My Bad Romance:
AKA Machamp/VilePlume
Article By Cetra
April 5th, 2011
Format MD-On
Article By Cetra
April 5th, 2011
Format MD-On
So who'da thought it. A Machamp article by none other than the one person that probably hates the card more than anyone else alive. It's made me sweat every tournament I've shown up to for the last 2 seasons running. It holds the most wins against me to date and it's probably the ugliest thing to crawl from the bowels of the earth (barring that disgusting Eevee from COL).
So how'd somone like me wind up having a tragic love affair with Gigas's worst enemy? It started when every pack I picked from TR landed me a stupid Machamp Prime -_-' Everyone wanted it, but noone would trade for it, so I finally got tired of it and threatened to build it as a deck and own everyone for not taking them off my hands. I like to think I succeeded.
The List:
4 Machop SF
4 Machoke TR
3 Machamp Prime TR
1 Machamp SF
2 Oddish UD
2 Gloom UD
2 Vileplume UD
2 Uxie LA
1 Uxie Lv X LA
4 Spiritomb AR
1 Unown P
4 Pokemon Collector
3 Bebe's Search
3 BTS
3 Seeker
3 Copycat
2 Twins
1 Black Belt
1 Palmer's Contribution
5 Fighting Energy
4 Rainbow
3 DCE
2 Rescue Energy
4 Machop SF
4 Machoke TR
3 Machamp Prime TR
1 Machamp SF
2 Oddish UD
2 Gloom UD
2 Vileplume UD
2 Uxie LA
1 Uxie Lv X LA
4 Spiritomb AR
1 Unown P
4 Pokemon Collector
3 Bebe's Search
3 BTS
3 Seeker
3 Copycat
2 Twins
1 Black Belt
1 Palmer's Contribution
5 Fighting Energy
4 Rainbow
3 DCE
2 Rescue Energy
This was my list from creation through the first 2 weeks of Cities. It has since been reviewed and overhauled for the B/W rule change which I will be going over at the end of this article.
Card Analysis:
MA-CHAMPZ! D:<
Starting with your main attacker, which isn't that difficult. Machamp prime is a magnificent beast. Four fists of own face, 150 hp, and enough power to crush just about anything in the format with ease. One of Machamp Prime's biggest tools is it's ability to abuse DCE, which it loves to do. Crushing punch is great early game to start pressuring your opponent and as if a solid 60 damage wasn't enough it even lets you discard a special energy on the defending pokemon, making things like steelix cry. Champ Buster is where you shine, however. For 2 fighting and a dce you start batting for a flat 100 damage. The kicker is that the attack gets stronger the more damaged pokemon you have on your bench. When fully set up, a single Champ Prime can easily dish 120-140 damage a turn which will usually steam roll anything stupid enough to get in your way.
But How do you keep him alive D: ? As if having four fists of rage and two awesome attacks wasn't good enough for you, he even comes fully equipped with this nifty and rather annoying PokePower called fighting tag...(imagine if you will four Machamps running and pushing each other around...yeh it's just that crazy). Fighting tag allows you to, once per turn, if Machamp Prime is on your bench and your active has fighting energy attached, take your active pokemon's fighting energy, attach them to machamp prime then bring machamp prime active. The combos this allows are amazing. You can constantly rotate Machamps, you can free retreat virtually anything in your deck and it's even a fun way to kill time. This power is pretty much the life blood of the whole deck and I'll be referring to it alot.
Lastly you have machamp stormfront...(shudder). Did I mention how much I loathe this one card? Regardless of that loathing, I have to sadly agree...that it's necessary in the deck and makes a great addition to your already overpowered arsenal. Usually only used in SP matches to start taking quick prizes, this guy with your trainer lock down and a rescue energy on will usually destroy your basic playing opponent. People will argue playing 2/2, but as I explain later, it's unnecessary to run anymore than one of this guy. Trust me...
VILEPLUMEZ! D:<
The supporting character in your deck is Vileplume. The idea came to me when I was mulling over Gigas vs Vilegar and I thought to myself, 'what's one of vilegars biggest problems'. To me it was being able to constantly drag up Vileplume whether it be to stall, or set up a next turn KO. And I thought to myself, 'HOT DOG! What if you use fighting tag to keep Plume safe from harm!
'. And that's pretty much how it happened. Vileplume is a thorn in EVERYONE'S side. I have yet to meet a person that doesn't at least dislike seeing an oddish hit the bench. And for most of the popular meta, an all game trainer lock isn't all that fun, not in the least bit.
The irony? I got major lols thinking this concept up. Who would ever expect a machamp deck to actually play WITH trainer lock? It's a major laugh to see your opponent's face when you have the field set up.
Spritomb:
A very simple concept. Spiritomb is here to help you set up. Like most of the other successful stage 2 decks of today, Darkness Grace gives you a consistent set up especially when a speedy opponent like Luxchomp needs trainers to achieve its own set up and your body keystone seal keeps them at bay.
Unown P:
Some will be slightly confused seeing an unown other that G or Q. Unown P is a nifty keen dude, however. His pokepower, Put, lets you place 1 damage counter on one of your pokemon (excluding unown) once per turn. This in turn allows you to drop small amounts of damage on your field to increase the power of your champ buster. Think of it as a sort of auto plus power every turn that never goes away after use
.Uxie:
Uxie sets up and lets you draw to a hand of 7. It's what it does best...and then when set up isn't enough it can even level up and trade off once a turn for even more draw power. If that's still not good enough, you're a DCE away from revenge KOing opposing Uxies that try to get cute and KO your Machamps. Best part about this is being able to promote Uxie, level up to Uxie X and then Fighting Tag it back onto your bench. Who could ask for more?
Pokemon Search:
Alongside Darkness Grace, you have two major staple cards that can be found in every other deck in the format. Pokemon Collector lets you grab 3 basics, typically your first Machop, your first Oddish and a Spritomb/Uxie where necessary.
Bebe's search allows you to pick out your higher evolution cards to dump out your set up as quickly and consistently as possible.
Your Draw Engine:
One benefit to these slower set up decks is that though drawing is definitely important, it isn't SO important once you're set up. This deck has this fact in spades. With a constant trainer lock, Copy Cat is ALWAYS beneficial, usually netting you at least 6 cards.
Twins is a little more subjective, but still good. Once that first Tomb goes down it nets you the rest of your set up and later game if things dip unexpectedly, you can use it to quickly pull yourself back into the game with a quick DCE grab or various Champ components.
Hunting For Game; Seeker and it's Importance in Healing
Without this card, you are nothing. Now that that's out of the way, let me elaborate. Fighting Tag plus Seeker is the best thing to invincibility you can get. With very little being able to OHKO you, you're often free to tag in a fresh Machamp, seeker the old one up and BTS it back down. The constant recycle ensures that once you get your set up of 2-3 champs, you pretty much seal the game. It's paramount against Gdos and Gengar as well.
Blackbelt, what?:
I had this in here mostly for Gyarados, but it is arguably one of the first things you can cut from the deck for space. It's just a great card to get that extra damage early game to KO something with crushing punch or revenge KO late game when things hit the fan. It's won me games, but at the same time it's pretty half and half in regards to necessity.
Broken Time-Space:
Another key component to your strategy, you need BTS to redrop your Machamps after you seeker them. The list can arguably drop to 2, but 3 isn't bad and it IS a key card for the deck. It's also funny to drop a BTS then dump your entire Vileplume t1, giving Tomb the ability to focus solely on setting up your attackers.
Palmer's Contribution:
Your method of recovery. You'll often times never use it, but it's there when you need to which is good enough for me.
Lessons on Energy:
Machamp's ability to abuse a variety of different energy is great with your only downside being Scizor's Red Armor Pokebody. All of your attacks can make use of DCE for speed. Rainbow energy works for placing random damage. And Rescue energy can save your Machamps AND your Vileplumes if things go bad. For some reason, however, even with 14 in the deck, you can still hit bumps with drought like any other deck post Roseanne's Research...Keep this in mind.
Bringing It All Together:
I would love to tell you how complex and engaging this deck is. Though it has its moments where you will need to think, it is relatively straight forward. Your openning hand will want a Tomb and either an oddish or a machop. Opening hand collectors will often times win or lose the game as is the case with most every deck nowadays.
Once you have your basics down, your next step is usually to start setting up your vileplume. If your opponent isn't susceptible to trainer lock, or if you have Vileplume components in hand you will then switch to setting up your first Machamp Prime. When playing SP you generally go for the quickest Vileplume you can, seconded to SF machamp to start putting on pressure.
Your mid/early game set up wants to look something like this: 2-3 Machamp Prime, 1 Vileplume, 1 Unown P and 1 Uxie (x or no). An early unown P allows you to quickly manipulate your bench damage and if you're smart enough, you should be able to predict what your maximum needed damage output will be to KO your opponent's strongest Pokemon.
YOUR DECK WILL PLAY SLOW!
This deck is not meant to speed through your opponent. It is meant to consistently set itself up, giving your opponent 1-3 prizes and then it steamrolls the rest of the game. I have taken matches from ridiculous 3-5 prize leads with little difficulty just because your deck is built to grind your opponent to a screeching halt when it goes off by denying them prize after prize with fighting tag while you keep on swinging upwards of 140 damage a turn.
Matchups:
To make this as unconfrontational as possible, I will continue with my lack of percents and simply label the matchups Very Favorable, Favorable, Even, Unfavorable or Very Unfavorable, followed by a brief strategy analysis. Questions can be answered either in PM or as a direct response on the thread. I far from believe this to be the BDIF, however I do hold that it is a great contender in the general meta.
Luxchomp - Favorable:
I figure I'll get this out of the way first. The simple fact is that you force luxchomp into two bad scenarios at once. You have SF Machamp for them to combat, but at the same time, you lock them down with Tombs and Plumes making their set ups difficult. Even if they can somehow KO your Vileplume, you can usually throw another right back down or plan ahead and use rescue energy to recover and by the time they get what they need to KO champ SF, Champ prime is usually charged and ready to retaliate.
Vilegar - Unfavorable to Even:
You would think this to be a shut down matchup, but shockingly you can usually keep your head in the game simply because even though your hand is big, it's usually full of Pokemon and energy with only a couple trainers splashed in every once in a while. Don't let that fool you though, 2x weakness to psychic is brutal and Fainting spell is just as bad here as with any other deck in the format.
Gyarados - Even:
Gdos was a hard one. This match is completely reliant on how quick you can get out P and splash your field with damage. By mid game you need to be able to OHKO your Opponent. The good news? They can't OHKO you...like ever...Trainer lock means they're relying on Rescue energies and seekers to stay alive and to top it all off, they can't rely on Expert belt for an HP boost. With practice it gets easier, but Gyarados is still scary and its speed and resistance can be aggravating.
Dialgachomp - Unfavorable to Even:
I went in expecting to lose to Dialga, but with SF machamp, you can easily keep pressure on them long enough to get your set up down and into a 'safe zone'. However, their ability to break your lock early can be bad...really bad. Play the match like Luxchomp, but always keep in mind the Dialga g drop.
Magnezone Regirock - Even to Favorable:
When I started testing this I really didn't know what to expect...set up as usual, but hold your BTS to counter their sunny shores. If you can take the early game momentum by getting the first KO, you should be good, but the bad news is that this deck is disgusting and its OHKO potential is brutal. This is one of the decks I generally just don't want to have to sit across a table from.
Regigigigigigigas D:< - Really?
I built this deck knowing it would be bad for my baby but none the less...Looking at it from champs standpoint, you have Champ SF for OHKOs, but even before worrying about that you have trainer lock to pretty much shut them down early game. Even if all that fails, 2x weakness to fighting means a single champ prime that's fully charged will be swinging for 200 damage minimum...regardless how much I hate saying it...it's GG Regigigas. T~T
Scizor Prime - Very Unfavorable:
This matchup is pretty sad actually. I'll open by saying you only have 5 basic fighting energy in your deck...Yeaaaaah...Not being imediately susceptible to trainer lock means that Vileplume does little to no good here and once they get out their first Scizor there's not a lot you can do. Try as you might, Machamp just isn't built to handle a body that prevents damage from pokemon with special energy.
Potential Techs:
Regirock
Regirock
Starting with most useful. A single Regirock is a great asset. It takes away the severity of having to use your first energy drop to retreat for spiritomb and it works as a tech vs Vilegar to drop trainers/supporters. This also makes recovery a breeze, often times allowing you to get right back up immediately after a KO.
'Brightlook?'...kinda...:
This is strictly for Dialga Chomp or Dialga techs. Basically when time crystal activates and they get it onto their bench, these would potentially be able to drag it back up for KO to get your lock back up and running. I don't highly abdicate adding another 1/1/1 of a stage 2 atm, but at the same time 2-4 pokeblowers for a single scenario pry isn't that smart either.
QQ:
Probably a card I PERSONALLY have wanted in the deck...The retreat reduction from 'Quick' is completely unnecessary because of Fighting Tag, and I admit that, but still my traditional thought process BEGS to have at least ONE. There have been situations that it would be nice in, but it's honestly a player choice, not a necessity...
Chattertotz:
This card's been amazing since Day 1. Basically it functions as a searchable copycat, attacking for no energy and letting you shuffle your hand into your deck and draw cards equal to your opponent's hand size. And one DCE later and you're locking up your opponent with Chatter while you set up or recover.
Notes on the Rule Change:
I'm writing this less for Regionals and more to bring awareness for the B/W rulechange and tournaments beyond. The ability to play Trainers and Supporters first turn takes away one of this decks biggest weaknesses which is going first with nothing going on. Couple in that your main starter is spiritomb and you have a decent good chance against things like Uxie and Sableye (to some extent). B/w also brings in one of the funnest techs for this deck in my opinion, Reuniclus. With the ability to freely move damage, you can easily cut unown p, work in a little more set up and be consistently swinging for 150 all game every game while healing which would put a slightly less heavy emphasis on seeker.
Just some forethoughts to keep in mind...
Closing:
So what you have here now is a deck on par with the current meta, that is both fun and refreshing from the norm. A splash of vilegar, with the power of Machamp, the ability to level SP and a built in recovery system to help keep everything else at bay makes Machamp and Vileplume a deadly duo, and though I love the time we've spent together, I sadly can't bring myself to play it over my dearest Regigigas.
And with that in mind, hopefully someone can pick up Machamp on the rebound, and take him somewhere in tournament now that our Bad Romance is over ;3
Thanks for reading, and as always, I hope it's been fun
Special thanks to my BF Jerin for all the testing, along with the team at Phoenix Games for putting up with yet another of my annoying ideas.
Thanks to Everyone that WANTED my Machamps, but wouldn't trade for them; without you, this deck may never have seen the light of day.
Thanks to Machamp for the easy break up...I just don't think it would've worked out between us, ya know?
And to all you Pokegym People for what's sure to be an engaging topic.
