Machamp Stormfront SF 20 – Card of the Day

Machamp Stormfront SF 20 Pokemon CardMachamp is one guy all Basic Pokémon should be scared of. For just one Fighting energy he can 1HKO any of them. And if they’re evolved, Take Out still does a respectable 40 damage. However, just like against Gengar, Unown G does a good job of blocking an attack. While Unown G is attached to a Basic Pokémon, Take Out will do nothing, not even 40 damage.

Hurricane Punch is a decent attack. Normally it will do 60 damage.

Rage is a very powerful attack, doing up to 180 damage. But 4 energy is expensive. It’ll take a while to get that attack charged up, unless you’re using the Regirock LA/Stark Mountain combo to get more Fighting Energy onto Machamp quicker.

If we’re looking at Machamp, we might as well look at Machamp LV.X too since it adds a lot of power to it. No Guard increases all of Machamp’s attacks by 60 damage, but it’s a double edged sword since all damage done to Machamp is increased by 60 too. It’s best to Level Up only when you need to KO a Pokémon with high HP. With 2 heads from Hurricane Punch that’s 120 damage, enough to KO most Pokémon out there. Strong-Willed is also a great attack. It does 80 damage due to No Guard, and with a lucky flip Machamp may survive to see another day. The turn after you Level Up, Machamp LV.X will probably get KO’d. But with a few Time-Space Distortions you can keep replacing them. As long as you took the first prize and you and your opponent keep taking 1 Prize each turn, you have a good chance of winning the game.

Machamp is very effective against Pokémon SP decks. Since Take Out will KO almost any of them in one hit, this forces them to attach Unown G, meaning they can’t attach Energy Gain, meaning it takes them longer to attack. However most SP decks take this into account, so they tech things into their deck like Toxicroak G PT, or Uxie/Uxie LV.X combined with Unown G to do severe damage to Machamp and prevent getting Knocked Out.

Machamp LV.X Stormfront SF 98I believe Machamp works best as a small tech in a Stage 2 deck, not as a pure Machamp deck. It just doesn’t have enough fire power. If you’re up against an evolution deck, all you have to rely on are mediocre attacks and Machamp LV.X’s Pokémon Body. Gengar isn’t a fun matchup either. But if you’re using something like a 1-0-1 line, you can drop him out of nowhere to pick off 1 or 2 Pokémon SP that didn’t have the foresight to attach Unown G.

If you have any thoughts about this card, please comment! We want to hear from you.

Reader Interactions

52 replies

  1. Dave Hueglin

    Good article Jeremy. I actually didn’t know that Take Out was totally ineffective against a Basic with Unown G attached. I wasn’t sure you were correct so I looked it up on the Pokemon Compendium and found the ruling. Sorry to have doubted you. I think it’s a good idea to look at the the card with its Level X version in the same article.

  2. Dave Hueglin

    Good article Jeremy. I actually didn’t know that Take Out was totally ineffective against a Basic with Unown G attached. I wasn’t sure you were correct so I looked it up on the Pokemon Compendium and found the ruling. Sorry to have doubted you. I think it’s a good idea to look at the the card with its Level X version in the same article.

  3. Dave Hueglin

    Good article Jeremy. I actually didn’t know that Take Out was totally ineffective against a Basic with Unown G attached. I wasn’t sure you were correct so I looked it up on the Pokemon Compendium and found the ruling. Sorry to have doubted you. I think it’s a good idea to look at the the card with its Level X version in the same article.

  4. Woodstock

    Are you sure that Unown G protects against Take out? I mean, yeah, it revokes the attack, but It doesn’t revoke the 40 damage. Does it?

    I’m not really sure how Unown G works, could you guys make a strategy or a detailed analysis of it? Thanks :D

  5. Woodstock

    Are you sure that Unown G protects against Take out? I mean, yeah, it revokes the attack, but It doesn’t revoke the 40 damage. Does it?

    I’m not really sure how Unown G works, could you guys make a strategy or a detailed analysis of it? Thanks :D

  6. Joshua Hall

    If you have an unown G attached to a basic, machamp ain’t doin’ NUTIN’ with that first attack. It’s mostly based on the way the attack is worded. It says, “If they’re not evolved, they’re knocked out.” Ok, now the 40 damage is a thing of the past. But wait, dunsparce has an unown G! So no knockout, no effect. One way of thinking about it is an if/then statement:

    IF (The Defending Pokemon is an Evolved Pokemon)
    THEN (Do 40 Damage, apply weakness, resis, etc)

    ELSE (The Defending Pokemon is Knocked Out, apply effects like Unown G’s, etc)

    There are probably other attacks in the game that work out similarly to that, and since Machamp is so popular, this instance comes up a lot.

  7. jermy101

    No prob Dave! Yup that’s how Unown G works. It does the “knocking out effect” instead of 40 damage, so if Unown G is attached the attack does nothing.

    Hey Woodstock, that sounds like a good idea. I think we will make an article on Unown G. Thanks for the suggestion!

    Great way of explaining how Unown G works quaziko!

  8. alex d

    If it is a basic, then it knocks it out.

    If it has Unown G, it doesn’t revert back to the 40 damage. It blocks the effect entirely.
    It seems strange, but it makes sense when you think about it.

    This ruling is pretty important to know… I’ve won two games this season because a Machamp player didn’t know about it (once at a CC with Gigas, and once at Nats with Luxray/Infernape).

    On to the card…

    It is pretty weak to me in a deck on its own… it isn’t really good against non-SP decks. It can work… but it is soooo flip-reliant.

    It is pretty decent… but either way, a very controversial deck to play… you either do really well or fail at a tournament when you play this, depending on what your metagame happens to be that day.

  9. kwisdumb

    As others have said, Unown G does indeed block the damage from TAKE OUT. I like to explain it to people in sort of a flowchart…

    BASIC?
    [YES] – Automatic Knockout.
    [NO] – 40 damage.

    Once you make the commitment that yes, the Pokemon is indeed a basic, it continues to follow that train of thought, never getting into the [No] column.

    As far as the actual card, I think it’s nice. I dunno if I’d run a purely Machamp deck, but Machamp/Gengar has proven to be pretty good, and I’ve seen it teched into a few different decks lately.

  10. kwisdumb

    As others have said, Unown G does indeed block the damage from TAKE OUT. I like to explain it to people in sort of a flowchart…

    BASIC?
    [YES] – Automatic Knockout.
    [NO] – 40 damage.

    Once you make the commitment that yes, the Pokemon is indeed a basic, it continues to follow that train of thought, never getting into the [No] column.

    As far as the actual card, I think it’s nice. I dunno if I’d run a purely Machamp deck, but Machamp/Gengar has proven to be pretty good, and I’ve seen it teched into a few different decks lately.

  11. kwisdumb

    As others have said, Unown G does indeed block the damage from TAKE OUT. I like to explain it to people in sort of a flowchart…

    BASIC?
    [YES] – Automatic Knockout.
    [NO] – 40 damage.

    Once you make the commitment that yes, the Pokemon is indeed a basic, it continues to follow that train of thought, never getting into the [No] column.

    As far as the actual card, I think it’s nice. I dunno if I’d run a purely Machamp deck, but Machamp/Gengar has proven to be pretty good, and I’ve seen it teched into a few different decks lately.

  12. Woodstock

    Yeah, I was running a Fly-Champ deck and I didn’t even notice Unown G had that much of an impact on the card :o

    I guess it’s like Adam says “Know your cards.”

    :P

  13. Woodstock

    Yeah, I was running a Fly-Champ deck and I didn’t even notice Unown G had that much of an impact on the card :o

    I guess it’s like Adam says “Know your cards.”

    :P

  14. Woodstock

    Yeah, I was running a Fly-Champ deck and I didn’t even notice Unown G had that much of an impact on the card :o

    I guess it’s like Adam says “Know your cards.”

    :P

  15. alex d

    Yes, this was actually a point in Adam’s vid, that you should be up to date with rulings and errata on all of your cards.

  16. Joshua Hall

    If you have an unown G attached to a basic, machamp ain’t doin’ NUTIN’ with that first attack. It’s mostly based on the way the attack is worded. It says, “If they’re not evolved, they’re knocked out.” Ok, now the 40 damage is a thing of the past. But wait, dunsparce has an unown G! So no knockout, no effect. One way of thinking about it is an if/then statement:

    IF (The Defending Pokemon is an Evolved Pokemon)
    THEN (Do 40 Damage, apply weakness, resis, etc)

    ELSE (The Defending Pokemon is Knocked Out, apply effects like Unown G’s, etc)

    There are probably other attacks in the game that work out similarly to that, and since Machamp is so popular, this instance comes up a lot.

  17. jermy101

    No prob Dave! Yup that’s how Unown G works. It does the “knocking out effect” instead of 40 damage, so if Unown G is attached the attack does nothing.

    Hey Woodstock, that sounds like a good idea. I think we will make an article on Unown G. Thanks for the suggestion!

    Great way of explaining how Unown G works quaziko!

  18. alex d

    If it is a basic, then it knocks it out.

    If it has Unown G, it doesn’t revert back to the 40 damage. It blocks the effect entirely.
    It seems strange, but it makes sense when you think about it.

    This ruling is pretty important to know… I’ve won two games this season because a Machamp player didn’t know about it (once at a CC with Gigas, and once at Nats with Luxray/Infernape).

    On to the card…

    It is pretty weak to me in a deck on its own… it isn’t really good against non-SP decks. It can work… but it is soooo flip-reliant.

    It is pretty decent… but either way, a very controversial deck to play… you either do really well or fail at a tournament when you play this, depending on what your metagame happens to be that day.

  19. Stigma

    Basically, machamp’s problem with the format are gengar and beedrill. Both decks will honestly flatten it very effectively. Makes it an unviable choice in today’s meta.

    Gengar has weakness advantage, fainting spell, and it feeds off of your early game uxies. Nidoqueen will also take down your machamps extremely easily.

    Sure, it beats DPL and Raype consistently…but what else?

  20. Stigma

    Basically, machamp’s problem with the format are gengar and beedrill. Both decks will honestly flatten it very effectively. Makes it an unviable choice in today’s meta.

    Gengar has weakness advantage, fainting spell, and it feeds off of your early game uxies. Nidoqueen will also take down your machamps extremely easily.

    Sure, it beats DPL and Raype consistently…but what else?

  21. alex d

    Yes, this was actually a point in Adam’s vid, that you should be up to date with rulings and errata on all of your cards.

  22. alex d

    Yes, this was actually a point in Adam’s vid, that you should be up to date with rulings and errata on all of your cards.

  23. The thing is, Machamp usually DOESN’T beat sp decks. Unless they are playing palia/champ, in which case you have to drop 2 luxray (assuming you run it), they basically must swarm you, which requires claydol. Dragging up teh dol/power spraying dol makes champ unbareably slow, and most sp pokemon 2 shot champ so that you can g a crobat and do the uxie/crobat combo over and over and over and over. When sf came out, champ was a rediculous card simply because of take outs donkability, the Xs body, and rage with registark (or a tech togekiss, which seems to have become a completely forgotten card), but now he’s only good early game and simply gets outspeeded/damaged/lasted by everything. I don’t expect him to survive RR.

  24. Adam Capriola

    Gnarly discussion going on here guys, I’m diggin it!

    I like Machamp only as tech, when you focus a deck on it your are going to be relying way too heavily on flips.

    There are obviously some ways to try and keep the easy KOs going (Lumineon SF, Cyclone Energy, Warp Point, Infernape 4 LV.X), but most people know how to play around it.

    I have wanted to try Rotom MD with it for a mid-game energy booster, but I don’t even know if it’s worth it. Might be worth a try though.

  25. Brian Jessing

    The thing is, Machamp usually DOESN’T beat sp decks. Unless they are playing palia/champ, in which case you have to drop 2 luxray (assuming you run it), they basically must swarm you, which requires claydol. Dragging up teh dol/power spraying dol makes champ unbareably slow, and most sp pokemon 2 shot champ so that you can g a crobat and do the uxie/crobat combo over and over and over and over. When sf came out, champ was a rediculous card simply because of take outs donkability, the Xs body, and rage with registark (or a tech togekiss, which seems to have become a completely forgotten card), but now he’s only good early game and simply gets outspeeded/damaged/lasted by everything. I don’t expect him to survive RR.

  26. Adam Capriola

    Gnarly discussion going on here guys, I’m diggin it!

    I like Machamp only as tech, when you focus a deck on it your are going to be relying way too heavily on flips.

    There are obviously some ways to try and keep the easy KOs going (Lumineon SF, Cyclone Energy, Warp Point, Infernape 4 LV.X), but most people know how to play around it.

    I have wanted to try Rotom MD with it for a mid-game energy booster, but I don’t even know if it’s worth it. Might be worth a try though.

  27. dragon2pol

    machamp a sick card to be played if played right i must say i love take-out

    I tryed using the pop9 rotom it real came in handy vs. palk kindra & other stuff

  28. dragon2pol

    machamp a sick card to be played if played right i must say i love take-out

    I tryed using the pop9 rotom it real came in handy vs. palk kindra & other stuff

  29. kwisdumb

    I think Machamp can definitely be played well, but I think people have learned to play around it too much. I’ve lost to plenty of Machamps, but whenever I see it I know that I immediately need a Uxie, Unown G, etc. I think it just has too much of a target on it’s back now, with all of it’s success.

    Great discussion going on here.

  30. kwisdumb

    I think Machamp can definitely be played well, but I think people have learned to play around it too much. I’ve lost to plenty of Machamps, but whenever I see it I know that I immediately need a Uxie, Unown G, etc. I think it just has too much of a target on it’s back now, with all of it’s success.

    Great discussion going on here.

  31. Nojo294

    machamp would be useful but to use it really well, you dont need skill, u need luck.

  32. Nojo294

    machamp would be useful but to use it really well, you dont need skill, u need luck.

  33. yavniel

    i like machamp better becuase when i was in a battle my tyranitar was almost kncked out and i swicthed it with my machamp and it kept knocking out my oponents pokemon and i won the match.

  34. yavniel

    i like machamp better becuase when i was in a battle my tyranitar was almost kncked out and i swicthed it with my machamp and it kept knocking out my oponents pokemon and i won the match.

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