Standard Delete

[Asmer]

Not very well, honestly. Decidueye can typically Snipe Xerneas/Skymins/Hoopas that haven't been removed and Plume shuts down the engine pretty hard since it locks you out of both Mega Turbo and Max Elixir (depending on what you're running). That, and Decidueye is oddly tank-y with 240 HP, which is quite a pain.

-Asmer

 

[Fayld]

Yes indeed, you have to be extremely careful. A 2-2 split in my experience will not work well. You have to run 2 Brilliant Arrow and 1 Despair Ray or 1 Brilliant Arrow and 2 Despair Ray if you are going to make a hybrid variant.

I disagree with this. I have found a 2-2 split to be essential. There are too many times where *the* variant of M Gardevoir is prized for me to say that a 2-1 split works. Also, I am generally not predetermining which mega I am gunning for early. Speeding to Despair Ray is pretty common, but there are games where it is unnecessary due to a variety of reasons.

As for the Deciduplume match up, it is pretty start dependent. T1 Plume is rough, but it is rough for most decks (as is Deciduplume in general given its success rate in recent tournaments). If I get a turn of items, the match up is usually fine. There aren't a ton of games where I have seen 3 fully leveled owls + a plume T1. DR is definitely the "get it out at all costs early" play in this match though. 2 energy is easy to hit. I am also running two copies of Hex and 1 copy of PCL. My deck is less item dependent in general than other variants I have seen and the two hexes make getting items / avoiding damage / healing much more doable in this match.

Small Sample Size warning, but I have won 15 of 17 games with this deck list.

Pokemon (14)
3 Xerneas STS
2 Hoopa EX
2 Shaymin EX
2 Gardevoir EX STS
1 Gardevoir EX PCL
2 M Gardevoir EX STS
2 M Gardevoir EX PCL

Trainers (36)
4 Professor Sycamore
2 N
2 Hex Maniac
2 Lysandre
1 Skyla
1 Pokemon Center Lady

4 VS Seeker
4 Ultra Ball
2 Escape Rope
2 Fairy Drop
2 Mega Turbo
2 Trainer's Mail
1 Super Rod

3 Fairy Garden

4 Gardevoir Spirit Link

Energy (10)
10 Fairy Energy

 

[swan]

Yeah, I was just asking because I've been testing XB and come to the point where I'm wondering how much of an edge it has over Ba-M gardevoir. The decidueyeplume matchup is definately one where I'd rather play XB. (MU is a 50-50). I play a wobbufet which is, quite frankly, amazing! I wonder if it is a tech option in Gardevoir? I also use jirachi for Mm2 and Mray which it seems might help for gardevoir too?
Does Gardevoir struggle against volcanion? I can see it going either way with OHKOs.

 

[Asmer]

Does Gardevoir struggle against volcanion? I can see it going either way with OHKOs.

As a general, no, not really. It's a pretty fair match-up, depending on how the ebb and flow of the match itself goes, and since we'll be getting better Tool Scrapper soon, it'll be even more bearable (since killing off FFB/Float Stone makes Despair Ray MGarde so much better in this match-up). You do have to watch for some of the tempo swings Volcanion can pull out of its behind, however, since they can easily reach 210 damage with a decent draw.

And, of course, Brilliant Arrow can straight destroy Volcanion EX (that's fairly obvious, though). They'll do anything they can to get the Energy Count down, so keep that in mind of course, but as a general, they have to split their focus, meaning you can come in and do nasty things with Despair Ray Garde/Xerneas. Overall, it's definitely a winnable match-up.

-Asmer

 

[TCG_Destory]

As a general, no, not really. It's a pretty fair match-up, depending on how the ebb and flow of the match itself goes, and since we'll be getting better Tool Scrapper soon, it'll be even more bearable (since killing off FFB/Float Stone makes Despair Ray MGarde so much better in this match-up). You do have to watch for some of the tempo swings Volcanion can pull out of its behind, however, since they can easily reach 210 damage with a decent draw.

And, of course, Brilliant Arrow can straight destroy Volcanion EX (that's fairly obvious, though). They'll do anything they can to get the Energy Count down, so keep that in mind of course, but as a general, they have to split their focus, meaning you can come in and do nasty things with Despair Ray Garde/Xerneas. Overall, it's definitely a winnable match-up.

-Asmer

It does look like a fair matchup, as they both start with one Prize Pokémon, and Volcanion needs two hits (generally) to Knock Out Xerneas, then M Gardevoir and Volcanion-EX will two-shot each other most of the time but can arrive at a point of one-shots. Flareon-EX and the Despair Ray Mega Gardevoir both have a capability to clean up in the late game. It seems to depend on who gets the fastest setup. Both decks also use two forms of Energy acceleration. One is Pokémon-based and one is Item-based (Max Elixir for Volcanion and mostly Mega Turbo for Mega Gardevoir).

 

[swan]

As I said, I've been trying to compile sufficient evidence to convince myself that xerneas break doesn't need to be in a gardevoir deck and can find better matchups across the board without gardevoir. So I am very appreciative of all the knowledge that you can impart to me on the subject.

 

[Fayld]

As I said, I've been trying to compile sufficient evidence to convince myself that xerneas break doesn't need to be in a gardevoir deck and can find better matchups across the board without gardevoir. So I am very appreciative of all the knowledge that you can impart to me on the subject.

I don't think it needs to be in a Gardevoir deck. Having played with the break and breakless, I honestly think Xerneas Break gets in the way of what M Gardevoir 2/2 is trying to accomplish.

Personally, I think it makes more sense in a deck that doesn't require specific energy types. An example I think that could possibly work would be a Xerneas Break + Lugia EX + Tauros GX deck. Or even just Xerneas Break + Tauros GX. I know people have tried Xerneas Break + Dragons and that was rather unsuccessful from everything I have ever read on it, but the general concept seems alright. Find a deck that can run throw down DCE for your turn then accelerate energy using Geomancy for a couple of turns and you might be in business.

I think ultimately the issue with Xerneas Break is the dependence on energy to do its thing. If it was a [Y][C] or a [C][C] attack, I firmly believe this would be a card that makes its way into more decks. But the [Y][Y] requirement means you have to run enough fairy energy to make it work and have to invest two turns or 1 turn + Max Elixir (prior to evolving) to make it work. It also limits how easily you could type it in with something like Lurantis GX which I think could potentially be a great partner for Xerneas. Unfortunately, I think the mismatched energy is enough to crush the idea. Finally, being a break means it doesn't get the extra support for energy acceleration like Max Elixir or Mega Turbo. The best acceleration is Xerneas itself and that means you are wasting at least 1 turn setting up the attack while your opponent is hitting Xerneas or the Break for too much damage.

Dunno. Maybe you could play it with the latest Dragonair? Seems kind of clunky, but who knows. At least it is only one prize rather than the two Darkrai gives up, but it doesn't get the extra 40 HP from FFB either.

I want to talk myself into the card and have thought about it a lot. I have even played against an effective enough deck a few times online, but it was never anything that made me think I might get overwhelmed in the same way rainbow road does. Who knows, maybe something in the next year will change my opinion on it. There are some smart players out there working on new stuff all the time. Maybe there will be a breakthrough (you see what I did there? BAHAHHAAHAHAH).

 

[swan]

Actually, tauros-GX doesn't help the decks strategy at all, full stop.
Yeah, xern/dragons doesn't work; There is no synergy, you might aswell just play a bland xern B deck with dces in it.
Actually, getting and keeping energy is not the problem for xerneas break:
Problem 1) Having a "brittle board". When you end up with a weak setup where you have to sac an energy holder or have to stack energy on a bad target (e.g. xerneas). This problem is, for the most part, solved by nest ball. (and of course exp. share, however not really a noticable change as it was already in format when xerneas B was released.
Problem 2) Being overrun. There are a couple of turns around xern B numbers 2 and 4 where you pretty much have to find Brock to continue streaming attackers. Super rod can extend this window of time. Also this isn't a problem in games where you steamroll your opponent.
dragonair < geomancy
Yeah, the darkrai-EX comparisons start to hurt when you're as far in as myself. This card shouldn't be compared to darkrai-EX: e.g. darktina works; xerntina doesn't because they are completely different in what they want to do other than stack energy and having really anoying resistances.
130 and 150 are borderline "magic numbers" so the lack of fury belt isn't too big. Although if playing lugia it could be a versatile 1-of to shield the 1st xerneas.
The breakthrough pun only works with the rainbow road xerneas.
Sorry for the badly organised response, I hope you feel encouraged to give the deck a try out.

 

[Fayld]

Actually, tauros-GX doesn't help the decks strategy at all, full stop.
Yeah, xern/dragons doesn't work; There is no synergy, you might aswell just play a bland xern B deck with dces in it.
Actually, getting and keeping energy is not the problem for xerneas break:
Problem 1) Having a "brittle board". When you end up with a weak setup where you have to sac an energy holder or have to stack energy on a bad target (e.g. xerneas). This problem is, for the most part, solved by nest ball. (and of course exp. share, however not really a noticable change as it was already in format when xerneas B was released.
Problem 2) Being overrun. There are a couple of turns around xern B numbers 2 and 4 where you pretty much have to find Brock to continue streaming attackers. Super rod can extend this window of time. Also this isn't a problem in games where you steamroll your opponent.
dragonair < geomancy
Yeah, the darkrai-EX comparisons start to hurt when you're as far in as myself. This card shouldn't be compared to darkrai-EX: e.g. darktina works; xerntina doesn't because they are completely different in what they want to do other than stack energy and having really anoying resistances.
130 and 150 are borderline "magic numbers" so the lack of fury belt isn't too big. Although if playing lugia it could be a versatile 1-of to shield the 1st xerneas.
The breakthrough pun only works with the rainbow road xerneas.
Sorry for the badly organised response, I hope you feel encouraged to give the deck a try out.

To be clear, I don't think the card is viable as a central basis for a competitive deck at this point and most of my ideas at this point are attempts to see if there is anything that might work outside of Gardevoir (which I 100% know hasn't worked in my decks). I think it is a great card. I just think there isn't great support to go with the card. What I usually see with this deck is a lot of Fairy Garden and to be perfectly frank, I think Fairy Garden is probably the wrong choice. I don't see a lot of Sky Field (I don't think I have ever seen a Xerneas Break list with it in fact) with the goal of getting 4 set up ASAP along with maybe something like a 2-2 line of DR Gardevoir as the secondary attacker. That could possibly work assuming you can cycle your hand enough early.

Dunno, this is pure spit balling at this point, but what about maybe something like this:

Pokemon - 17
4 Xerneas STS
4 Xerneas Break
2 Gardevoir EX STS
2 M Gardevoir EX STS
2 Hoopa EX
3 Shaymin EX

Trainers - 33
4 Professor Sycamore
3 N
2 Lysandre
1 Hex Maniac
1 Brock's Grit

4 VS Seeker
4 Ultra Ball
2 Mega Turbo
2 Trainer's Mail
2 Escape Rope

2 Exp Share
3 Gardevoir Spirit Link

3 Sky Field

Energy - 10
10 Fairy Energy

It isn't optimized. I haven't tested it. I have no idea whether it will allow you to cycle fast enough to set up given that most of the reason this general approach works so well in M Gardevoir / M Rayquaza is because Hoopa can pull just about anything in the deck. That said, I also don't think using BA Gardevoir is the right way to go if the goal is to use Xerneas Break. There is synergy, but I tend to think BA Gardevoir is too slow to be an effective attacker to pair with Xerneas Break.

It might be fun to play around with it though. Worst case, I spend some time messing with a deck that ends up not working right?

 

[swan]

I don't see why we need sky field. Setting up 4 at once is psuedo impossible (1 out of 8 being prized is pretty likely). I have no idea where you are going with the Steam siege gardevoir: Try to solve a cards problems while making a deck around it; don't give it more problems. I mean apart from the fact you have a maximum of 10 benched which doesn't justify sky field, there is no synergy (other than energy cost). Try this instead:
pokemon(13):
4 Xerneas
4 Xerneas B
1 Regirock
1 Wobbufet
1 jirachi
1 shaymin-EX
Energy(14):
11 fairy
3 DCE
Supporter(15):
4 Sycamore
4 N
2 Lysandre
1 Brock's grit
4 vs seeker
Items(15):
4 nest ball
3 ultra ball
3 max elixir
3 exp. share
1 super rod
1 switch
1 bursting balloon
Stadiums(3):
3 Fairy garden

I will note that it takes a painful number of games to get used to this "thing", however when you start to get it right it either works or flops. It's quite difficult to play on repeat as is, so it's not very tournament friendly. I feel I have Asmer's dissaproval on this one and hope it's only because I seem to have taken the thread on a tangent.

 

[Fayld]

I don't see why we need sky field. Setting up 4 at once is psuedo impossible (1 out of 8 being prized is pretty likely). I have no idea where you are going with the Steam siege gardevoir: Try to solve a cards problems while making a deck around it; don't give it more problems. I mean apart from the fact you have a maximum of 10 benched which doesn't justify sky field, there is no synergy (other than energy cost). Try this instead:
pokemon(13):
4 Xerneas
4 Xerneas B
1 Regirock
1 Wobbufet
1 jirachi
1 shaymin-EX
Energy(14):
11 fairy
3 DCE
Supporter(15):
4 Sycamore
4 N
2 Lysandre
1 Brock's grit
4 vs seeker
Items(15):
4 nest ball
3 ultra ball
3 max elixir
3 exp. share
1 super rod
1 switch
1 bursting balloon
Stadiums(3):
3 Fairy garden

I will note that it takes a painful number of games to get used to this "thing", however when you start to get it right it either works or flops. It's quite difficult to play on repeat as is, so it's not very tournament friendly. I feel I have Asmer's dissaproval on this one and hope it's only because I seem to have taken the thread on a tangent.

I will just stick to your deck list since it doesn't seem like you are all that interested in the M Gardevoir idea. If you decide you want to know the strategy behind it, go ahead and PM me

It seems like there are a lot of one ofs that seem like they wouldn't add much. Example: 1 bursting balloon. Seems like a nice to have. Same with the 4 Nest Ball / 3 Ultra Ball combination. I get that it helps you get set up, but it sure does seem like this deck is all but begging to have 2-3 Wobs as a quality stall + Float Stones to help with Wob switching (I get fairy garden, but you won't always have fairy garden). I mean, it seems like your deck is trying to kill abilities and have the option to dump special energy to stall with Jirachi. I get why you are doing what you are doing with the Nest Balls, I just honestly think you are just as likely to be able to draw into your basics with as much draw support as you are running. Love it or hate it, I think this might be more consistent.

pokemon(14):
4 Xerneas
4 Xerneas B
3 Wobbufet
2 shaymin-EX
1 Regirock

Energy(15):
11 fairy
4 DCE

Supporter(10):
4 Sycamore
3 N
2 Lysandre
1 Brock's grit

Items(18):
4 vs seeker
4 ultra ball
4 max elixir
3 exp. share
2 float stone
1 super rod

Stadiums(3):
3 Fairy garden

 

[swan]

Thanks for the somewhat rushed reply:
The wobbufet only exists for specific matchups e.g. decidueye/plume which is a 50-50 matchup. (Lurantis/plume is an autowin if anyone is still playing it). I started with 2 wobbs but realised that you don't need him in a lot of MUs and after testing those he helps out in, I dropped one. As I stated previously, there are a lot of mistakes you can make playing this deck and eventually I learned to stop decking myself through lysandred wobb
Jirachi also exists only for matchups like Mray and Mmewtwo as we have much trouble there (the attributes that make X break good are difficult to demonstrate in these MUs). Jirachi buys an attachment turn as a path to victory in the MUs is to dig for OHKOs. In Mm2 MU the 10 damage from stardust also means we require 1 less energy to OHKO. In Mray jirachi is more of a failsafe in that it cuts rayquaza's head off.
Things I don't understand about the list:
3 wobbufet - I've already explained how useless this cards is in all but 3-5 matchups. The simplest refutation being that I'd like to use geomancy.
4 DCE - This is overkill if the only card that attacks with it is shaymin.
4 max elixir - I don't see the purpose of the 4th one. This is because geomancy "harshly lowers" the special attack of max elixir. Culminative usage of max elixir already lowers your chance of hitting each consecutive one, so much so that a lot of players often choose to run 3 in decks that don't even have an energy acceleration equivilent of geomancy. In short the 4th elixir is barely worth anything in the deck.
2 float stone - why are you playing both garden and float in the same deck?!? It just doesn't make sense. If you want to switch outside of fairy garden, use hard switches like "switch" and "escape rope". They give you extra utility e.g. against decidueye/plume (where wobb does something) you can fairy garden switch into wobb and then use switch to get back to it. This let's us use items without the requirement of being KO'd last turn. It's niche but does come up. N.B. switch is better than escape rope in this deck.

No offense, but I feel like all you did was: add a load of random wobbs; bump ultra ball, max elixir, shaymin and dce up to more "regular feeling" counts; remove all 1-ofs (except for wobb ofc!); and add float stones...

 

[Fayld]

Thanks for the somewhat rushed reply:
The wobbufet only exists for specific matchups e.g. decidueye/plume which is a 50-50 matchup. (Lurantis/plume is an autowin if anyone is still playing it). I started with 2 wobbs but realised that you don't need him in a lot of MUs and after testing those he helps out in, I dropped one. As I stated previously, there are a lot of mistakes you can make playing this deck and eventually I learned to stop decking myself through lysandred wobb
Jirachi also exists only for matchups like Mray and Mmewtwo as we have much trouble there (the attributes that make X break good are difficult to demonstrate in these MUs). Jirachi buys an attachment turn as a path to victory in the MUs is to dig for OHKOs. In Mm2 MU the 10 damage from stardust also means we require 1 less energy to OHKO. In Mray jirachi is more of a failsafe in that it cuts rayquaza's head off.
Things I don't understand about the list:
3 wobbufet - I've already explained how useless this cards is in all but 3-5 matchups. The simplest refutation being that I'd like to use geomancy.
4 DCE - This is overkill if the only card that attacks with it is shaymin.
4 max elixir - I don't see the purpose of the 4th one. This is because geomancy "harshly lowers" the special attack of max elixir. Culminative usage of max elixir already lowers your chance of hitting each consecutive one, so much so that a lot of players often choose to run 3 in decks that don't even have an energy acceleration equivilent of geomancy. In short the 4th elixir is barely worth anything in the deck.
2 float stone - why are you playing both garden and float in the same deck?!? It just doesn't make sense. If you want to switch outside of fairy garden, use hard switches like "switch" and "escape rope". They give you extra utility e.g. against decidueye/plume (where wobb does something) you can fairy garden switch into wobb and then use switch to get back to it. This let's us use items without the requirement of being KO'd last turn. It's niche but does come up. N.B. switch is better than escape rope in this deck.

No offense, but I feel like all you did was: add a load of random wobbs; bump ultra ball, max elixir, shaymin and dce up to more "regular feeling" counts; remove all 1-ofs (except for wobb ofc!); and add float stones...

#sigh. I am not going for "regular feeling counts" of anything. I am going for counts that allow you to get energy on the board in similar quantities with similar speed that you could expect using Darkrai Dragons. But you don't have a big 180-220 HP Basic sitting up top. You have a 130-150 HP pokemon sitting up top. That's a lot smaller and easier to take down with a lot less effort meaning it probably drops in fewer turns. So...

I added the elixirs so you aren't forced to always use Geomancy. That also happens to be the reason I added the additional DCE. It isn't whether something attacks with it. It is to get energy on the board as fast as possible in order to boost XB's attack to a high enough level to take take OHKOs within 2-3 turns. DCE + Max Elixir allow you to do this while Wob is up top. Wob does a lot more than just stop Decidueye / Volcanion. It also stops set up for decks like Mega Ray, Mega Gardevoir, and anything else that relies on a T1 Shaymin to extend the first turn. Along those lines, I explained the float stones. They are there to make it so you can have Wob up top without needing an attachment / relying on having Fairy Garden up to easily retreat it. Without the free retreat, Wob's effectiveness is diminished. The Float Stone also stops you from decking yourself with a Lysandre'd Wob...

Anyway, it sounds like you have a deck you like and don't find my input particularly helpful, so I will just leave it there without going through my reasons for each choice in the deck line by line.

 

[swan]

Um, can we please not do the Darkrai/dragons --- Xerneas break comparisons, it takes far too long
Also you only added 1 elxir, I think perhaps you misread my original list. I understand why you've gone more to maximising dce and elixir; I meant to imply earlier that my reason for not playing the full 4 counts is because from playing/testing/building the deck extensively I found I didn't need those counts.

Furthermore, I used to play aerodactyl with 4 wobbufet over talonflame all the time so I really do understand where you are coming from, let me show you the numbers:
With 3 out of 9 mons in deck you have a 50% chance of getting a wobb start.
With 1 out of 8 mons in deck I have a 18% chance.
So your 2 wobbs and 2 float stones will demolish Mgardevoir 32% more of the time while going second. However, when going first you only have about a 17% better ability to find wobbufet and place it active than me. So you will get an active wobb about 25% more often by sacrificing 4 deck slots. So the wobbs are very useful in matchups like Mgardevoir which Xern B typically struggles with.

I myself just feel like using wobb to block shaymin-EXs is cheesey as I'm sacrificing 2 energy attachments for nothing if they draw a supporter. ( I know this isn't wobbs main or only function)

Apologies if my last post sounded obnoxious, I'm kind of multi-tasking here, sorry. Your input was actually very useful to have and I thank you for it.

 

[TCG_Destory]

So I decided to actually try out Brilliant Arrow at a tournament again, after months of playing Despair Ray. I have made the list pretty quickly and finished third with it, with my biggest win being against Solgaleo/Lurantis (despite looking like my autoloss) and my loss being the final round, where I faced Volcanion. I have not modified it so far as I did not find any improvements to make. This was not the first time I built Brilliant Arrow neither, as I played it at almost every tournament in mid-October - early December of last year. So, here is my decklist as it currently stands:

Pokémon - 14
1 Hoopa EX AOR
4 Gardevoir EX STS
2 M Gardevoir EX PCL
1 M Gardevoir EX STS
4 Xerneas XY
2 Shaymin EX ROS

Trainer - 35
3 Fairy Garden
1 Brock's Grit
1 Hex Maniac
1 Lysandre
3 N
4 Professor Sycamore
3 Escape Rope
4 Gardevoir Spirit Link
3 Mega Turbo
4 Trainer's Mail
4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker

Energy - 11
11 Fairy Energy

There are a few things that could look odd in this list, so let me justify myself for these choices:
11 Energy: Works well with Mega Turbo, getting one or two in the discard early. Can get cloggy, but only on the first two turns, and the extra Energy are good to discard as I've said. Less that 11 will make it hard to get 8 in play to Knock Out Pokémon such as a belted Tauros-GX or a Decidueye-GX. After having used Geomancy, it does not feel like the deck has too many Energy anymore, as some have been taken out.
1 Lysandre: This deck is meant to Knock Out your opponent's Active Pokémon almost everytime. However, Lysandre is still necessary to get rid of a Benched threat or of a Shaymin-EX (for example) on the Bench to end the game or to make my opponent's chances of winning lower. There is only one due to the aforementioned reason and to the fact that the deck gets thinned out pretty fast with this deck, thanks to a combination of Hoopa-EX, Geomancy and Professor Sycamore.
No Max Elixir: A card I do not like that much in this kind of deck, because by using Geomancy, they become less and less reliable and essentially dead cards when drawn late game unless Energy has been shuffled. I prefer Mega Turbo, for that it provides both 100% reliable Energy acceleration onto Mega Gardevoir (which Max Elixir cannot accelerate onto) and Energy recovery once one goes down.
3 Escape Rope: This is to nearly guarantee a Geomancy as soon as it is possible, since half of the time I will not start with a Xerneas. It also allows to switch out when Fairy Garden is not there and can be used as a "you have to switch" kind of card to the opponent because with Fairy Garden in play, you can retreat back into the initial Active Pokémon. It also allows to get around Bursting Balloon and Fright Night (Yveltal BKT) that both see play.

The only thing I think this list truly lacks is Fairy Drop, but space is too tight it seems,
however if you want to suggest changes to be made to this list, feel free to do so.

 

[swan]

So I decided to actually try out Brilliant Arrow at a tournament again, after months of playing Despair Ray. I have made the list pretty quickly and finished third with it, with my biggest win being against Solgaleo/Lurantis (despite looking like my autoloss) and my loss being the final round, where I faced Volcanion. I have not modified it so far as I did not find any improvements to make. This was not the first time I built Brilliant Arrow neither, as I played it at almost every tournament in mid-October - early December of last year. So, here is my decklist as it currently stands:

Pokémon - 14
1 Hoopa EX AOR
4 Gardevoir EX STS
2 M Gardevoir EX PCL
1 M Gardevoir EX STS
4 Xerneas XY
2 Shaymin EX ROS

Trainer - 35
3 Fairy Garden
1 Brock's Grit
1 Hex Maniac
1 Lysandre
3 N
4 Professor Sycamore
3 Escape Rope
4 Gardevoir Spirit Link
3 Mega Turbo
4 Trainer's Mail
4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker

Energy - 11
11 Fairy Energy

There are a few things that could look odd in this list, so let me justify myself for these choices:
11 Energy: Works well with Mega Turbo, getting one or two in the discard early. Can get cloggy, but only on the first two turns, and the extra Energy are good to discard as I've said. Less that 11 will make it hard to get 8 in play to Knock Out Pokémon such as a belted Tauros-GX or a Decidueye-GX. After having used Geomancy, it does not feel like the deck has too many Energy anymore, as some have been taken out.
1 Lysandre: This deck is meant to Knock Out your opponent's Active Pokémon almost everytime. However, Lysandre is still necessary to get rid of a Benched threat or of a Shaymin-EX (for example) on the Bench to end the game or to make my opponent's chances of winning lower. There is only one due to the aforementioned reason and to the fact that the deck gets thinned out pretty fast with this deck, thanks to a combination of Hoopa-EX, Geomancy and Professor Sycamore.
No Max Elixir: A card I do not like that much in this kind of deck, because by using Geomancy, they become less and less reliable and essentially dead cards when drawn late game unless Energy has been shuffled. I prefer Mega Turbo, for that it provides both 100% reliable Energy acceleration onto Mega Gardevoir (which Max Elixir cannot accelerate onto) and Energy recovery once one goes down.
3 Escape Rope: This is to nearly guarantee a Geomancy as soon as it is possible, since half of the time I will not start with a Xerneas. It also allows to switch out when Fairy Garden is not there and can be used as a "you have to switch" kind of card to the opponent because with Fairy Garden in play, you can retreat back into the initial Active Pokémon. It also allows to get around Bursting Balloon and Fright Night (Yveltal BKT) that both see play.

The only thing I think this list truly lacks is Fairy Drop, but space is too tight it seems,
however if you want to suggest changes to be made to this list, feel free to do so.

How do we deal with MUs like passimian? Surely it's a matchup where a 2nd lysandre would be crucial over Hex maniac or something. (Gardevoir-EX > giratina-EX)
Also, isn't exp. share very important into the lategame?

 

[Fayld]

How do we deal with MUs like passimian? Surely it's a matchup where a 2nd lysandre would be crucial over Hex maniac or something. (Gardevoir-EX > giratina-EX)
Also, isn't exp. share very important into the lategame?

I honestly think that Passimian deck gets way too much credit. It does great against Darkrai and M Mewtwo. Awesome. I rarely struggle against this deck. I haven't seen it in a tournament yet and I think that is telling. Great decks see tournament play. This doesn't.

Don't know how @tcg_destroy deals with it, but my variant just focuses on using DR gardevoir and heals through it. Different decks, but BA is going to take one shots with 4 or 5 energy on the board. That is nothing for this deck to hit.

Dunno, there are decks that I would work hard to beat. Passimian isn't one of them.

 

[swan]

would it help if I had said vespiquen??

 

[Fayld]

would it help if I had said vespiquen??

Sure would lol! Vespiquen can be a freaking nightmare lol! Without tool removal klefki can really turn it. I don't know about others, but that's a match where I try to spam hex just to stop klefki attachments. Guessing there are other ways to deal with it, but that's the one I like.

 

[TCG_Destory]

Passimian and Vespiquen I think are not that scary of matchups.

Passimian does not see much play because it has a harsh autoloss to Yveltal/Garbodor decks. But were I to face it, I would put on early pressure with Despair Ray and make sure my Energy count stays at 4 or more for Brilliant Arrow. To make sure they do not 1 shot my Pokémon, I would preserve and then play my Escape Rope at the right time to get around the Bursting Balloons. I would also keep at least a VS Seeker for a Lysandre play in the later game, to get the last two Prize cards on a Shaymin-EX.

Vespiquen is for sure a harder matchup than when playing Despair Ray but is quite beatable. The main attacker, Vespiquen, goes down to a Link Blast (one of my reasons to have chosen the Steam Siege Gardevoir-EX), since it has a DCE attached to it for its attack to be used and only has 90 HP. Zoroark is not a problem if Despair Ray comes in at the right time (also discarding easy Prize cards) to reduce my Benched Pokémon count to 3, which makes Mind Jack do 80 including the Resistance. Raichu cannot even two-shot Mega Gardevoir-EX if a Fairy Garden is in play, as its damage is limited to 100. Vespiquen has to have a lot of Pokémon discarded (nineteen) to one-shot a Mega Gardevoir-EX, and as I've said, if you have a Gardevoir-EX with two Energy on it, Klefki is not a problem. Passimian does up to 100 damage, which again is not even a two-hit Knock Out. This is the kind of deck against which you want to place a Despair Ray after the first Geomancy and make sure your Energy count stays at 4 or more on the field to be able to Knock Out anything in that deck.

I think Parallel City is a good tech to counter both of these decks and second Lysandre and Hex Maniac could help against Vespiquen (and somewhat help against Passimian). A Garbodor line would also help, as it would shut down Mew as well as Unown, Klefki, Zoroark's Ability and Set Up/Instruct. However, I do not recommend it in the Brilliant Arrow deck because I have tested a 2-2 Garbodor line in it and it just proves to kill the consistency, as it adds in one more evolution line to set up, in exchange for the slots for the Trainers' Mail, for the Hoopa-EX and for one of the Shaymin-EX.

I believe playing the hybrid variant of the deck I have posted a list of earlier (the one with two Despair Ray and one Brilliant Arrow Mega Gardevoir) is the way to get the better matchups against those decks, as it sets up faster and Despair Ray beats those decks more efficiently.