I guess I should start with an introduction, as this is my first article for SixPrizes. My name is Shaun and I’m a longtime gamer. My roommate who won the Columbus MS battle roads spelled out in his article why we moved to Pokémon. To recap, we worked for Score Entertainment and had the privilege of helping playtest and design cards for several games. Once we didn’t have a game to play, we decided that Pokémon would be the best game to jump into.
pokemon-paradijs.comThe community has been very friendly, and the wealth of information has been great. After 2 weeks of playing, I managed to go 4-3 in my first Regional despite managing to “win” the coin flips and go first all 7 games. After testing for a bit, I’ve been working on a deck that has been doing very well for me.
The deck came about from my distaste for SP. I’ve always had a problem playing decks that were considered the best in the environment. Machamp’s “Take Out” attack seemed like a great start as it can one shot any Pokémon SP in most SP decks assuming no Unown G. I read other Machamp lists and wasn’t a fan of either strait Machamp or FlyChamp. While Machamp is great against SP, the deck had trouble when it wasn’t winning turn one.
After trying various ideas and seeing Fresko run his Donphan deck, I realized that Donphan actually had really good synergy with Machamp. A stage one attacker that can do 60 for one, and is hard to kill gave me a great secondary option to take games down to the end instead of relying on a first turn win. The deck now has a high probability of winning turn 1, out speeding any SP variant, and hitting hard late game in case I can’t win in the first few turns. For starters, I’ll go ahead and give you the list.
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4× Machop SF 2× Machoke SF 3× Machamp SF 1× Machamp LV.X 1× Azelf LA 1× Uxie LA 3× Phanpy HGSS 3× Donphan HGSS 2× Baltoy GE 2× Claydol GE |
3× Broken Time Space 3× Super Scoop Up 4× Pokémon Communication 1× Premier Ball 1× Luxury Ball 3× Roseanne’s Research 3× Looker’s Investigation 3× Rare Candy 4× Warp Point 2× Expert Belt 1× Night Maintenance |
8× F 2× Double Colorless |
The Machamp line seems pretty standard. 4-2-3-1 lets me get to Machamp with Rare Candy or Broken Time Space up. The LV.X is the card that is going to swing the outcome of games. For starters, with 130 HP, Machamp will vary rarely get taken down in one turn. The general strategy with Machamp has been to send him up with 1 F Energy and take out any basic that they have out. Assuming he takes damage without a KO on the next turn, attach a DCE and level him up. Machamp can then swing for 80 (100 if belted) with Strong Willed and then has a 50 percent chance of surviving any attacks thrown at him the following turn. If Machamp survives, for an additional energy, he can KO any Pokémon in the game with Rage.
Donphan is the backup attacker in the deck, and can take his fair share of hits. 60 damage for a single energy provides him with the ability to turn 1 most single basic starts in the game. This can also be boosted to 80 with belt when needed. Donphan is great at taking hits while Machamp or another Donphan is setup on the bench. His only real problem is that his Retreat Cost causes you to use a Warp Point or a Scoop Up to get him out of active. With Scoop up though, it is easy to let Donphan take a hit or two, and with a heads promote a new active, then get your Donphan back on the bench fully healed with BTS.
Uxie and Azelf are pretty standard as draw power and a way to get Claydols/Machmap LV.X/Donphan/etc out of Prize cards in a tight spot.
pokemon-paradijs.comPremier Ball allows me up to a third use of Machamp LV.X by grabbing him out of the discard pile.
Looker’s Investigation has been my favorite tech call in the deck. The card pretty much assures wins against
Shuppet, and allows you to slow down Gyarados decks that Impersonate for a Pokémon Collector first turn. In a tight spot, it also allows you to grab a new hand.
Pokémon Communication is a great tutor. You may notice that there are 4, and that the deck doesn’t run any Bebe’s Search. This can be tweaked to your liking, but I’ve found more often than not, I prefer to play another supporter during the turn. Roseanne’s Research guarantees I have the Pokémon in hand for Communication and still allows me another energy or Pokémon.
Other tech calls that can be added include Relicanth, Manectric, and Nidoqueen. Nidoqueen heals of the damage to the bench caused by Donphan, Manectric prevents the bench damage, and Relicanth allows you to snipe for one energy.
You may want to tweak the trainer/supporter numbers to help the deck in your metagame. I’d love to hear any comments on the deck, and I hope you enjoyed reading.
I like the deck idea and how the two work together. My only question is how you will adjust to losing Roseanne's when the format shift comes around?
interviewer? i think its ok cause u can take special energies, too
and collector of course
i like machamp and ur deck cause ive got problems with sp-deck too, i play kingdra prime deck and it has lightning *2 weakness and i think ive to put in an 1-0-1 machamp, too.
sounds bad and is bad for my usually very simple construction, but we have to counter that fuc***** cards^^ +-<(8-D)
rotation isn't for another few months, so it's irrelevant. kthx
I think it's a pretty good deck, it's got good donking power, along with a powerful late game attacker. However, I think rare candy should be moved up to 4 because Machamp uses it(of coarse) and also if you go second, you can use it with donphan or machamp to get the donk.
My dad actually faced this kind of deck in regionals. I’m not kidding. He really did. It is quite a surprise that the deck has been revealed to everyone, but surely, I think this deck is good. Its got a lot of donk potential with Machamp and Donphan that’s for sure. The rest of the list is pretty solid too.
Great article man! It was a sure enjoyment to read.
My dad actually faced this deck in Wisconsin Regionals. I'm not kidding. He really did. It is a real surprise to see that very deck pop up in Six Prizes. Regardless, I think this deck can have potential. It's best thing is probably its nice ability to donk with Machamp and Donphan. As for the list, I think it is pretty solid too.
Great article man! It was a sure enjoyment to read!
GJ.
haha.
No Bebe's, how do you set up when in a spiritomb lock or deafen lock and how does this handle Cursegar
SF machop is pretty terrible. Use DP Machop or Trainer kit Machop until rotation.
hey here im again:
first:very nice article and very nice deck and machamp isnt terrible
second: QUESTION TO ALL OF U PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT:
i play kingdra prime deck and if my opponent plays luxray im dead ( he can kill my floatzels and kingdras easyly in one turn ) so i dont know if i should play 1-0-1 machamp sf cause luxray is ´played often
nobody has left a comment before when i wrote it as a comment on that artcle so i need ur help thx
I must be missing something because I don't understand how Donphan is supposed to attack with one energy for 60 damage. The HG/SS Donphan requires FCC to attack for 50.
The Machamp's first attack is amazing, very good to know. Good article overall.
Nevermind, found out about the Donphan Prime.
Well written article. Interesting read. I think you should concider only playing 3 machop, since you only really have 3 machamp. Also, i suggest giratina “let loose” instead of Looker's since your bench doesn't seem that tight and it doesn't count as using a support plus it refreshes your own hand too. I see this as a positive thing, since it doesnøt seem like you would be sitting with too much important stuff on your hand (perhaps except machamp lv.x). Also, of course, it only gives the opponent 4 cards.
But again, a good read :)
Well in the small meta we have here, there's virtually no trainer lock. I did mention it in the article, and at Nationals, I would probably run 2 Bebe's and 2 Communication.
Giratina cripples me as he sits on my bench. You'd be surprised about bench space. One to two Claydols, Machamp, Donphan, and usually an Uxie or Azelf is there.
I like the option of who has to shuffle back their hand. More often than not, I want to keep mine or my opponent to keep theres. With Giratina it forced both where it may no be warranted.
Thanks for the comments. I'll keep them in mind.
I have them both, and have had this thought myself. Only problem is I don't like the 2 cost retreat on the other Machops. It's rare that this will come into play, so I may go with the DP Machop. Damage output is just better.
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for your comments. I'm sure there are a few other rogue builds of this out there, but I really haven't seen it played in too many tournaments.
Between the Rare Candies, Broken Time Space, and plenty of tutors, it's rare that I end up needing another candy. It sets up turn 1 a good deal of the time.
It's funny, because when I submitted this article, I didn't think there was a chance this deck could stay after rotation. I will try and work on it after Roseanne's rotates. It will probably involve Pokemon Collector and a few other tweaks.
I would do a mankey SV. He hits Lux X for 120 for 1 energy. That, or the “best” counter is the Toxicroak G Promo (promocroak). Since you aren't running an SP deck, I would do Mankey.
If the Giratina sounds good but you don't want the bench space taken up, try the new supporter Judge from Unleashed.
thanks chrataxe ur right zhats better
to chrataxe: but i dont think toxi is that good cause it needs 2 energy, i like mankey more but im right to need a counter dont i?thanks for ur help and shaun, why dont u use call eneergy about 2 times, it wont be forbidden and id take out one time space cause u have two rare left after evolving all machamps and then i think 2 bts are enough
I use this EXACT deck, except I run bebe's instead of Pokemon Com, and I don't use Roseanne's or Looker's. Tip: Judge in my opinion is tied with Lookers in overall. Pokemon Reversal is FTW when it comes to disrupting.
I just prefer Lookers because I get the option. And if I choose me, it is one extra card. I'm not sure how you get by without Roseanne's. It's just so crucial to a quick setup, and makes turn 1 a lot stronger.
Maybe it'll get reprinted.
Yeah, or maybe they'll make a ruling on Pop Series 8 being legal, which would save Night Maintenance.
Yeah, or maybe they'll make a ruling on Pop Series 8 being legal, which would save Night Maintenance.
Terrific post. Thanks.
This is Awesome! Thank you so much.
This is a good blog. Keep up all the work. I too love blogging and expressing my opinions. Thanks :)
I’m not sure I completely agree with you on this post