Miracle Force — Gardevoir ex Returns to Shine Again
Hello to all PokeBeach readers! This is Gabriel Semedo with another Pokémon TCG article, and this time I want to talk once again about Gardevoir ex, which disappeared not too long ago, but has returned to shine in the current format thanks to the dominance of Regidrago VSTAR.
In the months of November and December, we had some Regional Championships with Surging Sparks. From what we’ve seen, however, little has changed. Regidrago VSTAR established itself as the best deck in format, which has shaken a few things up. The main impact is the fall of Charizard ex, which initially opened the way for Miraidon ex and other decks focused on Basic Pokémon to return to the format. However, this was short-lived. Charizard returned to the metagame, albeit with less of a presence than in previous formats.
The format’s new decks are mostly old decks that have gained new cards. The first is Gholdengo ex, which thanks to the new ACE SPEC Energy Search Pro has managed to solve one of its biggest problems: taking Knock Outs on its second turn. Without Energy Search Pro, it was difficult to gather so many Energy cards in just two turns. As a result, most players chose to use Raging Bolt ex instead of Gholdengo, since it has a similar strategy but can do lots of damage starting on its very first turn. The second deck is Klawf / Terapagos ex, which is basically a Klawf deck, but much more consistent and complete. Cards like Latias ex and the new ACE SPEC Precious Trolley allow the deck to reach a completely different level.
Another apparent change in the metagame is the increase in popularity of decks like Block Snorlax and Pidgeot ex Control. These two decks are increasingly moving from rogue status to something more mainstream. It’s very likely that you’ll face at least one of them in a Regional Championships, especially on the second day.
The change that catches my attention the most is the return of Gardevoir ex, firstly because I’ve always liked the gameplay and strength of the deck, but also because I see potential for Gardevoir ex to compete at the top tier of a format dominated by Regidrago VSTAR. Regidrago has a target on its back, and the decks people usually use to beat Regidrago are all decks a Gardevoir player loves to play against. In this article, I will talk about my view of Gardevoir ex’s current status and how my list can be a good option for future tournaments.
First, it’s important to understand that the new metagame requires a few changes for Gardevoir lists, even though they gain virtually nothing from Surging Sparks. The first is the choice of Ralts. Since Regidrago VSTAR is the BDIF, you must play a 70-HP Ralts to avoid one-shots from Dragapult ex. That means you can’t play the Ralts with Memory Skip. The Psyshot Ralts deals 30 damage, which is great to Knock Out Cleffa and help with math in some other cases, but it’s not enough to make us play it over Teleportation Burst, which helps much more in the Blocklax matchup.
The second is the role of Gardevoir ex itself. You already know what Gardevoir ex does, but I want to highlight an important aspect that isn’t often talked about, but is fundamental nowadays: attacking with it. Against Regidrago VSTAR, every attacker in the opponent’s deck has difficulty one-shotting Gardevoir ex. That makes Gardevoir ex not only a great option, but often the best way to win the matchup. This is also true in matchups other than Regidrago VSTAR, which I’ll discuss on a case-by-case basis in the Matchups section below.
Gardevoir’s set of attackers remains pretty similar to past versions of the deck, but the ways they’re used are changing. First, double Munkidori is very common in Gardevoir lists now, and this means Munkidori gets used as an attacker more frequently. You can do a lot with just one Munkidori, but Gardevoir is usually in a much stronger position with two of them on the field. Your Bench space is limited because you want multiple of both Kirlia and Munkidori on the field, and one way around this problem is to use Gardevoir and Munkidori as attackers. Munkidori’s Ability is so strong, you often win games without needing powerful attacks. Another advantage of two Munkidori and three Darkness Energy is the fact that you can set it up more easily. If you’ve ever played with just one Munkidori and one Dark Energy, you know that in some games it’s simply not possible to bring the two pieces together in time. In a list with two Munkidori, you greatly increase your chances of setting up at least one of them early on.
In contrast, Drifloon and Scream Tail are diminishing in importance. Gardevoir has historically wanted to pile damage onto these two Pokémon to most effectively use their attacks, and of course they are still fundamental pieces today, but over time the deck has started to assign less value to them and more value to Munkidori. As I said, many games are won with just Gardevoir ex and Munkidori. Scream Tail and Drifloon are still great techs, but no longer every-game pieces.
Below, I’ll talk about my current list, some metagame-specific inclusions, some one-or-the-other choices I’ve made, and the deck’s matchup spread.
This concludes the public portion of this article.
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