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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

Greenzan goose	Kabutops Lv.56 MD   Welcome back to pokemon COTD, today’s COTD today is one of the two new fossil stage 2 pokemon Kabutops. I tried to get an interview with Kabutops but… Come on people! It’s just a piece of paper! Geez… Anyway, the HP is decent for a stage 2 now days, the weakness isn’t that bad (Really, what good card other than Kricketune is grass?) Primal Stare is nice; making your opponent unable to play trainers as long as Kabutops is active is great. But the attack is slightly lacking, not much out of the ordinary (The 10 damage to all of your opponent’s damaged bench pokemon is nice though.) But here is where we run into a problem; Kabutops has to be active for its poke-body to work. And with an attack like that and no smaller attack, he doesn’t really like to attack much…   Pros – Nice poke-body Exclusive evolution line (Fossils have so much support.)   Cons – 2 much retreat cost Exclusive evolution line (Fossils have lots of restrictions attached to them.)   Modified – fair, but won’t take any cake anytime soon. 3.5/5   Limited – Really, who plays trainers much here (Other than that lucky kid who pulled out 20 some trainers…) 3/5   Meh, life sucks, =P   “When life gives you lemons make apple juice and let the world wonder how.”
Jigglypuff13	6/10 Kabutops Lv. 56 (MD)   Kabutops has been receiving a lot of hype and once you have a look at the card, there are two obvious reason as to why. The first is that brilliant Poké-Body, Primal Shell. Kabutops is, as you hopefully can already guess, was destined to be a main attacker due to the Flygon Ex (DF) like attack (which I'll talk about a bit more later), but Primal Shell made it even more likely to find the active position. Stopping trainers only when active doesn't sound like a lot, but when you consider that this slows down every Stage 2 deck out there, it starts to become a lot more interesting. This is because it shuts down Stage 2 decks staple, Rare Candy. Being able to shut that one card down then means you can lay massive smack down to underpowered Basics and Stage 1's. Even if your opponent isn't playing a Sage 2 deck or Rare Candy, then there are other popular cards that are stopped by Primal Shell, including the ever popular Night Maintenance and all of those all Trainer engines people have thought of to combat GG decks with. If you really want to stop our opponent from ever setting up, then Ampharos (SW) is nice idea o combo with Kabutops. While Kabutops stays active to stop normal Trainers, Ampharos sits on the bench to put one damage counter on each of your opponents Pokémon every time your opponent plays a Supporter. This extra damage also goes great with Kabutops's attack (again, more on that later). Of course, Poké-Powers can also be used to set up, so if you would prefer your opponent not to use any, then you may also want to consider Areodactyl (MD) for Power punishment. All three of these combined produces a rather nasty lock down for your opponent. Primal Shell also makes mirror matches an interesting prospect, with the first Kabutops stopping the other player from ever playing any more Fossils from their hand, which makes for an interesting game ahead.   Now, the attack, and Chop Up is, as I've already said, very reminiscent of Flygon Ex and Psychic Pulse. That's because it is for 10 less damage and Fighting energies needed instead of Psychic. This attack basically creates the main attacker potential and playability of he card. However, the draw back is your opponents benched Pokémon need to be damaged first before Chop Up will damage them further. There are several ways of doing that. The first is to use Ampharos (SW) and/or Aerodactyl (MD) like I said earlier, plus they combine to create that awesome lock as well. The second is to try a spreader that attacks to attack first before using Kabutops to spread more with it's attack. Prinplup (DP) and Vibrava (SW) are prime examples of Pokémon that can do this successfully, plus both have rather interesting Stage 2's (admittedly, Empoleon is rather more interesting than Flygon, no matter which two you are comparing). The final way is to use a Poké-Power that can spread. If it wasn't for MD, we wouldn't have any to use, but thanks to MD, we do with Zapdos (MD). While Sheet Lightning is a flip, it's still a worth while option due to being a Basic and actually a Poké-Power. Once you've spread enough damage with Kabutops and friends, you may want to find a way of using that spread to create more mayhem. Omastar (both MD and PK) come to mind immediately. Both let you devolve a set of your opponents Pokémon, with MD doing it in a Poké-Power, while PK does it in an attack. However, MD does only devolve the bench, while PK devolves all of your opponents Pokémon. It doesn't matter too much about which one you use, just so long as you time it right with the amount of spread Kabutops has done to either KO important threats or just everything your opponent has.   There are counters to Kabutops. The first set are designed to stop Primal Lock, which are Cessation Crystal and Lati-Lock. Both of these are rarely seen, but due to the ease of teching Lati-Lock in decks and the increase of evolved Poké-Bodies that are dangerous (like Glaceon Lv.X (MD) and Areodactyl (MD), plus others), people are going to consider using Lati-Lock in there decks. With 120 HP and only a +30 Weakness to Grass, Kabutops is likely to survive a long time unless you come across a Leafeon Lv.X deck. Leafeon Lv.x is likely to OHKO Kabutops, but others have a bit more work to do. GG need to use Gallade (SW) and to flip 3 prizes to OHKO Kabutops, and that's considering that Gallade doesn't have DRE attached as well. Gardevoir (SW) 2HKOs Kabutops, but has to not have DRE attached again. Magmortar (SW) needs 6 energies attached to OHKO Kabutops, but that could be very difficult to pull off quick enough to make it worth while. Skittles needs 6 different basic energies attached to Ho-Oh (SW) to do the OHKO. Garchomp (MT) decks need to attach a Grass energy to Garchomp plus need a Plus Power or Strength Charm to OHKO Kabutops, which might be quite difficult to pull off. Most other decks have to settle for a 2HKO, including other Eeveelutions decks, Empoleon (MD) decks and T2 decks. Quicktune may have a favourable match-up if they use Lake Boundary, but that's maybe the only T2 deck that can OHKO Kabutops, plus it's not really a very good one.   Ratings:   Modified: Kabutops has probably one of the most devastating Poké-Bodies in the game, happily shutting down a lot of Stage 2 decks speed, plus just being disruptive against most decks. Chop Up's 70 for 3 is alright, and the effect is nice if you can cause the spread first to cause the effect. It's a survivable card as well, but Lati-Lock shuts the main attraction of the card off. Also, it is a Fossil, and while there are some nice Fossil specific cards like Fossil Excavator and Holon Fossil, it's still quite hard to get out, needing to draw into a Dome Fossil or one of those previously mentioned cards to get it out. Still worth while to use as an attacker and in Fossil decks. 4/5   Limited: If you can get a good line of Kabutops plus a Fossil Excavator or two, then this could be quite useful. There are few spreaders in this format, so the attack is likely not to spread, but Primal Lock is nice. People may use very few Trainers in their decks, but the ones they do are often useful to them (even if it is only like an Energy Search) for one reason or another, so Primal Lock can be devastating. You do need to get it out though, which might be quite tough. 3.5/5
Alazor	Kabutops (Majestic Dawn) So it can shut down trainers with Trainers with Primal Shell, but it does not shut down the newer stadiums and supporters. It can be shut down by Lati-lock and Muk (fossil) and Cyclone Energy possibly. Chop Up would have been better if its attack was fighting colorless colorless instead of fighting fighting colorless, 70 damage for 3 energy is pretty standard- with a possibility of doing damage to the bench. It seems like could combo with Zapdos (Majestic Dawn), Aerodactyl (fossil), Aerodactyl (Majestic Dawn), Ampharos (Secret Wonders), Garchomp lv. X , Omastar (Majestic Dawn)  and most obviously anything disruptive like Team Galactic's Wager (Mysterious Treasures) or anything that can spread damage. Maybe power him up quickly with Swampert ex? Modified 3.5/5 I haven't seen a lot of these around, so I can't tell, but it should work well with at least some of those cards. Unlimited: 2.7/5  Trainer denial is still good, just not as good a Vileplume ex. It's attack is slower, but will work probably easier with Aerodactyl (fossil). It's attack cost is what hurts this the most, but it's hp is good. It's retreat cost is not too bad. Limited: 4/5 Play lots of fossils if you're playing this guy, so you can stall a bit. Kabuto and Helix fossil help a lot. E-bay Price ~$3-6
Profesa Magma New Jersey State Champion 07-08 2nd - North East Regional 07-08 And much more…	Kabutops was one of the highly anticipated fossil pokemon from MD.  It's pretty good, but might not be strong enough to make the cut in competitive play.  There is certainly a lot of potential here, but there a lot of problems that need to be solved in order for this to work.              Kabutops has very strong pokebody which can really disrupt your opponent.  The ability to stop Rare Candy, Night Maintenance, and the rest is a strong ability.  This strategy has worked in the past with decks like MewTric, which emphasized using Manetric’s non-supporter stopping attack.  Also, Houndoom from UF was fairly popular during its time.  So there is a chance that this body could be competitive.              Kabutops also has a pretty good attack.  The ability to deal good base damage and spread damage is always strong.  This could combo with other damage spreaders to be very effective in setting up future KOs.              The downsides to this card are also important factors.  It is a stage 2, which is hard to get into play, and it is also a fossil evolution, which makes for a unique challenge.  There are fewer ways to get Kabutops into play because, it’s harder to get fossils into play than normal basics.  A standard “Call For Family” won’t work hear.  Also there’s the +30 weakness and 2 retreat cost which is pretty standard, but could have been less.             Overall, not a bad card.  There’s lots of potential, but many problems too.   Modified: 7.5/10 (3.75) Unlimited: Good here, get it out T1 and stop other people’s trainers. 8/10 (4.00) Limited: Not as many trainer’s here, but getting out a stage 2 will usually win you the game. 7/10 (3.50)