Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Machamp (IFDS)

D

Deck Knight

New Member
We've got a Gengar topic, now for a topic on what could be one of the most powerful forces in the game after IFDS' release.

:fighting:

Machamp IFDS

Machamp LV.62 – Fighting – HP130
Stage 2 – Evolves from Machoke

[F] Drop: 40 damage. If the Defending Pokemon isn’t an Evolved Pokemon, instead of doing damage, this attack Knocks Out the Defending Pokemon.
[C][C] Hurricane Punch: Flip 4 coins, this attack does 30 damage x the number of heads.
[F][F][C][C] Rage: Does 60 damage + an additional 10 damage for each damage counter on Machamp.

Weakness: Psychic (+30)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2

Pokebeach doesn't have a card image up for some reason.

Opinion:

Atk 1: Drop is an intensely unbalanced attack. It doesn't matter whether your basic has 100 HP and Fighting resistance, Drop can KO it. Furthermore, on Evolved Pokemon it is still a decent attack, with 40 damage for F. Highly efficient, good for donking, and tears through decks with non-evolvers.

Atk 2: Flippy, theoretically averages 60 damage. You probably won't ever use this unless you're in a bind.

Atk 3: Very expensive attack, but can do up to 180 damage. Save this for later in the game when you have more damage.

Weakness: Still can't be OHKO'd by most Psychics, barring Supreme Blast. Will KO all existing Psychics with Rage after taking an attack.

Retreat: 2 isn't the best, but fortunately Machamp generally attacks on the cheap.

HP: Strong enough to withstand every standard Psychic attack, even if Lake Boundary is in play.

Combo with:

Omastar MD
Palkia Lv. X
Metagross
Technical Machine TS-2
add: Lumineon (IFDS)

Feel free to add your insights.
 
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The Supes said:
Deoxys Attack form

:x

Or heck, Defense Form prevents effects and 2HKOs wheeee!
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Machamp is (or can be) faster than both, and can OHKO Deoxys back with Rage if it has the energy, even factoring in the damage reduction. (60 + 70 -20 = 110)

There's only so many Unown G you can put in without risking a bad start.

And even Deoxys-Attack can't OHKO without Lake Boundary in play.

Which is part of what makes Machamp dangerous. It can Donk with low energy and make huge attacks with high energy.
 
Don't overhype this card. Gengar and Dusknoir will be top metagame decks, both using weakness of Machamp. They usually can't OHKO Machamp but Rage takes 4 (!) energy which are really to many in this format.
 
they arent so many energy for an advanced game, after all you can play it with stark mountain and get more energys quickly for a fighting pokemon =P
 
Energy won't be a problem, every Machamp deck should be playing 4 Energy Patch, Regirock, Stark Mountain. Plus his lv x does 80 for 3 with a flip to stay alive. Dusknoir and Gengar aren't a big problem for Machamp since both of their main attacks hit for damage counters and not damage.
 
lolganium said:
unown g .... good game. unless you wanna try and get 4 energy on him, hmm.
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I love how thats your only counter. Seriously, whose playing this and for what reason? Gengar? umm, okay. Dusknoir? So your playing g for 3-4 pokes, yet theres how many insane grass pokes and OHKO fire pokes coming out? Yeah, Gs going to be played.
 
stormfront machamp will fail. the only stage 2 decks that work are ones that are exceptionally fast (GG) or exceptionally easy to set up (kingdra). drop is a terrific attack despite its well discussed shortcomings but even a 4-2-4 line with 4 rare candies in the deck will get the ideal start maybe 25% of the time. the second attack is too flippy for a stage 2 (look at poor porygon z and its attack and how it has failed) and rage, well, if you want to tie 4 energy to a nearly KOed machamp that is your business. the level x is alright for now (until galactic's dialga comes out) but i doubt many machamps will survive long enough even get the necessary three energy attached to use its attack.
 
Machamp will not fail.

1st attack is super good. 40 for 1? Auto KO of Basics. It's insane.

2nd attack is flippy but realistically you will be doing damage 11 times out of 12, and 60 half of the time. 4 dice ensure better odds than most flippy attacks. Porygon has only 3 dice and a much less even statistical damage curve as a result.

I'm not sold on Machamp = BDIF, but I do think that it has good potential espeically if tyranitar gets big and folks keep playing AMU.
 
Machamp is really good, not the top deck, but something you want to know how to deal with when building your deck.

Deckbuild Facts- Machamp is a fighting type, and right now, fighting decks are easily some of the fastest, maintaining speed even to the middle and late games. One of the legal Machops can also 20 for 1 you, so unless you run Chatot or Mr. Mime, be ready for that. Unown's Q and G, as well as Horsea can be viabally donked this way. Machamp also has quite the synergy with Cresselia, from the X's power picking up on Ko's, to the basic's ability to heal Machamp fully. It also has weakness advantage on AMU, before Azelf appears.

Drop: Main factor here = Speed. Last I checked, a first turn 40 alone is respectabally good. The effect is an amazing perk. Unown G only prevents the latter, the former still hurts.

Hurricane Punch: Don't underestimate the ability for this to ruin your day. Yes, with a plus power, it has only a 6.25% chance to knock out Kingdra, but for 2 energy, and the ability to survive one, possibally 2 dragon pumps, Machamp might be able to survive a fight with 1, maybe 2 Kingdra. Back a giant into a corner and you will get your head beat in. Regirock and energy pickup also make this a rare, but possible, first turn nightmare.

Rage: Machamp's true power, and is definately not to be taken lightly. At the moment, fighting has the easiest at access form of energy acceleration (again, Regirock), and that makes Rage coming at you unexpectly a big concern. If Machamp has 2 energy on it, reason that rage could come next turn. If Machamp is X'd or has 6 damage on it, fear this attack like the plauge, once powered up, Machamp can score a KO EVERY turn till its knocked out, pluspower provided on occasion.

Machamp X: This is when Machamp can be VERY dangerous. Everything he does very viabally Ko's, from drop doing 100 to Rage capping at enough to Ko a kingdra almost twice. It takes Kingdra 3 pluspower's/bucks to score the KO (or 1, if machamp got sniped on the bench), so your first kingra's name is "Meat". Be way, if you did dragon pump a benched Machamp, he can come up and rage your Kingra from healthy to discard, while still having some protection, but not a garentee, from not being knocked out next turn. His final attack also isn't to be taken lightly, most stage 1's and very few basics can survive it.
 
vadrake said:
Machamp X: This is when Machamp can be VERY dangerous. Everything he does very viabally Ko's, from drop doing 100 to Rage capping at enough to Ko a kingdra almost twice. It takes Kingdra 3 pluspower's/bucks to score the KO (or 1, if machamp got sniped on the bench)
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Exactly my point.
 
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