Standard Adapting Diego's World Championship Gardevoir Deck for Post-Rotation

[HouchinsDJ]

Seeing as how I've been playing Gardevoir as my main deck for a couple weeks now, and plan to continue playing it well into the new season, I was excited to see Diego's deck win. I decided to try and adapt his list for post-rotation. Below is Diego's exact list that was posted from the official Pokémon website.

****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******

Pokémon - 19

3 Gardevoir-GX BUS 93
3 Kirlia BUS 92
4 Ralts BUS 91
1 Diancie BUS 94
3 Tapu Lele-GX GRI 60
1 Alolan Vulpix GRI 21
1 Octillery BKT 33
2 Remoraid BKT 32
1 Gallade BKT 84

Trainer Cards - 29

4 Professor Sycamore BKP 107
3 N FAC 105
1 Hex Maniac AOR 75
1 Acerola BUS 112
1 Brigette BKT 134
2 Guzma BUS 115
4 VS Seeker PHF 109
1 Super Rod BKT 149
2 Field Blower GRI 125
3 Rare Candy SUM 129
4 Ultra Ball SUM 135
2 Rescue Stretcher GRI 130
1 Choice Band GRI 121

Energy - 12

7 Fairy Energy 34
1 Wonder Energy PRC 144
4 Double Colorless Energy EVO 90

Total Cards - 60

****** Deck List Generated by Pokémon TCG Online www.pokemon.com/TCGO ******

I started off by removing all the cards that were rotating:

-1 Hex Maniac
-4 VS Seeker
-1 Wonder Energy (I'm actually not 100% sure if this rotates, but I'll remove it for now)

Now as you can see, the deck doesn't lose THAT much to rotation. Sure, losing VS Seeker is big but every deck in Standard will have to adjust to that. Losing Hex Maniac is a bit of a bummer, seeing as how the only reliable way to shut down abilities now is Garbodor which does not fit in this deck, but it is what it is. I wasn't a huge fan of the Wonder Energy anyways, mainly because it doesn't work with Secret Spring, and it's really only useful against Espeon GX.

From there, I removed a few cards that I felt were't needed:

-1 Tapu Lele GX
-1 Rescue Stretcher
-1 Choice Band

Because of bench space, I feel like 2 Tapu Lele GX is fine in this deck. You could keep the third in, but I just don't think it's necessary. I also removed one Rescue Stretcher because Diego was running two along with a Super Rod and I think because of that, two was one too many. I thought about dropping Super Rod altogether and just running 2 Rescue Stretcher, but for now I'm running 1 of each. I removed the Choice Band to help make room for Float Stone. My biggest issue with Diego's deck was that outside of Guzma, there was no reliable switch. From my experience with Gardevoir, Float Stones are needed. Then again, I wasn't the one that won Worlds! Anyways, here's everything that I added:

+1 Gardevoir GX
+1 Octillery
+1 N
+1 Guzma
+3 Float Stone
+2 Fairy Energy

So these changes are largely based on personal preference, but I do feel like they increase the consistency of the deck moving into post-rotation. Even with playing Gallade I still prefer to play 4 Gardevoir because the main focus of this deck is to get as many Gardevoir on the field as you can and there are going to be some match-ups where Gallade just won't be used. I added the second Octillery because if you prize your lone Octillery, your two Remoraid are basically useless.

As far as the Trainers, I upped N and Guzma to account for no VS Seeker. I thought about adding a second Acerola, but I just couldn't find a card to take out. I think my biggest change to the deck was adding the three Float Stone. Like I said, I'm a strong believer in Float Stone in this deck. I added two Fairy Energy because I feel like 9 Fairy Energy is the magic number with this deck.

Anyways, I know this is long so I'll wrap it up now! Let me know what you think and if you'd make different changes.

 

[osmyth]

HouchinsDJ, yes, Wonder Energy does rotate as it's Primal Clash.

 

[Duo]

I've fidoodled with a handful of Gardevoir GX builds, and I'm having the most success right now with the following build:

Pokemon x22

Gardevoir GX x4
Gallade x1
Kirlia x3
Ralts x4
Tapu Lele GX x3
Diancie x3
Octillery x2
Remoraid x2

Supporter x12

Sycamore x3
N x4
Guzma x3
Brigette x1
Acerola x1

Item x13

Rare Candy x3
Ultra Ball x4
Float Stone x3
Field Blower x2
Professor's Letter x1

Energy x13

DCE x4
Fairy Energy x9

It's very similar to your list, except I am an absolute non-believer in Alolan Vulpix. Some reasonings and why I do things certain ways:

1. 3 Diancie is here to start Diancie as often as possible. Once you do, every other Diancie becomes a free Ultra Ball or Sycamore target. Starting Diancie saves you either a Float Stone or a Fairy Energy to discard/retreat and ends up saving you resources. I've been ping-ponging between 2 and 3, and I do prefer having 3 quite a bit.

2. In any deck that I run a 2/2 Octillery line, I only run a max of 3 Sycamore. Octillery and Scyamore don't work very well together, and if you're constantly drawing 2-3 cards every turn off of Octillery, you're going to deck yourself out playing 4 Sycamore. We saw 2 deck out losses in Worlds from spamming Sycamore too much, but I've been doing this since before Worlds anyway. Because of Octillery's draw support, you are able to draw just fine into just 3 of them as well as your other resources.

3. I'm considering doing -1 Gardevoir GX and -1 Diancie for +2 Mallow. Octillery + Mallow is one of the best draw combos in the game and pretty much the only draw combo in the game that lets you "search" for 2 of any card and use them on the same turn. This can lead to plays such as using Diancie to evolve into Octillery, and then next turn playing Mallow to grab rare candy and a gardy GX for an instant evolve. Due to secret spring and evolving via rare candy, it's very easy for Gardevoir GX to play down to 2-3 cards remaining to properly play Mallow. I am starting to believe that 4 Gardy GX is a bit over kill. Honestly speaking, ever having more than 2 in play at a time is a bit unnecessary. Even if you have 3 in play, you're rarely ever going to have 3 Fairy Energy and 1 DCE to attach for the turn. The need for Gardy GX's is naturally bottlenecked by the odds of drawing into energy, and the fact that you have Twilight GX and Acerola means that you are always going to have access to at least 2 even with 1 prized. Most OHKOs with Gardy GX require 5 to 6 energy attached, and honestly any more than that and you're breaking into the realm of over extension and risking losing too much energy on a KO. I originally had 2 Professor's Letter in here, but I scratched it to 1 for the same reason - I kept baiting myself into over drawing too much energy for a KO and wasting resources. Having 4 Gardy GX for the draw rate is nice, but I'm not sure how I feel about it if I could make room in my deck to search for any resource I want.

 

[HouchinsDJ]

Yeah, our lists are very similar. I prefer Diancie over Alolan Vulpix as well, I was just adapting Diego's list for post-rotation. I will say though that Alolan Vulpix is a better option Turn 1 if you don't start with Diance because if you start with a Ralts, Remoraid, or Tapu Lele, you have to get the Diancie on your bench and hope you have a Float Stone to retreat the active so you can use your energy attachment for Diancie. If you don't get the Float Stone, you can still retreat the active, but you're going to have to waste your energy attachment that turn to do so, meaning that you're stalling for a turn. At least with Vulpix in that scenario, you can still attach the energy to your active, retreat it, and then use Beacon for free. It might not stick next turn, but at least you didn't sit there and do nothing if that makes sense. I think Diego running 1 of each was incredibly smart and allowed him to use either one depending on the situation. I don't think I'd ever run 3 Diancie, but I understand why you do.

I can see cutting Sycamore back to 3. I still prefer 4, but if I need to fit something in then I'll consider cutting a Sycamore.

I thought about running 3 Gardevoir too, but I'm going to keep it at 4 for now because I already know I'm not trying to get all 4 out, I just run the fourth one to make sure I have access to it more often.

 

[Duo]

My argument against spreading thin with 1 Diancie 1 Vulpix or 2 Diancie 1 Vulpix is that if your concern is to not open with an undesireable Pokemon, to me the logical solution is to just add more of the one you prefer.

Put one way, any game you open Alolan Vulpix would've been opening Diancie if you are directly trading one for the other.

That being said, there are many ways to play and work with your hand and anticipate your opponent, so I see how the split is viable as well.

Lately my favorite useage of Beacon in Alolan Ninetales GX is to use it when I brick and "bait" my opponent into an N to fix my hand for me. If not, I at least get my evolutions to progress (that hasn't happened yet though. 100% of my Beacons have been N'd at locals). Alolan Vulpix sort of falls into the territory of possibly being a risk worth taking with how little cost there is, but I consider benching Diancie and switching to be less risky with the card ratios and the fact that some games you just don't even need her at all.