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Garchomp/Altaria, Need some form of Tank/Damage early on

W

Wrynku

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Hi everyone! After the State Championship this past Saturday, I was able to see some big strengths and weaknesses of my deck. My biggest weakness (currently) is during the early turns of a match, most specifically turns 1-3. With no "big basics" to tank or any way to do Turn 1 damage, I am at a HUGE disadvantage against a lot of decks during those early turns. I was hoping to get some ideas about what I can do to either protect myself during those turns or to go on the attack with some nice early damage. I was thinking about adding Terrakion, Landorus EX, or Rayquaza

A few quick notes in case they help:
I do not own more catchers D:
Went 3-4 during the tournament (53rd out of 109)
3 of 4 losses were to Keldeo Decks (usually in they were ready to attack turn 2-3 and just catcher'd my bench)

General Strategy: Garchomp can do 60 damage for 1 energy (plus it makes the opponent discard a special energy) or 100 for 2 energy (but you must discard 2 cards from the top of your deck). Each Altaria adds 20 damage to Garchomp, making his Mach Cut hit for 80-120 damage for 1 energy or Dragon Blade hit for 120-160 damage. Gabite's ability allows me to build quickly, as I can go into my deck to grab any dragon pokemon and put them in my hand. I try to get a turn 2 Garchomp as much as I can to tank/damage as early as possible, but it's not a guaranteed thing.

Here's my current Deck List. Thanks!!

Pokemon
4 Gible (DR 87)
3 Gabite (DR 89)
4 Garchomp (DR 90)
3 Altaria (DR 84)
3 Swablu (DR 104)

Trainers
2 Colress (PS 118)
3 Professor Juniper (DE 98)
4 N (DE 96)
3 Skyla (BC 134)
1 Pokemon Catcher (EP 95)
2 Max Potion (EP 94)
3 Rocky Helmet (BC 133)
2 Tool Scrapper (DR 116)
1 Random Receiver (DE 99)
3 Escape Rope (PS 120)
3 Level Ball (ND 89)
2 Rare Candy (DE 100)
2 Super Rod (NV 95)
1 Dowsing Machine (PS 128)

Energy
5 Fighting Energy (BW 110)
2 Water Energy (BW 107)
4 Blend Energy WLFM (DR 118)
 
alright, edited and added a general strategy. I see issues with the 3 cards I mentioned adding:

Terrakion / Landorus EX: Not dragons, so I can't grab with Gabite and they do not benefit from Altaria. Could be difficult to get out in the first 2 turns and might just waste space at that point

Rayquaza: Requires Lightning Energy (which is in the blend energy) to do first attack but needs fire for Shred, plus I have to discard 2 cards to use the 1st move for only 40
 
Rayquaza was only really good for the mirror match and easy attacking. Lando EX is the way to go tbh. It is very good against Darkrai and Eels and for early damage. A Landorus EX/Garchomp/Altaria T4 at CT states yesterday in Seniors.
 
With Lando EX I would need to get him out early to max his potential. What are some good ways to do that? Would Heavy Ball or pokemon communication work better (Heavy Ball would ONLY get Lando).

I'm going to sound really dumb for this question: what's T4? *everyone facepalms*
 
Perfect, have plenty poke-com. Thanks, for the T4 thing, wasn't sure if it meant turn 4, tier 4, top 4, etc XD

*The more you know* :D
 
Side note - would it be better to focus on getting a turn 2 Garchomp rather than add Landorus EX? I would probably take out another Gabite, Level ball, and Tool Scrapper and add another Rare Candy and 2 PokeComm
 
I see you have a lot of pokemon movement, but you should have more catchers than escape ropes (then you control them). Is it based upon your pokemon just moving around to avoid damage, or just an idea? Switches could help as well, along with 1 or 2 more rare candies. Also, maybe adding more trainers to get your pokemon out faster could help as well, Maybe a great or another ultra ball. SheNinja is right, Ultra ball would be best. Hope this helps.

Jagz817 aka Entei Inferno
 
Landorus could be a good option since speed Darkrai could be one of your biggest problems. You could get it out with relative ease with Skyla + Ultra Ball/Pokemon Communication. Not sure how you feel about Rocky Helmet, but I think those have the least priority and would be the first thing to cut to make room.
 
As a Garchomp/Altaria enthusiast, I recommend Landorus Ex.
I also thought about that deck weakness and Landorus was the way to go. I use 2 Emolga on my build, so getting him out isn't really a problem though..

I prefer Landorus Ex over Terrakion because starting with Landorus Ex is no problem at all, while starting with Terrakion NV is not the best start at all..
 
Warizon said:
As a Garchomp/Altaria enthusiast, I recommend Landorus Ex.
I also thought about that deck weakness and Landorus was the way to go. I use 2 Emolga on my build, so getting him out isn't really a problem though..

I prefer Landorus Ex over Terrakion because starting with Landorus Ex is no problem at all, while starting with Terrakion NV is not the best start at all..
Click to expand...

Would you run 1 or 2 Landorus EX? Gotta trade for them, hopefully I can find some XD
 
I only use 1 Landorus Ex, I tested with 2 but it messed up the consistency of the deck. 1 is enough to tank early game and make way for the dragon's power :D
 
Warizon said:
I only use 1 Landorus Ex, I tested with 2 but it messed up the consistency of the deck. 1 is enough to tank early game and make way for the dragon's power :D
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks for the help! A slightly related question - how do you normally fair against Keldeo decks? I was decisively trampled by 2 and barely lost to a 3rd during states, so right now I feel that Darkrai and Keldeo decks are my worst opponents.
 
-3 escape rope Gives to many options for your opponent catcher is better

+3 catchers better than escape rope
 
hammer time! said:
-3 escape rope Gives to many options for your opponent catcher is better

+3 catchers better than escape rope
Click to expand...

As I said in the origin post, I only have 1 catcher. I would run 4 if I could T-T
 
I'd rather not drop $10+ per catcher, but so far it seems that's all I can do besides trade for them DX
 
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