Hi all, been far too long since I posted here. After taking a hiatus just before Tag Team era, I started playing again just around the time of 151. Gotta say, the feeling's never been more fun. After scraping together Miraidon for my local scene, I decided to bide my time after Paradox Rift, and stock up to be more prepared to go full force after rotation. At my local Temporal Forces prerelease, I traded some Arceus VSTARs I wasn't using for some Chomps, figured: "Hey, Chomp could be fun after rotation." and I got to work as soon as I got home.
Fun little story for how I got back into deckbuilding for myself aside, this is what I came up with.
Pokemon - 17
4 Gible PAR 94
2 Gabite PAR 95
3 Garchomp ex PAR 38
1 Groudon PAR 93
1 Iron Hands ex PAR 70
1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46
1 Raging Bolt ex SV5K 53
2 Bidoof CRZ 111
2 Bibarel BRS 121
Trainers - 31
4 Irida ASR 147
2 Boss's Orders BRS 132
2 Iono PAL 185
2 Arven SVI 166
2 Trekking Shoes ASR 156
1 Switch HS 102
3 Friendship Poffin SV5K 63
2 Nest Ball SUM 123
4 Ultra Ball DEX 102
4 Rare Candy SVI 191
3 Earthen Vessel PAR 163
1 Technical Machine: Evolution PAR 178
1 Technical Machine: Devolution PAR 177
Energy - 12
9 Basic Fighting Energy SVE 6
2 Basic Lightning Energy SVE 4
1 Neo Upper Energy SV5K 71
The Idea
Garchomp's gameplan is pretty simple: Get Fighting Energy into the discard with relative speed, swing with Hydro Lander to explosively power up additional attackers, and follow up with more damaging hits. I went into this thinking about using BRS Lucario, but I felt like pulling from what I had already observed from the archetype before. Pretty quickly I decided I wanted PAR Groudon. Its 240 damage cap is a good follow up after Hydro Lander, and is more than enough for its purpose in the deck as a Fighting-Type, hitting Arc and Iron Hands for weakness. 240 can also take solo KOs on other big basics as well when need be.
-
Initially, I was struggling to find an ideal secondary attacker, until I remembered Raging Bolt. 5 Energy discards is well enough to KO a Zard, and is generally able to get quick numbers that are out of range of the others. It's for this reason I'm considering more of it, but this is just V1 of the deck. Including Raging Bolt meant including a Lightning, and in my eyes, I saw no reason for me to not add a second one and Iron Hands. With an attach and 3 Energy Hydro Lander, you can threaten Amps rather quick, and pressure matchups like Lugia and its Cinccino, and Gholdengo's Palkia.
-
The draw feels pretty solid for the deck, and will likely stay consistent. RadGren for discarding more Fighting, and a 2-2 Bibarel for the consistency. As for trainers, Irida is an instant 4-of for being able to find Poffins, Greninja, Chomp + Candy, and Vessel early. Arven is also a help for finding TM Evo or Devo if you need it. Iono could be bumped up to 3 I feel. NEO Upper Energy is included as the ACE SPEC on the grounds of utility. It can act to power up a background Chomp, or serve as a quick discard target for Sonic Dive to snipe the bench, which can help with Devolution plays.
Considerations
[+1 Raging Bolt + 1 Sandy Shocks ex] - For leaning a little more into Raging Bolt, which I think is wise. I'm on the fence about the Sandy Shocks, but I feel somewhat strongly regarding a second Raging Bolt.
[Trekking Shoes or Gutsy Pickaxe?] - There's a burning debate going on in my head on which I should use. On one hand, I like the potential discard and a bit more freedom on when I want to discard an energy if I find one with Trekking Shoes. On the other hand, I think the potential attachment from Gutsy Pickaxe can allow your stronger attackers to swing faster. Maybe I just find room for both?
[Misc.] I also thought about bumping up to a 4th Poffin, but in my testing so far I think the 3 might work well enough. I've also thought about things like Exp. Share to conserve a couple energy if an opponent responds quicker than expected or something. Also considered trading TM Evo for an Ancient or Future Booster Capsule. The extra 20 on Hands lets it OHKO Lugia VSTAR and Palkia VSTAR after weakness, and Ancient just makes Raging Bolt become a lot tankier. Another consideration is an extra Switch, to pull Raging Bolt after the attack. With so many 1-ofs, I also feel strongly about working in a Super Rod I think that's probably the top of the consideration list for Trainers.
End
And that's about all I've got! Lemme know your thoughts. I am quite happy with the list as a base, but I don't have too many close by irl people to talk to; much less on a regular basis, so I thought I'd come back and put my thoughts on the net! Thanks for reading!
Fun little story for how I got back into deckbuilding for myself aside, this is what I came up with.
Pokemon - 17
4 Gible PAR 94
2 Gabite PAR 95
3 Garchomp ex PAR 38
1 Groudon PAR 93
1 Iron Hands ex PAR 70
1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46
1 Raging Bolt ex SV5K 53
2 Bidoof CRZ 111
2 Bibarel BRS 121
Trainers - 31
4 Irida ASR 147
2 Boss's Orders BRS 132
2 Iono PAL 185
2 Arven SVI 166
2 Trekking Shoes ASR 156
1 Switch HS 102
3 Friendship Poffin SV5K 63
2 Nest Ball SUM 123
4 Ultra Ball DEX 102
4 Rare Candy SVI 191
3 Earthen Vessel PAR 163
1 Technical Machine: Evolution PAR 178
1 Technical Machine: Devolution PAR 177
Energy - 12
9 Basic Fighting Energy SVE 6
2 Basic Lightning Energy SVE 4
1 Neo Upper Energy SV5K 71
The Idea
Garchomp's gameplan is pretty simple: Get Fighting Energy into the discard with relative speed, swing with Hydro Lander to explosively power up additional attackers, and follow up with more damaging hits. I went into this thinking about using BRS Lucario, but I felt like pulling from what I had already observed from the archetype before. Pretty quickly I decided I wanted PAR Groudon. Its 240 damage cap is a good follow up after Hydro Lander, and is more than enough for its purpose in the deck as a Fighting-Type, hitting Arc and Iron Hands for weakness. 240 can also take solo KOs on other big basics as well when need be.
-
Initially, I was struggling to find an ideal secondary attacker, until I remembered Raging Bolt. 5 Energy discards is well enough to KO a Zard, and is generally able to get quick numbers that are out of range of the others. It's for this reason I'm considering more of it, but this is just V1 of the deck. Including Raging Bolt meant including a Lightning, and in my eyes, I saw no reason for me to not add a second one and Iron Hands. With an attach and 3 Energy Hydro Lander, you can threaten Amps rather quick, and pressure matchups like Lugia and its Cinccino, and Gholdengo's Palkia.
-
The draw feels pretty solid for the deck, and will likely stay consistent. RadGren for discarding more Fighting, and a 2-2 Bibarel for the consistency. As for trainers, Irida is an instant 4-of for being able to find Poffins, Greninja, Chomp + Candy, and Vessel early. Arven is also a help for finding TM Evo or Devo if you need it. Iono could be bumped up to 3 I feel. NEO Upper Energy is included as the ACE SPEC on the grounds of utility. It can act to power up a background Chomp, or serve as a quick discard target for Sonic Dive to snipe the bench, which can help with Devolution plays.
Considerations
[+1 Raging Bolt + 1 Sandy Shocks ex] - For leaning a little more into Raging Bolt, which I think is wise. I'm on the fence about the Sandy Shocks, but I feel somewhat strongly regarding a second Raging Bolt.
[Trekking Shoes or Gutsy Pickaxe?] - There's a burning debate going on in my head on which I should use. On one hand, I like the potential discard and a bit more freedom on when I want to discard an energy if I find one with Trekking Shoes. On the other hand, I think the potential attachment from Gutsy Pickaxe can allow your stronger attackers to swing faster. Maybe I just find room for both?
[Misc.] I also thought about bumping up to a 4th Poffin, but in my testing so far I think the 3 might work well enough. I've also thought about things like Exp. Share to conserve a couple energy if an opponent responds quicker than expected or something. Also considered trading TM Evo for an Ancient or Future Booster Capsule. The extra 20 on Hands lets it OHKO Lugia VSTAR and Palkia VSTAR after weakness, and Ancient just makes Raging Bolt become a lot tankier. Another consideration is an extra Switch, to pull Raging Bolt after the attack. With so many 1-ofs, I also feel strongly about working in a Super Rod I think that's probably the top of the consideration list for Trainers.
End
And that's about all I've got! Lemme know your thoughts. I am quite happy with the list as a base, but I don't have too many close by irl people to talk to; much less on a regular basis, so I thought I'd come back and put my thoughts on the net! Thanks for reading!
