Why all the Altaria hype?

[Joshawott]

Why the Altaria hype? I think just because it has so much consistency, which is something a lot of decks, from my testing, don't have. The lack of Junk Arm, PONT, Smeargle, Dual Ball, etc. Really makes things a lot slower, and giving Garchomp the speed advantage.

 

[Dork Void]

Why the Altaria hype? I think just because it has so much consistency, which is something a lot of decks, from my testing, don't have. The lack of Junk Arm, PONT, Smeargle, Dual Ball, etc. Really makes things a lot slower, and giving Garchomp the speed advantage.

Because adding stage 1s with terrible hp, literally unusable attacks, no built in draw, search, recovery, or anything that actually helps consistency, and an ability that is only useful in certain matchups and even then only with multiple of said stage 1 set up is a huge consistency boost? I don't think so.

Altaria is hyped because it did well in a tournament in Japan. /thread

 

[Random Numbers]

garchomp altaria is not really a good deck. It seems great, but altaria needs more health.
1 bad setup, you lose the game.
Not all decks have dragons.

 

[iisnumber12]

Because adding stage 1s with terrible hp, literally unusable attacks, no built in draw, search, recovery, or anything that actually helps consistency, and an ability that is only useful in certain matchups and even then only with multiple of said stage 1 set up is a huge consistency boost? I don't think so.

Altaria is hyped because it did well in a tournament in Japan. /thread

It works with Gabite's built in draw. It is also searchable with level ball, and allows you to OHKO many more things.

 

[LunarWolf]

Speed, which does not make a good deck. There are so many ways to have a bad setup with Garchomp/Altaria, and I personally think Altaria is a waste. Maybe one as a tech wouldn't hurt, but it can be catcher KO'd by just about anything. Plus, with the new Dusknoir coming out soon, it's easy enough to pile 70 damage on one Pokemon. If Altaria had higher HP maybe it would be viable as a vital card, but right now, at least to me, it seems like a huge waste. Sure, maybe it'll get you a few early prizes, but once your opponent has a halfway decent setup all your Altrias are gone, and you're outta luck

 

[Thedrone1man]

In my testing, I've found that Garchomp/Altaria is really just a hybrid of Reshiphlosion and Machamp. Let me explain why.

Reshiphlosion was a really consistent deck, and spewed out high amounts of damage, consistently, every turn. The problem with Reshiphlosion is that it presented no ability to really outplay your opponent (not necessarily a bad thing, given the positives of the deck), and that it was literally on a rail-track. It was really good at what it was supposed to do, but it didn't possess the ability to do anything else. Granted, that's fine, because it was the BDIF for a bit, and it was a very, very solid option if you wanted a consistent deck choice at it's high point, but it really wasn't as skill intensive as say, The Truth.

Machamp, from two formats ago, worked in a similar fashion, in that it just plowed through SP decks (and, with the prime, did big damage). It was fast and had great early game power. The problem with Machamp was that it was completely an auto-pilot deck, and did absolutely nothing for players who wanted the skill based game of Chess that a Luxchomp mirror provided. It was consistent, which is why it saw play, but it suffered from the same problems Reshiphlosion would have (they both had similar positives, however).

Garchomp/Altaria is an exact mix of the two. Garchomp/Altaria hits for very high amounts of damage, very quickly, and very consistently throughout the entire game. Garchomp/Altaria, however, lacks a lot of the higher level plays that decks like Eels or Hydreigon/Darkrai can provide. That's not to say it's a bad thing, necessarily, because the deck is consistent and possesses the ability to win, but it's just kind of the..."lame" deck of the format. It can't really do anything besides catcher up the next target and hit it for huge amounts of damage. All this jazz about Altaria being really weak and whatever are all warranted, but the it does provide Garchomp with the potential to two shot everything in the game. Garchomp itself probably won't get KO'd either, so even if Altarias are getting picked off, Garchomp can still handle a lot on it's own with the second attack. I put the deck at like...tier 1.5, because it is still really consistent and a decent play.

 

[salmoncannon]

Would anyone consider just rescue scarfing their Altarias? You'll only go 1 turn without the extra 20, and if you've got 2 in play it doesn't seem that bad.

 

[alainster]

when i was testing darkrai-hydreigon i came across a ray-taria deck.. is this better than garchomp since its a basic? although it damages less 20 than chomp though..

 

[Slowbro]

Eh, Garchomp is better because it has a better second attack, Gabite can help swarm dragons, Garchomp can ko Eelektrik with 2 Altarias, and the effect of Rayquaza's attack will often discard cards you will need later in the game.

 

[Celebi23]

when i was testing darkrai-hydreigon i came across a ray-taria deck.. is this better than garchomp since its a basic? although it damages less 20 than chomp though..

I played around with that for awhile, but I'd always end up decking myself (or at least discarding my resources), getting OHKO'd too easily (20HP makes more of a difference than you'd think), not doing enough damage, or running into various other problems. Rayquaza is certainly a good card to use in a Garchomp/Altaria deck, but without Garchomp the deck isn't quite powerful enough. It's too reliant on the opponent having cards Rayquaza can OHKO.

 

[Daddy]

It works with Gabite's built in draw. It is also searchable with level ball, and allows you to OHKO many more things.

If your opponent is smart, gabite/gible will be KOed asap instead of the cloud birds like most people are afraid of.

 

[thematteo0]

I don't understand the people who can explain how this deck is fast and consistent. It NEEDS an Emolga start and if it doesn't get one it gets run over by most decks. If it has a good Emolga start set-up its fast if it doesn't the deck never gets set up and it falls apart. That's the reason that this deck has huge weaknesses to darkrai and ho-oh speed variations [as well as healing variations as this deck can't 1 hit much, and spread variations too]. While KlinklangEX is a good match-up.... KlinklangSteel [Registeel EX with Basic Steel Energies and a few blends and techs but in the main focus on Registeel EX] dominates this deck so much with a good set up its hilarious.

 

[alainster]

If your opponent is smart, gabite/gible will be KOed asap instead of the cloud birds like most people are afraid of.

I agree with what Blaz said. I've been playing around with this deck for a couple days now and though it did give me a hefty amount of wins, the smarter players tend to take out the gibles/gabites instead of the birds..

 

[Daddy]

I agree with what Blaz said. I've been playing around with this deck for a couple days now and though it did give me a hefty amount of wins, the smarter players tend to take out the gibles/gabites instead of the birds..

The birds strike fear into your opponent. If you take out the little gibs and the gabites, its going to be much harder to set up a bird, and odds are, they will focus on setting up a garchomp, forgetting about the birds.