Standard (2017 PCL-on) Mega Gardevoir

[jcgoble3]

I'm a relatively new player (just started playing in February) and have never played anything other than Vespiquen/Night March. With both of those dead in the new format, I need a new deck. This is my first attempt to build a deck on my own without relying on my leaguemates for help, so I'm probably way off, hence why I came here.

Pokémon - 12

2 Shaymin-EX ROS 77
3 Gardevoir-EX STS 111
3 M Gardevoir-EX GEN 131
4 Xerneas XY 96
1 Hoopa-EX PR XY71

Trainer Cards - 37

3 Gardevoir Spirit Link

2 Fairy Garden

3 Energy Retrieval
3 Professor's Letter
4 Max Elixir
3 Mega Turbo
4 VS Seeker
4 Ultra Ball
2 Trainers' Mail

1 Lysandre
1 Hex Maniac
3 N
2 Professor Sycamore
1 Teammates

Energy - 11

11 Fairy Energy



Strategy:

The idea here is to start with Xerneas and use Geomancy, Max Elixir, and Mega Turbo to accelerate energy onto Gardevoirs on the bench, along with Hoopa to get Gardevoir and its Mega out of the deck. Then Fairy Garden enables the retreat into the main attacker, Mega Gardevoir, which (for three energy) does 30 damage times the total number of fairy energies on my entire field.

Ideally, I would be able to get seven to eight energies in play at any time to enable OHKOs on the Megas (plus basic EXs with Fighting Fury Belts) that are fairly common in my league. Professor's Letter helps get energy out if I have none in hand, and Energy Retrieval recycles the energy after a KO. The rest of the deck is staples.

Against an opponent using powerful low-HP attackers (e.g. something like Night March), where the prize trade is against me. Gardevoir can be ignored, and Xerneas can become the lead attacker, dealing 100 damage for three energies (at the expense of discarding one), without exposing myself to a two-prize KO. (Bonus: Xerneas is fairly bulky at 130 HP, so it can take as good as it gives.)

Thoughts? My first thought after looking this over again is to cut an Ultra Ball for a fourth Energy Retrieval, but I'm not sure if that's necessary. Any help would be appreciated. (Also, since this is my first post, if I've done anything wrong, please forgive me and point me in the right direction. )

 

[Snek]

I don't think the old M Gardevoir is worth playing now that Xerneas Break does almost the same thing but for less energy and doesn't give up two prizes. To go the Xerneas Break route though, my intuition is to tech it with cards like FAC Mew, BKP Zebstrika, and Parallel City so that you can stand a better chance against M Mewtwo and M Rayquaza - two decks that will certainly see play early in the new format. But then, my intuition about this kind of deck could be totally off, and I would be happy to be proven wrong.

If you wanted to go the M Gardevoir route, the new one from Steam Siege is far superior. It can easily 2HKO just about anything. It can OHKO M Mewtwo for weakness. Tech Parallel City to deal with M Rayquaza. It also easily removes target Pokemon like Shaymin and Hoopa from the bench. Oh yeah, and it only uses two energies. Swinging for 110 on turn two puts an incredible amount of pressure on your opponent, no matter what they're playing.

 

[DrCrashMD]

In my deck I run 2 of the STS M Gardevoir and 1 of the old M Gardevoir, I find a lot of the times in slower matchups the ability to build up a strong hitter in the background while the Despair Ray Gard swings can be invaluable, as it hits for 30x per energy as opposed to Xerneas' 20x per energy.

 

[Greninja13]

Technically, you could try both xerneas BREAK and mega gardevoir to protect from anti me gas or anti EX's.

 

[Kneiss]

I would say to get rid of the energy retrieval (you have mega turbo) and definitely the professor letters (you dont want to thin the energy in your deck when you're using max elixir and you're already doing this with xerneas) and run a play set of mega turbos and trainers mail, +1 escape rope +1 switch and +1 lysandre. maybe also switch the Sycamore and N numbers so its 3 sycs and 2 n's and also switch teammates for a ninja boy so you can get hoopa off your bench for a gardevoir (and a shaymin if you can find the time to do it twice). I would also just run ten energies and then do 4 Gardevoirs. I think this deck has a lot of potential for after rotation and your build seems like a fast way to build up energy to where you really only need one geomancy.

 

[jcgoble3]

I don't think the old M Gardevoir is worth playing now that Xerneas Break does almost the same thing but for less energy and doesn't give up two prizes. To go the Xerneas Break route though, my intuition is to tech it with cards like FAC Mew, BKP Zebstrika, and Parallel City so that you can stand a better chance against M Mewtwo and M Rayquaza - two decks that will certainly see play early in the new format. But then, my intuition about this kind of deck could be totally off, and I would be happy to be proven wrong.

If you wanted to go the M Gardevoir route, the new one from Steam Siege is far superior. It can easily 2HKO just about anything. It can OHKO M Mewtwo for weakness. Tech Parallel City to deal with M Rayquaza. It also easily removes target Pokemon like Shaymin and Hoopa from the bench. Oh yeah, and it only uses two energies. Swinging for 110 on turn two puts an incredible amount of pressure on your opponent, no matter what they're playing.

In my deck I run 2 of the STS M Gardevoir and 1 of the old M Gardevoir, I find a lot of the times in slower matchups the ability to build up a strong hitter in the background while the Despair Ray Gard swings can be invaluable, as it hits for 30x per energy as opposed to Xerneas' 20x per energy.

I considered the Steam Siege version, but I and several of my leaguemates felt that the old one was better. So it's interesting to hear someone advocate the opposite. At any rate, I have already purchased the Generations full arts, so with my limited budget, I'm committed to that one at this point. But I'll take that into consideration once I get a few more paychecks and after I have some experience with this deck.

Technically, you could try both xerneas BREAK and mega gardevoir to protect from anti me gas or anti EX's.

Good point. Giratina-EX, with its anti-Mega Ability, is popular in my league, so I'll look into that.

I would say to get rid of the energy retrieval (you have mega turbo) and definitely the professor letters (you dont want to thin the energy in your deck when you're using max elixir and you're already doing this with xerneas) and run a play set of mega turbos and trainers mail, +1 escape rope +1 switch and +1 lysandre. maybe also switch the Sycamore and N numbers so its 3 sycs and 2 n's and also switch teammates for a ninja boy so you can get hoopa off your bench for a gardevoir (and a shaymin if you can find the time to do it twice). I would also just run ten energies and then do 4 Gardevoirs. I think this deck has a lot of potential for after rotation and your build seems like a fast way to build up energy to where you really only need one geomancy.

Thanks for the advice. You have a good point regarding the interactions of Energy Retrieval vs. Mega Turbo and Professor's Letter vs. Max Elixir. Having never used any of those cards before, I didn't think about that. Teammates is a card that I didn't really think was strictly necessary, so I'll make the switch for Ninja Boy. I'll also look into your other suggestions.

I'll work on some improvements and come back soon with an updated list once I have time and can get the PTCGO login to work.

 

[AuraJackle]

PC Mega Gardevoir is the better of the 2 if you want to use 1 STS one then thats good as it helps against psychic weak decks like Mewtwo and you can get rid of used shaymins and hoopas just make sure you don't get rid of everything otherwise you could very well lose from having nothing on the bench. I think 1 Xerneas Break could be good but don't focus on it if your doing MGardevoir as thats to many evolution's and would clutter fast. 3 letters and retrievals is really bad in this deck so take those out for more Trainers mails and tech supporters like Pokemon ranger to deal with glaceon and regice and a Hex maniac for Giratina. Also 2 Super rods should be good for Retrieving resources

 

[jcgoble3]

OK, I took the above advice (prior to my last post) and made a few changes. Here's the new list as it stands right now:

##Pokémon - 15

* 2 Shaymin-EX ROS 77
* 3 Gardevoir-EX STS 111
* 3 M Gardevoir-EX GEN 131
* 2 Xerneas BREAK STS 82
* 4 Xerneas XY 96
* 1 Hoopa-EX PR-XY XY71

##Trainer Cards - 35

* 1 Switch ROS 91
* 1 Hex Maniac AOR 75
* 3 Gardevoir Spirit Link STS 101
* 2 Fairy Garden FAC 100
* 4 Ultra Ball FLF 99
* 1 Ninja Boy STS 103
* 4 Max Elixir BKP 102
* 2 N FAC 105
* 2 Lysandre FLF 104
* 4 Mega Turbo ROS 86
* 3 Professor Sycamore XY 122
* 4 VS Seeker PHF 109
* 4 Trainers' Mail AOR 100

##Energy - 10

* 10 Fairy Energy GEN 83

(I'm too lazy to format it nicely this time. )

I implemented most of the advice from @Kneiss, but I had to cut something in order to fit in Xerneas BREAK. I went with (from Kneiss's suggestions) the Escape Rope and the fourth Gardevoir as the cuts. I chose the Escape Rope since Fairy Garden ideally gives me free retreat while in play, and I prefer to not give my opponent a chance for a free switch. (I ran Escape Rope at Nationals and wish I had used Switch instead.) The Xerneas BREAK being a 4-2 line warrants comment: The Basic Xerneas is at 4 because I want to maximize my odds of having one in my starting hand, since I want it to be my starting active. The BREAK, however, I feel only needs to be at 2 since it is a situational/emergency attacker only. Thoughts on that?

@AuraJackle, your post came in while I was typing this, so I haven't had a chance to consider your advice yet. As there have been several changes since the OP, I invite you to comment on the new list here if you so choose to.

 

[Darren]

I don't think the old M Gardevoir is worth playing now that Xerneas Break does almost the same thing but for less energy and doesn't give up two prizes. To go the Xerneas Break route though, my intuition is to tech it with cards like FAC Mew, BKP Zebstrika, and Parallel City so that you can stand a better chance against M Mewtwo and M Rayquaza - two decks that will certainly see play early in the new format. But then, my intuition about this kind of deck could be totally off, and I would be happy to be proven wrong.

If you wanted to go the M Gardevoir route, the new one from Steam Siege is far superior. It can easily 2HKO just about anything. It can OHKO M Mewtwo for weakness. Tech Parallel City to deal with M Rayquaza. It also easily removes target Pokemon like Shaymin and Hoopa from the bench. Oh yeah, and it only uses two energies. Swinging for 110 on turn two puts an incredible amount of pressure on your opponent, no matter what they're playing.

ive been trying

x3 xerneas (SS)
x2 xerneas break (SS)
x2/x2 gard/ M gard (SS)
x2/x2 Zebsrika (BKP)

online it has been working well. one shot mega ray, mega mewtwo and any dragon types.

 

[Snek]

I considered the Steam Siege version, but I and several of my leaguemates felt that the old one was better. So it's interesting to hear someone advocate the opposite. At any rate, I have already purchased the Generations full arts, so with my limited budget, I'm committed to that one at this point. But I'll take that into consideration once I get a few more paychecks and after I have some experience with this deck.

I'd like to know how it plays so keep us updated!

 

[Border_Games]

If you intend on losing a lot of your energy frequently, then this works great, but I feel like that is not a good strategy...

##Pokémon - 15

* 2 Shaymin-EX ROS 77
* 3 Gardevoir-EX STS 111
* 3 M Gardevoir-EX GEN 131
* 2 Xerneas BREAK STS 82
* 4 Xerneas XY 96
* 1 Hoopa-EX PR-XY XY71

##Trainer Cards - 35

* 1 Switch ROS 91
* 1 Hex Maniac AOR 75
* 3 Gardevoir Spirit Link STS 101
* 2 Fairy Garden FAC 100
* 4 Ultra Ball FLF 99
* 1 Ninja Boy STS 103
* 4 Max Elixir BKP 102
* 2 N FAC 105
* 2 Lysandre FLF 104
* 4 Mega Turbo ROS 86
* 3 Professor Sycamore XY 122
* 4 VS Seeker PHF 109
* 4 Trainers' Mail AOR 100

##Energy - 10

* 10 Fairy Energy GEN 83

I suggest...
-3 Mega Turbo. You don't have any battle compressors. (They aren't in the format lol.) (Unless you use ultra balls/sycamore COMMONLY to discard them.)
Maybe add fairy drops and remove the switch.

I really do not know how this deck works for you, but scanning the deck list tells me that.

Good luck!

Edit: You should also add super rods. They REALLY help!

 

[jcgoble3]

If you intend on losing a lot of your energy frequently, then this works great, but I feel like that is not a good strategy...

I suggest...
-3 Mega Turbo. You don't have any battle compressors. (They aren't in the format lol.) (Unless you use ultra balls/sycamore COMMONLY to discard them.)
Maybe add fairy drops and remove the switch.

I really do not know how this deck works for you, but scanning the deck list tells me that.

Good luck!

Edit: You should also add super rods. They REALLY help!

I'll put that on the list of things to think about. Without having played it yet, I think Ultra Ball and Sycamore will be sufficient to get the energies into the discard, but you may be right. Thanks for mentioning Fairy Drop; I didn't know that card existed. Super Rod is another thing for me to consider, though I'm not sure of its usefulness. (I assume I would aim to use the Max Elixirs early, after which I would want energies in the discard for Mega Turbo. And I think I have quite enough Pokemon that I usually shouldn't need to recycle them. But I'll keep it in mind anyway. )

I'd like to know how it plays so keep us updated!

I will. I have a League Challenge on September 3, right after rotation, so I will try to remember to post back here how it performed.

 

[Border_Games]

I'll put that on the list of things to think about. Without having played it yet, I think Ultra Ball and Sycamore will be sufficient to get the energies into the discard, but you may be right. Thanks for mentioning Fairy Drop; I didn't know that card existed. Super Rod is another thing for me to consider, though I'm not sure of its usefulness. (I assume I would aim to use the Max Elixirs early, after which I would want energies in the discard for Mega Turbo. And I think I have quite enough Pokemon that I usually shouldn't need to recycle them. But I'll keep it in mind anyway. )



I will. I have a League Challenge on September 3, right after rotation, so I will try to remember to post back here how it performed.

Like I said, if you discard energy frequently, this should work.

Hope your challenge goes well!

 

[YveltalRegirock]

Anybody have an idea on how to get this to beat Mega Rayquaza?

 

[jcgoble3]

Apologies for the delay in updating this. I got really busy with starting a new job (hint: adulting sucks ) and haven't had much online time.

This is the decklist I took to the League Challenge on the 3rd:

* 2 Shaymin-EX ROS 77
* 3 Gardevoir-EX STS 111
* 3 M Gardevoir-EX GEN 131
* 2 Xerneas BREAK STS 82
* 4 Xerneas STS 81

* 3 Professor Sycamore STS 114
* 1 Hex Maniac AOR 75
* 3 Gardevoir Spirit Link STS 101
* 2 N FAC 105
* 2 Lysandre FLF 90
* 3 Fairy Garden FAC 100
* 2 Super Rod BKT 149
* 2 Pokémon Catcher EPO 95
* 4 Ultra Ball FLF 99
* 1 Ninja Boy STS 103
* 4 Max Elixir BKP 102
* 4 VS Seeker PHF 109
* 4 Trainers' Mail AOR 100

* 11 Fairy Energy GEN 83

Overall, it didn't do very well. We had 32 Masters players, 3 Senior players, and 2 Junior players, so with Seniors and Juniors combined not reaching a total of 6, everyone was combined. I finished with 2 wins, 1 loss, and 2 draws, but both wins came against non-Masters players (one Junior, one Senior). One of those was a rookie with a very noncompetitive deck, and the other had a competitive deck (I forget what it was), but made a lot of misplays that I exploited. So against my own age division, I only had two draws and a loss, the latter being Mega Mewtwo. The two draws were Yanmega BREAK/Vespiquen and some other meta deck that I can't remember. In both cases, the game was simply too slow to finish in the 30-minute time limit. I am not a slow player, but I felt that the deck just ate up so much time both setting up and maintaining the setup that it's simply not viable in timed tournament play. In one of the draws, my opponent was a little bit of a slow player, but not so much as to fully explain what he and I each still had four prize cards left after plus-three.

So what changes would I make if I tried it again? First, I found that KOs were common enough that Mega Turbo would be viable even without intentionally discarding any energies. The Pokemon Catchers were an experiment (50% chance of getting a Supporter effect without using up the turn's Supporter, with no downside), but they were rarely useful and were more commonly used as discard bait for Ultra Balls. Ninja Boy was also rarely used, and I think Parallel City is better at getting Shaymins out of harm's way. So -2 Pokemon Catcher, -1 Ninja Boy, +3 Mega Turbo. Mega Turbo reduces the need for Super Rod, so -1 Super Rod, +1 Parallel City.

I also found that Stadium-based free switching isn't as reliable as I had hoped it would be, and I often found myself stuck by Lysandre stalling. So -1 Fairy Garden, +1 Switch. (I could use an Escape Rope, but I've found from past experience that giving the opponent choice of who to switch into is rarely useful. Hence, I prefer Switch.)

Draw Supporters were something I had trouble getting, and I also sometimes had the annoying problem of falling just short of a KO. -1 Trainers' Mail/+1 Giovanni's Scheme ought to help with that. (Not really sure if Trainers' Mail is the best thing to cut for that, though, but I don't see anything else obvious....)

Even with these changes, though, I don't really feel that this is viable in the current meta. It's designed to OHKO virtually anything in theory, but in practice it's difficult and time-consuming to get enough Energy in play to do so, and even if you manage that, it's also difficult to keep that Energy in play as Pokemon are Knocked Out. Mega Turbo would help with the latter, but if you don't immediately have them in hand, you lose consistency and start giving 2HKOs instead. Mega Rayquaza can beat it with faster setup and more consistent OHKOs, and Mega Mewtwo takes advantage of the massive amount of Energy you have to put in play to destroy it with easy OHKOs. Add that it's weak to Mega Scizor, and I think it's a Tier 3 or 4 deck at best, if a legitimate part of the meta at all.

(Speaking of Mega Scizor, that's the next deck I'm working on. )

 

[TCG_Destory]

Hi. Mega Gardevoir is my current deck. I tried it with Dragons (Mega Rayquaza) and then, on Tuesday, ultimately changed to the pure fairy version. I built focusing on consistency and my list now looks like that.

Pokémon (12)
Gardevoir EX PCL x4
M Gardevoir EX PCL x3
M Gardevoir EX STS x1
Xerneas XY x4

Trainer (36)
Fairy Garden x3

Hex Maniac x1
Lysandre x2
N x4
Pokémon Ranger x1
Professor Sycamore x4

Gardevoir Spirit Link x4
Mega Turbo x4
Switch x2
Trainer's Mail x4
Ultra Ball x3
VS Seeker x4

Energy (12)
Fairy Energy x12

I will explain a few cards that may seem odd for this deck:
Steam Siege's Mega Gardevoir: It one shots Mega Mewtwo and helps in faster matches thanks to its low energy cost for 110 damage. It also gets rid of my Xerneas later on when I need bench space and I want to get energy in the discard pile for Mega Turbo to power up more Mega Gardevoir.
Mega Turbo: It helps me in maintaining a sufficient energy amount on my side to deal lethal damage. It also helps to set up faster.
Switch: I can get a status condition, open with Gardevoir EX or not be able to find or play Fairy Garden. This contributes in getting me out of possible trouble in those situations.

I do not run Max Elixir as I consider it a card that requires a large amount of energies in the deck to function properly and consistently. Geomancy gets them out, which lowers the working chances of Max Elixir. I think Mega Turbo is much better for this deck. Also note that this deck starts getting in action on turn three usually.

Edit: My list now looks like this, as of October 29th.

Pokémon (12)
4 Gardevoir EX PCL
3 M Gardevoir EX PCL
1 M Gardevoir EX STS
4 Xerneas XY

Trainer (37)
4 Fairy Garden

1 Hex Maniac
2 Lysandre
4 N
4 Professor Sycamore

4 Gardevoir Spirit Link
4 Mega Turbo
2 Switch
4 Trainer's Mail
4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker

Energy (11)
Fairy Energy x11

Eleven energies work well (without Max Elixir, if you run it then run twelve or more) in this deck according to my testing. And a deck cannot have too many playsets.
I obviously went for consistency mainly there.