DialgaChomp (TCG)

DialgaChomp
Dialga G LV.X and Garchomp C LV.X Types used Major cards Dialga G LV.X, Garchomp C LV.X, Uxie, and Cyrus's Conspiracy Era 2009-Present

DialgaChomp was a competitive deck archetype in the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Developed after the release of the Supreme Victors expansion, the deck's name came from a combination of Dialga G LV.X and Garchomp C LV.X, the deck's two main attackers. The deck placed well at numerous tournaments, and, although LuxChomp was a far more common archetype for tournament competitors, DialgaChomp was the deck of choice for some of the game's best players. It was recognized for allowing the player an incredible number of options, as well as having only a handful of poor match-ups.

Strategy

Dialga G

DialgaChomp had no designated starting Pokémon. Dialga G was often considered the best Pokémon to open the game with, but Unown Q or Poké Turn could be used to negate almost any undesirable start. Early in the game, the DialgaChomp player would often stall the opponent with Dialga G's Deafen attack, which, for , did 10 damage and prevented the opponent from playing Trainer cards. While repeatedly Deafening, the deck attempted to get out Benched Dialga G and Garchomp C with sufficient energies attached, at the same time stockpiling Poké Turns and Power Sprays in the hand through the use of Cyrus's Conspiracy.

Once the DialgaChomp player had sufficient resources to begin attacking with either Dialga G LV.X or Garchomp C LV.X, he or she would often break the Deafen lock in favor of taking prizes. At that point, the opponent often had few cards to work with due to the brutal earlygame combination of Deafen and Power Spray, so DialgaChomp could frequently take all six prizes with little resistance. Garchomp C LV.X's Dragon Rush attack did 80 damage to one of the opponent's Pokémon for , but forced the user to discard two of those energy. Dragon Rush's energy requirement was often satisfied by one Double Colorless Energy and one Team Galactic's Invention G-101 Energy Gain, allowing the DialgaChomp player to charge it in one turn.

Key Cards

Cyrus's Conspiracy

• Dialga G LV.X - Dialga G LV.X had the potential to be a powerful, bulky attacker, hitting for 80 damage with Remove Lost for . Its ability to utilize Double Colorless Energy, Energy Gain, and the effects of Special Metal Energy made it the perfect counterpart to Garchomp C LV.X; while the latter was fast and sniped the Bench, Dialga G LV.X was a heavy-hitter against the opponent's active. However, Dialga G LV.X's greatest contribution to the deck was its Poké-Body, Time Crystal, which prevented other Poké-Bodies from taking effect. When many decks ran Mewtwo LV.X as a counter to SP decks, Dialga G LV.X shut off Mewtwo LV.X's Psybarrier Poké-Body, making it vulnerable to attacks from Basic Pokémon. Time Crystal was also useful against Vileplume, Spiritomb, and a variety of other powerful Pokémon that used Poké-Bodies.
• Dialga G - Dialga G served arguably as important a role as its LV.X. It had the potential to lock down the opponent early in the game through Deafen which, for , prevented the opponent from playing Trainer cards and did 10 damage. The DialgaChomp player could often achieve a good setup through the strategic use of Deafen.
• Garchomp C LV.X - Garchomp C LV.X was the deck's fast, hard-hitting attacker. For , it did 80 damage to one of the opponent's Pokémon, but required a discard of . In combination with Poké Turn, Energy Gain, and Double Colorless Energy, Garchomp C LV.X could take several prizes in several turns by knocking out the opponent's weak Benched support Pokémon. Its Healing Breath Poké-Power was also useful for healing a damaged Dialga G LV.X.
• Uxie - Uxie provided good draw support for the deck. If the DialgaChomp player found him or herself low on cards early in the game, he or she could play Uxie from the hand and use its Set Up Poké-Power.
• Cyrus's Conspiracy - Cyrus's Conspiracy was the deck's primary searching engine. It allowed the player to search for one Supporter card, one Trainer card with "Team Galactic's Invention" in its name, and one Basic Energy. Since the deck was based around Pokémon SP, Cyrus's Conspiracy was arguably most useful in its ability to search for a Team Galactic's Invention Trainer card. In combination with other Supporter cards, Uxie, and the aforementioned Team Galactic's Invention Trainer cards, Cyrus's Conspiracy made up the most important part of the deck's support.
• Poké Turn - Poké Turn was used to scoop up damaged attackers, bad starts, and Crobat G, to use multiple Flash Bites. However, it was most important for its ability to scoop up Garchomp C LV.X and allow the use of Dragon Rush multiple turns in a row.
• Power Spray - In combination with Dialga G's Deafen attack, Power Spray could devastate the opponent's setup in the earlygame by denying them access to the Trainer cards and Poké-Powers they used to draw and search.
• Energy Gain - Energy Gain simply allowed for faster charging of the deck's attackers. Garchomp C LV.X's Dragon Rush could be charged in only one turn, with Energy Gain and Double Colorless Energy, as could Toxicroak G's Poison Revenge, with an Energy Gain and one Psychic Energy. Dialga G's Deafen could potentially be used on the first turn.
• Double Colorless Energy - Like Energy Gain, Double Colorless Energy allowed for the deck's main attackers to be charged more quickly.

Typical decklist

The deck list appearing below is not official; it is meant to represent an average build of the archetype, not specifically constructed for any regional metagame. Being that this is merely an archetype, a player may wish to change any part of this deck when building his or her own version.

Quantity	Card	Type	Rarity
1×	Dialga G LV.X
3×	Dialga G
2×	Garchomp C LV.X
2×	Garchomp C
1×	Smeargle
1×	Uxie LV.X
3×	Uxie
1×	Unown Q
1×	Azelf
1×	Toxicroak G
1×	Bronzong G
1×	Crobat G
4×	Cyrus's Conspiracy	Su
3×	Pokémon Collector	Su
2×	Bebe's Search	Su
1×	Palmer's Contribution	Su
2×	Professor Oak's New Theory	Su
4×	Poké Turn	T
3×	Power Spray	T
3×	Energy Gain	T
2×	SP Radar	T
1×	Pokémon Communication	T
1×	Luxury Ball	T
1×	Expert Belt	T
1×	Warp Point	T
4×	Double Colorless Energy	E
4×	Special Metal Energy	E
1×	Warp Energy	E
3×	Basic Metal Energy	E
2×	Psychic Energy	E	—

Possible Tech Cards

Aaron's Collection

• Aaron's Collection - Aaron's Collection could be used in place of, or occasionally in combination with, Palmer's Contribution to recycle knocked out Pokémon. Aaron's Collection had an advantage in that it brought the Pokémon directly back to the owner's hand instead of shuffling them into the deck, but Palmer's returned more Pokémon.
• Ambipom G - Ambipom G was commonly used in the deck as another way to donk the opponent, either through the attachment of one Double Colorless Energy, or through one regular energy and Team Galactic's Invention G-101 Energy Gain.
• Chatot - Chatot was used for hand refreshment, as well as its ability to "Chatter Lock." Chatter Locking prevented an opponent's starting Pokémon, such as Sableye or Spiritomb, from retreating until it was either knocked out or, in some cases, the opponent decked themselves.
• Call Energy - Call Energy was used in many builds to increase the deck's consistency by giving it access to a powerful searching effect in the early game. Considering how many Basic Pokémon the deck ran, Call Energy gave the player many options.