Garchomp C SP LV.X – Platinum Supreme Victors 145/147
Date Reviewed:
January 13, 2022
Ratings Summary:
Standard: N/A
Expanded: N/A
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Vince
It’s time for another Throwback with another card from the Celebrations Classic Collection, this time being Garchomp C SP LV.X from Platinum Supreme Victors! This card was reviewed twice:
-As a regular review on September 9, 2009, although I realized (after some confusion) that the reviewer actually looked at the Stage 2 Garchomp (that happened to be on the same set) instead of the Garchomp C SP Lv.X. Which means the only actual review would be…
-…the one that was the 10th best card of 2009.
As you can see, those reviewers thought somewhat highly during the countdown, though others weren’t that impressed. It probably was reviewed at the time where this card was over three months old during the end of 2009, which is still enough to land on the countdown despite Platinum Supreme Victors being released four days after the 2009 World Championships. Garchomp was a very flexible card because of its colorless typing and other features. Its Healing Breath Poke-Power is very powerful; the moment you Level Up your Active Garchomp C SP, you get to heal all damage from each of your Pokemon SP! Imagine your opponent putting in some work against your Pokemon SP, it’s like nothing had ever happened! It also has the Dragon Rush attack, which costs CCC, forces you to discard 2 Energies attached to it, and deals 80 damage to 1 of your opponent’s Pokemon (Active or Benched), topped with a clause saying it can’t use Dragon Rush on your next turn (though its free retreat erases the clause instead of using other vanilla attacks from your Garchomp C SP underneath your Garchomp C SP LV.X).
According to one World Championship deck from 2010 called LuxChomp of the Spirit, Garchomp is part of that deck, along with Luxray GL SP LV.X, Dialga G SP LV.X, Dragonite FB SP, Crobat G SP, Lucario GL SP, Bronzong G SP, and of course, Uxie. Think of this deck as a Toolbox designed to tackle against certain situations. Garchomp acts as a healer and sniper. Luxray preys on your opponent’s Pokemon of your choice. Dialga shuts down Poke-Bodies of non-SP Pokemon (and there are plenty of good ones during it’s time). Dragonite hits hard when facing another Pokemon SP. Lucario to amplify Weakness calculations (Weakness during the DPPt era was mostly +10, +20, and +30 as opposed to X2, though some cards still retain the X2 Weakness). Crobat for extra damage counter placements like Galarian Zizzagoon. Bronzong to move energies around. And finally, Uxie from DP Legends Awakened is a far better hand refresher than Shaymin-EX from XY Roaring Skies as your cards in your hand contains seven cards instead of six! And you can also see the wide assortment of Trainer cards designed to help this deck in some way, including staple cards like Professor Oak’s New Theory and some Team Galactic cards. Perhaps the biggest boost to this deck was Double Colorless Energy, as it easily pays for the discard of Garchomp’s Dragon Rush as well as fueling it (assuming you already have a single energy attached to it).
Garchomp was at its peak during 2010 (winning the 2010 World Championships Master Division), even if it only got one chance to show up at Worlds because of the emergency rotation in July 2011, making it HeartGold SoulSilver-on. But even if Garchomp wasn’t pushed by the emergency rotation, it might not perform well because of power creep; Black & White had two of their legendary mascots wreak havoc. Reshiram & Zekrom were Basic Pokemon with 130 HP, both had the Outrage attack, and their other attack dealt 120 damage, which was enough to wipe out the majority of Pokemon SP without outside help, and they don’t care about getting locked out of options (they have no Pokemon Powers) and can easily stomach Dragon Rush with ease (and can retaliate with Outrage for 100 damage). Zekrom can even attack using Bolt Strike on the first turn for 120 damage due to Pachirisu’s Self-Generation (which puts two Lightning Energies to itself) and Shaymin’s Celebration Wind (to move those energies from Pachirisu to Zekrom).
Nowadays, this card – to the eyes of many – is severely underpowered, but you can’t deny the success it had during its time. If I chimed in around late-2010, this card would have been a 4.5 out of 5 in Modified.
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