Clockwork Knight Link-1 monsters have historically always been used for broken combos, and Clockwork Knight fills this niche perfectly by being an easy-to-make Earth Machine monster
Also, as mentioned above, once either player plays a Counter Trap Card, no other card or effect can be chained except more Counter Traps
The Battle Partners set has arrived at the peak of a surge of interest in the Pokmon TCG, following on from the likes of Prismatic Evolutions and Surging Sparks, so the secondary market is currently a free-for-all
At the most basic level with the starter Pokemon this breaks down to Rock, Paper, Scissors Charmander (Fire) beats Bulbasaur (Grass) who beats Squirtle (Water) who in turn beats Charmander
Heck, even my 60 card decks only ran like 20-22 lands while my Average Mana Value was like 3.75+
3 Light Arcanine Neo Destiny $228.72 Arcanine Can Be Friendly Too Light Arcanine from Neo Destiny is one of the cutest renditions of the powerful dog Pokemon