EX Holon Phantoms: Fossil Fury

Now here’s a blast from the past—the fossil Pokémon return in the latest Pokémon TCG expansion, EX Holon Phantoms. But which of them can help you the most in your deck? In this first article, we’ll look at the abilities of these Pokémon, and in a later article, we’ll analyze the trainers and how useful they can be in a deck.

First up... the Pokémon that evolve from Mysterious Fossil: Omanyte, Kabuto, and Aerodactyl. Omanyte’s first attack, Collect, allows you to draw 3 cards from your deck, and its other attack, Water Arrow, does 20 damage to any of your opponent’s Pokémon for two of any Energy. Clearly, a versatile attack for any type of Energy is always helpful to get rid of a particular Benched Pokémon that’s been annoying you. By comparison, Kabuto can Confuse your opponent’s Pokémon for 1 Lightning Energy with its first attack and can do 20 damage for two of any Energy with its second attack, Shell Attack. Finally, Aerodactyl is also helpful—its Poké-Power allows you to search your deck for a basic Energy and put it into your hand. Its attack does 30 damage each turn, and when you combine this with no Retreat Cost, it becomes a consistent and supportive attacker.

But what about some the others? Lileep, for instance, evolves from Root Fossil. Its first attack can Poison the Defending Pokémon (always good for extra damage), and its second attack, Mud Shot, can do 20 damage for two of any Energy to further batter its opponent. Or consider Anorith, which evolves from Claw Fossil. It can do 20 damage for only 1 Metal Energy and up to 50 for three Energy, which is fairly powerful for a Stage 1 Pokémon.

Omanyte and Kabutops evolve into Omastar and Kabutops, respectively, and each has some clout in EX Holon Phantoms. Kabutops can do 30 damage to the Defending Pokémon and, if that Defending Pokémon is Knocked Out, Kabutops allows you to remove all Special Conditions and 7 damage counters from itself—hurtful and healing all in one! Further, it can do 40 damage and 10 more for each Lightning Energy attached to it, allowing for possibly insane amounts of damage!

Omastar does 30 with its first attack and can possibly Paralyze your opponent’s Pokémon; its second attack can do up to 90 damage for 3 Energy if you have Omanyte, Omastar, Kabuto, Kabutops, and Kabutops ex already in your discard pile. This is potentially helpful for catching up if you happen to be losing!

How about Cradily? It can put damage counters on your opponent’s Pokémon, as well as doing 20 damage, or it can do 50 damage and Poison the Defending Pokémon—a horrendous combination of heavy damage and Special Conditions! And finally, there’s Armaldo—its Delta Edge can do up to 70 damage for 2 Energy if you haven’t played a Supporter that turn, and Fossil Charge does 50 damage while giving you the option to do 30 damage to one of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon if you discard a Fossil Trainer card from your hand. This can lead to tremendous damage!