Fresh off Diego Cassiraga’s win at the 2017 Pokémon TCG World Championships, Gardevoir-GX stands out as one of the most powerful cards in the Pokémon TCG. Even after the Standard format rotation, most of the tools remain in place to keep it a top contender. Let’s look at how to put this deck into action for the 2018 Play! Pokémon Standard format.
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Gardevoir-GX
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8Fairy Energy
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4Double Colorless Energy
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4N
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4Professor Sycamore
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3Guzma
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2Skyla
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1Acerola
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1Brigette
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4Ultra Ball
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3Rare Candy
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2Choice Band
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2Field Blower
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1Rescue Stretcher
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1Super Rod
Some decks look for multiple ways to go on the offense, but in this deck, the focus is all on Gardevoir-GX. And why not? Its Infinite Force attack does 30 damage times the amount of Energy attached to both Active Pokémon, giving Gardevoir-GX massive potential. Infinite Force plays nicely with the Pokémon’s Secret Spring Ability, which allows you to attach a Fairy Energy card from your hand to one of your Pokémon each turn. With Double Colorless Energy in the mix as well, the Infinite Force attack can do an impressive amount of damage very quickly. Against an opposing Pokémon-GX or Pokémon-EX, Choice Band also provides an extra boost. This 230-HP Pokémon-GX is scary once it gets rolling.
Because Gardevoir-GX is a Stage 2 Pokémon, it requires more time and resources to set up than some other strategies. Waste no time in evolving to Gardevoir-GX through Ralts and Kirlia, or use Rare Candy to skip Kirlia and evolve Ralts directly into Gardevoir-GX. Typically the first Supporter card you want to play is Brigette, which allows you to search for 3 Basic Pokémon and put them right onto your Bench. Tapu Lele-GX’s Wonder Tag Ability is essential to doing this consistently: if you have Ultra Ball in your hand, it can grab Tapu Lele-GX, which searches for Brigette, who searches for 3 Basic Pokémon.
Getting multiple Stage 2 Pokémon into play can be difficult,
and it requires a lot of cards. Supporting Pokémon are important for this kind
of strategy, giving you a constant way to find the cards you need. This deck
uses a combination of Alolan Vulpix and Octillery
to fill those roles. Alolan Vulpix’s Beacon attack can search your deck for 2
Pokémon and put them into your hand, and it doesn’t require any Energy to use!
Octillery plays a more passive role, staying on the Bench and using its Abyssal
Hand Ability to refill your hand. These Pokémon have no strong offensive
capabilities, but they’re invaluable for executing your strategy consistently.
We mentioned earlier that Gardevoir-GX is powerful enough to handle all the offensive duties of this deck alone. But there are ways to branch out. One of the benefits of the Gardevoir-GX deck is that it’s easy to include Gallade, which also evolves from Kirlia. Gallade might not have the same damage output as its Fairy-type counterpart, but its Sensitive Blade attack can do 130 damage for just 2 Energy—enough to take down most regular Pokémon. It serves an important role by only giving up one Prize card when it’s Knocked Out, as opposed to Gardevoir-GX and Tapu Lele-GX giving up two. As a Fighting type, it has an advantage against the popular Drampa-GX and a different Weakness than Gardevoir-GX, giving this deck some flexibility. Gallade’s Premonition Ability also pairs well with Octillery: look at the top 5 cards of your deck, put the ones you want on top, then draw them with Abyssal Hand! Gallade adds another layer to this already powerful strategy.
Gardevoir-GX is just one of the exciting new cards from the Sun & Moon—Burning Shadows expansion. Be on the lookout for other powerful strategies that may emerge. Check back at Pokemon.com/Strategy for the latest Pokémon TCG strategies, updates, and more!
