Pokemon TCG’S Overlooked Overview: Why does nobody play Garchomp EX?

An ever changing Metagame - patching the Rift:

Paradox Rift did a lot to shake up TCG’s meta; the introduction of the mons both beloved and deposed from Gen 9’s Area Zero made their way into booster packs (for better and worse), the introduction of Iron Hands EX finally saw an end to United Wings (rejoice!), and the artists stepped up their game yet again with some gorgeous Special Art Rares. Yet amongst the 20 brand new EXs Paradox Rift brought in for players hungry to give reigning decks like Charizard Pidgeot and Lost Box Giratina runs for their money, one seems to have flown under the radar completely. Garchomp EX - she traumatised all of us in the Champion battles of Generation 4, and she’s here in terastallized form to try and do it again! Her Ice weakness won't save you now, but in such a strong format, is she up to the task?

The BST…in TCG?

To figure out if Chomp can stand with the heaviest hitters of its set, let's look at its general stats and abilities. Garchomp EX is a Stage 2 Tera Water type card, with 320 HP and no retreat cost.

Wait. A Stage 2 with no retreat cost? You’re saying that it has all the bulk of a Stage 2 card, yet can glide in and out of the Active Spot no problem? Conserving energy AND halting your opponent's ability to use Boss’ Orders and trap your big attacker in the Active Spot? This already sounds perfect for the Meta, we’ve got decks playing Blissey EX and Iron Hands EX, those guys run around with up to FOUR retreat cost! Okay, what else?

320 HP is an awkward number for opponents to hit, the player has to have taken 5 Prize Cards for Charizard EX to take it out in one hit, it requires Chien Pao EX to discard 6 energy to do the job, and any Teal Mask Ogerpon that tries to sink any damage into a Chomp immediately regrets it when it realises the condition of its attack does literally nothing to it. Your opponents have to be very picky about which mon they want to pit against you, and trying to take out a Garchomp early in a match is no easy task, thanks to the nature of its attacks.

Chomp’s attacks are just that - attacks. The card has no abilities, making it one of the few EX outs to the newly introduced Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon, a card with the ability ‘Cornerstone Stance’, which prevents it from being damaged by cards that have abilities themselves. There’s no walling happening here!

As to what those attacks do, the first attack ‘Hydro Lander’ hits for 160 and the second attack ‘Sonic Dive’ discards two energy to hit 120 to the bench. While this isn't a lot of raw damage, Hydro Lander only costs 1 Fighting Energy to use, so you’re only 1 top deck or Earthen Vessel away from doing quick, heavy damage early into a game. Though, in truth, it’s what comes after these attacks that really makes Garchomp worth considering.

Garchomp’s War of Attrition:

Garchomp’s power lies in its ability to play the long game; the effect of its first attack ‘Hydro Lander’ allows for the player to recover three fighting energy from their discard pile and attach it to any of their benched Pokemon in any way they like. This can be attached to a Garchomp sitting ready on the bench to sweep in when the first goes down, or onto smaller, single prize mons that do a spectacular job of covering for Garchomp when it's been damaged or doesn't hit the numbers it needs to.

The Lucario that came out during the Brilliant Stars era is a fantastic example of this, its attack ‘Aura Sphere Volley’ hits for 10 base damage and discards all energy attached to it BUT hits for 60 more PER Fighting energy discarded. Charging it with Hydro Lander gives it the chance to swing for HUGE damage, all while being one prize!

Early turns are no problem for Garchomp either, the Gible that also came out in Paradox Rift is a 70HP Basic with 1 retreat cost, making it a searchable target for Buddy Buddy Poffin and able to take a hit from the effect of Dragapult EX’S Phantom Dive, whilst being easy to switch in and out of the active.

Wait, there's still water support?:

Irida is a commendable support card for Garchomp EX, using it gives the player room to search for both an item card and a Water Pokemon to add to their hand. That's a quick and easy Garchomp EX and Rare Candy from one card, and if the player is going first, it means that they can have their big hitter up and ready to go with a quick Fighting energy attach by turn 2 of the game! Very few decks are able to set up this fast, so it’s great for taking some quick knockouts. If Rare Candy is already in your hand, the item search can be used for Buddy Buddy Poffin to add more Gibles or Riolus to the bench, or Earthen Vessels to guarantee having the Fighting energy to hand.

Another Water Pokemon target is Radiant Greninja, acting both as draw support and a way to accelerate Fighting energy into your discard pile, so if Garchomp has already been set up, the effects of Hydro Lander can be set into motion just as quickly.

So, what gives? If Garchomp EX is able to swing for low cost, recover energy from discard, charge your bench, come into the active to immediately retreat without issue, has a supporter to easily search it AND has an awkward amount of HP for the opponent to hit, why isn't it seeing any tournament play? Where are the Regional top spots, where are the features? Well, there's a relatively easy answer for that…

The State of the Current Meta:

Paradox Rift as a set is now 8 months old, and its spot is a bit of a tricky one. It followed Obsidian Flames, a set that did not offer much aside from, you know… the most significant card in the Metagame to date. Yes, as much as everyone hates it, even after 11 months of being on the market and scarring us all at the play table, Charizard EX is very much active and still extremely dangerous.

On the other side of this sandwich are the sets that were released after Paradox Rift: Temporal Forces and Twilight Masquerade. The former of which brought Ancient and Future Box decks into the world and performed a personal attack on me with the introduction of Raging Bolt EX, the latter giving us the four Ogerpon EXs and heavy hitters like Dragapult EX. It feels as if Paradox Rift was supposed to be an answer to where Obsidian Flames left the Metagame, then was very quickly shut down by Forces and Masquerade mere months later. Tell me the last time you saw Iron Valiant EX be played. I'll wait.

So where does this leave Paradox Rift? Or, more importantly, where does this leave Garchomp?

Unfortunately, in the oversized, mechanical hands of Future Box.

Getting it (Iron) Handed to You:

Garchomp EX’s potentially biggest pitfall at the time of this current Meta is its weakness to electric type Pokemon. While not a consistent issue, given a lot of the biggest decks right now aren’t playing them, Future Box is a formidable matchup for the deck and might just be an instant loss if its player is lucky enough.

Iron Hands EX is Future Box’s heavy hitter with the attack ‘Amp You Very Much’, only doing 120 base damage but has the devastating effect of the player using it being able to take an extra Prize Card if the attack knocks out their opponents Active. Whilst Amp does hit for weakness, it cannot knock a Garchomp out from full HP, doing only 240, but Future Box has a number of ways it can increase Hand’s damage output to make this happen.

Played alongside Hands is the newly added Iron Crown; it's not an attacker on its own, though it's not supposed to be. Its ability ‘Cobalt Command’ allows for every one of the player’s Future Pokemon to hit for an extra 20 damage and yes, tragically, this does stack. If your opponent has two Iron Crowns on their field, you can be successfully ‘Amp’ed for 320 damage after weakness, exactly enough for a Garchomp OHKO.

Their second solution is the tool Future Booster Energy Capsule which, when attached to a Future Pokemon, allows it to hit for an extra 20 damage. That's the same as an Iron Crown, meaning that a Garchomp one-shot can be as easy as finding a Nest Ball to have a single Crown on Bench and a Tool. This is not difficult. Given that the deck has seen tournament play, placing both 20th and 28th at NAIC and 14th at the Malaysia Championships, running into Future Box is likely and extremely bad for Garchomp.

And to top it all off…:

A real downside to the way Garchomp EX conducts is the damage output. As helpful as the energy recycling Hydro Lander provides is, 160 is just not enough damage for a Stage 2 in the current Meta. There are Basics that hit harder, like Chien Pao and Raging Bolt, and those who hit similarly have damage scaling like Charizard EX. Lucario can hit big numbers, but finding it can be tricky, the only real way to search for it being Ultra Ball which requires a two card discard cost, I imagine many don't see a single prize card like Lucario worth that cost. Sonic Dive suffers a similar issue, whilst you can get the Fighting energy back off of Hydro Lander, discarding 2 energy to hit for 120 is just not good enough. Especially considering that that damage can only go onto 1 Pokemon when there are cards like Radiant Greninja which can do a similar job, hitting for less but doing it to two benched Pokemon whilst being a single prize card.

Looking at all that, it doesn't seem all that great, does it? Poor Garchomp, is all I have to say, it doesn't seem likely that it can stand alongside the Tier 1 decks that we’re currently seeing, despite all its strengths. Is that it then? Is there no chance for Fighting to be seen in the Meta?

I don't think so. I think there is still a chance, and with a card that is very similar to Garchomp; a Stage 2 that swings for 1 energy, with more of the benefits and less of the absolute nuke via Iron Hands, hyped upon its teaser yet strangely disregarded, much like our friend here. Let's have a look at it, shall we?

A Rival Approaches?:

Twilight Masquerade introduced us to Greninja EX, and oh boy did people have reactions to this one. Upon its tease, everyone thought that it would be the card to break the meta; a 170 damage attack that lets you search ANY card and add it to your hand? EVERY turn? AND it does bench damage? It's just Pidegot EX with output! Why wouldn’t you want to play this?

And, then you read the rest of the card.

Shinobi Blade hits harder than Hydro Lander, hard enough to knock out a Charizard EX in two hits, but its effect suffers because it's an attack, not an ability. Any card searched with Shinobi Blade can’t be used until your next turn, which leaves room for your opponent to instantly remove what you just searched with an Iono or Unfair Stamp.

Read further and you realise its other, arguably more debilitating downside, its Psychic weakness. Similar to Garchomp being weak to electric, there aren't many decks running around with the type at the moment, say for the deck that, as of last month, placed 2nd THROUGH 7th at NAIC, and continues to dominate as players find ways to skirt around the loss of Shining Arcana. Gardevoir EX has somehow returned, and it looks like it’ll stay that way until F Block rotation happens and Refinement Kirlia becomes lost to the void next year.

So, yeah, not exactly the best card to be sinking money into right now.

Where does this leave us?:

So, Garchomp. Funny card, right? Is it meta breaking? No. But could it be? …Also probably not, unfortunately. Not yet, at least. But with its coverage and subsidiary single prize Pokemon, Garchomp could be well on its way to becoming an engine rather than a focused card; one that accelerates quickly and is able to recover energy in a way no other decks can match right now. Who knows? With the release of Shrouded Fable and Stellar Crown fast approaching, a Fighting support card might be hiding in their wake, too niche for Charizard or Ogerpon players to even glance at, but malleable enough for the lone Garchomp player to find a way to make it work. I’d love for the card to rejoin the conversation, even if just to break up the regimented formula that is Charizard and Gardevoir EX that we have right now.

Or it could just be confined to the Champion Ace Hall of Fame instead, never to be heard from in TCG again. Thank god for the 4x Ice weakness.