GG Re

Hello SixPrizes readers! My name is Gabriel Smart, and I am excited to be writing my very first article on this amazing website. This article will give you everything you need to know about Garchomp & Giratina-GX in this meta. This deck is super fun, and has a ton of potential to be one of the best decks in the format.

As this meta takes shape, there is finally room for rogue decks to become viable once more. Garchomp & Giratina-GX has always been a card that thrives on a developed meta, so that it can be built to target specific decks. With this being said, it is finally time for the deck to make its return to the scene. The deck has been retooled, reworked, and finally has become one of the big contenders that it used to be in the past.

With the TEU–DAA meta finally being figured out, it’s time to build this deck to counter the meta decks and force itself back into the upper echelon of top contenders. As Pokémon become stronger and stronger, it will need some new additions and a new second star to shine again. Here is the list I have been working on:

TinaChamp/Magneton

Decklist

Key Cards

2 Garchomp & Giratina-GX

This is the main star of the deck. Linear Attack, for 1 Energy, is still powerful in this format as an early attack, Calamitous Slash still remains a massive threat to many decks, and GG End-GX is still as powerful as ever. The ability to remove any threat from the field is still incredibly powerful, and is huge versus many decks currently. It is great to finally see this card shine again as a main attacker.

2 Marshadow & Machamp-GX

In the past, TinaChomp had Naganadel & Guzzlord-GX as its partner in crime. Now Marshadow & Machamp-GX takes that spot over. With Eternatus VMAX being the most popular deck in this format, it is a necessity to have a powerful Fighting-type Pokémon in this deck to take it out. With 2 Energy attachments and a Karate Belt, you can Knock Out almost every single Fighting-Weak Pokémon with ease.

One of the biggest strengths this card has in this format is its GX attack. Acme of Heroism-GX does 200 damage, and, if you have an extra Energy attached, then it will survive any powerful attack your opponent throws at you with 10 HP remaining on the next turn.

Its first attack is strong as well. Revenge, for FC, can deal out huge damage for an efficient amount of Energy.

4-3 Magneton CEC

This is the superstar of the deck. With the ban of Mismagius UNB, players struggled to find a partner for TinaChomp. Now, Magneton has become a full replacement, and maybe an even better partner than Mismagius ever was for the deck. Magneton’s Call Signal Ability lets you search your deck for 3 Supporter cards in exchange for giving up 1 Prize card. This will enable you to get the entire combo needed to get attacks rolling.

3 Karate Belt

With no Energy acceleration in the deck, the need for a way to cheat Energy is a must. Karate Belt, if you have more Prizes remaning than your opponent, makes your Pokémon’s attacks cost 1 F Energy less. Combined with Lt. Surge’s Strategy, Green’s Exploration, and Magneton, this deck can easily take knockouts on turn two and set the pace of the game.

4 Green’s Exploration, 2 Lt. Surge’s Strategy

This is the core engine that makes the deck run. Magneton’s Ability lets you search out the entire strategy for the deck! Due to the fact that you need to give up 1 Prize card for using Call Signal, it opens up a prime opportunity to abuse Lt. Surge’s Strategy. Paired up with Surge, you can Green’s Exploration and Boss’s Orders in the same turn, making turn two an extremely aggressive turn to try and take over the game.

Throughout the game you will often be behind on Prizes, so it is important to run at least 2 Surge to be able to execute this combo at least one to two times per game.

2 Martial Arts Dojo

Martial Arts Dojo is the star Stadium in the deck. In a meta where Pokémon have such high HP, it becomes imperative that there is some way to increase damage output. Since Martial Arts Dojo increases your attacks by 40 damage if you have a F Energy attached and more Prizes remaining than your opponent, it makes perfect sense for this deck. Pair a turn one Linear Attack and a turn two Calamitous Slash with Martial Arts Dojo, and you are able to do 320 damage in two turns! Calamitous Slash is able to Knock Out most VMAXs, GXs, and TAG TEAMs with this combo.

4 Energy Spinner

With the low amount of Energy that is run in this deck, it is important to have a viable way to find Energy consistently. Getting a turn one Energy attachment is normally a must, so there has to be a way to easily search them out. During the game you will normally be Marnie’d or Reset Stamped aggressively, so it is important to have many outs to Energy to be able to keep pace with your opponent.

There used to be three in the deck. Although three is a card count you can get away with, with so many tournaments being best-of-one, it is critical to have as many consistency outs that can be possibly fit.

Matchup Spread

Eternatus VMAX: Heavily Favored

This is one of the deck’s easiest matchups. With Eternatus being one of the most popular decks in the format, it is crucial to play a deck that takes a good matchup against it. With the power of Marshadow & Machamp-GX paired with Martial Arts Dojo, Knocking Out Eternatus is a piece of cake. Acme of Heroism-GX is amazing in this matchup. If you are able to attack with this GX attack to its full effect, the game will swing to almost an unlosable scenario. Overall, I would be very pleased to face this matchup in a tournament.

ADPZ: Slightly Favored

ADPZ is currently the most hated deck in format. So many rogue decks are invalidated because of the power of Altered Creation. But this deck can easily take it down. The power to GG End the ADP as soon as they Altered Creation, or even Knock it Out with a Zigzagoon paired up with a Martial Arts Dojo, will swing the game heavily in your favor. With Zacian not playing Vitality Band or Zigzagoon currently, it makes it impossible for them to 1-shot a Garchomp & Giratina-GX or Marshadow & Machamp-GX. This means they have no response, which will often just end the game right there. This matchup can be swung though if they do run a Zigzagoon or Vitality Band, but currently it is a good matchup.

LucMetal/Zacian: Even

At first glance, this matchup seems poor to the naked eye. But it is simply a matchup that players need to play out first before they can make a judgment on it. LucMetal/Zacian and TinaChamp are polar opposite decks. One is slow and methodical, while the other one is extremely aggressive. That aggression that TinaChamp puts on LucMetal has often been enough to run them over before they can set up. Full Metal Wall-GX is something that is a big concern though. Energy removal has been a major issue for this deck, so their GX attack can be problematic. Luckily, since their deck is so slow, it is possible to rebuild another Garchomp & Giratina-GX in two turns.

How I have approached the matchup is to rush them early with a GG End-GX and Calamitous Slash. After that, Stamp them to one or two and attempt to build one last Garchomp & Giratina-GX to finish. Conserving resources is huge in this matchup, so make sure to be cautious on what is being discarded or used up.

Centiskorch VMAX: Slightly Unfavorable

This is one of the deck’s toughest matchups, and it relies a lot on your opponent’s knowledge of the matchup. Centiskorch V’s Radiating Heat removes Energy from both Active Pokémon. If they are smart, they will try and do this as much as they can, and then attack with a huge Centiskorch to sweep the board. It is crucial to set up a TinaChomp-GX on the Bench first, before attacking with it. Leaving it in the Active early will often lead to a very hard game to win. But, if you able to set up a fully-charged Garchomp & Giratina-GX, then you can GG End-GX a Centiskorch VMAX off the field and attempt to sweep their field before they can recover.

PikaRom: Heavily Favored

PikaRom decks have seen a resurgence recently. With more of them running around in the field, Marshadow & Machamp-GX gets another deck to shine against. There is little to nothing the PikaRom player can do to stop this deck except a late-game Stamp and Raichu & Alolan Raichu-GX paralysis play. In this matchup, it is critical to Knock Out the ChuChu-GX before PikaRom-GX. Once the Raichu goes down, they have nothing that can slow a Machamp down from running down the last couple of Prizes.

Decidueye DAA/Galarian Obstagoon SSH: Unfavorable

This is one of the deck’s weirdest matchups to approach, but it does have a game plan. Early game, it is optimal to Linear Attack and try to pick off as many of their Pokémon as possible. Leading into the middle to end game, it is critical to set up Garchomp & Giratina-GX on the Bench. If you have the time, set up a 5-Energy Garchomp & Giratina-GX with Karate Belt on the Bench, then Stamp them and GG End-GX two Pokémon off the field. If they are able to set up 3 Decidueye, then there is simply nothing you can do, but at least there is a game plan to the matchup.

Potential Inclusions

Bede

Over extensive testing with the deck, this has been a card that has been in and out of the deck multiple times. Counts of this card have gone from two to one, and now it has been cut to zero. The reason for this cut is simply consistency. Beede has been either amazing or completely useless, so it has remained the 61st card currently that cannot be fit. It is worth mentioning though because it can be powerful in niche situations; however, it has found its place in the “unnecessary” pool of cards. Feel free to try it, maybe you will find more use in it, but currently I do not have it in my list. I would like to continue to try it to see if it can make its way back into the list.

Cynthia & Caitlin

This cut was one of the most recent cuts. Cynthia & Caitlin had been a mediocre card; it helped at times and other times it felt like a Professor’s Research would have been better. Over time, it felt like there needed to be some type of Supporter retrieval in the deck. This is where Pal Pad comes into play. Pal Pad felt like a better card than Cynthia & Caitlin because the Supporters could be immediately searched out with Magneton’s Call Signal and it provided a defense against Reset Stamps. Solid card, but Pal Pad simply felt like a better card for this type of deck.

Kabu

People sort of threw this card by the wayside. With most big decks needing lots of Pokémon on the field, Kabu’s added effect, which lets you shuffle and draw 8 instead of 4 if there was only 1 Pokémon on your field, was not recognized as good in decks currently. Luckily, this deck was found to give the card some hope in this format. After testing the card for quite some time, I came to the realization that it had a similar place as Bede did. Kabu was good, but simply was not used enough for it to be as effective as the 2nd Professor’s Research. Kabu’ing for 8 was fun, but it just did not happen enough.

Conclusion

After much testing, I think this deck is a fantastic choice for the meta. There are a ton of top decks that it is able to handle, and I think will be an attractive choice for future events. With ADP and Eternatus being so prevalent in the meta, it finally seems there is a rogue deck that can take them down with ease.

Thank you everyone for reading my very first article on SixPrizes. It was a joy to be able to produce this content for everyone to have a chance to read. Good luck to everyone competing in the Players Cup II qualifiers and I hope to speak with you again soon!