Trainer and Ability Locks

Trainer Locks

Budew

THE most hyped card from PRE, and the hype was well justified. Item locking is an incredibly powerful effect, and to have it on a 0 Energy attack on an easily searchable Basic 1-Prizer is nuts.

It's not an exaggeration to say that Budew is format warping. It's the reason Stage 2 decks can't go hard on Rare Candy, and have to play Stage 1s and non-Item Evolution searchers like TM: Evo or Jacq.

Genesect

ACE Nullifier stops Trainers... just a very limited selection of them. (Plus some Energy too.)

Arven can get both Nest/Ultra Ball for Genesect and a Pokémon Tool for its Ability.

For more info on Genesect, check ACE SPECs.

Frillish, Jellicent ex

An option for Gardevoir ex decks. Frillish has an Item-locking attack, just like Budew. Jellicent ex has the Item (and Pokémon Tool) lock as an Ability, leaving it free to rack up damage with Power Press. However, your opponent can free themselves from Jellicent ex's Item lock by Bossing in something else, whereas Frillish's Item lock can't be removed once it gets the attack off.

Banette ex

Only mentioned here for historical reasons. It was played as an attacker with Gardevoir ex or Xatu. Banette LOR offered utility, evolving from a Basic you were already playing and recovering a Supporter from the discard pile. Jellicent ex is the better Stage 1 ex Item locker now.

Pokémon Tool/Stadium Removal

Jamming Tower, Tool Scrapper

These cards hate on Pokémon Tools in different ways. Jamming Tower preemptively stops TMs and damage-buffing Tools, and can act as a Stadium bump. Tool Scrapper beats Genesect cleanly.

Both these cards can KO damaged Pokémon that are being kept alive by HP-buffing Tools. Most often this means a Scream Tail/Drifloon holding a Bravery Charm from Gardevoir ex.

Dragapult ex/Dusknoir is the most common deck that uses Jamming Tower. Gholdengo ex is the most common deck that uses Tool Scrapper.

Chien-Pao

The Tauros CG/Marshadow UNB/Pumpkaboo EVS of SV Block.

The main use for Chien-Pao is to bump Area Zero Underdepths when your Bench is filled past its normal capacity so you can discard liabilities on it (e.g. Squawkabilly ex, Noctowl).

Why not just play another Stadium with a different name to bump AZU? The answer is, if you need to bump AZU but have it back up again in the same turn, you can't bump AZU with a different Stadium, then play another copy of AZU, since you can only play one Stadium per turn. You can, however, bump AZU with Chien-Pao, then play another copy of AZU.

Raging Bolt ex is the most common deck that uses Chien-Pao.

Pokémon with Stadium-Discarding Attacks

Blazing Destruction is very rarely used.

Ability Locks

Ability locking isn't as prevalent in SV Block as in other formats (think Cessation Crystal, Power Spray, Garbotoxin), but it still exists.

All Pokémon with Ability locks only work when they are in the Active Spot, so switch-ins/outs can counter them. Notably, Iron Bundle can use its Ability even if Iron Thorns ex or Flutter Mane is Active. (Iron Thorns ex only blocks non-Future Rule Box Pokémon, and Flutter Mane only blocks the Active.)

If you're here from formats older than BW Block, note that Ability locking in modern formats works slightly differently. Ability locking does not merely prevent the use of Pokémon's Abilities; it straight up removes them. Pokémon whose Abilities got removed will be able to damage Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex, will not take damage from Froslass's Freezing Shroud, and will not boost Scizor's Punishing Scissors damage.

Team Rocket's Watchtower

This card shuts down a lot of things: Fan Rotom, Squawkabilly ex, Ditto, Noctowl, Dudunsparce, Pidgeot ex, Eevee [ex], Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex. If you're not playing any of those cards yourself, Team Rocket's Watchtower is worth considering.

Flutter Mane

Played in Gardevoir ex to break the mirror. It accomplishes this by:

Trapping an opposing Gardevoir ex after Counter Catcher-ing it in. Midnight Fluttering removes Psychic Embrace and makes them unable to attach Energy from the discard pile to pay for Retreat Cost. They need to attach from hand, or get another Gardevoir ex out, to escape.
Disabling Jellicent ex's Item/Tool lock.

Klefki

Some decks rely on Basic Pokémon's Abilities to draw or search (Fan Rotom, Squawkabilly ex, Teal Mask Ogerpon ex, etc), and Mischievous Lock can bring that to a grinding halt.

Klefki can shut down an opposing Fezandipiti ex's Flip the Script so they can't draw on their turn after you KO one of their Pokémon on yours, but you must do this while ending your turn with Klefki in the Active Spot. This means getting the KO with an Ability (like Dusknoir's), or an attack that switches your Active Pokémon out to Klefki (like Croconaw's), or Klefki's own attack.

Joust has some utility, and is cheap enough to be paid for when you need it.

In the post-2025 Worlds format with Psyduck MEP legal, Klefki was used as a counter for it so you could pop your Dusknoirs. On the turn you wanted to pop, you'd attach Jet Energy to bring Klefki up and disable Psyduck, pop Dusknoir, then discard the Jet Energy to retreat to your attacker.

Iron Thorns ex

Initialization shuts down a huge number of Abilities, from card drawing/searching to Energy acceleration.

Despite the awesome power of Initialization, Iron Thorns ex is a flawed Pokémon. It's a terrible attacker: Volt Cyclone is expensive, does low damage for its cost, and requires you to hit another Energy drop to continue attacking next turn. If you only plan on using Iron Thorns ex as a temporary roadblock and switch to a better attacker later, you will need switch cards due to its horrendous 4 Retreat Cost (which is even higher than its attack cost).

That said, Quad Iron Thorns ex did win 2024 Worlds, though that was a different format with Double Turbo Energy in it. In SV Block, some Crustle builds use it to improve the Gardevoir ex matchup — their plan A of walling does not work because Drifloon and Scream Tail bypass the protection, so they go for plan B of stopping Gardevoir ex's Ability instead. (Gardevoir ex can counter this in return with Klefki or Flutter Mane.)

Initialization is not a universal Ability lock like Muk [ex]'s Toxic Gas. Future or non-Rule Box Pokémon are unaffected.

The Latias ex/Dusk Trap

If you have Flutter Mane, Klefki, or Iron Thorns ex, you can stall by Bossing up an opposing Latias ex and keeping it stuck there with its 2 Retreat Cost and no Ability. Your opponent will need another mobility card or Energy acceleration to get it out in 1 turn.

Flutter Mane can trap Dusclops/Dusknoir in a similar fashion.

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