-Fluffychomp!
Today's article will be on a deck that has received a lot of hype and I am here to give you my opinion on it, 2 lists, card explanations, and we will see if it is the next Luxchomp or the next Lostgar! Wow. That's a lot!
Fluffychomp--Garchomp/Altaria
Fluffychomp is a deck that has received a lot of hype. But under all of that Hype lies one thing. A reason. Every time something is expected to be good there has to be a reason. Here are the results from week 1 of the Japanese Spring Battle Carnival events.
Tournament 1
1st- Darkrai EX/Hydriegon
2nd- Garchomp/Altaria
3rd- Eelektrik/Zekrom/Mewtwo EX/Raikou EX
4th- Terrakion EX/Mewtwo EX/Bouffalant
So as you can see this deck started when someone took it to week 1 and took 2nd in an undeveloped metagame. In the first week of a tournament series decks are undeveloped and simple quick decks can take easy wins. Lets look at week 2.
Tournament 2
1st- Garchomp/Altaria
2nd- Garchomp/Stunfisk/Mewtwo EX
3rd- Hydreigon/Darkrai EX/Giratina EX
4th- Hydriegon/Darkrai EX/Shaymin EX
In the next tournament two Garchomp variants beat HDD in top 4 and Garchomp/ Altaria came out on top against a rogue deck. Now this metagame is starting to shape up and people are realising the power of HDD over Gartaria because it's easier to tank with a basic than stream stage 2 attackers.
Now that you have seen the reason for it's success (undeveloped meta), I'll give you the winning list in tournament 2.
Pokemon- 21
4-Gible DRX 87
3-Gabite DRX 89
4-Garchomp DRX 90
3-Swablu DRX 104
3-Altaria DRX 84
3-Emolga DRX 45
1-Rayquaza DRX 128
Trainers- 28
4-Professor Juniper
4-N
3-Bianca
3-Cheren
4-Pokemon Catcher
3-Level Ball
3-Rare Candy
2-Super Rod
2-Switch
Energy- 11
4-Blend Energy WLFM
7-Fighting Energy
So as you can see from this list, consistency is key. This list is pretty self explanatory, being one of the most simple lists you can find. Even though this deck speaks for itself, I will point out some interesting spots in the list.
Rayquaza DRX 128
This card is great for this deck, except for 2 things:
1. 3 retreat on a Pokemon that you want to attack with turn 1.
Yep. 3 retreat. That's the 1 thing I hate about Rayquaza. If he is left on the bench he will get catcher'd up to the active and forced to retreat for 3. That is why this deck runs 2 switch. Other times after if you have attacked with him on turn 1 you would want Garchomp instead and will have to switch out of the active spot. Other times you will just want to attack with him for a while because Dragon Pulse can get added power with Flight Song.
2. It has a $95 price tag.
-The Price is NOT right!!
Ah yes. The most expensive card in the format. The reason for this insanity is because Rayquaza is good and it comes in 1 of only 12 boxes. Nothing else.
3 Bianca and 3 Cheren
Most people would agree on this supporter line but I don't. Mots of the times when playing this deck Bianca is more useful than Cheren, which is why I would go with a 4-2 split in favor of the Bianca. I personally don't like Cheren and think that in most decks Random Receiver would be better than him.
3 Level Ball
Gartaria is a deck that relies heavily on Gabite to set up because of his ability, Dragon Call. Dragon Call lets you search your deck for 1 Dragon type Pokemon and put it into your hand. This is extremely helpful because he is searchable by Level Ball. After you Level Ball for a Gabite you can use Dragon Call to get another Gabite and then Stream Dragon Calls. You can also use Level Ball to get Swablu and Emolga, the two Pokemon that can't get searched out by Dragon Call.
My List
Pokemon-21
4-Gible DRX 87
3-Gabite DRX 89
4-Garchomp DRX 90
4-Swablu DRX 104
3-Altaria DRX 84
3-Emolga DRX 45
Trainers-28
4-Professor Juniper
4-N
4-Bianca
3-Cheren
4-Pokemon Catcher
4-Level Ball
3-Rare Candy
2-Super Rod
2-Switch
Energy-11
4-Blend Energy WLFM
7-Fighting Energy
So this is my list that I chose to run without Rayquaza. I like Emolga better turn 1 because a full bench is what you need. Again, very straightforward list but I'll explain the 'oddities'.
4 Swablu
When I made this deck, I took out the materials for Rayquaza and I figured since Swablu has such low health he could easily get killed early in the early game by Mewtwo. In other situations 1 gets knocked out and 1 is prized, you have two more to work with.
Next Luxchomp or next Lostgar?
In this section I will explain the good traits about Fluffychomp (Luxchomp traits) and the bad traits (Lostgar traits).
Luxchomp Traits
1. Gabite's Dragon Call
Gabite is the reason this deck performs so well. As mentioned earlier, Dragon Call let's you search your deck for a Dragon Pokemon and put it into your hand. Here is a list that shows what he can get.
Able to get:
Gible
Gabite
Garchomp
Altaria
Rayquaza (If ran)
Unable to get:
Swablu
Emolga
So as you can see Gabite can search out any Pokemon in the deck except for Swablu and Emolga, which are both searchable through Level Ball, which is another reason to run 4. Gabite is what makes this deck so fast, and any list running the other one is a bad list.
2. Rayquaza allows for donks
Once again, I have to make a list, but this time it will be all of the pokemon that are donked or easily killed by Rayquaza.
Donkable:
Deino (Dragon)
Gible
Swablu
Tynamo (all 4)
In KO range with Altaria out:
Hydreigon
Garchomp
Rayquaza
So this list includes all meta cards and you will most likely donk once with Ray at a huge tournament like Regionals or Nationals.
Lostgar Traits
-This is where Garchomp is going
1. You have to stream stage 2 attackers
This is perhaps the biggest setback this deck has. Every game you will only get 3-4 attackers off and that is why this deck runs 2 Super Rod. Not to mention having to mill through your deck trying to get the cards you need for the Garchomp lines. Once you have all of your Garchomps out you can't Super Rod materials back in and use Dragon Call to grab them, you have to search every piece out until you get up to Gabite because all you will have on the field is Garchomp and no Dragon Calling Pokemon.
2. Garchomp didn't do well in the last 2 Battle Carnivals
This is easily put. Garchomp can't perform well in a matured format. In the first 2 Carnivals it took 2nd and 1st because the format hasn't matured or been fully put together. In the last 2 weeks of Spring Battle Carnivals there were no Garchomp in the TOP SIXTEEN!!! You can quickly tell something by these 4 results that Garchomp may be good in the beginning of Battle Roads, but is a horrible play for Regionals.
Well that's it for my first article and I hope you guys liked it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
In my opinion, Fluffychomp is the next Lostgar
Leave a comment telling me your answer.
Is Fluffychomp the next Luxchomp or the next Lostgar?
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