Rampardos & Great Tusk Deck Guide

Strategy Overview

Open Cranidos or Great Tusk and start applying Fighting pressure immediately. Use Rare Candy to skip into Rampardos on turn two, then chain Head Smash for one-energy 130-damage swings while Great Tusk's Shaking Stomp spreads chip across the bench. Pokémon Center Lady and Sitrus Berry mitigate Head Smash recoil, while Cyrus and Sabrina convert chip into knockouts.

Gameplay Video

Early Game

Bench Cranidos and Great Tusk, attach Fighting energy, and start applying pressure with Shaking Stomp. On turn one with Rampardos & Great Tusk, your priority is finding Rampardos or Great Tusk so you can start attaching Fighting energy on schedule. If you open with the wrong basic, search aggressively with Professor's Research or Poké Ball before committing energy you might waste. Bench every basic you intend to evolve as early as possible — Rampardos and Great Tusk need time to come online, and an empty bench turn one usually loses you the tempo war. Preserve removal Supporters like Cyrus or Sabrina for the mid game; using them on turn one is rarely worth the lost draw. Against fast aggressive openings hinted at by your unfavored matchups (rampardos's head smash recoils 50 damage to itself), bench a pivot so a surprise knockout on the active does not strand your evolution line.

Mid Game

Rare Candy into Rampardos and start chaining one-energy Head Smash knockouts while healing the recoil with Pokémon Center Lady. By the mid game Rampardos & Great Tusk should have Rampardos powered and at least one back-up attacker on the bench. This is the window where the deck's core engine — Rampardos, Great Tusk, Furfrou — has to actively trade prizes. Sequence your attacks so each knockout sets up the next: leave a damaged opposing Pokémon active for Cyrus, or use Sabrina to drag out a benched threat before it can power up. Track your prize trade carefully. Rampardos & Great Tusk leans on the strengths "Rampardos hits 130 damage for a single Fighting energy" and "Great Tusk is a strong Basic Pokémon with Shaking Stomp pressure", so push the board state that maximises those lines rather than auto-attacking the active. If you fall behind on board, pivot to a single-prize attacker and use this turn to rebuild instead of giving up a multi-prize knockout.

Late Game

Close with alternating Rampardos and Great Tusk swings, using Cyrus and Sabrina to force unfavorable prize trades. Late game with Rampardos & Great Tusk is about closing on your terms. Count your remaining prizes and the opponent's, then build the exact attack sequence that wins before they can stabilise. If you are ahead, deny the comeback: knock out their last realistic attacker or use Sabrina to strand a benched Pokémon that cannot retreat. If you are behind, look for an OHKO line using Rampardos — Rampardos & Great Tusk typically wins from behind by chaining a single huge turn rather than grinding back evenly. Be ready to spend every remaining Supporter and energy on the closing turn; holding resources "just in case" after the prize race is decided is the most common way to throw a winning position with this deck.

Mulligan Guide & Opening Priorities

The ideal opener for Rampardos & Great Tusk is Rampardos + Great Tusk in hand with a way to attach Fighting energy on the first turn. Mulligan decisions in Pokémon TCG Pocket are limited, so focus on what you keep: prioritise basics that evolve into your key attackers, plus at least one draw Supporter like Professor's Research or Iono. Hold onto Rare Candy or stage-up pieces even if they look dead early — they enable the explosive mid game this deck depends on. Preserve removal cards (Cyrus, Sabrina) for when the opponent has a damaged or vulnerable bench rather than spending them on the first available target.

Common Mistakes

• Benching Rampardos too early without protection, letting the opponent snipe your main attacker before it is powered.
• Attaching Fighting energy to a Pokémon that will not attack this game instead of building toward your win condition.
• Spending Cyrus or Sabrina on turn one for tempo when they would have closed a prize two turns later.
• Evolving on curve into Rampardos without first checking whether you have the energy to attack the same turn.
• Ignoring the weakness "Rampardos's Head Smash recoils 50 damage to itself" and not boarding a pivot or single-prize back-up in unfavored matchups.
• Auto-attacking the active Pokémon instead of using Sabrina/Cyrus to set up the knockout sequence the deck actually wants.
• Burning Professor's Research with a full hand and losing the cards you still needed for the closing turn.