Garchomp EX + Ramardos - Finally Good!?

What is this! Garchomp EX is finally a good card?! What happened! We all know that Rampardos has always been good, but let’s find out what changed in this Rocky-fueled deck that will have you wanting to play it more and more. 

Why Play Garchomp EX + Rampardos?

What’s great about this deck is that Garchomp’s first attack only requires one energy, the same as Rampardos’. What’s even better is that you can attack with Garchomp turn three due to Rare Candy finally being a card in the game. This means Garchomp has truly become something to be feared instead of laughed at. Oh, how we did not understand what you were waiting for. And if you need to pivot, you can rely on Rampardos to kill whatever is bothering your Chomp. So, if you enjoy winning games before your opponent can react, this deck is for you.

✅ Strengths

• Can deal either 50 or 130 damage by turn three!
• High HP means it’s harder to take down 
• Always starts with Gible, meaning you can spend that time searching for pieces
• Bypasses Oricorio

❌ Weaknesses

• The top tier 1 decks hard counter this deck
• This deck can brick like all rare candy decks

Game Plan

Early Game:

• Since you start with Gible, spend this time searching for Garchomp and Rare Candy
• If you have your pieces in your hand, make sure to also set up another Gible or your fossil if you have it

Mid Game: 

• As soon as you can, evolve into Garchomp and start swinging
• Make sure to have a Rampardos ready in case you need to retreat your Garchomp
• Support your Rampardos and Garchomp with Lillie

Late Game:

• Start to clean up your opponent's Pokémon with either Garchomp or Rampardos, whichever one is more effective in the current moment
• If you have a second Garchomp online, it may be useful to bypass any problem Pokémon to hit the bench and then Cyrus to end games that have been drawn out. 

Key Card Roles & Highlights

Garchomp - Main attacker, bench sniper

Rampardos - One Energy Sweeper

Lillie - Great recovery option

Giant Cape - Allows for even greater survivability

Iono - Search your pieces

Cyrus - Grab damaged Pokémon to finish off

Tech Options & Variants

You can add both Red and Sabrina to the deck in the situation that you need extra damage with Rampardos, or extra board control. However, currently, the best version of the deck runs neither. This doesn’t mean just copy and paste, though; be sure to add or remove cards depending on what you’re facing in the ladder, as that will impact your win rate. You could also drop Pokeball for more options, but I again would not recommend that, as you want to be able to find your other Gible.

Finally, you can run the fighting-type Gible, but with all the grass decks running around right now, that is also ill-advised. 

Final Thoughts: Mastering the Deck

Despite the deck's weaknesses, if you can navigate its bad matchups, this deck slaps and is one of the best rare candy decks out there. I’d be so bold as to call this the best Fossil deck currently in the meta. Sure, it can brick, but so can any other deck. So if you’re looking for a deck that can overwhelm your opponent and can dodge Oricorio, this is the deck for you. 

Deck Status:

🏆 Tier 2 — Tournament Proven
✅ Strengths: Fast and tempo-oriented, explosive damage output, High HP 
⚠️ Weaknesses: Grass decks kill it, Darktina is a bad matchup, can brick like all other Rare Candy decks