Hello fellow beach goers,
I have seen quite a few threads about decks revolving around one of my favorite cards for this season. M Gardevoir EX. There seems to be some debate as to what is the correct version to run and I am here to put my own two cents in. The version of this deck I will be running incorporates both the Generations and Steam Siege versions of M Gardevoir. With out further ado, I give you "The Wonderful World of Fairies"!
Total Cards - 60
Gardevoir EX: When I first started trying to run this deck, I had no intention of using the STS Gardevoir EX. The version from Generations was my go-to. I figured having an attack for 1 energy was the best option I had. I have never been more wrong in my life. The STS Gardevoir EX outclasses the PRC/GEN version in pretty much every way. Lets look at the stats.
They both have 170 HP which is pretty standard for an EX. In all reality you want to get your M Gardevoir EX going as quickly as possible. So there should be no reason to worry about this choice right? Wrong! I have had numerous games where I am missing a critical spirit link or I know I am still going to use a Max Elixir and won't evolve during that turn. That's when the difference in power clear. For 2 energies you hit for 100 damage to anything that has a DCE or 2 energies on the opponents active pokemon. This attack makes the card the only choice for the basic EX.
While Life Leap may seem like a good choice being able to attack for just one fairy energy and healing 20, this attack just seems to be too lack luster to compete with Link Blast.
M Gardevoir EX: So there are a bunch of different deck lists trying to use either the Generations (same as the PRC version) or the STS version. After extensive testing I have found that 2 M Gardevoir EX GEN and 1 M Gardevoir EX STS seems to have the best overall matchup against nearly every deck this rotation (Minus M Scizor decks, haven't figured out how to beat this yet.). The GEN M Gardevoir is your big hitter. There have been times with this version that by turn 2-3 I am hitting for 250 damage with ease.
Now for the card that I was not sure about when Steam Siege first hit shelves. M Gardevoir EX STS. This card is really interesting and in the right situations strong. For just 2 fairy energies you OHKO anything that has a fairy or psychic weakness. Let us not discount that it has a base damage of 110. There are 2 reasons that I choose to run a copy of this card in my deck. #1: M Mewtwo needs to have an amazing start to win against it and #2 The versatility of this card. The card saves you in so many situations. It can save you from losing prize cards on cards like Shaymin or Hoopa and it does not share the energy constraint that the Generations card can fall prey to. Its biggest downfall is that you are almost never going to get ohko's on anything outside of a shaymin ex or non ex card. So in my opinion 2 GEN / 1 STS is the perfect blend of power and utility.
Xerneas / Xerneas BREAK: Xerneas has had a long history of being used as a form of energy acceleration. This card can get you set up by turn 2 or 3 with it's attack Geomancy. Being able to get 2 energies from your deck and putting them on 2 of your benched Pokemon is a key to success for this deck. When paired with Max Elixir you will find yourself getting your M Gardevoir ready to attack very quickly. The reason I bring up this card is because quite a few variants of the M Gardevoir decks I see run 4 Xerneas. I understand the lure of a turn 2 Geomancy but I find that having that many Xerneas in a deck leads to dead cards. With plenty of testing I have come to the conclusion that 2 is the optimal number to use.
On to the topic of Xerneas BREAK. A new addition in the Steam Siege expansion, this card has quickly become a welcome addition to my deck. I struggled for a long time trying to find ways to not include this card. It seems like it would be much better used in its own deck. It is not used every game and it won't always be useful. The reason it stays in my deck is because of the times when it has saved my butt. Boasting a strong 150 HP it is unlikely to be OHKO by quite a few of the popular attackers in the game. Xerneas BREAK has a new attack to go along with this new evolution, Life Stream. For just 2 fairy energy you get a mini version of M Gardevoir EX's Brilliant Arrow attack. Now you will most likely not be getting OHKO's with this card (9 energies to hit 180), but you are already trying to stack energy for Gardevoir. It also has the added bonus that it can hit things like Carbink(FAC) and through attacks like Resistance Blizzard(Regice-AOR). You could argue that Hex Maniac and Pokemon Ranger are a good enough answer to those, I feel that having this option is a really decent alternative to potentially wasting your supporter for the turn. To sum up: This card doesn't always shine but when you need it the most you will be glad you included it.
Giratina EX:
Giratina is another one of those flex cards in this deck that may not always see the front line. So why use this card? There are many reasons why this card makes the cut. For one, it's ability Renegade Pulse can buy you precious time should you be in a bad spot against one of the other mega-centric decks poised to be played this season. Completely blocking damage and effects of mega Pokemon is an incredible boon. It's attack, Chaos Wheel does 100 damage for [G][P][C][C]. 100 damage isn't a lot in the current rotation but what it lacks in damage it makes up for with the effect. Your opponent cannot play tools, special energy, or stadium cards on their next turn. I could go over why that is so great but that would take forever. The last thing I will mention about Giratina is it's ability to accelerate M Gardevoir's damage. Being a dragon type grants it access to Double Dragon Energy(DDE). DDE lets you get 2 fairy energy for Brilliant arrow on the field with just one card. This alone makes it a great choice but pairing it with its ability and its attack I wouldn't ask "should I run this card?" but rather "would running 2 Giratina EX be better?"
The Rest: Shaymin EX needs no explanation. I have tried running 2 and 3 Shaymin and found that 2 is all this deck needs. Hoopa EX turns your turn one into an explosive start and gets your Gardevoir EX, Giratina EX, and Shaymin EX from the deck and into your hand.
Trainers: Most of my choices for trainers are fairly standard. I have tweaked some of the numbers as I have played based on observations as I played. 2 Professor Sycamore seems low but I frequently get to a point where I am at less than 10 cards left in my deck. 3 N provides early game draw power and late game disruption. Many people run 4 ultra ball but when I use my Hoopa I find that I don't need to use the other 3 still lingering in my deck. 3 feels right to me and if it doesn't work for you feel free to change it around.
Trainers mail is something I have cut back to 3 to accommodate some of the "one of's" in my deck but I will continue to test and see if 4 is the magic number. Running one of Lysandre, Hex Maniac, and Pokemon Ranger work well with just the 4 VS Seeker in the deck.
I run two Super Rod for energy and Pokemon retention. I have played around with 2 and 3 copies and am still on the fence as to the right number to use. I use the standard 3 Gardevoir Spirit Link's for obvious reasons. As for stadiums, I use 3 Fairy Garden for the ever useful free retreat. I also use 2 Parallel City for the M Rayquaza match up. The card that I am most unsure of is Delinquent. Sometimes it can be devastating and other times it's just OK.
Energy Count: As of right now I run 10 Fairy Energy and 3 DDE. I am not sold on these numbers but so far I have had quite a bit of success. 3 double dragon energy allows for Giratina to provide 6 energies to power M Gardevoir. It also prevents you from having to waste a fairy energy on tina to use its attack should an enhanced hammer or Team Flare Grunt remove one.
I've resized the paragraph text down to default size and spoilered the images. Please do not use large text sizes for entire posts and spoiler large images. =) ~bbninjas
I have seen quite a few threads about decks revolving around one of my favorite cards for this season. M Gardevoir EX. There seems to be some debate as to what is the correct version to run and I am here to put my own two cents in. The version of this deck I will be running incorporates both the Generations and Steam Siege versions of M Gardevoir. With out further ado, I give you "The Wonderful World of Fairies"!
Pokémon - 13
- 2 Shaymin-EX ROS 77
- 1 Giratina-EX AOR 93
- 3 Gardevoir-EX STS 111
- 2 M Gardevoir-EX GEN 131
- 1 Xerneas BREAK STS 82
- 2 Xerneas STS 81
- 1 M Gardevoir-EX STS 79
- 1 Hoopa-EX AOR 36
Trainer Cards - 34
- 2 Professor Sycamore STS 114
- 1 Delinquent BKP 98
- 3 Trainers' Mail ROS 92
- 4 VS Seeker PHF 109
- 2 Parallel City BKT 145
- 3 N FAC 105
- 3 Ultra Ball DEX 102
- 1 Lysandre FLF 90
- 3 Fairy Garden FAC 100
- 1 Pokémon Ranger STS 113
- 2 Super Rod BKT 149
- 4 Max Elixir BKP 102
- 3 Gardevoir Spirit Link PRC 130
*1 Hex Maniac AOR 75 - 1 Professor Sycamore PHF 101
Energy - 13
- 10 Fairy Energy Energy 9
- 3 Double Dragon Energy ROS 97
Total Cards - 60
Reasoning Behind the Deck
Gardevoir EX: When I first started trying to run this deck, I had no intention of using the STS Gardevoir EX. The version from Generations was my go-to. I figured having an attack for 1 energy was the best option I had. I have never been more wrong in my life. The STS Gardevoir EX outclasses the PRC/GEN version in pretty much every way. Lets look at the stats.
They both have 170 HP which is pretty standard for an EX. In all reality you want to get your M Gardevoir EX going as quickly as possible. So there should be no reason to worry about this choice right? Wrong! I have had numerous games where I am missing a critical spirit link or I know I am still going to use a Max Elixir and won't evolve during that turn. That's when the difference in power clear. For 2 energies you hit for 100 damage to anything that has a DCE or 2 energies on the opponents active pokemon. This attack makes the card the only choice for the basic EX.
While Life Leap may seem like a good choice being able to attack for just one fairy energy and healing 20, this attack just seems to be too lack luster to compete with Link Blast.
M Gardevoir EX: So there are a bunch of different deck lists trying to use either the Generations (same as the PRC version) or the STS version. After extensive testing I have found that 2 M Gardevoir EX GEN and 1 M Gardevoir EX STS seems to have the best overall matchup against nearly every deck this rotation (Minus M Scizor decks, haven't figured out how to beat this yet.). The GEN M Gardevoir is your big hitter. There have been times with this version that by turn 2-3 I am hitting for 250 damage with ease.
Now for the card that I was not sure about when Steam Siege first hit shelves. M Gardevoir EX STS. This card is really interesting and in the right situations strong. For just 2 fairy energies you OHKO anything that has a fairy or psychic weakness. Let us not discount that it has a base damage of 110. There are 2 reasons that I choose to run a copy of this card in my deck. #1: M Mewtwo needs to have an amazing start to win against it and #2 The versatility of this card. The card saves you in so many situations. It can save you from losing prize cards on cards like Shaymin or Hoopa and it does not share the energy constraint that the Generations card can fall prey to. Its biggest downfall is that you are almost never going to get ohko's on anything outside of a shaymin ex or non ex card. So in my opinion 2 GEN / 1 STS is the perfect blend of power and utility.
Xerneas / Xerneas BREAK: Xerneas has had a long history of being used as a form of energy acceleration. This card can get you set up by turn 2 or 3 with it's attack Geomancy. Being able to get 2 energies from your deck and putting them on 2 of your benched Pokemon is a key to success for this deck. When paired with Max Elixir you will find yourself getting your M Gardevoir ready to attack very quickly. The reason I bring up this card is because quite a few variants of the M Gardevoir decks I see run 4 Xerneas. I understand the lure of a turn 2 Geomancy but I find that having that many Xerneas in a deck leads to dead cards. With plenty of testing I have come to the conclusion that 2 is the optimal number to use.
Giratina EX:
The Rest: Shaymin EX needs no explanation. I have tried running 2 and 3 Shaymin and found that 2 is all this deck needs. Hoopa EX turns your turn one into an explosive start and gets your Gardevoir EX, Giratina EX, and Shaymin EX from the deck and into your hand.
Trainers: Most of my choices for trainers are fairly standard. I have tweaked some of the numbers as I have played based on observations as I played. 2 Professor Sycamore seems low but I frequently get to a point where I am at less than 10 cards left in my deck. 3 N provides early game draw power and late game disruption. Many people run 4 ultra ball but when I use my Hoopa I find that I don't need to use the other 3 still lingering in my deck. 3 feels right to me and if it doesn't work for you feel free to change it around.
Trainers mail is something I have cut back to 3 to accommodate some of the "one of's" in my deck but I will continue to test and see if 4 is the magic number. Running one of Lysandre, Hex Maniac, and Pokemon Ranger work well with just the 4 VS Seeker in the deck.
I run two Super Rod for energy and Pokemon retention. I have played around with 2 and 3 copies and am still on the fence as to the right number to use. I use the standard 3 Gardevoir Spirit Link's for obvious reasons. As for stadiums, I use 3 Fairy Garden for the ever useful free retreat. I also use 2 Parallel City for the M Rayquaza match up. The card that I am most unsure of is Delinquent. Sometimes it can be devastating and other times it's just OK.
Energy Count: As of right now I run 10 Fairy Energy and 3 DDE. I am not sold on these numbers but so far I have had quite a bit of success. 3 double dragon energy allows for Giratina to provide 6 energies to power M Gardevoir. It also prevents you from having to waste a fairy energy on tina to use its attack should an enhanced hammer or Team Flare Grunt remove one.
Conclusion
Whew! If you have stuck with me for the entire explanation, congratulations! I feel that this deck could be best in format or at the very least a contender. I have had a ton of fun playing this deck before rotation and am still loving it post rotation. I would love to hear your thoughts and concerns on my choices and what you would change or remove to help me make the best deck I can. Thank you again for sticking with me and I hope you enjoyed my post.I've resized the paragraph text down to default size and spoilered the images. Please do not use large text sizes for entire posts and spoiler large images. =) ~bbninjas
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