From Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.
DialgaChomp is a competitive deck archetype in the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Developed after the release of the Supreme Victors expansion, the deck's name comes from a combination of Dialga G LV.X and Garchomp C LV.X, the deck's two main attackers. The deck has placed well at numerous tournaments, and, although LuxChomp is a far more common choice for tournament competitors, DialgaChomp continues to be the deck of choice for some of the game's best players. It is recognized for allowing the player an incredible number of options, as well as having only a few poor match-ups.
Strategy
DialgaChomp really has no designated starter Pokémon. Dialga G is often considered the best Pokémon to open the game with, but Unown Q or Poké Turn can be used to negate almost any undesirable start. Early in the game, the DialgaChomp player will often stall the opponent with Dialga G's Deafen attack, which, for 
, does 10 damage and prevents the opponent from player Trainer cards. While repeatedly Deafening, the deck attempts 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 has sufficient resources to begin attacking with either Dialga G LV.X or Garchomp C LV.X, he or she will often break the Deafen lock in favor of taking prizes. At that point, the opponent often has few cards to work with due to the brutal earlygame combination of Deafen and Power Spray, so DialgaChomp can frequently take all six prizes with little resistance. Garchomp C LV.X's Dragon Rush attack does 80 damage to one of the opponent's Pokémon for , but forces the player to discard two of those energy. Dragon Rush's energy requirement is often satisfied by one Double Colorless Energy and one Energy Gain, allowing the DialgaChomp player to charge it in one turn.
Key Cards
- Dialga G LV.X - Dialga G LV.X has the potential to be a powerful, bulky attacker, hitting for 80 damage with Remove Lost for . Its ability to abuse Double Colorless Energy, Energy Gain, and the effects of Special Metal Energy make it the perfect counterpart to Garchomp C LV.X; while the latter is fast and snipes the bench, Dialga G LV.X is a heavy-hitter against the opponent's active. However, Dialga G LV.X's greatest contribution to the deck is its Poké-Body, Time Crystal, which prevents other Poké-Bodies from taking effect. When many decks run Mewtwo LV.X as a counter to SP decks, Dialga G LV.X shuts off Mewtwo LV.X's Psybarrier Poké-Body, making it vulnerable to attacks from Basic Pokémon. Time Crystal is also useful against Vileplume, Spiritomb, and a variety of other powerful Pokémon that use Poké-Bodies.
- Dialga G - Dialga G serves arguably as important a role as its LV.X. It has the potential to lock down the opponent early in the game through Deafen which, for , prevents the opponent from playing Trainer cards and does 10 damage. The DialgaChomp player can often achieve a good setup through the strategic use of Deafen.
- Garchomp C LV.X - Garchomp C LV.X is the deck's fast, hard-hitting attacker. For , it does 80 damage to one of the opponent's Pokémon, but requires a discard of . In combination with Poké Turn, Energy Gain, and Double Colorless Energy, Garchomp C LV.X can take several prizes in several turns by knocking out the opponent's weak benched support Pokémon. Its Healing Breath Poké-Power is also useful for healing a damaged Dialga G LV.X.
- Uxie - Uxie provides good draw support for the deck. If the DialgaChomp player finds themselves low on cards early in the game, he or she can play Uxie from the hand and use its Set Up Poké-Power.
- Toxicroak G - Toxicroak G is used to take revenge knockouts on opponent's Pokémon directly after they knockout one of DialgaChomp's Pokémon. For
, Toxicroak G does 60 damage and Poisons the Defending Pokémon, if a DialgaChomp Pokémon was knocked out on the opponent's last turn. Since its attack can be covered by one Psychic energy and an Energy Gain, and it can be scooped up easily through either Poké Turn or its Leap Away Poké-Power, Toxicroak G can provide a powerful, although situational, attacker.
- Cyrus's Conspiracy - Cyrus's Conspiracy is the deck's primary searching engine. It allows 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 is based around Pokémon SP, Cyrus's Conspiracy is 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 makes up the most important part of the deck's support.
- Poké Turn - Poké Turn is used to scoop up damaged attackers, bad starts, and Crobat G, to use multiple Flash Bites. However, it is 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 can devastate the opponent's setup in the earlygame by denying them access to the Trainer cards and Poké-Powers they use to draw and search.
- Energy Gain - Energy Gain simply allows for faster charging of the deck's attackers. Garchomp C LV.X's Dragon Rush can be charged in only one turn, with Energy Gain and Double Colorless Energy, as can Toxicroak G's Poison Revenge, with an Energy Gain and one Psychic Energy. Dialga G's Deafen can potentially be used on the first turn.
- Double Colorless Energy - Like Energy Gain, Double Colorless Energy allows 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.
Possible Tech Cards
- Aaron's Collection - Aaron's Collection can be used in place, or occasionally in combination with, Palmer's Contribution to recycle knocked out Pokémon. Aaron's has an advantage in that it brings the Pokémon directly back to the owner's hand instead of shuffling them into the deck, but Palmer's returns more Pokémon.
- Ambipom G - Ambipom G is commonly used in the tech 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 is used for hand refreshment, as well as its ability to "Chatter Lock." Chatter Locking prevents an opponent's starter Pokémon, such as Sableye or Spiritomb from retreating until it is either knocked out or, in some cases, the opponent decks themselves.
- Call Energy - Call Energy is 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 runs, Call Energy gives the player many options.
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