Team Rocket

Team Rocket in the games

Team Rocket is the villainous team of Pokémon Red and Green (1996) and Red and Blue (1998), a criminal gang that steals and exploits Pokémon for money and power. Its boss, Giovanni, is also Viridian City's Gym Leader, which the player discovers on returning to Viridian for the eighth and final Badge.

In Gold, Silver and Crystal, set three years later, the remaining members try to revive the organization in Johto, taking over the Goldenrod Radio Tower in a bid to bring Giovanni back. The Executives leading that effort were given the names Archer, Ariana, Proton and Petrel in the HeartGold and SoulSilver remakes.

Team Rocket in the anime

The anime's face of the organization is the trio of Jessie, James and their talking Meowth, field agents who start chasing Ash's Pikachu after it beats them at the Viridian City Pokémon Center and keep trying to steal it through Kanto, the Orange Islands, Johto and beyond. They are not anime-only: Pokémon Yellow and Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! put the trio into the games too.

Pokémon under Team Rocket's name

Because Team Rocket is an organization, its cards claim a wide spread of Pokémon rather than one team. Mewtwo and the legendary birds keep coming back: Rocket's Moltres in Gym Heroes, Rocket's Mewtwo and Rocket's Zapdos in Gym Challenge, Rocket's ex versions of Mewtwo, Articuno, Moltres and Zapdos in EX Team Rocket Returns, and Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex, Moltres ex, Articuno and Zapdos in Destined Rivals. Destined Rivals also added Team Rocket's Crobat ex, Nidoking ex and Persian ex and a roster that stretches from Rattata to Tyranitar.

Team Rocket on cards: from Dark Pokémon to Destined Rivals

The Team Rocket expansion (April 24, 2000), the English release of Japan's Rocket Gang, was the first set themed on a villainous team. It introduced Dark Pokémon: evolved Pokémon such as Dark Charizard, said to have been raised by Team Rocket without proper care, which usually hit harder but carry less HP than the normal versions. The set also introduced secret cards numbered beyond the set total and the first holofoil Trainer and Energy cards.

Gym Heroes and Gym Challenge (2000) added Rocket's Pokémon such as Rocket's Scyther, Rocket's Mewtwo and Rocket's Zapdos beside the Gym Leaders' own cards. EX Team Rocket Returns (November 8, 2004) followed with a run of Rocket's ex Pokémon and Trainer cards such as Rocket's Admin. and Rocket's Hideout. Later cards were sporadic, Team Rocket's Handiwork in Fates Collide (2016) among them, until Destined Rivals (May 30, 2025) built a set around the team again, with Team Rocket's Pokémon and Supporters for Giovanni, Archer, Ariana, Proton and Petrel. Ascended Heroes (January 2026) printed Supporters for the same five characters and added more Team Rocket's Pokémon.

How collectors approach Team Rocket cards

The vintage side centers on the original Team Rocket set and its Dark Pokémon holos, the Rocket's holos from the Gym series and the Rocket's ex cards of Team Rocket Returns. In the modern sets, Destined Rivals gave Special Illustration Rares to Giovanni and Ariana among the Supporters and to Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex, Crobat ex, Moltres ex and Nidoking ex among the Pokémon, and Ascended Heroes added a Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex Special Illustration Rare of its own.

Cards to know

• Rocket's Mewtwo (Gym Challenge #14)

  A Gym Challenge holo that put Mewtwo under Team Rocket's name in 2000.

• Rocket's Zapdos (Gym Challenge #15)

  A Gym Challenge holo of one of the legendary birds printed as Team Rocket's.

• Rocket's Scyther (Gym Heroes #13)

  One of the Rocket's holos in Gym Heroes, the first set of Owner's Pokémon cards.

• Team Rocket's Giovanni (Destined Rivals #238)

  The Special Illustration Rare of the Supporter card naming the organization's boss.

• Team Rocket's Crobat ex (Destined Rivals #234)

  One of the four Team Rocket's Pokémon ex given a Special Illustration Rare in Destined Rivals.

• Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex (Destined Rivals #231)

  A Special Illustration Rare of the Pokémon Team Rocket has claimed on cards since Gym Challenge in 2000.