Pokémon TCG: Top 10 Best Lapras of All Time

In this article, we'll show you the 10 strongest and most interesting Lapras in the history of Pokémon TCG, considering cards since the Wizards of the Coast era until today.

Lapras is one of the most popular gen 1 Ice/Water Pokémon because of its appearances in the anime and the classic video games titles of the Pokémon franchise.

10 - Lapras (Sun/Moon: Lost Thunder)

Its ability, Go For a Swim is excellent because it allows you to look at the top two cards in your deck and rearrange them in any way you want. In Expanded, we can play it with Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking TEF 145 or with Oranguru SSH 148's ability to swap a card in our hand for the card we put on top. We can also rearrange our deck with Pokédex BLW 98.

9 - Lapras (X/Y: Breakpoint)

This Lapras stands out because of its first attack, Errand-Running, which lets you look in your deck for any Trainer card you want, be it a Supporter, Item, Stadium, or Tool, and put it in your hand.

This version of Lapras is more of a support Pokémon, but this makes it ideal for the GLC (Gym Leader Challenger) format.

8 - Lapras (Diamond/Pearl: Great Encounters)

Once again we have a support Lapras. Its first attack, Carry In, lets you look in your deck for a Supporter card, a Tool card, and also any basic energy card. Then, you'll put them all in your hand.

Sadly, it isn't available in Expanded.

7 - Lapras (Sword/Shield: Brilliant Stars)

Raging Freeze is interesting as a counter-attack, considering its effect will Paralyze your opponent's active Pokémon if any of your Pokémon were knocked out on your last turn by attack damage. This will lock down your opponent and sort of "manage" their game plan.

6 - Lapras (Sword/Shield: Promo Card)

Its attack, Aqua Wash, is great to "sabotage" your opponent's energy setup, and somewhat "control" their board. It is also particularly effective against Pokémon that use more than 4 energy cards to attack because it lets you return two energy cards attached to your opponent's active Pokémon to their hand.

Of course, it isn't as effective against Pokémon that can attack with two or one energy cards, but against heavier Pokémon, like Charizard VMAX DAA 20, it may become quite a nuisance. It will force your opponent to spend resources like Welder UNB 189a.

5 - Lapras (Sword/Shield: Fusion Strike)

Splash Arch is a great "sniper" attack - first, it returns all energy cards attached to this Lapras to your hand. Then, you'll deal 100 damage to one of your opponent's benched Pokémon.

You can use it with Kyogre CRZ 36 and even Greninja V Union. Additionally, the best way to attach energy cards to this Lapras is by using Baxcalibur PR-SV 19 or Blastoise BCR 31.

4 - Lapras (Sun/Moon: Dragon Majesty)

This Lapras plays two roles: "sniper" attacker and brute-damage attacker.

Its first attack deals 20 damage to one of your opponent's benched Pokémon; its second attack, on the other hand, deals 70 base damage plus 10 extra damage for each Water energy card attached to it.

If we attach nine Basic Water Energy sv2 279 to this Pokémon, you'll deal 70 + 90 damage, which is 160 damage, and, if you use Supereffective Glasses ASR 152 to triple your weakness multiplier, you'll deal up to 480 damage!

3 - Lapras (Sun/Moon: Team Up)

This is the reprint of Lapras FO 10. This version got a serious upgrade: its second attack now deals 10 + 30 damage for each Water energy card attached to this Lapras. It is easy to deal a lot of damage this way if you use Baxcalibur PR-SV 19 or Blastoise BCR 31 to attach these energy cards to this Pokémon.

Once again, if we attach nine Basic Water Energy sv2 279 to this Lapras, we'll deal 270 damage + 10 extra damage, which totals 280 damage. This can knock out several VSTAR Pokémon and most VStar Pokémon in Expanded!

2 - Lapras-GX (Sun/Moon: Base Set)

In second place, we have Lapras' GX version from the Sun/Moon block.

Collect is just incredible - it draws you 3 cards from the top of your deck.

As for Blizzard Burn, it deals 160 damage, but you won't be able to use it the following turn. As we all know, if we retreat our Pokémon to our bench, we'll reset their effects, so we can retreat this Lapras to play around this negative effect.

One of the most efficient and cost-free ways to do this is by using Manaphy-EX BKP 32 as a support Pokémon because of its ability. It zeroes the retreat cost of any Pokémon you control, but they need to have Water energy cards attached.

Its GX attack, Ice-Beam-GX, deals 100 damage and Paralyzes your opponent's active Pokémon, which is the best "bad status" in the game. Note: as it is a GX attack, you can only use it once in the entire match.

There is, however, a way to go around this rule:

This card's second effect lets you reset this Lapras' GX effect and ruling if you discard 5 cards from your hand. This way, you'll be able to use its GX attack again! So we'll be able to Paralyze our opponent constantly with these cards in play.

1 - Lapras VMax (Sword/Shield: Base Set)

In first place, we have this VMAX titan. This Lapras deals an insane amount of damage: it deals 90 base damage + 30 damage for each Water energy card attached to it.

I once wrote an article on how to use this Pokémon in Expanded and take full advantage of its potential. Click here to check it out!

"Pokémon Searcher" Lapras

These Pokémon's first attacks are similar to "Call For Family", albeit slightly different. Both are excellent recursive Pokémon that help you set up your board early on.

What did you think of our list? Which Lapras do you think are the best ones? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section.

Thank you for reading!

See you next time!