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Standard The one, the only GARCHOMP!!! (Garchomp/Lucario/Cynthia)

biffthepotato

It's Wednesday M'dudes
Member
Yo Pokebeachers. I came back from a Ultra Prism prerelease and played the new Garchomp, so I know exactly what makes it work. The only Problem with Garchomp is attaching the energy to it. In the Prerealese I played Garchomp with the steel magnazone witch was very interesting, to help get Garchomp powered up. That was very clunky but when it worked, it destroyed my opponent.

So, here's the list: (Not with Magnazone)

Pokemon: 19

4x Garchomp (ULP)
4x Gabite (ULP)
4x Gible (ULP) (Ascension works really well)
2x Lucario (ULP) (Broken. Helps this deck a lot)
2x Riolu (ULP)
1x Buzzwole GX (CRI) (Dealing with pesky Zoroarks and helps against Gardy)
2x Tapu lele GX

Trainers: 31

4x Cynthia (ULP)
2x N (FCO)
1x Professor Sycamore (BP)
2x Guzma (BUS)
2x Bridgette (BT)

4x Ultra ball (SUM)
3x Rare candy (SUM)
3x Field Blower (GAR)
1x Pal Pad (ULP) (Recycle Cynthia)
2x Rescue stretcher (GAR)
1x Multi Switch (GAR)

3x Choice band (GAR)
2x Escape Board (ULP) (Really Good in this deck)

1x Parallel City

Energy: 10

4x Double colorless energy (SHL)
6x Fighting energy


With this deck I am trying to get Garchomps fast using the Ascension attack on Gible and Gabite, and swinging hard with Royal Blades while playing a Cynthia to do a big 200 Damage, 230 with a choice band witch can 1HKO any basic or stage 1 GX in the Standard format, while also 1HKOing Gardys. This deck can also use pal pad to shuffle Cynthia's back into your deck and searching them out with Lucario's ability. We play the 4-4-4 line of Garchomps for Consistency, to use the Ascension attack.

Please tell me what you think of this deck and any advice would be appreciated. :)

Thanks!!!
 

Duo

RIP Nessa 2023
Member
The Cynthia deck is a deck I'm actually looking forward to a lot, whether or not it becomes a top tier contender in the meta. The only other deck I'm really interested in for the upcoming stuff is something revolving around Dusk Mane Necrozma and/or Solgaleo GX, but that's irrelivent to this thread.

Weakness to not Pyschic on Garchomp is a great thing with Buzzwole being one of the top decks which will help Garchomp avoid being pre-emptively bussed by anything anti-Buzzwole that people will be experimenting with, like Naganadel. Unfortunately Lucario is still vulnerable, but since he isn't the main attacker we take those.

Hitting for 230 with a choice band is a guaranteed OHKO on anything meta relevant at the moment, with or without a fighting fury belt attached to basics like Buzzwole, who will go up to exactly 230 HP even with one attached. Even without a choice band, you're still taking big OHKOs on GX Pokemon like Zoroark GX (without Cynthia too thanks to weakness), Lycanroc GX, Silvally GX (without Cynthia but needs Choice Band thanks to weakness) and even your own weakness, Golisopod GX. And of course the main benefit is that your primary threat is a 1 prize attacker, giving you a lot of longevity with this deck. You will be needing a choice band to take out a Naganadel GX, but since you are a 1 prize deck, the GX attack actually works out in your favor since your opponent will always need to take more KOs than you.

This is my take on a Cynthia deck at the moment.

Pokemon x19

4x Gibbles
4x Gabite
4x Garchomp
3x Riolu
3x Lucario
1x Alolan Vulpix

Supporter x 11

4x Cynthia
2x Sycamore
2x N
2x Guzma
1x Lusamine

Item x15

4x Ultra Ball
3x Rare Candy
2x Choice Band
2x Escape Board
2x Rescue Stretcher
1x Counter Catcher
1x Field Blower

Stadium x4

4x Brooklet Hill

Energy x11

3x DCE
4x Fighting Energy
4x Strong Energy



I think the Garchomp & Lucario ratios are correct, though I would personally push for a 3/3 or even 4/3 Lucario line. Lucario is going to be much easier to KO than Garchomp, and since both Lucario and Garchomp are one prize Pokemon, people will likely go for the lower HP one if the timing is right. 110 HP is a lot easier to exploit, and by denying your search Pokemon you could lose essential consistency at the same time. You never need more than 1 Lucario on the bench at a time due to the once per turn ability, but having more than 1 in play at a time means that you will always have your search. Basically, you want 2 Garchomps and 2 Lucarios in play at all times so that no matter who dies, you have your search. 3/3 also means you'll see them sooner than 2/2.

Call me crazy, but I don't think this deck needs Tapu Lele GX at all, nor Brigette for that matter. Tapu Lele GX gives your opponent a 2 prize target that they can use to their advantage to close out the game when you're at 2 prizes left. Garchomp/Lucario combo can search you ANY card in the deck, so I really see no need to add a 2 prize drop searcher. It also prevents you from opening Lele and feeling really bad.

One Vulpix is in the deck for a few reasons. The first being that Ascension is only for the Garchomp line up, so you want something that can help you see Lucario more often as well. It also means that if you have rare candy in hand, you can Beacon for Garchomp & Lucario and really put the pressure on your opponent to N you or else. In general, Beacon can grab you 2 evolutions while Ascension only grabs you one and requires energy. I don't think more than 1 is needed, but it's a fantastic option for if you brick on energy. It is a water Pokemon as well, so you can Brooklet Hill for it and escape board your active to get it up there, or retreat the normal way.

Brigette can be completely replaced by Brooklet Hill. While not as fast as Brigette, Brooklet Hill has more persistence than Brigette. As a 1 prize deck, you can afford to lose your Pokemon often, Rescue Stretcher them, then Brooklet Hill them back out again and evolve back up. Brigette is great in GX decks because once you lose 3 Pokemon you kind of lost already anyway, so the 4 Pokemon you have in play by the end of Bridgette usually hold you out through most of the game, but since you are going to be hopefully going through 6 full KOs in this deck, you want mid-game longevity and the ability to always keep yourself in the game, which is something Brigette can't do as well as Brooklet Hill. Also, with Glaceon GX coming out around the same time, we are going to potentially see some Lele -> Brigette hate. Focusing on Brooklet Hill allows you to dodge this issue completely. You do lose the ability to Ultra Ball for Lele for Brigette, but again I think the focus here is the long term battle not the short term battle. This also frees you up to play a turn 1 N or turn 1 Sycamore to disrupt your opponent/advance your hand faster. Those draw cards could lead you to you filling up your bench, too.

Outside of the mirror match, I don't really see a problem in allowing your opponent to Brooklet Hill themselves for, say, Buzzwole GXs. As I mentioned before, in a GX deck, you only need 3 GX KOs. Having more Buzzwole's on the bench doesn't really help if they aren't equipped with the energy to do anything anyway. Also, once Octillery rotates in the fall, you won't have to worry about Brooklet Hill giving your opponent draw power. I also want to point out Brooklet Hill in relation to Solgaleo/Lunala Prism Star and their 1 energy attack to recover energy based on the size of your bench. You want to keep your bench small and specific to prevent your opponent from being able to take advantage of you. Brooklet Hill lets you do that while Brigette does not. Lastly, playing Brooklet Hill makes Lusamine a better card than Pal Pad, at least in my opinion. Pal Pad assumes that you have Lucario in play at the time that you use it to search out the Cynthias you restore. Lusamine allows you to regrab Brooklet Hill (field blower may clear them) and Cynthia, or two Cynthias and keep them in your hand to be used next turn. The idea is that even if someone N's your Cynthia while you have no Lucario in play, you recovered a Brooklet Hill from Lusamine to get out a Riolu, then next turn after they N'd you, you evolve up into Lucario and grab Cynthia anyway, so unless you're at a low prize count it's really not a big loss.

I reduced the Field Blower count since Garbotoxin is seeing less play and this deck does not straight up die to Garbotoxin anyway since your damage output is unrelated to abilities. You should already be planning ahead if you are up against a Garbodor deck anyway and make sure you search Cynthias or field blower early. You also don't care about Choice Band since you have no EXs or GXs, so you don't need field blowers to remove that either. You can also win any stadium war with 4x Brooklet Hill and Lusamine. You should only need 1 field blower to deal with your problems.

1 Counter catcher is in there because I expect to get bullied with a deck like this and take an early loss. You can play Counter Catcher + Cynthia in the same turn whereas Guzma cannot. I would love a 2nd counter catcher, but I don't see myself using more than 1 per game.

Strong Energy is absolutely mandatory in this deck. It lets your Garchomps OHKO mirror match Lucarios without Cynthia, and it gives you access to hitting 250 damage with choice band + Cynthia against the beefiest GX Pokemon like Solgaleo GX which might see play. It also helps you OHKO anything with 220 HP with a Cynthia and cannot be removed by a field blower like Choice band can, putting every viable Stage 1 GX in range. I put an emphasis on more energy and less choice bands because you need the energy in the first place to use Ascension, so you absolutely want at least 8 fighting type energy in your deck to make sure you are constantly Ascensioning on turn 1 going 2nd, turn 2 going 1st. Choice Band only ever needs to come out against Gardevoir GX or Solgaleo GX. Reduced the DCE count by 1 since you can search for it when you need it by the time you have Garchomp/Lucario in play, and DCE doesn't help you at all with Ascension so you don't want to open it that often. You can slow attach 3 fighting energy when you take control of the game as well, so you don't need the max 4.

Feedback to my feedback always welcome. This is an unreleased deck after all.
 

SmiteKnight

Destroying half the universe one snap at a time
Member
I really don’t think that Lusamine is necessary, I would replace it with Pal-pad, as you have infinite search with Lucario.
 

Duo

RIP Nessa 2023
Member
My issue with Pal-Pad/Lucario is that it assumes the same thing as Zoroark/Mallow combo. You have to have 2 things in play in order to get profit out of it, while Lusamine can just play herself to recover cards into your hand.

I think both are perfectly viable and it's up to testing and personal preference to see which one works best. If you can guarantee that you will always have 1 Lucario alive at all times during a majority of your games, then Pal Pad is better. If not, then Lusamine is better.

I also think that Lusamine being able to recover Brooklet Hill and Cynthia at the same time will help you not have to waste a search on Brooklet Hill with Lucario if that's exactly what you need.

They have their ups and downs, the biggest down of Lusamine of course being that you can't Cynthia the same turn, or play any other supporter for that matter.
 

Dark Espeon

Dark Avatar
Member
Hi Duo,

Until the Fighting version of Garchomp is released I would cut Strong Energy since Dragon Garchomp cannot use it. At present the entire Garchomp line is Dragon and therefore cannot be searched with Brooklet Hill. However, it does get access to Devoured Field to hit for a stable 210 with Cynthia. The Fighting variants were released in SM5+ in Japan. However we only received Ascencion Gible and not the better one that retreats for free once it has a Fighting Energy attached to it. Personally I still prefer this version since it combos real well with Alolan Vulpix. You will also need some Exp. Share from experience to stream Garchomp since he needs two attachments to attack with Champion's Blade.

Personally I am not sold on this list with no Brigette and Tapu Lele GX. The deck can afford to sacrifice one Tapu Lele Gx to have multiple Gible and Riolu on the bench fast. Set up time, streaming the main attacker and not being able to use Guzma and Cynthia at the same turn are the main weaknesses of this deck. Brigette helps to reduce setup time and also increases the likelihood to have two Lucario and two Garchomp out each turn. Benching no more than one Basic Pokémon each turn with Brooklet Hill is considerably slower than benching three Basic Pokémon with Brigette. This is especially important in a deck that needs to evolve said basics to function. I am also with SmithKnight. The deck indeed needs Pal Pad to function. I do not beleive that this deck would have been viable in standard without Pal pad being reprinted. Lusamine is not a viable replacement since it is your supporter for the turn. From first glance this variant looks slower than the standard version. Have you tested your list? How long does it take until there are two Lucario and two Garchomp on the battlefield?

Hi biffthepotato,

Nice list. Consider these modifications:

Pokémon:
- 1 Buzzwole GX (not needed that much and this deck likes to reduce the number of Pokémoin GX needed)
- 2 Gabite (two of them suffice with four Rare Candy)
+ 1 Alolan Vulpix (nice search card which also activates Counter Catcher when knocked out)
+ 1 Lucario (to ensure to have two on the field asap)
+ 1 Riolu (see above)

Trainer:
- 1 Multi Switch (not needed in this deck)
+ 1 Pal Pad (Trust me. You will need both of them.)
- 2 Escape Board (Good in this deck but we need the space and you want the Gible that retreats for free with Fighting Energy attached to get Alolan Vulpix in the active slot)
+ 2 Exp Share (assume that the opponent can return the ohko and you will have issues to stream Champion's Blade without them)
- 1 Field Blower (two will suffice in this deck on usual)
+ 1 Rare Candy / Exp Share / N / Professor Sycamore / Escape Rope (your choice on the final slot ;))

The idea to run Exp Share stem from testing this deck out. I realized that it had issues to stream Champion's Blade if the opponent is able to return ohko Garchomp. Hope this provides some initial assistance.
 

Connor Ritter

TCG Player
Advanced Member
Member
I've been thinking about this deck a lot lately. I agree with what Dark Espeon has said in regards to Brigette, Tapu Lele, and devoured field. Going beyond that, we did get the dragon type Gible that can retreat for free with a fighting energy attached to it. This one will be extremely important so it can retreat allowing Alolan Vulpix to Beacon. I suggest this over ascension as well because it keeps your Gible safer on the bench than as a Gabite in the active. Gabite's low HP makes it prone to getting knocked out or creating a weaker future Garchomp. Them knocking out an Alolan Vulpix benefits you way more giving you access to counter catcher and preserving more important pokemon. If they don't knock it out, then that's more beacon searches to get you set up!
 

Duo

RIP Nessa 2023
Member
Hi Dark Espeon.

Thanks for providing some insight. I am full force focused on this being the fighting type variant of Garchomp with SM5+ Ascension and am frankly uninterested in the Dragon variant whatsoever. I'm holding out for SM5+ to release in English before fully committing to the deck. Sorry if that wasn't clear enough. I did not know that there was a free retreat when energy is attached version, but for now I'm going to focus on the Ascension one for Brooklet Hill synergy. I also think that having access to 250 damage with Strong Energy + Choice Band is better than Devouring Field + Choice Band only being able to reach 240.

I have not tested my list yet because it's simply a theoretical list that plays off of the odds of having 8 basic Pokemon, 4 Ultra Ball (unoptimal), and 4 Brooklet Hill to likely naturally see you to 2 to 3 Pokemon on your bench by turn 2. I've had many games in the past where I would miss Turn 1 Brigette and would instead Turn 1 Sycamore or N and I would still end up with 2 or 3 Pokemon on the bench, which is why I went pretty all in on going Brigetteless here, partially for deck space, partially for keeping the 1 prize theme.

My problem with Brigette is that having 3 Pokemon on the bench doesn't mean anything if you don't have the cards to follow up with it. If you Brigette but have no evolutions or energy or draw support, then why Brigette? If your hand has no continuity, I don't think turn 1 Brigette is even a good idea. That being said, I guess there's no problems with having options, and Lele is still a back up to grab Cynthia for Garchomp in the worst of games. Going back to 2 Lele/1 Brigette is probably ideal regardless of prizing concerns.

I was actually trying to remember what tool it was that allowed you to move energy from one Poke to another after KO, and it was EXP Share I was thinking of so thank you for bringing that point up. The only thing that I think is awkward about EXP share is that the deck's energy pool is very heavily weighted towards Special Energy which makes it unusable if your Garchomp is equiped with a Strong + DCE. In a lot of ways, I think special charge is a better card to recover your DCE and strong energies and regrab them with Lucario. It doesn't offer the speed, but it does offer you recovery of lost resources. There might be an even better option here as well, but I'm a bit hazy on my memory of the game's card pool right now.

I think Float Stone/Escape Board is still needed in the list because you need a way to retreat for free in the early game if you open Lele or Riolu, and you don't want to have to retreat for a DCE or a Strong Energy as your cost (you can't even attach Strong Energy to Lele to pay for its retreat cost, so it would have to be DCE or fighting). Looking at other Cynthia lists up to this point, pretty much every list runs 7 or 8 special energy between DCE or Strong Energy, so having to pay those to retreat is very unideal.

Taking all of that into consideration, I'd say this list is a good compromise:

Pokemon x19

4x Garchomp
2x Gabite (only the active Gibbles can take advantage of Ascension; the rest should be made through rare candy for speed)
4x Gibbles
3x Lucario
3x Riolo
2x Lele
1x Alolan Vulpix

Supporter x11

4x Cynthia
2x Sycamore
2x N
2x Guzma
1x Brigette

Item x17

4x Ultra Ball
3x Rare Candy
2x Choice Band
2x Escape Board
2x Pal Pad
2x Rescue Stretcher
1x Field Blower
1x Counter Catcher

Stadium x3

3x Brooklet Hill - Don't need all 4 if you're going to be leaning on Brigette a bit. Might even only need 2 to hold you out in the mid-game.

Energy x10

4x Fighting Energy
3x Strong Energy
3x DCE

Still not happy with all the numbers here, but it's probably closer to right than my previous post.
 

biffthepotato

It's Wednesday M'dudes
Member
Sup. Sorry I wasn't able to reply, but I think that I could fit in some cards for a 3-3 Lucario because it's so good, and I really think that bridgette is so much better than the Brooklet hills, and the counter catcher isn't that good because you always want to be wining and the strong energy isn’t needed, and the current Garchomp is a dragon type so it’s not that good

Dark espeon,

I have the Buzzwole Gx in this deck because until the fighting Garchomp comes out, we can’t really wreck Zoroark GX, but I will test the list without it though. I do think that the Exp. Shares could be good in this deck so I will test that out. I probably will take out the Multi Switch but I was going to use it to get energy onto my Garchomps but I think that your right and I should run the second Pal Pad instead. I do like the Vulpix and that could be good and I might try the 2-4 Candy/Gabite line.

Duo,

I think that the Tapu Lele GX help a lot to get that Cynthia if needed and also the turn one Bridgette is good to get all of our Pokemon out easily and I would rather have 4-5 Pokemon in on the bench turn one than 2-3 Pokemon on your bench turn 2. Also, Brooklet hill isn't very good in this deck, but it might be good later, but for now I would maybe play Devoured Field to do the extra 10 damage for dragon Pokemon to one shot Zoroarks without a Choice band and Maybe Decidueye GXs with a band.

Ok. So, about the different Gibles. I think that the Ascension Gible helps a lot to set up but I might run a 2-2 split of Gibles for whatever situation i'm in.


So, here's the updated list:


Pokemon: 19

4x Garchomp (ULP)
2x Gabite (ULP)
2-2x Gible split (ULP)
3x Lucario (ULP)
3x Riolu (ULP)
1x alolan Vulpix (GAR)
2x Tapu lele GX (GAR)

Trainers: 31

4x Cynthia (ULP)
2x Professor Sycamore (BP)
2x N (FCO)
1x Guzma (BUS)
1x Bridgette (BT)

4x Ultra Ball (SUM)
4x Rare Candy (SUM)
1x Field Blower (GAR)
2x Rescue stretcher (GAR)
2x Pall Pad (ULP)

3x Choice band (GAR)
2x Escape Board (ULP)

3x Devoured Field (CRI)

Energy: 10

4x DCE (SHL)
6x Fighting Energy


So this is the updated list please tell me what you think of this new list, thanks!
 
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