Destined Rivals Collector Review: Team Rocket Chase Cards vs The Rest Of The Set
Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex owns the headline, but the set gets more interesting when you ask what survives below the obvious villain card.
Julian SatoAI market desk · human-reviewedSet Reviews / 10 min read
Set, product, and release reads that explain chase cards, sealed context, and the cards carrying attention.
Destined Rivals has the easiest elevator pitch in modern Pokemon: Team Rocket is back, Giovanni has a Mewtwo, and the rest of the set is trying to get a word in.
The official release framed the set around Trainer's Pokemon, with Team Rocket led by Giovanni and Mewtwo ex on one side and heroic pairings like Ethan with Ho-Oh ex or Cynthia with Garchomp ex on the other. That is a real structure, not a caption someone invented after staring at the booster wrapper too long.
It is also a trap. If Destined Rivals becomes only "the Mewtwo set," the rest of the binder starts to feel like storage. The better collector read is whether the cards around Mewtwo give the set a shape: villain shelf, champion counterweight, old-character memory, and enough smaller cards to keep the page alive after the headline card is already sleeved.
My read: Destined Rivals does have depth, but it is uneven. The Team Rocket shelf is stronger than the non-Rocket shelf. Cynthia and Ethan keep the set from becoming one-note. Misty gives it a softer collector lane. The lower-board Rocket cards add texture, but not every card with the logo earns the same attention.
- Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex is still the ceiling card, but it was slightly down week over week in the June 4 BinderDex snapshot.
- Cynthia's Garchomp ex is the strongest non-Rocket counterweight and has the better 30-day line.
- Team Rocket's Moltres ex and Team Rocket's Nidoking ex give the villain shelf real support below Mewtwo.
- Misty's Psyduck and Misty's Lapras matter because they keep the set from being only dark, loud, and villain-led.
- Team Rocket's Energy and Giovanni are binder texture, not headline cards.
- Prices are BinderDex Collectr Near Mint rows checked June 4, 2026.
Mewtwo Is The Thesis, Not The Whole Review
Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex 231/182 is the reason this set has a public face. PkmnCards lists it as a 280 HP Psychic-type Basic ex, a Special Illustration Rare by Iwamoto05, and an above-set-number card from Destined Rivals.
The card text even plays the part. Power Saver says it cannot attack unless you have four or more Team Rocket's Pokemon in play. That is a funny kind of villain loyalty check: Mewtwo is expensive, dramatic, and apparently still wants the group project staffed correctly.
But the June 4 BinderDex row is not a runaway line. It sits at $561.37, down $2.48 over seven days and up $15.28 over 30 days. That is still a commanding price for the set. It is not a fresh spike.
June 4 BinderDex row: Collectr Near Mint holo $561.37, down $2.48 over 7 days and up $15.28 over 30 days. It is the ceiling card, not the whole set.
That distinction matters. A set can have a card everyone wants and still feel thin below it. Destined Rivals has to prove it has more than one reason to be remembered.
Cynthia And Ethan Keep The Set Honest
Cynthia's Garchomp ex is the cleanest answer to the Mewtwo problem. PkmnCards lists it as a 330 HP Stage 2 Fighting-type ex, Special Illustration Rare #232/182, illustrated by HICO KIM. It gives the set a champion lane instead of trying to borrow Team Rocket's coat.
That matters for taste. Cynthia and Garchomp carry a different kind of loyalty than Giovanni and Mewtwo. The card feels less like menace and more like competence, which is a quieter flavor of expensive.
The June 4 row is better than the short-term Mewtwo line: $291.49, up $3.67 over seven days and $44.90 over 30 days. That does not make it the better card. It makes it the strongest non-Rocket proof that the set has more than one collector audience.
June 4 BinderDex row: Collectr Near Mint holo $291.49, up $3.67 over 7 days and $44.90 over 30 days. The strongest non-Rocket anchor in this read.
Ethan's Ho-Oh ex does a different job. PkmnCards lists it as a 230 HP Basic Fire-type ex, Special Illustration Rare #230/182, illustrated by Atsushi Furusawa. Its Golden Flame ability attaches Fire Energy to Benched Ethan's Pokemon, which gives the card an actual partner-system feel instead of only a pretty nameplate.
At $173.01, down $1.09 over seven days, it is not pushing the set upward this week. It still matters because it keeps Destined Rivals from feeling like a single villain wall. A binder page can only glare at you for so long before it needs a little gold light.
June 4 BinderDex row: Collectr Near Mint holo $173.01, down $1.09 over 7 days and up $1.79 over 30 days. A gentler counterweight to the Team Rocket shelf.
That is the set's strongest structure: Mewtwo as the villain ceiling, Cynthia as the champion counterweight, Ethan as the nostalgic warmth card.
The Rocket Shelf Has Better Depth Than Expected
Team Rocket's Moltres ex is the card that makes the villain shelf feel less dependent on Mewtwo. It is another above-set-number Special Illustration Rare, and it gives Team Rocket a legendary bird lane instead of forcing every villain-page argument through one Psychic-type ceiling card.
It sits at $123.88, up $10.89 over seven days and $24.49 over 30 days. That is stronger recent movement than the Mewtwo SIR itself. The card is doing support work, and for once "support work" does not mean being ignored in the group chat.
June 4 BinderDex row: Collectr Near Mint holo $123.88, up $10.89 over 7 days and $24.49 over 30 days. The best support signal below Mewtwo.
Team Rocket's Nidoking ex is right next to it at $124.40, up $8.11 over seven days. PkmnCards lists it as a 330 HP Darkness-type Stage 2 ex illustrated by Uninori, with Tainted Horn turning poison damage into something more theatrical than practical people should enjoy.
Crobat is lower at $75.77, but it also has a positive weekly move. PkmnCards lists Team Rocket's Crobat ex as a 310 HP Darkness-type Stage 2 ex by cochi8i, with Biting Spree spreading damage when it evolves. In taste terms, Crobat gives the Rocket shelf speed and nuisance. In market terms, it is still behind the heavier hitters.
June 4 BinderDex row: Collectr Near Mint holo $124.40, up $8.11 over 7 days and $20.61 over 30 days. Strong villain-shelf support.
June 4 BinderDex row: Collectr Near Mint holo $75.77, up $6.29 over 7 days and $6.02 over 30 days. Lower than Moltres and Nidoking, but still participating.
That is the good version of a themed set. The lead card is obvious, but the theme does not collapse after one slot. The Rocket logo is a costume until the card underneath earns the part.
Misty Gives The Set A Different Temperature
Misty's Psyduck and Misty's Lapras are important because they break the Team Rocket mood without breaking the set. PkmnCards lists Psyduck as an Illustration Rare by OKACHEKE, with a Flustered Leap ability that is exactly as Psyduck-coded as it sounds.
That is the point. Psyduck does not beat Mewtwo in the headline game. It wins a different room. It gives the set a confused little water lane, and a set with this much villain posture benefits from one card that looks like it misplaced the agenda.
Psyduck sits at $81.34, up $2.72 over seven days and $9.66 over 30 days. Lapras is lower at $43.38, with a nearly flat seven-day line and stronger 30-day context.
June 4 BinderDex row: Collectr Near Mint holo $81.34, up $2.72 over 7 days and $9.66 over 30 days. The softer collector lane in the set.
June 4 BinderDex row: Collectr Near Mint holo $43.38, up $0.04 over 7 days and $7.15 over 30 days. Not a headline card, but useful binder contrast.
I would not underrate that contrast. A set with only menace can become exhausting. Misty gives Destined Rivals a second visual rhythm: still collectible, still character-led, but no longer asking every binder page to look like a corporate retreat for villains.
Giovanni And Energy Are Texture Cards
The Team Rocket's Giovanni SIR and Team Rocket's Energy are not price leaders. PkmnCards lists Giovanni as a Special Illustration Rare Supporter by Krgc. Team Rocket's Energy is the regular 182/182 Special Energy, an Uncommon that can only be attached to Team Rocket's Pokemon and provides Psychic or Darkness Energy.
That makes Energy more useful as theme glue than as a trophy. It is the card that says, yes, the set is committed enough to give the villains their own fuel. The binder equivalent of branded office supplies, but better.
Giovanni is $36.46, down $1.13 over seven days. Team Rocket's Energy 182/182 is $0.81 in the reverse-holo lane, down $0.15 over seven days but up $0.19 over 30 days.
June 4 BinderDex row: Collectr Near Mint holo $36.46, down $1.13 over 7 days. Important to the theme, not a top price card.
June 4 BinderDex row: Collectr Near Mint reverse holo $0.81, down $0.15 over 7 days and up $0.19 over 30 days. Binder texture, not the chase shelf.
That is not an insult. Texture cards are how a set becomes a collection instead of a price board. Giovanni, Energy, Petrel, Ariana, Proton, Archer, and the smaller Rocket illustration rares are the cards that make the set's visual language repeat.
Just keep the hierarchy honest. The theme matters. The theme does not make every card equally interesting.
Final Read
Destined Rivals is larger than Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex, but Mewtwo is still the card that makes the set legible.
The positive read is that the support shelf is real: Moltres, Nidoking, Crobat, Cynthia, Ethan, Misty, and Giovanni all give collectors different ways to build around the set. The caution is that the depth is not even. Some cards add theme without adding much demand, and some non-Rocket cards have to work harder because the villain shelf is louder.
If I were building a binder page, I would not start by chasing every expensive card. I would start with a story: Mewtwo as the villain centerpiece, Cynthia as the rival power card, Moltres or Nidoking as the Team Rocket support, and one Misty card to keep the page from turning into a black-and-red wall.
That is the difference between a set with a chase card and a set with a point of view. Mewtwo gets the first sleeve. The rest of the set has to earn the page.
The cards that carry the collector argument: villain ceiling, champion counterweight, warm nostalgia, support shelf, and binder texture.
Keep watchlist moves separate from your binder.
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