Machampac: Resurrection

With State/Province/Territory Championships complete, I thought it was interesting to see Machamp bubbling up to the top of plenty event results. Scraping the Pocket Monster Gymnasium's "What Won S/P/T's?" thread yields evidence as to why this deck, as a focus, machamp troll face has trouble, but somehow managed to sneak into the top cut of many state events.

Here are some factors that have contributed to the deck's renewed success:

  • SP Is Rampant
    Machamp SF's "Take Out" is a logical counter to the prevalence of all-basic decks. Most everyone is playing Luxchomp, Dialgachomp, or DLC; because, well, along with DCE, da Chomp and Luxray are the most broken cards in the format. These guys beat everything most of the time.

  • Luxray GL Lv.X costs $80
    Upon flipping over my Machop during round four of the Texas state championships, one of the few Machamp players surrounding me pointed out that it had become the poor man's Luxchomp. That is to say, if you can't afford to play Luxchomp, why not try to smash Luxray skulls?

  • Affordability=Increased Density=Success
    As the cheap, anti-SP alternative, more players were likely to run the deck in general, which led to a higher number sliding past all of its terrible matchups. Plus, a stupendous showing for Luxchomp during S/T/P WK1 added logical weight to this countermon rationale.

  • Speed Kills
    Even though most Machamp builds have terrible — or at least rough Vilegar, Gyarados, Steelix and Yanmega matchups, it is possible for the muscleman to win any game against any deck. Turn one Machamp is still a serious force to be reckoned with.

  • machampac resurrection
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    Machamp Prime makes it possible to dish out big, consistent damage; which has always been the finicky side of Machamp SF. This is also what has led many a competitive player to opt for various skill plays rather than steroidal coin flips. Yes, with Machamp Prime and SF together, you can devour basics AND hit for a guaranteed 100.

Historical Context
At the beginning of last year, Machamp SF was quite good — dare I say, broken — against SP. With Unown G rotating out of the format, "Take Out" appeared unstoppable. Looking back, it's hard to believe that even more broken combos would come to pass.

Looking Ahead
Despite many horrible matchups, Machamp's brutish speed, simplicity and improved damage output will make it a factor at the upcoming larger events. Along with increased Luxchomp density, I think we can expect even more 'roids moving into regionals; which should enable it to slide past ghosts, dragons, et cetera and into even more cuts, where it may just stomp SP.

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