Standard Gardevoir EX (Budget)

[neoshai]

I kind of wanted to get back into the game because a while ago I found a deck that really interests me.
I know how the formats for pokemon work and those are what have stopped me from actually investing time into the game. I didn't want to put effort into something that would eventually get banned for no real reason aside that they want our money.
I saw a Gardevoir ex deck and playtested it from a player at my locals. I talked a bit about it and the Gardevoirs in question should at least last for a while.
I started making my deck a week ago or such. Didn't want to spent to much money (especially since there's no reason if it eventually gets banned anyway) which means no Shaymins or anything like that.
But let's quickly get to the point.
I normally played 2 spritzee and 2 aromatisse in it.
Starting out with Xerneas and having an aromatisse laying there makes it easy to switch around fairy energy to get my Gardevoir to the amount she needs.
However I just noticed that aromatisse is no longer legal to play in the standard format, which I shall repeat, is stupid but that's why I'm here.
Any idea what I could use instead of those 4 cards?

Okay, so here's the full decklist of what it is atm:

3x Gardevoir ex (this will go to 4, I don't use shaymin, hoopa, etc so that's kind of why)
4x MGardevoir ex (again, not using shaymin, hoopa, etc so I want them at 4)
4x Xerneas (I want/need to have this as my first pokemon)
2x Spritzee (banned in standard)
2x Aromatisse / ability= fairy transfer(banned in standard)

4x fairy garden
4x Gardevoir spirit link
2x pokemon fan club
2x super scoop up
2x professor sycamore
1x N
4x Evosoda (which I'm just testing)

11 trainer items/supporters that are just random ones I had. Draw cards, great balls, etc. As I recently came back I don't have a lot of stapple supporters/items

15x fairy energy

 

[Jedidr]

How much would this be? I'm on a budget of $60

 

[neoshai]

How much would this be? I'm on a budget of $60

I'm gonna be honest I've been changing this deck quite a bit to see how well it would do on standard ... that means taking out the spritzees and Aromatisses.

But this version of the deck is something I got for around €35 which shall be a good 40$. The most expensive thing in there is probably the gardevoir ex or mega gardevoir ex which both run (over here on an European market place) for around 2-3 bucks. Of course if you have stuff you can trade, I'm pretty sure people trade them easily.

I now run xerneas break (once wanna try 2) because I had an easy trade.
I should probably update this list on here but I don't know the deck out of my head and I can't check right now

 

[Jedidr]

So instead of the 2-2 line of spritzee and aromatisse and of course the other cards not in standard what would you recommend? I want a good deck that's also standard.

 

[PokémonRanger2319]

There are two Mega Gardevoirs so for the moment I will assume you are using the brilliant arrow one.
To make this standard, @Jedidr:
-2 Spritzee
-2 Aromatisse
-2 Super Scoop Up

+3 Fairy Drop
+1 Sycamore
+2 Xerneas BREAK
Fairy drop is nice for making Gardevoir stick around longer, preserving energy.

Other than that, it looks nice for a budget deck!

 

[neoshai]

So instead of the 2-2 line of spritzee and aromatisse and of course the other cards not in standard what would you recommend? I want a good deck that's also standard.

I am now running:

3x Gardevoir ex (either the radiant collection one, cheapest one has life leap and
3x MGardevoir ex -brilliant arrow-
4x Xerneas (I want/need to have this as my first pokemon)
1x Xerneas break (which I want to put to 2 but I find it to expensive, 10 bucks)
1x dragonite ex -pull up- (place holder for Hoopa ex, 3 ex searches again not that cheap, got the dragonite ex from my little brother)

4x fairy garden
3x Gardevoir spirit link
2x Skyla
1x max elixir (want 4 of them but it's like 5 bucks/piece ... for a common. I was lucky to get it from my little brother)
4x professor sycamore
1x N (want 4 here as well but again a bit ridiculous, less expensive than max elixer but still the cheapest I'm able to find run around 2 bucks/piece)
4x ultra ball
2x energy retrieval
2x Lysandre

And instead of those that I don't have I run a few random ones, also testing out a few newer cards:
2x evosoda (this really needs to go but I don't have anything to replace it yet)
3x professor's letter
3x Ilima (playing these instead of N)
2x lillie
2x nest ball (this is pretty good)

12x fairy energy

Some other trainer cards I've been able to test online that work well are things like:
trainer's mail
random receiver
Vs seeker (of course but again ... if you ever find a cheap one, let me know)
Super rod (to reshuffle fallen or discarded gardevoirs)

Of course there are many other cards and as I said before, it mostly depends on the player's own playstyle. While I really liked Skyla and she helped me out a bunch of times playing extra draws instead (like N/sycamore/etc) turned out to work better.

 

[neoshai]

Again, just repeating myself that I find it extremely pointless to go beyond a budget deck with how the formats in pokemon work.
Especially for a casual player like me. The more expensive cards that I do have in my deck are things I was lucky to get in trade or pulled myself from a booster (mostly out of tinboxes and special boxes).

 

[TCG_Destory]

If I were to build a budget Brilliant Arrow Mega Gardevoir deck, I would probably go for something like this:

Pokémon - 12
4 Gardevoir EX (PCL or STS)
2 M Gardevoir EX PCL
1 M Gardevoir EX STS
4 Xerneas XY
1 Xerneas BREAK STS

Trainer - 37
3 Fairy Garden XY

1 Brock's Grit EVO
1 Hex Maniac AOR
2 Lysandre FLF
3 N FCO
4 Professor Sycamore XY

3 Escape Rope PLS
2 Fairy Drop FCO
4 Gardevoir Spirit Link PCL
3 Mega Turbo ROS
3 Trainers' Mail ROS
4 Ultra Ball DEX
4 VS Seeker PHF

Energy - 11
11 Fairy Energy XY

Estimated cost: $185 CAD or $141 USD

A little bit pricey but I do think this list is pretty decent for being one that does not run Shaymin-EX.

If budget or available cards are a problem, you can cut on VS Seeker and Trainers' Mail cards, to add in one more Fairy Drop, another N and maybe a third Brilliant Arrow Mega Gardevoir, but three Trainer's Mail and four VS Seeker seem to be required consistency, especially when Shaymin-EX is absent from this list. Pokémon Fan Club as a one-of could work as well.

 

[TCG_Destory]

Mega Gardevoir, in the upcoming BREAKthrough-on format, I feel could be a contender, because as of now, it seems that we will lose Lysandre, which means near-infinite time to use Geomancy if a Pokémon Catcher is not hit, all of the necessary cards stay (Gardevoir-EX and Mega Gardevoir-EX were reprinted in Generations and Xerneas will remain legal through Steam Siege, as well as Xerneas BREAK that was introduced in that set) and it looks like this is one of few cards that will be able to defeat the bulkiest Pokémon-GX in one hit.

In case you want my idea of a BREAKthrough-on Mega Gardevoir list with cards from BREAKthrough to Sun and Moon 1, I came up with a decklist for that:

Pokémon - 12
4 Gardevoir EX STS
3 M Gardevoir EX PCL
4 Xerneas XY
1 Xerneas BREAK STS

Trainer - 35
3 Fairy Garden XY

1 Brock's Grit EVO
3 N FCO
4 Professor Sycamore XY
3 Skyla BCR
1 Pokémon Fan Club FLF

2 Exp. Share NXD
3 Fairy Drop FCO
4 Gardevoir Spirit Link PCL
2 Nest Ball SM
2 Pokémon Catcher XY-sk
3 Switch BW
4 Ultra Ball DEX

Energy - 13
13 Fairy Energy

Even if Lysandre gets reprinted, it is by now certain that, with losing Shaymin-EX, Trainer's Mail and VS Seeker, the format will change to become much slower.
This is a rather slow deck, so it will for sure beneficiate from this change of pace.

 

[TheGuardian118]

Just thought it worth mentioning that there isn't anything official saying the 2018 rotation will be Breakthrough-current for next years standard. While I think that's a good guess, it could be off a set or two.

Also, just because standard rotates yearly doesn't mean you can't play expanded. Expanded changes much less frequently, and still has decent tournament support, at least at most of the large ones like Regionals. Pretty much all card games have a rotation. Pokémon actually has a very small ban list compared to some other games, and calling something a ban when it was really just rotation is a little misleading.

Even if you don't whish to play expanded you can trade the Shaymin or Hoopa off to someone who does. Hoopa is inexpensive so I would really recommend grabbing one for this deck. If you want to play with a larger card pool, then just play expanded and ignore standard.

Ok, now for my deck idea for this. See if the new Dragonair from Sun and Moon would help this. It has an attack that allows you unlimited energy attachments the following turn. I don't know how competitive it will be, but it might be fun to try it.

 

[Fayld]

Mega Gardevoir, in the upcoming BREAKthrough-on format, I feel could be a contender, because as of now, it seems that we will lose Lysandre, which means near-infinite time to use Geomancy if a Pokémon Catcher is not hit, all of the necessary cards stay (Gardevoir-EX and Mega Gardevoir-EX were reprinted in Generations and Xerneas will remain legal through Steam Siege, as well as Xerneas BREAK that was introduced in that set) and it looks like this is one of few cards that will be able to defeat the bulkiest Pokémon-GX in one hit.

In case you want my idea of a BREAKthrough-on Mega Gardevoir list with cards from BREAKthrough to Sun and Moon 1, I came up with a decklist for that:

Pokémon - 12
4 Gardevoir EX STS
3 M Gardevoir EX PCL
4 Xerneas XY
1 Xerneas BREAK STS

Trainer - 35
3 Fairy Garden XY

1 Brock's Grit EVO
3 N FCO
4 Professor Sycamore XY
3 Skyla BCR
1 Pokémon Fan Club FLF

2 Exp. Share NXD
3 Fairy Drop FCO
4 Gardevoir Spirit Link PCL
2 Nest Ball SM
2 Pokémon Catcher XY-sk
3 Switch BW
4 Ultra Ball DEX

Energy - 13
13 Fairy Energy

Even if Lysandre gets reprinted, it is by now certain that, with losing Shaymin-EX, Trainer's Mail and VS Seeker, the format will change to become much slower.
This is a rather slow deck, so it will for sure beneficiate from this change of pace.

I like this list (if I read correctly, you were gunning for BT+ format deck list and this looks great). I would make one change though. I would drop 1 Fairy Energy and add in 1 Oranguru. This deck can fly through the cards in your hand and having Oranguru chilling on the bench can help a lot.

 

[swan]

1x dragonite ex -pull up- (place holder for Hoopa ex, 3 ex searches again not that cheap, got the dragonite ex from my little brother)

unown is pretty cheap drawpower that combos with dragonite-EX and the suggested Oranguru, as well as supporters in general. Ace trainer is also a good 1-of (more reliable than lillma thingy) considering that you want to setup with xerneas and will not be taking the first price.

 

[neoshai]

*snip*

Even if Lysandre gets reprinted, it is by now certain that, with losing Shaymin-EX, Trainer's Mail and VS Seeker, the format will change to become much slower.
This is a rather slow deck, so it will for sure beneficiate from this change of pace.

First of all the first almost 200 bucks is not budget anymore. Budget imo is max 50 bucks.

Also, slow? Idk how you play the deck but I hit +6 energy on third turn. Of course there are always really bad matches with terrible draws but normally I only use geomancy twice and switch to gardevoir which will be hitting for 180 or 210. Then again that is with a more finished build than what I currently have irl
But even irl I've noticed that I can get my gardevoir ready on third or fourth turn with only a single max elixir but definitely not as consistent.

unown is pretty cheap drawpower that combos with dragonite-EX and the suggested Oranguru, as well as supporters in general. Ace trainer is also a good 1-of (more reliable than lillma thingy) considering that you want to setup with xerneas and will not be taking the first price.

Tbh I don't want to use any SuMo cards in this deck. I do want to move it along to the latest set before SuMo but I was short on cards hence I pushed in the other trainers at random from SuMo. I've also noticed that (in standard while playing online) that I'm mostly the first one to hit a price, also the second one and depending against what I'm playing they only take a price after I switch to my gardevoir and they've hit it twice.
Most pokemon decks I come across are way slower than mine, even when using cards like Shaymin ex. But then again, that's pokemon tcg in a nutshell. It's a setup game for turns upon turns before decks actually do something. That's why I used to really like Lucario ex, I guess Zygarde ex is not to far from it but I rarely see that.
About 80% of decks I play against online have been darkrai/Yveltal and only few of them have come out faster than gardevoir tho I believe that might have a lot to do with players having the necessary cards.

 

[Jerememe]

Maybe instead of Max elixir you can run mega turbo. Last time I checked their not too expensive and they hit 100% of the time. Great card. BTW, 4 evosoda is WAY too much. Maybe cut it to 1 or 2.

 

[neoshai]

Maybe instead of Max elixir you can run mega turbo. Last time I checked their not too expensive and they hit 100% of the time. Great card. BTW, 4 evosoda is WAY too much. Maybe cut it to 1 or 2.

I took out evosoda completely, it was just a test when I was still running spritzee and it works okay then but without spritzee it's a bit pointless.
Mega turbo might be a good idea, I think I'll check on those and try those out. Because max elixir really doesn't hit to often

 

[TCG_Destory]

This deck is, indeed, not too slow if you play against rogues/casual tournaments in which cases you will opt for getting 7/8 Energy on the field to start getting one shots after your opponent got three turns to play, as you have time. However, if you play against competitive decks, you can get outsped (think Despair Ray, Mega Rayquaza, Rainbow Road and Turbo Dark), and missing a Geomancy hurts, as you already need some ramping time. If you want to play Brilliant Arrow competitively, you will need an efficient way to get Xerneas + 2 Gardevoir to use Geomancy on them on the first turn you can do so, I would say at least 70% of games. I have to admit $140 sounds expensive, but many of the cards that cost a good amount of money are staples you can use in most decks (for example, Trainers' Mail and VS Seeker, which make for about $50 of the cost for the two playsets). And even after they rotate, they will be usable in Expanded. The list I gave, by the way, was an example. If you are tight on budget, then changing the most expensive cards can be a solution, and if you have it, Skyla makes up for some of the consistency not having Trainers' Mail/VS Seeker/Shaymin-EX makes you lose. However, I have to remind you that to seriously play the Pokémon Trading Card game, you will need to invest into it. I consider the $50 spent on a Shaymin-EX to be well spent, if your decks get a lot of benefits from playing it. Besides, it will stay usable in Expanded for quite a while.

As for a remark I got due to talking of the rotation, I have a reason to believe (even to possibly assume) it will be BREAKthrough-on.
It is that the rotations for the Standard format always have the start of a set block/series for a cutting point.
For the 2012/2013 season, the rotation was Black and White-on. And then:
The 2013/2014 season was Next Destinies-on
2014/2015 was Boundaries Crossed-on
2015/2016 was XY-on
2016/2017 is Primal Clash-on
We had three ORAS sets, then BREAKthrough started the four-set BREAK block (five sets actually have BREAK cards but Evolutions is a set on its own, that only halfway adds to the block). Therefore, I think it only makes sense for BREAKthrough to be the next cutting point.

 

[neoshai]

This deck is, indeed, not too slow if you play against rogues/casual tournaments in which cases you will opt for getting 7/8 Energy on the field to start getting one shots after your opponent got three turns to play, as you have time. However, if you play against competitive decks, you can get outsped (think Despair Ray, Mega Rayquaza, Rainbow Road and Turbo Dark), and missing a Geomancy hurts, as you already need some ramping time. If you want to play Brilliant Arrow competitively, you will need an efficient way to get Xerneas + 2 Gardevoir to use Geomancy on them on the first turn you can do so, I would say at least 70% of games. I have to admit $140 sounds expensive, but many of the cards that cost a good amount of money are staples you can use in most decks (for example, Trainers' Mail and VS Seeker, which make for about $50 of the cost for the two playsets). And even after they rotate, they will be usable in Expanded. The list I gave, by the way, was an example. If you are tight on budget, then changing the most expensive cards can be a solution, and if you have it, Skyla makes up for some of the consistency not having Trainers' Mail/VS Seeker/Shaymin-EX makes you lose. However, I have to remind you that to seriously play the Pokémon Trading Card game, you will need to invest into it. I consider the $50 spent on a Shaymin-EX to be well spent, if your decks get a lot of benefits from playing it. Besides, it will stay usable in Expanded for quite a while.

As for a remark I got due to talking of the rotation, I have a reason to believe (even to possibly assume) it will be BREAKthrough-on.
It is that the rotations for the Standard format always have the start of a set block/series for a cutting point.
For the 2012/2013 season, the rotation was Black and White-on. And then:
The 2013/2014 season was Next Destinies-on
2014/2015 was Boundaries Crossed-on
2015/2016 was XY-on
2016/2017 is Primal Clash-on
We had three ORAS sets, then BREAKthrough started the four-set BREAK block (five sets actually have BREAK cards but Evolutions is a set on its own, that only halfway adds to the block). Therefore, I think it only makes sense for BREAKthrough to be the next cutting point.

Actually funny enough I haven't lost against Mega rayquaza yet, tho I do have to say that all my matches against it have been incredibly close. Last match I got against it was my closest match against any deck so far. It was 1-6 and I ended up getting the win. Pure luck really.

Tbh I'm not on a budget. Hell, if I want to I go to my bedroom right now, take 2000 bucks and slam it against my pc screen (figure of speaking, I don't actually have 2k in my bedroom XD). I don't see how any normal person can say that 50 bucks for a shaymin would be well spent.
If there were no such thing as rotation then maybe. I don't think people really understand, especially since most play competitively, meaning they follow meta and for most people I've come across playing the game (or any tcg and even a lot in online games), they don't really know what to do with their money, on top of that most still live with mommy and daddy and have little to really worry about.
I don't want to put a lot of money in a deck (even one I really want to play, like this gardevoir deck) if it'll suddenly become completely unplayable.
That's where yugioh was a bit different with it having a banlist but even so the meta was the only thing really playable but at least they didn't completely say no to your deck just because it got older.
When I started playing pokemon I started playing a dusknoir deck, it was definitely not one of the greatest things out there but I found the mechanic/playstyle really interesting. Not knowing about the rotations at the time, only after a year or so I learned about the rotation and all the hard effort I've put into the deck became null because wonder by wonder, I wasn't allowed to play it anymore. So all the time and effort I put into the deck was all for nothing.
This right here is what holds me back to really get into pokemon. It's this right here why pokemon cards in general have no value to me and thus I can't see a good card such as Shaymin as 50 bucks. I can see it as 5 but beyond that is a no-no.

The only good thing about gardevoir here is that 1 it's cheap and even after it gets pushed to expanded and beyond, it'll still look beautiful in my collectors binder.

 

[swan]

1)

Most pokemon decks I come across are way slower than mine, even when using cards like Shaymin ex. But then again, that's pokemon tcg in a nutshell. It's a setup game for turns upon turns before decks actually do something.

@neoshai, from your ptcgo examples, I believe you to have a low elo. Meaning that you will mainly only come across players who do badly, this doesn't prevent them from owning shaymin-EX, ironically. An actually good yveltal or darkrai deck should be hitting you on their 2nd turn, and maybe 40-50% of the time (when they go second) on their first turn. A good mega rayquaza deck should run straight through you, setting up just as fast, or faster; however the difference is that mega ray will be OHKOing you. From a competitive standpoint, I have to disagree with you about the speed of the game. (although it might start to slow down a little once EX is fully rotated, however this doesn't seem to be the case looking at the sm2 GXs being announced)
2)

I've also noticed that (in standard while playing online) that I'm mostly the first one to hit a price, also the second one and depending against what I'm playing they only take a price after I switch to my gardevoir and they've hit it twice.

My other point, if you switch into Mgardy and start attacking before your opponent has even setup, how many energies are on the board and how much damage are you dealing???
3)

Tbh I don't want to use any SuMo cards in this deck. I do want to move it along to the latest set before SuMo but I was short on cards hence I pushed in the other trainers at random from SuMo.

Unown isn't SM; oranguru was just an example of a card it works well with. Also, why don't you want to use any sm cards?

 

[neoshai]

1)
@neoshai, from your ptcgo examples, I believe you to have a low elo. Meaning that you will mainly only come across players who do badly, this doesn't prevent them from owning shaymin-EX, ironically. An actually good yveltal or darkrai deck should be hitting you on their 2nd turn, and maybe 40-50% of the time (when they go second) on their first turn. A good mega rayquaza deck should run straight through you, setting up just as fast, or faster; however the difference is that mega ray will be OHKOing you. From a competitive standpoint, I have to disagree with you about the speed of the game. (although it might start to slow down a little once EX is fully rotated, however this doesn't seem to be the case looking at the sm2 GXs being announced)
2)
My other point, if you switch into Mgardy and start attacking before your opponent has even setup, how many energies are on the board and how much damage are you dealing???
3)
Unown isn't SM; oranguru was just an example of a card it works well with. Also, why don't you want to use any sm cards?

pfff a lot, okay ...
What's elo? As a casual player, terms like this go right over my head XD
I feel like I shouldn't have used the word slow cuz even if they fully setup in one turn I'll call it slow just because of how long the turn takes.
Btw the mega ray example I gave was one irl. Irl I have to say I've lost most of my matches, sadly enough. Good thing is at my locals a number of players there have multiple decks so I see a lot of variety, something I don't see online
I actually lost a lot of matches online in expanded so taking out my spritzee, while I feel like it was faster, seems to have improved the deck or maybe it's cuz I switched to standard and people have a more limited card usage ...

If I switch to Mgardevoir to atk I'm at 7 or 8 energies, dealing 210 or 240, which is most of the time (when the game doesn't screw me over in the start) 3rd turn. I sometimes do have it at only 6 dealing only 180 damage.
Tho in the past couple of days I've been trying out if it's possible to start out with Xerneas break, dealing less damage but faster/sooner ... it's been backfiring quite a bit
I think I might need to switch to despair ray since it does go faster and you don't need a lot of energy. In case I do discard pokemon from my bench, I have dragonite to take a few back. But getting those won't be as easy as the brilliant arrow ones

The reason why I don't want to run SuMo cards or reasons, is because it goes past gardevoir. Whenever the rotation hits that pushes her to expanded or beyond, I'll only have the SuMo cards left in the deck ... kind of pointless.
I've been keeping a close eye on the new SuMo cards and the upcoming set from SuMo hoping something nice will come out that I want to play because I'll start then with ONLY SuMo cards, no cards from before that ... again cuz of the shitty rotation pokemon has. I mean they already have a banlist, why not just keep it at that and lose the rotation system that's only there for them to drain you of your money? :'(

 

[TCG_Destory]

Actually funny enough I haven't lost against Mega rayquaza yet, tho I do have to say that all my matches against it have been incredibly close. Last match I got against it was my closest match against any deck so far. It was 1-6 and I ended up getting the win. Pure luck really.

Tbh I'm not on a budget. Hell, if I want to I go to my bedroom right now, take 2000 bucks and slam it against my pc screen (figure of speaking, I don't actually have 2k in my bedroom XD). I don't see how any normal person can say that 50 bucks for a shaymin would be well spent.
If there were no such thing as rotation then maybe. I don't think people really understand, especially since most play competitively, meaning they follow meta and for most people I've come across playing the game (or any tcg and even a lot in online games), they don't really know what to do with their money, on top of that most still live with mommy and daddy and have little to really worry about.
I don't want to put a lot of money in a deck (even one I really want to play, like this gardevoir deck) if it'll suddenly become completely unplayable.
That's where yugioh was a bit different with it having a banlist but even so the meta was the only thing really playable but at least they didn't completely say no to your deck just because it got older.
When I started playing pokemon I started playing a dusknoir deck, it was definitely not one of the greatest things out there but I found the mechanic/playstyle really interesting. Not knowing about the rotations at the time, only after a year or so I learned about the rotation and all the hard effort I've put into the deck became null because wonder by wonder, I wasn't allowed to play it anymore. So all the time and effort I put into the deck was all for nothing.
This right here is what holds me back to really get into pokemon. It's this right here why pokemon cards in general have no value to me and thus I can't see a good card such as Shaymin as 50 bucks. I can see it as 5 but beyond that is a no-no.

The only good thing about gardevoir here is that 1 it's cheap and even after it gets pushed to expanded and beyond, it'll still look beautiful in my collectors binder.

First off, as you are talking of the expanded format yourself, you should be aknowledging that the expensive cards that will help you in those six months to come of Primal Clash-on metagame (for the Standard format) will stay useful after the rotation, since Expanded leagues exist. This means that your cards never really lose all of their value and playability, you can still get use out of them. I tried Mega Evolution decks on PTCGonline in the Standard format without Shaymin-EX (since it is not part of my digital collection) but almost everytime, with the exceptions being when I drew really well, they have proven to lack a good part of the consistency and speed they would have were at least two (or maybe even one) of them to have been in the list. As a side note, if you run Shaymin-EX, you look at an Ultra Ball in an entirely different way. Dead drawing becomes harded. If you are scared of them getting Lysandre-Knocked Out, or of running out of Bench space, then you really should just consider using the Despair Ray version of Mega Gardevoir as a one-of, in order to get rid of them. Then, using Super Rod, you can shuffle them into your deck for an eventual second use. I am not saying you should/must have four in you deck in any way. (The Brilliant Arrow deck works best with two or three in my experience). What I am saying is that one Shaymin-EX would be a great way to speed up your deck and make it more consistent, and you can use it in basically any deck you would like to build, and even in Expanded after it rotates. If you really do not want to spend this much money on one card, then I suggest you try some other draw supporting Pokémon like Octillery, especially given the high amount of turns Mega Gardevoir might take to get set up.

Secondly, I am a normal person; I do think Shaymin-EX's price/apparent value seems strange for one card, but with the exception of a few decks, it is very hard to do well in competitive play without it. Its price is justified by its competitive value and demand, the reason I consider it a good investment is that it will improve so many of your deck, and as a result, you should be more successful in tournaments and earn more prizes, and possibly even rank well at league events and gain CP towards the big tournaments. If you are wanting to play in competitive without spending oddly high amounts on single cards, I suggest you wait until the BREAKthrough-on format (the cutting point being my speculation), where a fairly budget Mega Gardevoir deck, as I've previously explained, could do very well, given the speed of and the cards that seemingly will not be in that format. If you are looking to play casually, I think you can do well without Shaymin-EX, but that this card will still advantage you significantly.