy in the form of Lightning and Fighting Energy for the second attack.
The picture below is the Special Illustration Rare version of the Raging Bolt ex card. It has a nice art but I am sure it is expensive at more than 50 CAD. Maybe the price goes down but who knows when it comes to collectables.
