Deck Discussion #13: Garchomp (DP-SV)

[Blue Thunder]

Did I ever mention that I am a procrastinator? And did I ever say that my laptop has been acting crazy lately? *looks around, and sees nothing* Ah well, I guess I'm telling you now. Those two things are why this is REALLY overdue, but I have now finally gotten around to posting this....

Anyway, I hate 2 Garchomp SV votes, and 1 Luxsol vote, so I guess Garchomp SV wins. The next discussion should be posted around September 14th (to make up for this one being late), buuuttt....you never know when something might happen. And again, please send in your votes!!

OK, enough of my rambling, and onto the discussion:

Garchomp SV is mainly focused around draining your opponent's energy cards. Garchomp has an attack that does 120 for 3, a pretty nice ratio, but its damage output goes lower for each energy card attached to your opponent's Active Pokemon. Garchomp does come with a Body that helps it, however. Whenever your opponent attacks Garchomp, one of their energy cards gets returned to the hand. As you can imagine, this helps Garchomp's damage output.

Two cards commonly seen with Garchomp are Spinda (SV) and Weavile (SW). Spinda is used to continue the energy-manipulation theme, while Weavile allows Garchomp to dish out even more damage with its Power and Special Darkness Energies. It also provides as an energy accelerator.

Now...onward to the discussion! =D (And hopefully the next one will come when it is supposed to =p)

 

[PokeKid Brandon]

First off the energy goes to thier hand not the discard pile so for that reason it is not a very good deck.

 

[The Reaver]

First off the energy goes to thier hand not the discard pile so for that reason it is not a very good deck.

Well, that doesn't make it a bad deck. I believe there was a rule somewhere that stated that you could only attach one energy per turn. =P

Letting Garchomp take a hit then switching to Spinda to discard another Energy isn't a bad idea, either.

 

[°C.]

First off the energy goes to thier hand not the discard pile so for that reason it is not a very good deck.

So giving yourself an energy advantage while negating their energy attachment for the turn whenever Garchomp is attacked is a bad thing?

Last I looked, it was a very good thing. Especially for Garchomp's Main attack, Speed Impact.

°C

 

[PokeKid Brandon]

I am just saying that it is easy to get around and the 1 energy does not really hurt you beacuse you can just attach it next turn.

 

[ttarisgodzilla]

It stops them in their tracks. they will never proceed in attaching more NRG to other pokemon. they will always be stuck in the same scenario, attaching to the active to continue attacking, or attach to the bench for the future, allowing you to waste their active. F-T-W my friends.

 

[PokeKid Brandon]

YOu seem to be forgetting that most of the format can attack for 1 energy nowadays.

 

[Blue Thunder]

First off the energy goes to thier hand not the discard pile so for that reason it is not a very good deck.

Thanks for the catch. I wasn't too familiar with the card...should have checked the scan or real-card copy first.

 

[PokeKid Brandon]

Thanks for the catch. I wasn't too familiar with the card...should have checked the scan or real-card copy first.

No body's perfect. I jsut wish that it was that way. Then this deck would be REALLY good.

 

[DarthPika]

You don't seem to realize how much constantly being behind on energy attachments is. Ya, so you just re attach it next turn. I hope for your sake that your deck can survive on an attack that uses 1 energy, all game...

The main weakness I see with the deck is it's somewhat slow, and not overly difficult to tech against. Other than that, it's a really solid deck option for BRs.

 

[PokeKid Brandon]

I mean I am not saying tha his body is bad. It is actually very good I just don't think that it can keep up with the speed of the format.

 

[don()shinobi]

Well, there's a problem with this kind of deck.

Several cards in decks nowadays require very little energy to attack. Take Blaziken FB Lv.X, Luxray GL Lv.X, Kingdra(if it's still played), and even Rampardos, for example. Assuming that Energy Gain is on the SPs, they each only need a single energy to attack. Garchomp's Power returns a single one to the hand. You can attack Garchomp first, then it attacks. Then you re-attach that single energy, drop a Crobat G(if you used Kingdra or Luxray), attack, and boom, it's dead. And then they'll struggle trying to attach 3 energies onto their other Garchomp.

It may be a decent rogue, but I fail to see how Garchomp can fit into the metagame's top tier.

 

[°C.]

Well, there's a problem with this kind of deck.

Several cards in decks nowadays require very little energy to attack. Take Blaziken FB Lv.X, Luxray GL Lv.X, Kingdra(if it's still played), and even Rampardos, for example. Assuming that Energy Gain is on the SPs, they each only need a single energy to attack. Garchomp's Power returns a single one to the hand. You can attack Garchomp first, then it attacks. Then you re-attach that single energy, drop a Crobat G(if you used Kingdra or Luxray), attack, and boom, it's dead. And then they'll struggle trying to attach 3 energies onto their other Garchomp.

It may be a decent rogue, but I fail to see how Garchomp can fit into the metagame's top tier.

Well, one of the most useful tech for Garchomp, Nidoqueen, can help with Garchomp's survivability and prolong its Poke-body usage.

It also has a Lv.x that can "Restore" a fallen Garchomp w/three energy the next turn for free. Now, if you build a Garchomp deck based off of restoring a Garchomp after its K.oed, it would be as fast/faster than taking time powering it up with something like Weavile. However, Weavile is an option to power up Garchomp in the beginning for the right cards in your discard later to "Restore".

°C

 

[ttarisgodzilla]

YOu seem to be forgetting that most of the format can attack for 1 energy nowadays.

oh, one NRG attacks... now i'm scared. MY TURN! say hello to 100 damage. bye bye to nearly every SP played. and if that ain't enough i'll tech in my dragonite FB, one NRG+E gain FTW.

 

[ragingphantom]

YOu seem to be forgetting that most of the format can attack for 1 energy nowadays.

oh, one NRG attacks... now I'm scared. MY TURN! say hello to 100 damage. bye bye to nearly every SP played. and if that ain't enough I'll tech in my dragonite FB, one NRG+E gain FTW.

And theorymon strikes again! Every time a one-energy attacker hits chomp, it don't usually die, and the energy used for the attack goes back to the hand. Chomp KO's for 120 in return (assuming they only had one energy out before the opponent attacked). I got a prize for your failed KO. And I got to attach to a benched Chomp/Gible before the KO. You KO in return. I pull up Gible/Chomp, Candy/BTS if needed, attach upper, and KO you again. Supposing if the opposing deck is SP of course.
You do damage, I KO in return until I run out of Uppers or I can't search out Chomp (both of which are likely and possible).

SO I say the deck has its ups and downs. It can be built various ways and blah blah blah not gonna repeat other things that people said.

I will also say this. If the card discarded the energy, then it could actually be kind of worse. It could setup the discard pile just the way the opponent needs it to be for their strategy to work well (ie Kingdra). So I think they made the card return to the hand so you could reattach the same energy (also making claydol that much less useful), therefore wasting your turn of attachment except for the attack, as the energy was basically a bounce energy. (also I think if one wishes to talk about "what if" scenarios with garchomp if he discarded that they should make a thread and not clog this thread with hypotheticals. JIMO)

 

[ttarisgodzilla]

Thank you raging phantom. your synopsis of the subject at hand has been more than thorough. (LOL) but your point is good, and well explained. the only way i can see someone getting more NRG laid down is through a flint's. but then if i'm running chomp, i'll also be using dragonite FB FTW.

 

[Master of the Six Kings]

This card pretty much owns as a fodder. Only Dialga shuts off the body from being effective. Playing it with Weavile makes this thing an animal. You can also EASILY put Machamp in the same deck, meaning they can't attach Energy Gain without getting OHKO'd, making his body a lot better.

Highly undervalued card.

 

[Soul of Blaziken]

The fact of him getting rid of energy rocks. That alone prevent's you from getting bench set-up although it won't be too bad for some sp and also a Garchomp C Lv.X Tech can really damage a garchomp deck.

 

[Celebi23]

Solid card, I don't like the high energy costs. I love the idea of playing mirror with this though lol. I don't think it will go and take any major tournaments, but it'll definitely take some BRs, Cities and maybe a couple States. The fact that it has 130 HP makes it that much more viable though, considering the format relies on cards having 120- HP (Beedrill for 120, Gengar 60+60 or 30x4, Flygon Power Swing for 110, Infernape for 100, Luxray 60+60, etc.) The only problem is if you can't get a Garchomp active in the first couple turns a lot of decks will have enough energy to last for awhile. And without Weavile it can't really get around Fainting Spell.

 

[Ariadosguy]

Celebi, the high energy costs can be somewhat neutralised by Upper Energy.

I haven't actually tried this card, but I like the concept.