Hitmonchan – Pokémon TCG Highlander

“Just punch em!” seems simple enough, but Hitmonchan brings great damage with rewarding counter-play to what the opponent does on and off the bench.

Strategy Points:

• The “Energy to Damage Potential” ratio for “Counter Punch” is high in your favor. While the opponent could find other attacks or pass, the threat of this with even more potential modifiers like Tyrogue serves as a means to control the pace of the game.
• The damage range of “Heavy Punch” being from 30 to 80 (without Sky Field) is great. These numbers can easily be increased with Captivating Poké Puff, Mawile or Challenge! Hitmonchan also has access to a lot of Fighting type modifiers like Strong Energy, Grant, Fighting Stadium, Passimian, Stonjourner and Quagsire.
• “Speedy Uppercut” knocks out a lot of not fully evolved Pokémon. With the previous mentioned modifiers, it can start KOing a lot of fully Evolved Pokémon as well. A hidden strength comes from the pressure of leading with Hitmonchan: Going first lets you lead with a Counter Punch into a possible Double Colorless attachment next turn. Going second allows you to use “Speedy Uppercut” from the get-go. The opponent will most likely bench a lot of Pokémon in response, further helping “Heavy Punch”.
• With Tyrogue
• The stat bonuses granted with “Stages of Evolution” grants Hitmonchan an edge in offense, defense, and mobility. An important thing to note is Hitmonchan’s rare “Evolved Basic” status that allows it to get the benefits of Eviolite and Triple Acceleration Energy while not worrying about anti-unevolved strategies from Machamp.
• “Show Form Set” grants reliable Fighting Energy recovery for Pokemon like Golem and Barbaracle to stream more damage.
• Because there are three different Pokemon that evolve from Tyrogue, you can run 3 of them in the same deck. This allows for stacking “Show Form Set” while providing an abundant Evolution Tree that allows you to prize a few away and still have one or two in the deck, evolving into any “Hitmon Evolution” you want.
• With Hitmonchan – Level X
• “The Old 1-2” is a great way to lock-in a lot of knockouts. The usual combo is “Heavy Punch” + “Speedy Uppercut”, but there are times where ending with a “Counter Punch” is favorable. Damage modifiers like the ones listed above will double up with this Poké-Power.
• “Fists of the Elements” serves as a canvas for Hitmonchan to use to hit for Weakness. Pokemon like Smeargle and Ho-oh with Energy Switch help tremendously here. There’s a lot of versatility from the Special Conditions you can choose from as well. Weezing helps with Poison, Volcarona for Burn, Hypno for Asleep, Malamar for Confusion, and Shiinotic for any of them. Without combo support or needed damage from Poison or Burn, Paralysis tends to be the reliable go-to here.