Houndoom G is a highly overlooked card when building a deck — since it’s a Fire type, most people would automatically say that it uses Fire type Energy. WRONG! Houndoom G uses Darkness Energy, and, since it’s SP, can abuse Energy Gain, as well as the rest of the SP engine.

This card, paired up with Blaziken FB could be awesome, as you can “Luring Flame” up a high-retreat Pokemon, then bring up Houndoom G and use “Black Cry” so they can’t retreat.

Plus, if you’re disrupting with cards such as Cyrus’s Initiative, Judge, Giratina PL, Chatot G, and possibly Slowking HS (non-prime), your opponent can’t switch it out with Warp Energy/Warp Point/Switch either!  With Power Spray, you can also block Machamp Prime’s menacing “Fighting Tag” Poke-Power.

Hmmm… what deck disrupts with Initiative, Judge, Giratina, and Chatot G, already has Blaziken FB in it, has an SP engine, and has Darkness Energy as well? Hmm…

Oh yeah! Sablelock (Ok Mr. Technical, Chenlock. Happy? Good.)! Houndoom G would be a great tech in Sablelock, as it can do 20 damage, prevent the opponent from retreating, and keep your opponent’s Active Pokemon from using any Poke-Powers for a Darkness and an Energy Gain. Unfortunately, it can not use Special Darkness Energy, so keep that in mind. Houndoom G is a sneaky and clever tech that can automatically boost your Gyarados, VileGar, Lockchamp, Vile??? (<— a.k.a. Vileplume with anything), and DialgaChomp matchups! Ain’t that cool?

But don’t just reserve this card for Sablelock/Chenlock only… you have to spread its use, in every deck you possibly can. Add it in any Darkness deck and it will help you. I can almost guarantee it (notice I said almost… I’m not saying it’s the best card there is.).

Houndoom G does have another mediocre attack called “Dark Slash”, doing 40+ damage. Its text reads “You may discard a Darkness Energy attached to Houndoom G. If you do, this attack does 40 damage plus 20 more damage.” Not the best, but can be used in last resort.

Also, how does it withstand in this speedy, high-damaging format? Well, it has a good 90 HP, which means no Garchomp C sniping. It has a horrible 2x weakness to Fighting, and a great -20 resistance to Psychic. Plus, it’s has a 1 retreat cost, so it can be Q’d for retreat. It can attack for 1 energy (plus an Energy Gain), and does well early-mid game. That sounds pretty good during this format, don’t ya think?

So if I were to rate this card, I’d give it a 3 out of 5. I mean, it does help a lot, but, along with other SP’s, it has it’s downsides, this time in the form of a Fighting weakness and being a Fire type. Thanks for reading, and I’ll talk to ya next time. Bye!

Houndoom G (Platinum PL 50) – Card of the Day is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

A +30 weakness to grass is pretty much as good as you can get these days with only Jumpluff posing a threat.  No resistance is fairly common and it’s retreat cost of 1 is a very pleasant surprise considering its general bulk, meaning free retreat with aid from Unown Q.

130 HP is also pretty standard for a stage 2 these days, matching those of Machamp SF and Kingdra Prime.

With the usual admin of the card out of the way, let’s get onto the meat of this card.  Rampardos has a Poke-Body, “Iron Skull,” which negates any effects on the opposing Pokemon such as resistance and Poke-Bodies when doing damage with Rampardos.

This is a brilliant Body, considering it bypasses all the problems faced by fighting types having to combat Machamp counters with a fighting resistance.  With a Body like this, hopefully Rampardos has access to some powerful attacks to make use of this.

Well its first attack certainly falls under that category.  In fact, I would consider it to be one of the most offensive attacks in the current format.  ”Head Smash”, for 1 fighting energy does 80 damage, with a recoil of 40 should you knock out the defending Pokemon.

In all honesty, this isn’t a bad trade-off at all.  With an Expert Belt and a Crobat G “Flash Bite,” you are knocking out most of the metagame Pokemon, if not, at least 2HKOing them.  For one energy, this is pretty phenominal, with not many being able to match it in terms of raw, quick power.

Rampardos’ second attack, “Mold Breaker” for a Fighting and a Colorless does a mediocre 40 damage.  It does have a slight perk in that it reduces damage by 20 during the opponents next turn.  This is akin to Jumpluff’s “Leaf Guard”, not a great move, and not what you will be focusing on, but if you can knock out the opponent with it, it’s worth it for that little bit of defence during the next turn.

So how does this card slot into our metagame?  Well to be honest, it’s a bit of a disaster.  Not only is Rampardos a stage 2 Pokemon, its basic form is Skull Fossil.  While this does give the Rampardos line access to a small Fossil Excavator Engine, the setbacks are too huge to ignore.

Firstly, Skull Fossil cannot be searched out using Pokemon Collector, which is crucial to so many decks to get their lines out as quickly as possible.  Also, you cannot even play a Skull Fossil under trainer lock.

Not being able to put your main attacker out in any matchup is just going to spell a bit of a disaster.  One counter you could consider adding to this is Dialga G Lv.X.

In fact, I would suggest if you ever wanted Rampardos to be even slightly competitive, Dialga G Lv.X is a must so you can at least lay down Dome Fossil thanks to its Body “Time Crystal.”

Another issue to overcome is Rampardos’ general fragility.  Having to take 40 damage every time you knock out a Pokemon is going to add up.  You would either have to build Rampardos up with a speed engine or to have a Steelix style healing engine.  I would personally prefer a speed engine to swarm Rampardos as much as possible as it’s stats are in general very offensive.

Overall, were this card not a stage 2 fossil evolution, I would probably be giving this beast a 4 out of 5.  However, all things considered and taking into consideration the current metagame, I would have to stoop as low as 2 out of 5.  It could definitely make a little impression on a Vilegarless area, or make a nice league deck but it certainly shouldn’t be making too many waves in the near future.

Rampardos (Platinum PL 13) – Card of the Day is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

For starters, Dialga is a Basic Pokemon with a nice Metal typing and a sturdy 100 HP, which means that any Non-Fire Pokemon will have difficulty OHKOing it. The Psychic resistance is nice with the abundance of Gengar in the format and helps against Uxie Donk decks as well (they aren’t too big at the moment, but they gained a lot of traction with Triumphant). The Retreat Cost of three means Dialga could be a liability in decks that don’t run Warp Energy/Point.

When Dialga is put into play, you can activate its Poke-Power, “Reverse Time”. When used, it allows you to take 3, in any combination, of Pokemon and basic Energy Cards in your Discard Pile and put them on top of your deck. After I finished reading it for the first time, I immediately saw a ton of cards in which Dialga has combo-potential with.

While almost every deck could use Dialga’s recovery Poke-Power to some extent, a deck that really takes its usefulness to the next level is Mewperior. While there are a lot of ways you can adapt your deck to make “Hard Crush” more effective, ultimately it is up to chance of what cards will be discarded, and in turn, the damage output. However, with Dialga, you can place three Energy from your Discard Pile to the top of your deck, guaranteeing a minimum of 150 damage.

Note: Delcatty can do this as well, but only guarantees 100 damage and is a Stage 1.

In addition to this powerful Poke-Power, Dialga also comes with an attack, “Time-Space Traveling”. For MCC (very manageable cost, if I do say so myself), “TST” does 50 damage and allows you to draw until you have 7 cards in your hand. Unfortunately, Dialga’s attack isn’t even in the same league as its Poke-Power.

My Recommendation: Definitely play 1-2 Copies of it in Mewperior lists. Also, trying out a copy of this card in other decks as a form of recovery isn’t a bad idea either, especially if it runs Seekers/SSUs (for extra recovery and to force through Power Spray).

My Rating: 3.75/5 (I think its a pretty good card, but would be better with a cheaper Retreat Cost and a somewhat useable attack, like Uxie)

If anyone would like some help constructing their deck for States, I’m always more than happy to help, just send an email to dstreck96@yahoo.com and I’ll be sure to get back to you asap.

Dialga (Platinum PL 5) – Card of the Day is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

Dialga G comes with a very high 100 HP, which should make it more difficult for Garchomp C Lv.X to snipe. It has a hurtful x2 weakness, so watch out for Blaziken FB Lv.X (and the uncommon Infernape 4 Lv.X as well). This SP Basic also comes with a handy Psychic resistance, so Gengar and Uxie should have a tough time knocking it out. Dialga G is a Metal-type Pokemon, which gives it access to Special Metal Energy, and combined with its high HP should make it difficult for any non-Fire Pokemon to OHKO. Unfortunately, Dialga is also handicapped by a semi-high retreat cost of two, but can be managed by Warp Energy.

This monster of a Pokemon comes equipped with two attacks. “Deafen”, for MC (Energy Gain reduces that to a very cheap M) does a low 10 damage, but comes with an extremely useful effect: Your Opponent cannot play Trainer or Stadium cards during their next turn. “Deafen” works especially well early-game against Gyarados and SP.

Dialga G’s second attack, “Second Strike”, isn’t as interesting. For the semi-high cost of MCC (I say semi-high instead of high because it can use Energy Gain as well as Double Colorless Energy), it does 50 damage, but, if the defending Pokemon has two or more damage counters on it, it does 70 damage instead. If it was only required to have one damage counter on the defending Pokemon, it would be slightly better because you could “Flash Bite” a lot of basic SP Pokemon, then KO them. Not a terrible attack, but not a mind-blowing one either.

Dialga G is by no means a bad card, but probably the only reason you would play it is to get its Level Up into play. Let’s continue.

Dialga G Lv.X has pretty much the same stats as its Basic counterpart: Same x2 weakness, same -20 resistance, same Metal-typing (shocker, right?), and, surprisingly, it has the same retreat cost (most either get higher or lower). However, it does get a nice boost in HP, bringing it to a high 120, which surpasses almost every other Basic Level Up in the format.

By leveling up, you will gain access to an attack and a Poke-Body. Its Poke-Body, “Time Crystal”, shuts off all Poke-Bodies belonging to non-SP Pokemon in play. That’s a lot of Pokemon: Mewtwo Lv.X, Donphan Prime, Scizor Prime, Spiritomb, Vileplume, and a few others that I’m forgetting. Having answers to all of those Pokemon is really a huge edge and is the reason why 1-1 Dialga G lines are added into LuxChomp lists.

Like I said, Dialga G Lv.X provides both a Poke-Body and an attack. “Remove Lost”, for the massive cost of MMCC (even if you can use Double Colorless Energy or Energy Gain, that’s still a very costly attack), does 80 damage. In addition, you flip a coin until you get tails. For each heads you get, an Energy attached to the defending Pokemon is sent to the Lost Zone.

Despite its damage output being a bit low, keep in mind that, when played in DialgaChomp, it will be remedied by two things. First of all, many/most (depends on your area) DialgaChomp lists run multiple copies of Expert Belt, which means that you’ll be a 140 HP Pokemon hitting for 100 damage with possible Energy removal.

Secondly, in DialgaChomp, the focus is to tank with Dialga G Lv.X by using Garchomp C Lv.X’s “Healing Breath” to consistently remove damage counters from it, as well has having 3-4 Special Metal Energy to reduce the damage you receive in the first place. Having this much durability means that, if you power up Dialga G Lv.X once, there is a good chance it won’t be KO’d for the rest of the match. These are many of the factors that have made DialgaChomp one of the top decks in the format.

My Recommendation: DialgaChomp is one of the most powerful, as one of the most difficult, decks in the format to use. It is definitely a great deck to take to Cities, but only if you know how to use it. Also, a 1-1 Dialga G line is great in LuxChomp for countering VileGar as well (Yuta Komatsuda won Worlds with it included in his LuxChomp build).

My Rating: 4.75/5

Cards of the Day – Dialga G & Dialga G Lv.X (Platinum PL 7 & 122) is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

Altaria comes with three attacks, so hopefully we’re provided with a nice variety of useful attacks. Are we? No. “Midnight Eyes”, for the low cost of C, does a pitiful 20 damage and makes the defending Pokemon fall Asleep. Unfortunately, with Warp Energy, Poke Turn and Super Scoop Up in the format, the already weak Special Condition Asleep is near useless. The only person who is likely to stay Asleep is me.

Its second attack, “Perish Song”, for the nice cost of CC (Double Colorless, anyone?), translates to “If you used Midnight Eyes on the defending Pokemon and it’s still asleep, it is knocked out.” I cannot begin to tell you how bad this attack is.

First of all, it relies on hitting the defending Pokemon, the same one that you hit “Midnight Eyes” with last turn. In a format filled with free retreat-cost attackers and SP Pokemon, switching out your active Pokemon is very easy. In addition, the Pokemon must stay asleep for two turns, meaning that, even if your opponent cannot switch out their active Pokemon, there’s only a 25% chance you can get a KO.

Altaria’s final attack, “Healing Song,” is easily the best of all its attacks. Unfortunately, that isn’t saying much. For the cheap cost of CC, “Healing Song” does 40 damage and removes one damage counter from each of your Pokemon. Now, if we were back in 1999, I’d say that Altaria is definitely a usable card. However, it is 2010 (almost 2011), so these low damage, crappy effect attacks won’t cut it.

Altaria is a terrible, terrible card that, unless if some super slow, Fighting type deck with very low damage output that puts one damage counter on each of your Pokemon, this card should never be considered.

My Recommendation: I cannot even pretend that there’s a use for this card. The only thing it CAN do right is to OHKO Garchomp C for a Double Colorless Energy, which isn’t nearly enough to see play.

My Rating 1.5/5

Card of the Day – Altaria (Platinum PL 18) is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

Palkia G Lv.X comes equipped with a nice 120 HP, a terrible Lightning weakness, disappointing lack of resistance, and a high but manageable two retreat cost. It also has access to the SP engine, which both helps with the retreat cost and makes it a much better card. Like all SP Pokemon, it is OHKOed by Machamp.

Palkia’s Poke-Power, “Lost Cyclone”, states that any player who has four or more benched Pokemon in play must send Pokemon to their Lost Zone until they have three. Obviously, this card combos amazingly well with put-into-play Poke-Powers such as Uxie, Azelf, Crobat G, and the aforementioned Mesprit. In addition to combining with a wide array of powerful cards, it also helps to disrupt your opponent by limiting their bench space.

“Lost Cyclone” is also a method to make Seeker much less effective for your opponent. You use “Lost Cyclone”, they are forced to reduce their bench to three, oftentimes removing their Azelf/Uxie/Crobat from play and making it so Seeker cannot scoop up those cards. I’m aware it’s a bit circumstantial, but it is certainly something that should be noted as a countermeasure for Seeker, Super Scoop Up, or sometimes even hindering Power Spray’s usability.

Palkia G Lv.X, being a Level Up Pokemon, has access to three attacks. “Splashing Turn”, doing 20 for WC, allows you to switch it with a benched Pokemon. While it won’t be used very often, it can help get Palkia out of the active position if needed. “Pearl Breath”, for WCC, does 50 damage along with 10 to each of their benched Pokemon. This attack will be used much more often than “Splashing Turn” as it can do higher damage. I will also note that not only can it abuse Energy Gain but also Double Colorless Energy.

Perhaps Palkia’s best attack belongs to the Level Up. “Hydro Shot”, for the high cost of WWCC (also abuses Double Colorless), lets you do 80 damage to one of your opponent’s Pokemon. However, you must discard two Energy in order to use the attack. While it isn’t as fast or usable as “Dragon Rush”, I will note that, if you discard a DCE when you use the attack, you may use it again next turn so long as you can pay the cost, unlike Garchomp C Lv.X.

If/when we see Lost World, I believe that Palkia Lock 2.0 will be a big threat that you’ll need to watch out for. It will be back like it was in 2006 and 2007 when Giant Stump was in the format; you always had to be careful about filling your bench. If you weren’t, it would cost you. I think this aspect is good for the game as it adds a new edge and I’m looking forward to it.

My Recommendation: Palkia G Lv.X gained a good amount of power with the release of Seeker, so I will definitely be trying it out. If Lost World is released, you better believe that Palkia G Lv.X will be a powerful deck.

Rating: 3.25/5 (for now) and 4/5 (when/if Lost World comes out)

Card of the Day – Palkia G Lv.X (Platinum PL 125) is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

Bronzong G is a supporting SP Pokemon because its only attack, “Psychic Pulse”, for MC and a TGI Energy Gain, does a measly 40 damage and 10 to your opponent’s bench. Even with Energy Gain, it has bad value and very little reward.

However, its attack is not the reason you’d play Bronzong G. Instead, you would make room for it in your deck for its Poke-Power, “Galactic Switch”, which allows you to move an energy card attached to one of your SP Pokemon to another Pokemon. However, you must then put 2 damage counters on it.

Last year, when I was playing LuxChomp, I didn’t like it because it was a bad starter and didn’t seem to do that much for it. I still don’t play it in my LuxChomp lists. However, Sablelock and DialgaChomp are two decks that should definitely play Bronzong G because they’re able to use it to its full potential.

My recommendation: I would pass playing it in LuxChomp, but definitely play it in DialgaChomp. Also, I’d say to really test it out in Sablelock as well.

Rating 3.75 (Great card in two of the most popular decks with the only downside being the retreat cost.)

Card of the Day – Bronzong G (Platinum PL 41) is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

What it does: You get to look at your opponent’s hand, then decide whether to make him shuffle it into his deck, or shuffle your own hand into the deck. The player that shuffles his hand in can then draw up to five cards.

There are many other supporters that let you draw cards, including:
Cynthia’s Feelings
Professor Oak’s Visit
Professor Oak’s New Theory
Professor Rowan

There are also cards that make your opponent shuffle his hand in like:
Team Galactic Wager

But none other that let you look, and then decide. That’s pretty powerful and has uses in many circumstances, depending on what you and your opponent are playing. Let’s go through a few typical situations.

Return-to-the Hand Attacks

Decks based upon Shuppet, Gliscor/Spiritomb, and Yanmega/Shaymin feature “return-to-the hand” attacks. In these three decks, the main attacker has an attack that does damage, and then either returns the attacker and all cards attached to it to your hand (Shuppet, and Glisctomb) or returns all energy to the hand (Dragonfly Bonsai a.k.a Yanmega/Shaymin). In either case, the opponent’s strategy is to be able to put those cards back in play on his next turn and do the attack again. If, on your turn you play Lookers Investigation and make him shuffle all those cards back into his deck, he will be crippled. He’s been Lookered.

Recovery Decks

Several decks such as Speedrill and Gyarados rely on having a particular few cards in hand in order to get their attacker back after a knockout. In the case of Speedrill, that card is Night Maintenance. For Gyarados, it is another Gyarados or a way of getting one and a Pokemon Rescue. If you play Looker’s Investigation on the turn you knock out his attacker and make him shuffle in his hand, he will not be able to recover as planned, and may be in bad shape for several turns. He’s been Lookered.

The Hand is Important Decks

There are decks in which what is in your hand at a given point in time is important. When playing against Gengar, his Poltergeist attack will do 30 damage for each trainer or supporter you have in your hand. If you have a hand full of trainers, you may be trouble as you will get hit for big damage, but you can play Looker’s Investigation, shuffle your own hand in, and draw only 2 cards, limiting his damage to a maximum of 60. Likewise, the Gengar player may also choose to Looker you in order to determine whether its worth it to Poltergeist or not.

There are many situations in which the knowledge of the opponent’s hand combined with the opportunity to shuffle his or yours back in can be game changing. Lookers wins games. It’s worth a look.

Worth a Look is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

The card I’m talking about is Ampharos (Platinum). Its Poke-Body stops damaged Pokemon from using Poke-Powers. Immediately, this electric sheep is devastating to Gengar and Promocroak, both of which usually have damage counters on them when they use their Powers. However, Amphy can shut down many other Powers when comboed with other cards. I have listed what I believe to be the best possible combos.

When comboed with Ampharos:

~Crobat G allows you to choose any Pokemon and permanently stop its Poke-Power when you play it. This only really works with once-per-turn Powers, such as Cosmic Power, seeing as Crobat G can only be activated during your opponent’s turn.

~Manectric (Platinum) can attack to permanently stop all coming-into-play Powers, and will also protect a benched Ampharos from damage.

~Ampharos (Secret Wonders) will permanently stop all once-per-turn Powers when your opponent plays a Supporter.

~Ninjask (Supreme Victors) will permanently stop all once-per-turn Powers for one Energy, then switches itself with a Benched Pokemon immediately afterwards. (Note: If you play Ninjask with Ampharos, it is also a good idea to include Shedinja from the same set. Shedinja cannot be damaged by any Pokemon with Poke-Powers, which is extremely useful in this Deck, and can snipe for 30 to any damaged Pokemon, which should be all Pokemon with Powers.)

~Bronzong (Majestic Dawn) will permanently stop all once-per-turn Powers after being active once between turns, then can attack for no Energy to do 10 extra damage to each of your opponent’s Pokemon that had already been damaged.

~Aerodactyl (Majestic Dawn) will permanently stop all once-per-turn Powers after their first usage.

“But Willy,” you are undoubtedly asking, “What about Basic coming-into-play Powers? What about Flash Bite? Set Up? Bright Look? Healing Breath?”

My answer to you is Torterra (Stormfront). Its Land Shake attack puts 2 damage counters on all Basic Pokemon your opponent plays during his or her next turn. The damage is done as soon as the Basic is played. Thus, with Ampharos, all coming-into-play Powers will be nullified. Torterra’s Poke-Power is also helpful to quickly evolve Ninjask and Shedinja, if you play them.

As I’m sure you have figured out by now, Dialga G Lv.X will be a huge threat to this deck. The most effective counter to this that I have found is Gengar Lv.X. First of all, Gengar can shuffle Dialga G Lv.X into the Deck, which is fantastic. Secondly, Compound Pain is incredible with Ninjask’s Circling Dive. Use Circling Dive to do 10 to each Pokemon, and switch Ninjask with Gengar Lv.X. Then, use Compound Pain to hit each one for 30.

Overall, I believe this deck has great potential in the current metagame, and seeing as Ampharos is right in the center of all this madness, I believe it is worthy of competitive play. If you have any suggestions, please comment!

Card of the Day: Ampharos Platinum PL #1 is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.

In my opinion, this card has been thrown into the closet ever since Rising Rivals came out, but why? It still has major potential in a meta where Poke-Body’s and Poke-Powers rule the format.

First off, Dialga G Lv.X has it’s pros and cons like most cards (let’s save the discussion about Flygon Lv.X for another day), it has a decent amount of 120 HP followed by a Weakness of x2 to Fire and a Resistance of -20 to Psychic. When dealing with SPs, you already know it’s going to have a x2 Weakness and most likely a -20 Resistance to one type of Pokemon, so all and all, Dialga G Lv.X doesn’t look too bad already. Granted, a Fire Weakness in a format where Blaziken FB is extremely popular is not a good thing, but it can be countered if you pair Dialga G Lv.X with other techs such as Palkia G or even a lesser known SP such as Empoleon FB / Quagsire GL.

Anyways, Dialga G Lv. X truly shines through it’s Poke Body: Time Crystal. The cool name isn’t the most spectacular part about this Poke-Body because it allows no other Poke-Bodys (not including SPs) to function. Goodbye Flygon Lv.X, Mewtwo Lv.X, and Machamp Lv.X. With this Poke-Body, you are shutting out several deck strategies such as the Flygon deck out, Machamp’s ‘No Guard’ if you have a Pokemon Guard’ed, or Mewtwo Lv.X’s ‘Psybarrier’ to prevent you from attacking with SPs. This factor alone gives Dialga G Lv.X some thought to be tech’ed into an SP deck.

Next, Dialga G Lv.X’s ‘Remove Lost’ can grant the attacking player some pretty heavy damage as well as a great effect. Moving energies to the lost zone doesn’t sound so great on paper, but try playing Dialga G Lv.X and see the chaos this attack brings. Although energy heavy itself, requiring 2 Metal Energies as well as 2 Colorless, Remove Lost definitely has the bang for it’s buck with an Energy Gain and a Special Metal Energy or two if you ask me.

This article hasn’t even covered the regular form of Dialga G yet, which helps against almost every deck in the format. ‘Deafen’ doesn’t allow the Defending player to play any trainers or stadiums from their hand during their next turn, which slows down almost any SP deck as well as Gyarados and Stage 2′s as well. The inability to play Rare Candys, Energy Gains, Poke Drawer + and Pokemon Rescue/Night Maintenance can give you the one almost automatically. If your opponent is playing a 1-0-1 line for a tech, they can’t set that tech up without the use of Rare Candy. This attack, followed by Second Strike, which can do up to 70 damage for 3 or 2 with an Energy Gain are overpowering reasons to play Dialga G Lv.X.

Finally, if you’ve made it this far through this unnecessary novel, you’ll understand that Dialga G has a lot going for it. Pairing the card with other SPs such as Garchomp C, Luxray GL, or Palkia G can be great decks. You can even pair Dialga G Lv.X with a Stage 2 deck if necessary, but be sure to watch out for Poke-Body reliant cards in those decks.

Here’s the shortened guide for you lazy folk:

Pros:

‘Deafen’

No Poke-Bodies (excluding SP)

Moving energy’s to the lost zone

120 HP, Psychic Resistance, SP Card

Special Metal Energy’s can reduce amount taken

Cons:

2 Energy Retreat (Nothing Poke Turn/Switch can’t take care of!)

Fire Weakness (Special Metals may help you here)

Could be slow setting up (Run 3-4 Call Energy as well as 3-4 Energy Gains to avoid this!)

Thanks for reading, hope some people play this card at the upcoming State’s / Regionals, otherwise – prepare to test against this beast!

Team Galactic’s Secret Weapon: Dialga G LV.X is an article featured on SixPrizes - Pokemon TCG Tips and Strategy.