Destined Rivals is the latest set for the Pokémon Trading Card Game, continuing Journey Together's trend of featuring cards that belong to trainers and characters from the video games. However, the newest set puts a large focus on Team Rocket, the iconic villains from Gen 1 that have remained persistent antagonists in Pokémon media. That not only means characters like Giovanni get to shine, but also Pokémon associated with Team Rocket - like Mewtwo, Wobbuffet, and Persian - receive some standout cards.

As usual, the latest set includes a Build & Battle Box available as a pre-release item at hobby stores. Also, as usual, there are four promo cards inside the Build & Battle Boxes. Once again, this is a Level 2 deck, which has become standard for these pre-release items. For the purpose of this review, I received the Build & Battle Box with Giovanni and Mewtwo on the cover and Team Rocket's Tyranitar was the foil promo card inside.

Destined Rivals Build & Battle Box Promo Cards

Team Rocket, Misty, & Ethan Get To Shine

There are four promo card options in each Destined Rivals Build & Battle Box:

• Team Rocket's Tyrantar
• Team Rocket's Mimikyu
• Misty's Gyarados
• Ethan's Typhlosion

Each promo card is stamped with the logo from the Destined Rivals set and comes with a unique foil design, but the base cards are also available to get (without the stamp) in regular booster packs. The Trainer's Tip card that is included within the deck also provides some helpful gameplay tips and highlights cards that players will (ideally) find most useful.

What's Included In Destined Rivals' Build & Battle Box

Highlights From The Ready-To-Play Deck

No matter which Build & Battle Box you get, this is what's included:

• 1 ready-to-play deck of 40 cards
• 1 of 4 unique foil promo cards
• 4 booster packs
• 1 code card for Pokémon TCG Live
• 1 instruction booklet

The deck I received was built around Fire- and Fighting-type Pokémon cards, and included a focus both on Team Rocket's Tyranitar and Ethan's Typhlosion evolutionary lines. The Special Energy card, Team Rocket's Energy, provided extra Energy to any card belonging to Team Rocket, while the er card, Ethan's Adventure, allowed me to search my deck for a combination of any 3 cards belonging to Ethan. It also included several Fire and Fighting Energies, along with Item cards like Rare Candy, to help me on my way.

For my Fire- and Fighting-type deck, Ethan's Adventure was helpful, and Ethan's Quliava comes with the "Bonded By The Journey" ability that lets you grab one of those er cards from your deck. Depending on the luck of the draw, this meant I could stack up with Fire-type Pokémon fairly quickly, and evolve Ethan's Cyndaquil all the way up to Ethan's Typhlosion without too much effort.

I had less luck with Fighting-types, despite the Trainer Tips card recommending trying to get out Team Rocket's Tyranitar as quickly as possible. Again, it's random by the draw, but I had poor luck getting Rare Candy to let me skip an evolution and Team Rocket's Pupitar remained elusive for chunks of time whenever I used this deck. However, the Fighting-type cards use Colorless Energy for several attacks, which meant it was easier to use them than some of the Fire cards, so there's definitely an upside here.

Destined Rivals Pulls & Card Highlights

Final Thoughts On The Build & Battle Box

In addition to a deck and promo card, the Build & Box contains four booster packs of randomized cards. I had solid luck with card pulls from these packs - I received Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex in my first pack, Team Rocket's Persian ex in my third pack, and the Rapidash Special Illustration Rare in the fourth pack. Rapidash's Ability, "Hurried Gait," means you can draw a card once per turn, which is helpful and one of the highlighted abilities in the Destined Rivals set. The regular card also has this ability.

The Destined Rivals deck I received in the Build & Battle Box was easy to use and learn, and thoroughly enjoyable.

Otherwise, I managed to get a fairly even spread of Common, Uncommon, and Rare cards. Although Destined Rivals' focus is on Pokémon belonging to Team Rocket or other characters, I'd estimate about half the cards I pulled belonged to a trainer and fit within that umbrella. However, the majority of those trainer cards were Team Rocket's Pokémon. The cards I pulled most often were Arrokuda (3 times) and Marnie's Liepard (3 times), although I pulled multiples of Smoliv, Team Rocket's Rattata, and Arven's Maschiff as well.

Cards-wise, Destined Rivals is a nice set that feels nostalgic with its Team Rocket focus but manages to not be completely stuck in the past (there are plenty of later-gen Pokémon included in the set). The deck I received in the Build & Battle Box was easy to use and learn, and thoroughly enjoyable. Despite its Level 2 status, it's a mostly beginner-friendly deck that shouldn't give newbies to the Pokémon Trading Card Game any problems, even if the finer points may take a little more time to learn.

A copy of Pokemon Trading Card Game: Scarlet & Violet - Destined Rivals' Build & Battle Box was sent to ScreenRant for the purpose of this review.