Discussion Brilliant Arrow Mega Gardevoir... Is it good?

TCG_Destory

TCG_Destory

Darkness player
Member
I've been playing a Mega Gardevoir deck for the past couple tournaments, getting mostly wins, including three against Greninja BREAK, a good meta deck. I've been making changes to my deck periodically to try and make it more consistent and efficient. I am wondering, though, if it is really able to keep up to the meta. It does deal huge damage but has a speed deficit, which is why it has to set up as fast as possible. Everything must be put in place for a maximal chance of getting a turn one Geomancy (when you go second) that will target at least a Gardevoir EX among the two. This is so that with the help of a Mega Turbo, you can hit for either 210 or even 240 damage starting on turn three. The Despair Ray Mega Gardevoir is here too, in the back, as a secondary attacker that surfaces late game when you lost your other attackers, but also deals with Psychic type decks and manages your deck, in addition to being able to take care of situations where speed really is needed and Brilliant Arrow in a few turns does not look like an option for now. Nevertheless, Brilliant Arrow is very powerful and can be game changing because you one shot pretty much everything and they cannot respond with a one shot in general, then you just retreat into the second Mega Gardevoir you charged up.

This is my point of view on Mega Gardevoir from Primal Clash. Now, I'd like to know your decklists, the way you prefer to play this deck, if you like it at all. (Remember this thread is about Brilliant Arrow Mega Gardevoir and that Despair Ray based builds aren't the subject here)

Of course, I will share my own list right here. It goes as follows:

Pokémon (14)
4 Gardevoir EX PCL
2 M Gardevoir EX PCL
1 M Gardevoir EX STS
4 Xerneas XY
3 Shaymin EX ROS

Trainer (36)
3 Fairy Garden
1 Brock's Grit
2 Lysandre
2 N
4 Professor Sycamore
4 Gardevoir Spirit Link
4 Mega Turbo
4 Switch*
4 Trainer's Mail
4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker

Energy (10)
Fairy Energy x10

*Sorry Mega Beedrill

So, what do you think of this list?
Are there enough energies? Too many or not enough of a card? A missing card? An unnecessary card?
What would you change?

And, more importantly, I would like to know your decklists of this deck I am sure has potential,
As well as your opinion on its viability.
 
judging by the results in dortmund. Going forward with this deck you will seriously want to consider a pokemon ranger, other wise you'll end up having troublesome games against wall decks.
which I think 2 archetypes placed in top 8 in dortmund.


my first point would be to remove -1 gardevoir and add pokemon ranger. this will also make the chances of starting with xerneas much better to accelerate energy.

-4 switches, this is far too much when you are running fairy garden.

+1 escape rope- this helps too stall, and because yveltal decks are pretty big at the moment you might want to consider it against fright night.

+1 hex maniac- helps to open up against item lock decks such as plume and enables you to attack carbink which can be a tech in some decks and also helps against fright night.

+1 ace trainer - because this variant is slower than STS I would seriously consider running this card because when used correctly it can really punish players in the lead.

+1 fairy drop/pokemon centre lady - this is entirely your choice. but these two cards can ease up greninja and sniping match ups.
 
Yeah, I thought of some of these cards. However. For Hex Maniac, I know it can be useful in countering things like Carbink. The thing is though, Xerneas can one shot it if needed, and the Energy commited on him can still serve as damage for Brilliant Arrow later on. As for Greninja BREAK, I defeated three of these decks so far, so I feel good against it already. Giratina is not a problem because I can one shot him with Shining Wind (since he's weak to Fairy) or two shot him if he has a Fighting Fury Belt, and he cannot one shot back.

Fairy Drop is just another card I do not want in my starting hand, I think VS Seeker and Mega Turbo are already enough of them. But otherwise, it is pretty useful in keeping my Pokémon alive but I can also retreat and keep hitting with a new, healthy Pokémon.

I have to admit I went a little overboard with four Switch but I still have to test that (my previous list had three)
On the first turn, all goes down to the first turn Geomancy on two Pokémon, at least one Gardevoir EX included.
This is also why I run four Gardevoir EX. I want to find two, ideally, on the first turn.
All those switches serve, at the start, to pretty much guarantee a turn one Geomancy when going second, no matter the starter.
Later, they are used to switch out in case of stalling but also get out of conditions and as a backup if I lose the Stadium war.
Otherwise, they are easy discards to use an Ultra Ball.

Finally, I like Mega Turbo over Max Elixir (this is only my opinion). Each time I use Geomancy, the odds of hitting an Elixir drop down. I also won't find all of them on turn one and two generally. Getting this to work really well would require more energies, I just think Mega Turbo fits better with my version of this deck.

Anyway, I do appreciate your suggestions, and I will consider them for the next build, cutting what I can if I want to include them.
 
Pokemon:
Gardevoir EX (Doesn't really matter which, I personally like PRC more) 3-4
+Self explanatory, I recommend 4 but I have seen some builds run 3
Mega Gardevoir EX (PRC) 2-3
+Heart and Soul of the deck, I personally like 3, but 2 might be better depending on what tech Pokemon you run and how much Mega Mewtwo you run into
Mega Gardevoir EX (STS) 1-2
+This deck needs at least one to counter Mega Mewtwo and this handles your techs like Hoopa, Xerneas, and Shaymin, it also has a fair(l)y good attack for KOing Shaymins
Shaymin EX 2
Hoopa EX 0-1
+Helps Guarantee those turns of getting your Gardevoirs out
Regirock 0-2
+Really good energy reserve that combos well with Xerneas, Max Elixir, and Energy Switch
Xerneas 0-4
+This is the starter card for your deck, however, you might want to play a quicker build that favors just diving head first with Gardevoirs
Trainers:
Professor Sycamore 4
N 2-3
Lysandre 1-2
Hex Maniac 0-1
+Necessary for getting around some stupid techs
Pokemon Center Lady 0-1
+Helps add some tankiness to this deck, which comes in handy vs 2HKO decks like Gardevoir (STS) and Volcanion
Brock's Grit 0-1
Max Elixir 0-4
+Helps get you set up by Turn 2, however it isn't guaranteed which blows
VS Seeker 4
Trainers' Mail 4
Ultra Ball 4
Gardevoir Spirit Link 3-4
Mega Turbo 2-4
+You don't really need 4 all the time, and if you use Max Elixir your energy isn't going to be hitting the discard pile too much
Escape Rope 0-1
+You don't really need that many switching cards, especially if your run Fairy Garden, it is nice for the T1 Xerneas attack, but they do clog late game
Switch 0-1
+Same thing as Escape Rope
Fairy Garden 0-2
Parallel City 0-2
+Helps get rid of useless Pokemon and helps the Rayquaza/Volcanion/Rainbow Road matchup
Energy Switch 0-2
+Combos with Regirock and helps move around energy for attacks
Fairy Drop 0-2
+Same thing as Pokemon Center Lady
Energy:
Fairy Energy 9-12
+The more the better, a couple of important numbers to keep in mind are (13o hp, 5 Energy) (170/180, 6 Energy) (210, 7 Energy) (240, 8 Energy), this is just to say that you need to have a lot of energy in play to be able to OHKO those Pokemon, which also is to say that maybe hitting a Pokemon with a Life Leap or Link Blast before you go in for the kill may not be the worst thing. This is also to prove that you don't need Xerneas, with so much potential acceleration/consistency, you shouldn't rely on that T1 Xerneas.
 
I really do appreciate your suggestions and establishments.

I find ten Energy ideal to have one in hand per turn and maybe discard one for Mega Turbo. It also makes it so I can handle pretty much anything even if two of my energy are prized.

I do not run healing cards because I can also discard my damaged Pokémon later game when Despair Ray comes through, or else retreating between my Pokémon slows the opponent's prize taking.

I do really like having one Despair Ray Mega Gardevoir, not only for matchups like Mega Mewtwo, anything else that is Psychic weak or even Greninja BREAK that I can potentially leave harmless (I actually 6-0'd a Greninja BREAK player one due to that I went for Despair Ray early then Brilliant Arrow and they could not get a single BREAK out ( luck factor came in though)). The reason why I do not run Hex Maniac is also my favorable matchup against Greninja and ability to overthrow Carbink with Xerneas and Giratina EX (unless it has a FFB) with Xerneas or Gardevoir EX.

The Switch I find very useful, not to the point of needing four though, but to the point I recommend having three.
It is very important to find some way to launch a turn one Geomancy. And then the rest, if your Fairy Garden does stay in place, can be used automatically to reduce the hand size for a Set Up or can be used to get out of a bad situation or if you lose the Stadium war.

Oh and the Despair Ray Mega Gardevoir is a superb bench manager indeed. If needed I can, either Brock's Grit the discarded Shaymin EX back into my deck and use them again later or discard a Pokémon that has an energy attached to it and use Mega Turbo to attach it to a Mega Gardevoir that misses an energy. It discards the easy prizes and hurt Xerneas, between others, makes space for more Pokémon and forces the opponent to KO three Gardevoir even if they are down to five prizes.
 
I recently thought of a list I am only lacking a few cards to build, but that is probably much faster and more consistent than the previous one. I'll only have to trade to get the last three cards I need for it: two Max Elixir and a Shaymin EX.

Here is that list.

Pokémon (15)
4 Gardevoir EX PCL
2 M Gardevoir EX PCL
1 M Gardevoir EX STS
4 Xerneas XY
4 Shaymin EX ROS

Trainer (33)
3 Fairy Garden XY
1 Brock's Grit EVO
2 Lysandre FLF
2 N NVI
1 Pokémon Center Lady FLF
4 Professor Sycamore XY
4 Gardevoir Spirit Link PCL
4 Max Elixir BKP
4 Trainer's Mail ROS
4 Ultra Ball DEX
4 VS Seeker PHF

Energy (12)
12 Fairy Energy

I would like to know what you think of this list I could build soon, and what you would change.
Any suggestions help.
 
Maybe a 2-2 line of Aromatisse for the fairy transfer ability, so that you can move your energy around. If you do run a 2-2 line of them, then maybe 2-4 Max potions so you can get rid of any damage done to your gardevoir. I ran those in my deck and it worked like a charm. It was a Fairy good deck. lololololol
 
I am talking of a Standard Mega Gardevoir deck. It's true that it was nice running Aromatisse but it rotated out.
Fairy drop can be some sort of replacement though, as well as some energy switch.
 
For now, I do consider replacing one Energy to add another Fairy Garden, since I do not run Switch anymore.
Also, the odds of hitting Elixirs I believe are still in my favor (although I will have to test when I can finally build it).
 
I did calculations on the odds of hitting Max Elixir on turn two with a deck that has eleven basic Energy in total (in the list). The average case means it will hit 76% of the time and the result for a bad case is about 55%. I therefore think twelve is in no way necessary.

The average is five Energy left in twenty-six cards (before concluding turn two) and the bad case is four in thirty-four cards. As I haven't the cards to build this exact deck yet I only worked out of theory.

Also, I made a couple of changes to my target list.

It now consists of:

Pokémon (15)
Gardevoir EX PCL x4
M Gardevoir EX PCL x2
M Gardevoir EX STS x1
Xerneas XY x4
Shaymin EX ROS x4

Trainer (34)
Fairy Garden x3
Brock's Grit x1
Lysandre x2
N x2
Professor Sycamore x4
Gardevoir Spirit Link x4
Max Elixir x4
Switch x2
Trainer's Mail x4
Ultra Ball x4
VS Seeker x4

Energy (11)
Fairy Energy x11
 
Not sure 4 Xerneas is necessary considering the amount of Energy Acceleration you're running (well, 4 Max Elixir xP). You could probably drop 1 for something a little more utility-based, such as Pokemon Ranger or Hex Maniac. Also, I will go ahead and suggest dropping a Gardevoir Spirit Link for something like Pokemon Center Lady or perhaps the latter of Pokemon Ranger/Hex Maniac. Because you only run 3 Megas and, quite frankly, because of how fast games tend to be, the chances of you needing a 4th Spirit Link over something more effective against Meta Decks is pretty small. Finally, on the note of Pokemon Center Lady, healing for 60 and getting rid of things like Poison from Mega Beedrill (you mentioned him in your original post so I figured I'd throw that in for coolness points) and other annoying things like Sleep is oddly more useful than given credit. That, and I'm biased towards the Pretty Pink Lady. <3

Regardless, Deck is looking pretty solid overall. I do somewhat worry about only 2 Switch, but keep testing and see where it goes. Take care~

-Asmer
 
Thanks for your suggestions.
I did consider Pokémon Center Lady but the build now has two Switch because they are easier to find that one Pokémon Center Lady and can be used on the same turn I use a Supporter. They also get me out of Special Conditions and any Lysandre stalling situation Pokémon Center Lady might fail to get me out of.

Other than that, I would drop a Spirit Link, but with my experience with my Mega Turbo build, I know how essential finding a Spirit Link is and do not want to play Skyla in this deck for that sole reason. I know Skyla can be used to search out Max Elixir too but I will just opt to play four copies of each of these two cards instead. The reason I don't really like Skyla is that I use a Supporter to search out one card (better that Misty but still slow), and so I do not want this in this deck because I go for speed.

I would run three Switch, but I don't need to have that many in any way because if I do not open with a Xerneas (51% of the time that is), I will still probably find an Elixir and hit it to attach to Xerneas, then use my Fairy Garden to retreat my Active Pokémon that has the turn's Energy on it and then use Geomancy. Switch are there in case I get hit by Status Conditions or lose the Stadium war.

I could tech Supporters like Hex Maniac but they haven't seemed to be necessary yet, even against Greninja BREAK, since I can outspeed it and Despair Ray away everything that is Xerneas or Shaymin that gets sniped. I will tech in Hex Maniac if it proves necessary though.
 
TCG_Destory said:
Thanks for your suggestions.
I did consider Pokémon Center Lady but the build now has two Switch because they are easier to find that one Pokémon Center Lady and can be used on the same turn I use a Supporter. They also get me out of Special Conditions and any Lysandre stalling situation Pokémon Center Lady might fail to get me out of.

Other than that, I would drop a Spirit Link, but with my experience with my Mega Turbo build, I know how essential finding a Spirit Link is and do not want to play Skyla in this deck for that sole reason. I know Skyla can be used to search out Max Elixir too but I will just opt to play four copies of each of these two cards instead. The reason I don't really like Skyla is that I use a Supporter to search out one card (better that Misty but still slow), and so I do not want this in this deck because I go for speed.

I would run three Switch, but I don't need to have that many in any way because if I do not open with a Xerneas (51% of the time that is), I will still probably find an Elixir and hit it to attach to Xerneas, then use my Fairy Garden to retreat my Active Pokémon that has the turn's Energy on it and then use Geomancy. Switch are there in case I get hit by Status Conditions or lose the Stadium war.

I could tech Supporters like Hex Maniac but they haven't seemed to be necessary yet, even against Greninja BREAK, since I can outspeed it and Despair Ray away everything that is Xerneas or Shaymin that gets sniped. I will tech in Hex Maniac if it proves necessary though.
Click to expand...

Sounds good! I honestly forgot that Switch could remove conditions. Only other potential card I could think of being noteworthy would be Escape Rope, but considering you run 2 Lysandre, that seems unnecessary. Overall, I love the deck! Let us know how well you do in the future with it!

-Asmer
 
Center Lady both heals damage and is way easier to find than Switch because of VS Seeker. Olympia is another option. I feel like both of those options are better than using multiple slots on a card you can't get back from the discard. That space can be used on another utility card like Hex Maniac, Escape Rope, or 4th Fairy Garden.
 
normanc said:
Center Lady both heals damage and is way easier to find than Switch because of VS Seeker. Olympia is another option. I feel like both of those options are better than using multiple slots on a card you can't get back from the discard. That space can be used on another utility card like Hex Maniac, Escape Rope, or 4th Fairy Garden.
Click to expand...
Speaking of Olympia, I just (sadly) recently discovered how great that card actually is. This is something else you should seriously consider, especially in a deck like yours, @TCG_Destory :3
 
I do think Olympia is good too but I think I'd rather preserve my turnly Supporter for something else. Also I don't want to run too many tech Supporters (I already run Brock's Grit and now Hex Maniac). I did some math and figured out that ten Energy is what probably works the best with Max Elixir without being overkill.

I finally completed the deck today. I had to but two Electric Eye decks to get the two Max Elixirs I needed (the store did not have any) but it is okay because those decks also contain a Fighting Fury Belt each. I also got the final Shaymin EX to complete it due to trading unnecessary Ultra Rares. (What number of unnessecary and not precious Ultra Rares is not worth a Shaymin EX)

I went and tried out Hoopa EX as a two of in my deck but it only took me one game to realize it was unnecessary and only made getting set up harder. So I dropped them both and finally decided to put a Hex Maniac, as well as put back the fourth Gardevoir EX.

So now, the list, that might be exactly the one I'll take to tomorrow's tournament, of my Mega Gardevoir deck is as follows.

Pokémon (15)
Gardevoir EX PCL x4
M Gardevoir EX PCL x2
M Gardevoir EX STS x1
Xerneas XY x4
Shaymin EX ROS x4

Trainer (35)
Fairy Garden x3
Brock's Grit x1
Hex Maniac x1
Lysandre x2
N x2
Professor Sycamore x4
Gardevoir Spirit Link x3
Max Elixir x4
Switch x3
Trainer's Mail x4
Ultra Ball x4
VS Seeker x4

Energy (10)
Fairy Energy x10

P.S. N from the Pokémon Evolutionaries is right about Energies in a Mega Gardevoir deck. Playing more than eleven is unnecessary and will make them fill your hand too much. You should use that space in a better way.

As a side note, this is a speed list. It is in no way budget. If you wanted to try this list out on a budget, you could remove the four Shaymin EX to throw a two-two line of Octillery instead.
 
To answer the question posed in the title: It is pretty good. Definitely not a slouch.

I played a ton of games with my RR deck earlier today (36 to be exact), and a build quite similar to your most current one is responsible for one of my two losses. Buddy I played against had a Hoopa and a single Xerneas BREAK, though. Personally, I like this list better. I would probably go 3x Shaymin-EX and 1x Hoopa-EX, but that's mainly because Shaymin are... I feel like the word "difficult" is to light... But yeah, difficult to get a hold of. Also I just really like Hoopa.
 
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