Dialga Garchomp was once the most winning deck, but slowly started dying out. However, with the right tech, you can go home as the regional/national champion. First we will start off with the plain Dialga Garchomp build, and I will talk about good techs that can be used.
Basic Dialga Garchomp Build
| Pokemon 18 3 Dialga G 1 Dialga G LV.X 2 Garchomp C 2 Garchomp C LV.X 2 Crobat G 2 Uxie 1 Uxie LV.X 1 Azelf 1 Bronzong G 1 Unown G 1 Toxicroak G 1 Skuntank G |
Trainers/Supporters 30 4 Cyrus’s Conspiracy 2 Roseanne’s Research 2 Bebe’s Search 1 Aaron’s Collection 4 TGI’s SP Radar 4 TGI’s Poke Turn 3 TGI’s Power Spray 3 TGI’s Energy Gain 2 Galactic HQ 2 Expert Belt 1 Night Maintenance 3 Warp Point |
Energy 11 4 Double Colorless Energy 2 Basic Metal Energy 4 Special Metal Energy 1 Psychic Energy |
| Pros - Early Trainer/Stadium Lock - Fast - SP Deck that does NOT get harmed by Mewtwo LV.X - Good Tanking Ability |
Cons - Dialga G LV.X has high Retreat - Slow compared to Luxchomp - No Cyrus’s Conspiracy first turn hurts the deck a lot - Special Metal Energies can’t be search so Dialga G LV.X won’t be able to tank to it’s fullest till later |
Main Card Discussion:
Dialga G/Dialga G LV.X – Heart of the deck. For 1 Metal Energy with TGI Energy Gain, it can drop turn one trainer/stadium lock with the attack “Deafen”. This definitely hurts 90% of the deck, and can single handedly shut down some decks (Shuppet Donk). His second attack “Second Strike” isn’t that bad of an attack either. It does 50 for 1 Metal Energy and 1 Colourless Energy with TGI Energy Gain, and 70 if it already has 2 or more damage counters on it.
Dialga G LV.X shuts down all non SP Pokemon’s Poke-Body. Dialga G LV.X’s attack does 80 for 2 Metal Energies and 1 Colorless Energy with TGI Energy Gain, and you flip a coin until you get tails, and for each head you place as many energy card attached to the Pokemon. He has a -20 Psychic Resistance which is good and x2 weakness to Fire. With each Special Metal Energies, your opponent’s attack does -10 damage, which means with 4 attached, Cursegar’s “Shadow Skip” or Gardevoir’s “Psychic Lock” will do 0 damage on your Dialga G LV.X
Garchomp C/Garchomp C LV.X – Everyone should by now know what Garchomp C and Garchomp C LV.X do. For those who do not know, Garchomp C does 30 for 1 Colourless Energy with TGI Energy Gain and 50 for 2 Colourless Energy with TGI Energy Gain, but does 10 damage to each of your benched Pokemon. Garchomp C LV.X has a fantastic Poke-Power named “Healing Breath”. “Healing Breath” removes all damage counter from all of your SP Pokemon, pair it up with Dialga G LV.X, your opponent will have a hard time getting over your Dialga G LV.X. Garchomp C LV.X ‘s attack “Dragon Rush” does 80 damage to any of your opponent’s Pokemon that you choose, with 2 Colourless Energy with TGI Energy Gain with 2 energy discard.
Uxie/Uxie LV.X – Personally, I believe Uxie should be used over Claydol in every SP Deck as it is faster. Uxie’s Poke-Power, “Set-up” lets you draw until you have 7 cards in hand and Uxie LV.X’s Poke-Power “Trade Off” lets you look at the top 2 card of your deck and let’s you choose one of them and send it to your hand. Uxie LV.X’s is also a pretty good attacker, especially against SP Deck’s nightmare, Machamp/Machamp LV.X. Uxie LV.X’s attack “Zen Blade” will do 60 for 2 Colourless Energy, but you will not be able to use that attack next turn. On Machamp it will do 90 with weakness, and if you belt your Uxie LV.X, you will do 110 on Machamp. On Machamp LV.X it will do a 160 without belt, due to Machamp LV.X’s Poke-Body, however, if you have Dialga G LV.X on the field, its Poke-Body is shut off, and you will only do a 100 with Zen Blade. Regardless, it is a fantastic attacker.
Crobat G – You will always find at least 1 of them in every SP Deck. When you put it on the bench, you will be able to put 1 damage counter on any of your opponent’s Pokemon.
Toxicroak G – Found in almost all SP Decks. His Poke-Power “Leap Away” let’s you f lip a coin, and if heads, you pick up Toxicroak G and all cards attached to it back to your hand if your Toxicroak G is active. His attack “Revenge Poison” is a good counter against Luxray GL LV.X since it does 60 damage if your Pokemon was knocked out the turn before, and with x2 fighting weakness Luxray GL LV.X has, it will OHKO him.
Cyrus’s Conspiracy – This is the main supporter for SP Deck. You will always find 4 of these in a SP Deck. It will let you search for a Supporter, Trainer Card with the name Team Galactic’s Invention (TGI) on it and a basic energy. Basically, you will find yourself using Cyrus’s Conspiracy for another Cyrus’s Conspiracy.
TGI Energy Gain – This is what makes SP decks SO much faster. It is a Pokemon Tool, and when it is attached to a SP Pokemon, the attack cost of that Pokemon is 1 Colourless Less.
TGI Power Spray – Amazing disruption card, you can use it on your opponent’s turn, and you can use it to stop a Poke-Power once during the turn the opponent uses the Poke-Power. This means when the opponent drops an Uxie, and you power spray it, they just filled their bench with an Uxie that did not let them draw cards.
TGI SP Radar – This card is a Bebe’s Search but for SP Pokemon
Special Metal Energy – This is the energy you want to load your Dialga G with. For each Special Metal Energy, your opponent’s attack will do 10 damage less.
Now that I’ve gone over the main card of the deck, the strategy of the deck should be quite clear. For those who did not get it yet, I will tell you the main theme/strategy of the deck. Set up your Dialga G as FAST as possible, and use the attack Deafen to slow your opponent down while you load your Dialga G with Special Metal Energy, or set up your Garchomp C with Double Colourless Energy and a TGI Energy Gain. When your Dialga G is about to die, use Warp Point to switch in to Garchomp C, level him up, and heal your Dialga G with “Healing Breath”. From here on, you can choose to snipe or retreat in to Dialga G again for tanking and disruption.
Techs people should think about in a Dialga Garchomp Deck
1-1 Luxray GL LV.X is definitely a good tech to use in Dialga Garchomp list. Luxray LV.X’s Poke-Power “Bright Look” lets you choose your opponent’s bench Pokemon and make it active. Of course if you’re adding in this line, you will need to find room for 1 Lightning Energy. However, Luxray GL LV.X is very expensive as the price ranges from 50~70 USD.
1-1 Blaziken FB LV.X is an amazing tech to use in Dialga Garchomp. This is currently the tech I use in my Dialga Garchomp Deck and has been working great. Blaziken’s first attack “Luring Flame” lets you choose your opponent to active, and burn them. This means that if you choose their Claydol, they cannot “Cosmic Power”. Also it let’s your mirror matches a lot easier as Blaziken FB LV.X’s attack “Jet Shoot” will OHKO a Dialga G LV.X with 4 Special Metal energy. I chose this tech over Luxray GL LV.X line because of how cheap it is, and it can potentially do more than what Luxray GL LV.X can do Also with this tech, you will need to find room for 1 fire energy.
More Switch and Warp Point is also a tech to consider, as your Dialga G LV.X has a high retreat cost of 3 and by having more Switch and Warp Point, you have a higher chance of being able to switch your Dialga G LV.X with Garchomp for more consistent healing.
More Expert Belt isn’t the best tech, but something to consider. More Expert Belt means more chance of drawing it, which means you can belt your Dialga G early game. Also, since you have more belts in your deck, you can afford to belt your Uxie LV.X 99% of the time
2-2 Claydol line instead of 2-1 Uxie LV.X is a viable option. Using Uxie over Claydol is player preference. As for me, I find Uxie better in SP but some players find 2-2 Claydol better.
Relicanth from Supreme Victors is also a decent choice. It is an SP counter tech as his first attack “Grand Swell” does 30 damage for each Stadium and Pokemon Tool card your opponent has in play. Usually SP Decks will have 2 or more Pokemon Tool card in play as Expert Belt and TGI Energy Gain is in every SP Deck. However, Toxicroak G is better, but harder to obtain.
Conclusion
Dialga Garchomp is still a very strong deck that stands out on top of many decks. It locks, hits heavy, and disrupts. With the tech’s I mentioned above, Dialga Garchomp can be YOUR winning deck.
