Help A Dad asks "how can I help my son beat Gardevoir?"

S

StuartG

Aspiring Trainer
Member
My son is in junior play and is getting increasingly upset about being beaten by Gardevoir. In junior, our local meta is defined by whatever decks have had most news over the last half year and are then straightforward enough for a 7 year old to play. As such, Gardy fits perfect - 1 energy, rare candy and you're hitting like a tank with the body of a sumo wrestler.
I'm no pokemon expert - I'm just a Dad trying to help his son. If you guys have advice that would be warmly received.
 
Working with a Junior is definitely a bit tougher, since certain strategies and concepts might be a bit beyond their grasp.

Other than having your son play Gardy as well, I've noticed the juniors in my local area having more luck with their Buzzwole builds (some prefer the lycanroc build, others prefer the zoroark builds).

On the surface, the deck strategy is linear and efficient. Big basic, 1 energy, immediate damage and pressure - a very enjoyable and effective deck style for younger players. By no means is it going to be an auto-win for your son, but it definitely won't be one-sided.
 
I have some thoughts to share on this subject, but I'm at work right now. I'll update this post later with my full answer. In the meantime, what's your collection like, i.e. what do you have that you can work with?
 
I second the Buzzwole GX suggestion. Focus on spreading damage with Jet Punch while running a max count of Acerola to deny your opponent Prizes. Run it with Espeon EX so you can devolve your opponent's evolutions. It has strong match-ups against a lot of decks in the Meta. Volcanion, as well as the mirror match, can be tough to play against but they're winnable, and if you're looking to specifically have a favorable match-up against Gardevoir then Buzzwole is a good choice.

Alternatively, you could try any Metal-type deck. Once Metagross is set up, it's basically an auto-win against Gardevoir due to it's high HP, Max Potion spam, and automatic KO due to hitting for weakness. It does, however, have issues with setting up so that's something to consider.

I think Silvally GX/Steel-types is another deck to look at. I don't have a lot of experience with it personally, but I'm familiar with how it runs and I love it's utility. Silvally GX is able to OHKO a number of relevant Pokémon with it's Fighting and Psychic Memory tools while the Steel-types deal with Gardevoir. It might be a bit tough for a younger player to fully utilize though, I'm not sure. If you're interested in any deck lists I can find some for you, whether it's for Buzzwole, Silvally, or anything else.
 
Thanks all / in particular @woahaustin as you totally got what I meant about junior play needing to be without complex decisions (e.g., even explaining the idea that "if he just played ultra ball then it means he has a card in his hand he wants so you should play N instead of Sycamore" can be too much).

Due to pulling a few of them we're actually playing a deck withe following: 3 x Toxapex GX, 1 toxapex, 2 Tapu Lele GX, 1 Tauros GX, 1 Espeon GX and seviper plus acerola, max potion, wishful baton) which may well actually play ok in Junior because little kids make more mistakes and the poison really punishes people that make mistakes with retreating. But I picked up the gardy world deck for playtesting against and the outcome hasn't been pretty. I have ordered an Espeon EX and maybe that's enough but I'm worried it's not so I'm now writing here.

I did think about Buzzwole GX as it is straightforward just as you mentioned (small question - what does Lycanroc bring to a Buzzwole deck?). But we don't have any and I'm happy to sponsor this hobby but shelling out again after finally giving in and buying a few Lele's is gnawing at my parental anti-spoiling genes.

Metagross GX looks like a natural answer due to weakness but as we don't have any of the cards, I haven't been able to see if it's fast enough to compete with Gardy AND I'm not sure a Junior can 'easily' handle needing to manage multiple Metagrosses to keep hitting with Giga Hammer (150 but not attack next turn).

Lastly - on the plus side, I believe we have a good complement of trainers so whatever you suggest should be easy to round out.

Thanks again for listening and all your advice.
 
To specifically answer your Lycanroc-GX question: A Garde player usually has a pretty full bench (4+); for 2 Energies Lycanroc's GX attack hits 200, or 230 with a choice band. Only have 2 energies on you- means the follow up Garde needs 4 Energies +Choice Band on their side to return KO. Additionally Lycanroc can pull in whatever pokemon you want to attack when you evolve.
 
I honestly think you deserve a lot of respect for this, most people would just completely shut it off, I'm really happy to see what you and the community are doing for your son. Good luck!
 
If cost is an issue, you could have a look at some of the budget metal decks people around here have come up with. If what you are looking for is a real hard counter to Gardevoir-GX because it's popular at your local league, then metal really is the way to go. Below is an example of a somewhat 'budget' deck that would be excellent fun to play against Gardevoir-GX, is easy to wrap your head around AND brings the cool factor in Solgaleo. I play a variant of this deck at my local club and the kids there really respond to it.

Cost: (Rounded) $50.00

##Pokémon - 15
* 1 Oranguru SUM 113
* 4 Rayquaza GRI 106
* 3 Solgaleo-GX SUM 89
* 1 Magearna-EX STS 110
* 4 Cosmog SUM 64
* 2 Cosmoem SUM 65

##Trainer Cards - 32
* 4 Professor Sycamore STS 114
* 4 Ultra Ball PLF 122
* 2 Lysandre AOR 78
* 2 Skyla BCR 134
* 4 Rare Candy SUM 129
* 2 Super Rod NVI 95
* 2 Nest Ball SUM 158
* 2 Field Blower GRI 125
* 3 N NVI 101
* 2 Choice Band GRI 121
* 3 Max Potion BKP 103

##Energy - 13
* 9 Metal Energy HS 122
* 4 Double Colorless Energy EVO 90
Total Cards - 60

The goal of this deck is too use Rayquaza's Turbo Storm to power up Solgaleo then use Solgaleo's ability to switch Solgaleo into the active, rinse and repeat.
Click to expand...


Now, this list isn't entirely up to date anymore. Lysandre has been replaced by Guzma in the new standard meta and Magearna-EX isn't really played at all anymore. I also think that 4 Rayquaza is a bit much and you would probably be better off playing 2 of those and 2 Registeel from the Crimson Invasion expansion, which will one-hit KO a Ralts and accelerate an energy to boot. Solgaleo-GX is great but if it's too expensive or hard to find then its non-GX variant from Guardians Rising also comes highly recommended, although I would suiggest playing at least 1 Solgaleo-GX for its fantastic ability which really drives the deck.

Even if you guys are just starting out with your collection it should be fairly easy to trade for these, or cheap enough to buy what you don't already have. Solgaleo-GX is, in my opinion, the best card that NOBODY is playing and it's fantastic against Gardevoir. It's about to get a whole lot better in the next expansion, as well. A lot of new cards coming out in february will fit right in to this deck, so you are definitely getting some mileage out of it.

EDIT:
Here's the exact list I use at my local cup. It's got Tapu Lele-GX in it as well as Drampa-GX, but that card is the least used in my deck. Replace that with Registeel (or two, though you'd need to drop another card for it) and your boy will have a strong opening against Gardevoir.

Pokémon: 16
  • 4 Cosmog SUM
  • 3 Cosmoem SUM
  • 3 Solgaleo-GX SUM
  • 1 Solgaleo GRI
  • 2 Tapu Lele GRI
  • 1 Drampa-GX GRI
  • 2 Rayquaza GRI
Trainers/Supporters: 31
  • 3 Rare Candy SUM
  • 4 Ultra Ball SUM
  • 2 Heavy Ball BKT
  • 1 Nest Ball SUM
  • 2 Choice Band GRI
  • 3 Field Blower GRI
  • 1 Super Rod BKT
  • 1 Max Potion GRI
  • 4 Professor Sycamore BKP
  • 3 N FAC
  • 1 Hala GRI
  • 2 Skyla BKT
  • 3 Guzma BUS
  • 1 Brigette BKT
Energy: 13
  • 9 Metal Energy
  • 4 Double Colorless Energy

An added bonus of this deck is that Solgaleo-GX can one-hit KO every Pokémon in the entire game, bar none. There's only a couple that have more than 230HP and even then all it takes is a Choice Band for that bit of extra damage.
 
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While I can't offer any deck advice, stay strong! SM5 and SM5+ look promising for a Gardy counter, Especially that new Solgaleo in the box! 120 for a DCE is totally awesome
! I'll admit, Gardevoir decks, to me, aren’t very fun to run anymore.
 
Cybno said:
I honestly think you deserve a lot of respect for this, most people would just completely shut it off, I'm really happy to see what you and the community are doing for your son. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Thanks mate! And I'm very grateful for the help here. Maybe it's Christmas fever making people feel generous :)
 
IronCow Tom said:
While I can't offer any deck advice, stay strong! SM5 and SM5+ look promising for a Gardy counter, Especially that new Solgaleo in the box! 120 for a DCE is totally awesome
! I'll admit, Gardevoir decks, to me, aren’t very fun to run anymore.
Click to expand...
Thanks and I totally agree. You might notice that I've not done the "if you can't beat em, join em" move. Something about Gardy puts me off - to borrow a term from other gaming, it's too cheese.

Thanks again for your advice - we'll look at what he has with steel over the weekend and maybe Santa will bring something good too :)

Thanks everyone!

PS: Pic is the little guy you're helping - we took the trip to London and he did 2/5/0 with a borrowed deck ... would love to help him just get another win or two with something of his own.
23722417_10155965180038713_7630253288832915087_n.jpg
 
I recommend that you also take a look at his strategy, sequencing, and card play.
I've taught and played with a lot of juniors... including my kids. sometimes, it more about how they play a deck than getting a deck specifically to counter another deck.
is he using up all his options before he plays a Sycamore? is he hesitant to play a Sycamore because he is saving a certain card. is he susceptible to the opponent playing a N and thus burning his cards in hand for next turn. I've always told kids, use the Sycamore/N. they usually can get back whatever they need with a super rod or other recovery card from discard. you may want to stop him at certain points during play testing and ask what his card play sequence will be and why.
for juniors... changing decks isn't always the solution. They can have the perfect deck list from the top 8 of tournaments... but they also need to learn the nuance of how to play a certain deck.
 
and depending on his proficiency with any deck. be careful about "switching" out decks. learn 1-2 decks and become good at running that deck, even if he loses a few games. he should know how best to use a certain deck. he should know how to tweak his strategy based upon what his opponent is playing. and... you'll know that he has a good grasp of his deck when he try's to ultraball and says "awww, its prized". you should be able to see him going thru his discard pile, to see how many of a certain card has already been played.
getting him those extra win or two during the tournament is the hardest part and just takes some practice and work. its all about minimizing any misplays during a game. he'll get there.
 
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