Kabutops – Pokémon TCG Highlander

Kabutops holds its ground with an arsenal of lethal options to hold down your momentum while taking away more from your opponent.

Strategy Points:

• “Primal Shell” puts your opponent under Trainer lock if they do not pay the cost of discarding one every time they want to play another. This creates a dilemma for opponents, who often play only one copy of cards like Switch and Toy Catcher.
  • You can run Pokémon like Donphan, Tatsugiri, and Dunsparce to do damage for one Energy, then pivot into Kabutops to keep this Poké-Body active.
  • Vileplume‘s “Allergy Flower” lets you stack the cost and have your opponent discard two Trainer cards. You will discard one now, but this cost can completely lock down your opponent, especially after a Judge or Red Card play.
• “Luring Antenna” gives you full control of your opponent’s board by pulling up any Pokémon you want. Paired with “Primal Shell,” your opponent could be burning through Switch/Retreat cards fast.
  • Strong Energy, Grant, Vitality Band, Quagsire, and Fighting Stadium are all great options to pair with this attack. Potentially creating a stream of knockouts each turn.
• “Chop Up” puts a lot of pressure on the Defending Pokémon and any of their benched ones that have damage counters.
  • Stone Energy and Defender are great defensive buffs that can help with streaming pressure from this attack.
  • You can run Decidueye, Greninja, and/or Meowscarada to mark Pokémon that now can receive damage from this attack on the bench.
• Kabutops – Level X:
• “Ancient Canal System” grants heightened mobility for your Pokémon with Water Energy attached to them. This includes any Energy that would provide it, like Rainbow and Aurora.
  • This opens up for a lot of pivot combos mentioned earlier with “Primal Shell,” now with any Pokémon being allowed to work with this. Some attacks to consider are:
    • Exeguttor‘s “Blockade” / Gengar‘s “Poltergeist” / Sandaconda’s “Coil” / Dugtrio‘s “Dig Under” / Zygarde’s “Geostrike”
• “Sinister Scythe Sharpening” allows for a long-term damage increase on Kabutops and two of your other Pokémon. This pairs especially well with Pokémon that heal back the damage they deal, like Buzzwole, Conkeldurr, and Palossand.