Pink Is The New Black — A Guide to Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX
[cardimg name=”Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”130″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
Hello! We are officially at the end of the SUM-TEU Standard format. Opinions on it have been mixed; at the risk of disappointing you with my boring neutrality, I thought it was basically alright. There was some diversity in the format, although the best decks were figured out early and didn’t change much over the course of these three months. My main regret is that big Basic Pokemon are once again the centerpiece of the metagame, and this will probably stay the same as long as Tag Team Pokemon exist; but I suppose there’s no use lamenting the lack of Stage 2 Pokemon in the metagame in every article.
Instead, I’d like to delve into the new format. The deck I’ll be discussing today is [card name=”Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card], which is either the second or third most hyped new deck of the set (depending on how you feel about [card name=”Blacephalon” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”32″ c=”name”][/card]; [card name=”Reshiram and Charizard-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] is of course number one). It was, possibly, the best deck in the format in Japan before Double Blaze — the Japanese set with all the Fire support — came out, and has continued to perform well. It’s not the most flashy, but it’s been doing well in my testing, so I believe that the deck will find a good spot in the new metagame.
1. List
There’s a lot I want to say about the deck, but I know some of you want to see a list more than anything, so here is my current Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX deck. I will explain the guiding principles of the deck, and some of the card choices — including possible replacements.
[decklist name=”Gardeon” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Xerneas” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”73″][pokemon amt=”9″]4x [card name=”Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”130″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Mismagius” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”78″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Misdreavus” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”39″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Xerneas” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”73″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”42″]4x [card name=”Green’s Exploration” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”175″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”112″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Bill’s Analysis” set=”Team Up” no=”133″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Judge” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”108″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Lt. Surge’s Strategy” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”178″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Erika’s Hospitality” set=”Team Up” no=”140″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Pokégear 3.0″ set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”182″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”123″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Max Potion” set=”Emerging Powers” no=”94″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”91″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Switch” set=”EX Ruby and Sapphire” no=”92″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Energy Switch” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”117″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Dusk Stone” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”167″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Choice Helmet” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Fairy Charm L” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”172″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Fairy Charm Ability” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Adventure Bag” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”167″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Viridian Forest” set=”Team Up” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Wondrous Labyrinth Prism Star” set=”Team Up” no=”158″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”9″]9x [card name=”Fairy Energy” set=”XY” no=”140″ c=”deck2″ amt=”9″][/card][/energy][/decklist]
2. Playstyle
A New Type of Build
[cardimg name=”Green’s Exploration” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”209″ align=”left” c=”none”][/cardimg]
Often when the annual rotation is announced, players panic. For example, “I can’t play [card name=”N” set=”Fates Collide” no=”105″ c=”name”][/card] anymore, what will I play to replace it?” Such questions are common but misguided. Adapting to rotation isn’t about switching cards one-for-one to play an inferior copy of a previous deck; you often need to start from scratch and challenge your assumptions of how the game works. Some rotations, of course, change the game more than others, but it made players think. Losing N means you can’t disrupt your opponent’s hand as often. On the other hand, it’s safer to accumulate cards in hand, which means that shuffling your hand to get a new one isn’t as good as before, which is why [card name=”Lillie” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card], not [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card], ended up being the preferred Supporter in many decks.
Why am I bringing this up? Because rotation is not the only time when the way we build decks is challenged. Some cards are so powerful they have this same effect, and I believe [card name=”Green’s Exploration” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”175″ c=”name”][/card] is one of these cards. Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX, at least this version of the deck, functions thanks to Green’s Exploration.
Look at the above deck. There’s no Lillie or Cynthia, and only one [card name=”Erika’s Hospitality” set=”Team Up” no=”140″ c=”name”][/card]. You’re not drawing cards, you’re searching for them, and that’s a departure from what we’re used to! Sure, we’ve had a lot of searching cards as Items, and Supporters such as [card name=”Skyla” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card], but these were secondary to draw effects like [card name=”Professor Juniper” set=”Black and White” no=”101″ c=”name”][/card], N, Cynthia, Lillie, etc. The only decks that only use search Supporters are Stall decks which use [card name=”Steven’s Resolve” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”145″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Lusamine” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card], but Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX is not a Stall deck even if it sometimes behaves like one. It is a new type of deck.
Learning a new playstyle can take some time. You have to unlearn some habits, and accept that instead of drawing seven cards on your first turn with Lillie after putting a bunch of Basic Pokemon in play, you use Green’s Exploration for [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] and another Green’s Exploration, and that’s okay.
[premium]
Playing the Deck
Let’s explain the deck’s win condition. You want to use Kaleidostorm every turn for 150 damage, and arrange your Energy in play in the best possible way for next turn, then heal off your damaged Pokemon while you carry on your attack. The numbers are simple: It takes two attacks to OHKO any Pokemon-GX including Tag Team Pokemon, and one attack for basically any non-GX attacker.
Once you’ve gotten three or more Energy in play with the help of Fairy Song, you are mostly set for the rest of the game, and you should focus on keeping your Pokemon alive. You have several tools for that: [card name=”Wondrous Labyrinth Prism Star” set=”Team Up” no=”158″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Choice Helmet” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card] and the Fairy Charms are great defensive tools, while [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”91″ c=”name”][/card] let you target your opponent’s Pokemon. Most of the time, you’ll be using [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Max Potion” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card] to heal. Try to predict one turn in advance what your opponent may do and be prepared. For example, if you’re going to use Kaleidostorm with three Energy in play, you generally want to keep one on the Active Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX and two on the Benched one. If your opponent attacks the Active, you can Acerola to take it back, promote the Benched Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX, and attach an Energy to it to attack. However, what if your opponent uses Guzma to attack your Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX with two Energy? Then it would be good to use [card name=”Energy Switch” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”129″ c=”name”][/card] to move an Energy to your healthy Pokemon before using Acerola. This way, you will have three Energy on your attacker this turn. The card that lets you prepare for these scenarios is Green’s Exploration.
With four Green’s Exploration and four [card name=”Pokégear 3.0″ set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”182″ c=”name”][/card], there’s a good chance you’ll be able to search through your deck from turn one. [card name=”Bill’s Analysis” set=”Team Up” no=”133″ c=”name”][/card] fulfills the same purpose, although in a weaker way. In the early game, have two Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX in play and at least an Energy, so you can use Green’s Exploration for [card name=”Viridian Forest” set=”Team Up” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] and Nest Ball. Prepare for the next turn by getting another Green’s Exploration if you don’t have a Supporter. After that, you should have Acerola ready most of the time, or at least Max Potion. As a general rule, you can play Items the turn you get them so you don’t need Max Potion, [card name=”Switch” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card] or Energy Switch in advance. But you do need to wait a turn to play another Supporter. Think about grabbing a Guzma even if you don’t plan on playing it on the spot so you can use it if your opponent benches a threat.
Your ace in the hole is Magical Miracle GX. You need six Energy but this can completely cripple your opponent by removing their hand, and thus their options. Obviously, you’ll need to take care of draw Pokemon like [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Zebstrika” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”82″ c=”name”][/card] before using the attack, so consider using it on a turn when you Guzma or Counter Catcher one of these Pokemon. You can also Guzma a big Pokemon without Energy the turn you use Magical Miracle GX. Your opponent probably won’t find the Switch or Guzma to remove it from the Active, so you can 2HKO it safely. Finally, a good trick is to play down Wondrous Labyrinth Prism Star on your GX turn to prevent your opponent from retaliating.
Be careful — you’ll almost never catch your opponent by surprise. Apart from using two [card name=”Energy Switch” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”129″ c=”name”][/card] in one turn, you can only Magical Miracle GX if you started the turn with at least four Energy on a Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX. Even if you plan on using the double Energy Switch play, if you have to search for them in advance, this will alert your opponent of what you’re doing. If your opponent sees that you used Kaleidostorm to put more than three Energy on a Pokemon, they’ll know you plan to use Magical Miracle GX and will prepare accordingly.
You can sometimes Magical Miracle GX for the damage without the extra effect. This can be important against Basic GX Pokemon since most of them are out of reach of Kaleidostorm but have less than 200 HP.
3. Card Choices
Let’s go in detail into some of the choices and counts in the list. Some cards won’t be explained as I already went over them in the previous section.
Four Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX
As our main attacker, Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX is a necessary four-of. You don’t need all four over the course of a game — in fact, you can get by with only two. But it’s by far your best starter and you need two in play as soon as possible, so it’s better to play the full playset.
Two Mismagius, Two Dusk Stone, Two Counter Catcher and Two Lt. Surge’s Strategy
[cardimg name=”Mismagius” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”78″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
These cards form a package. [card name=”Mismagius” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”78″ c=”name”][/card] lets you refill your hand if needed at the cost of one Prize. However, since we run so few Pokemon, giving up one Prize doesn’t actually matter, because your opponent will need to KO two Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX. It can actually be beneficial, as you can let your opponent take the Prize lead on purpose in order to activate Counter Catcher and [card name=”Lt. Surge’s Strategy” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”178″ c=”name”][/card].
Counter Catcher is a great way to target an opposing Pokemon on the Bench, and you can get it with Green’s Exploration. Lt. Surge’s Strategy is not as fundamental to the deck, but it lets you do some cool turns. For example, you can use Surge, then Green to get an Item and a Supporter such as Acerola or [card name=”Judge” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”108″ c=”name”][/card] and then play this other Supporter on the same turn.
[card name=”Dusk Stone” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”167″ c=”name”][/card] is a way to find Mismagius and evolve it. You can use it on turn one or when you play down [card name=”Misdreavus” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card], but you don’t have to. It’s fine to have a Misdreavus on the Bench and evolve it later if needed. Your opponent can KO Misdreavus for an easy Prize, but, again, that won’t actually matter in the overall Prize race. The deck doesn’t rely on Mismagius’s Ability, it’s an additional option to fill your hand.
One Xerneas
[card name=”Xerneas” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”73″ c=”name”][/card] is the other one-prize Pokemon in the deck. I wish we could run [card name=”Xerneas Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”144″ c=”name”][/card] instead for its higher HP and damage, but it has an Ability, so it’s incompatible with Green’s Exploration. That said, Xerneas’s Lead is not bad if you happen to start with it, and its 130 damage is enough for most purposes. You can OHKO [card name=”Hoopa” set=”Shining Legends” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card], and 2HKO Tag Team GX Pokemon in combination with a Kaleidostorm.
Like with Mismagius, Xerneas shines by the fact that if it’s Knocked Out, the Prize your opponent takes doesn’t matter. Still, be careful when using Mismagius and Xerneas. You obviously should never bench Xerneas and both Misdreavus in a single game, as it lets your opponent takes three Prizes on things that aren’t Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX, but you should be careful if your opponent has a way to take extra Prizes, such as [card name=”Blacephalon-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Kartana-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card]’s GX attacks. In that case, only Bench one non-GX Pokemon to make sure they have to KO two Tag Team Pokemon. Be equally careful against [card name=”Pheromosa and Buzzwole-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”1″ c=”name”][/card], as Beast Game GX can KO Misdreavus with a [card name=”Beast Energy Prism Star” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card].
Four Green’s Exploration and Four Pokegear 3.0
By this point, I don’t need to continue praising Green’s Exploration. However, Pokegear 3.0 is almost as important. It lets you find your key Supporter, either on turn one or after your hand gets shuffled by Judge or [card name=”Marshadow” set=”Shining Legends” no=”45″ c=”name”][/card]’s Let Loose. As strong as Green’s Exploration is, I don’t think this build would work without Pokegear.
One Erika’s Hospitality
Having a random one-of draw Supporter might seem strange, so let me shine some light on it. In a Green’s Exploration deck, every Trainer card is searchable, so you can play one-ofs for specific situations.
In the case of Erika’s Hospitality, I like to search for it when I’m going against an aggressive deck. A good example is [card name=”Zapdos” set=”Team Up” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Jirachi” set=”Team Up” no=”99″ c=”name”][/card]: I might not need to play Acerola early on due to their initial low damage output, but it’s good to have more cards in hand to deal with some of their power plays such as [card name=”Buzzwole” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card] Sledgehammer turns. The same is true against Zoroark-GX decks, especially since those will fill their Bench pretty quickly.
Two Choice Helmet, One Fairy Charm L, One Fairy Charm Ability and One Adventure Bag
Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX uses a literal Tool box to adapt to some difficult matchups.
[card name=”Fairy Charm L” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”172″ c=”name”][/card] is obviously to counter [card name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card], as well as [card name=”Tapu Koko-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”47″ c=”name”][/card] in some other decks like Zapdos / Jirachi or [card name=”Vikavolt” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card] builds.
[card name=”Fairy Charm Ability” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] may not be as strong because many attackers currently don’t have an Ability, both due to Tag Teams being so prevalent and Green’s Exploration encouraging Ability-less decks. It does have its uses against [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] decks, though.
Finally, Choice Helmet is your generic Tool against most other decks; most importantly Reshiram & Charizard-GX, where it prevents an OHKO via Flare Strike.
[card name=”Adventure Bag” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”167″ c=”name”][/card] lets you get two Choice Helmet if you need them. In other matchups, you’ll use it to thin out your deck.
Nine Fairy Energy and Two Viridian Forest
I’m not sure how much Energy the deck should run. I think eight is probably enough, with the ninth Fairy Energy being added for security.
The two copies of Viridian Forest are important, though, because you can search for Viridian Forest with Green’s Exploration, so it lets you get Energy as soon as turn one. You could use [card name=”Energy Spinner” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”170″ c=”name”][/card] instead, but Viridian Forest lets you get multiple Energy over several turns and counters opposing Stadiums.
4. Matchups
In this section, I’ll discuss the deck’s matchups, and tech cards you can run to make them better.
Reshiram & Charizard-GX
[cardimg name=”Reshiram and Charizard-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”20″ align=”left” c=”none”][/cardimg]
This is a tough matchup to evaluate, mainly because there are several ways to run Reshiram & Charizard-GX and it’s not settled which one is the best.
Your main plan is to have a Choice Helmet on both of your Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX. You can’t prevent the Double Blaze GX KO when they have six Energy on a Reshiram & Charizard-GX, but Choice Helmet forces your opponent to get Choice Band and [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] to get another KO with Flare Strike. Given the deck’s reliance on [card name=”Welder” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”189″ c=”name”][/card], it’s not easy to find their tech Field Blower even if they run it. This same reliance on Welder will prevent your opponent from using Guzma on some turns, so Xerneas is helpful in this matchup. When you attack with it, your opponent might not be able to Guzma around it and, if they do, they probably won’t be able to KO your Benched Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX, so you can heal it.
Note that it’s better to use Bright Horns to KO a Reshiram & Charizard-GX after a Kaleidostorm rather than the reverse: if you attack with Xerneas first, your opponent can Guzma a Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX to damage it, and if you Acerola to go back to Xerneas, Bright Horns won’t be enough for the KO.
Overall, I think this matchup is fine for now, but it’s likely that there exists a Reshiram & Charizard-GX build that is favored against Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX. Green’s Exploration variants are probably the most threatening, as they can easily find [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] and Field Blower. Fortunately, because they don’t play Jirachi, these variants are weak to Magical Miracle GX.
Pikachu & Zekrom-GX
You need Fairy Charm L as soon as possible to deal with this deck’s aggression. I expect most Pikachu & Zekrom-GX decks to run Field Blower now, mainly for Fairy Charm L; but the Fairy Charm will still slow them down. Even with no Fairy Charm, it’s not easy for Pikachu & Zekrom-GX to OHKO you so this matchup is favorable.
Be careful about Tapu Koko-GX. Try to keep at most four Energy in play if you can to prevent Tapu Thunder GX from knocking you out. Four Energy is enough as you can attach two Energy on two Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX, guaranteeing you’ll never miss an attack.
Blacephalon
I think this is a favorable matchup although I haven’t tested against it that much. You KO a Blacephalon every turn and they’ll need a lot to keep up. Use Judge to shuffle their hand away so they can’t accumulate Energy in hand for a big KO and Field Blower to get rid of [card name=”Wishful Baton” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card].
Xerneas is a good attacker to use here.
Zoroark-GX
Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX does well against Zoroark-GX because it’s hard for them to 2HKO the Tag Team, especially with a Choice Helmet. The new [card name=”Triple Acceleration Energy” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”190″ c=”name”][/card]-based Zoroark-GX build is the most dangerous as [card name=”Persian-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”149″ c=”name”][/card] can hit some big numbers, but Fairy Charm Ability can protect you. With only one Field Blower in Zoroark-GX decks, they can’t deal with both Choice Helmet and Fairy Charm Ability except by using [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card]’s Resource Management. Note that Persian-GX can 2HKO you through a Choice Helmet but their supply of Triple Acceleration Energy is limited, so you can heal through its attacks.
If this matchup ends up being an issue consider adding [card name=”Power Plant” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card] to shut off Trade.
The classic Zoroark-GX / [card name=”Lycanroc-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card] build poses absolutely no threat. You can play the whole game with two Pokemon on your Bench so Dangerous Rogue GX is not an issue, and you play few Energy so the other Lycanroc-GX is no threat either.
Zapdos / Jirachi
This is another favorable matchup, as your healing is too strong for Zapdos’s attacks.
While [card name=”Nihilego” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”106″ c=”name”][/card]’s Nightcap can’t do much, there are two possible threats you need to be aware of. The first is Tapu Koko-GX, which you can counter by not attaching too much Energy and keeping a Fairy Charm L on Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX. The other is [card name=”Celesteela” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”100″ c=”name”][/card], which can OHKO you for one Energy under the right condition. Fortunately, if your opponent does run it, you can often avoid having exactly six Prizes left between both players: if there’s a total of seven Prizes remaining, you can use Mismagius to give your opponent a Prize card at the same time you’re taking one, going down to five Prizes. You can also pass and accumulate Energy for a Magical Miracle GX turn.
Malamar
It will be interesting to see if [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] comes back to the metagame.
Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX can OHKO every Pokemon in the deck including [card name=”Ultra Necrozma-GX” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card] due to its Weakness. On the other hand, Ultra Necrozma-GX can OHKO Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX if it has three Psychic Energy (or four if there’s a Choice Helmet). This sounds a little like the Malamar versus [card name=”Celebi and Venusaur-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”1″ c=”name”][/card] matchup except Celebi & Venusaur-GX was much slower and not as dangerous. Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX will most likely be able to take all six Prizes before Ultra Necrozma-GX can do the same.
If needed, you can add [card name=”Fairy Charm UB” set=”Team Up” no=”142″ c=”name”][/card] but this is not a great option since the Malamar player can attack with [card name=”Marshadow-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”80″ c=”name”][/card] instead.
Weezing
This rogue deck is getting popular right now as a big part of the player base is always on the lookout for the next spread deck, so I thought I’d mention that Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX destroys it. [card name=”Weezing” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card] has consistency issues and does not deal enough damage. Even with [card name=”Mr. Mime” set=”Team Up” no=”66″ c=”name”][/card] blocking Acerola, Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX can take a KO every turn and limit their Bench so that spread damage doesn’t become a big issue. You also have Max Potion as an option. Sure, [card name=”Tapu Lele” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”94″ c=”name”][/card]’s Magical Swap may take a KO at some point, but getting the second KO is nigh impossible.
Wondrous Labyrinth Prism Star is key against [card name=”Double Colorless” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] Energy-reliant decks.
As a general rule, Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX does well against non-GX decks because it can trade favorably with them. Even Shintaro Ito’s [card name=”Hoopa” set=”Shining Legends” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Umbreon” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”120″ c=”name”][/card], a deck many are trying to copy, can be dealt with using a single Xerneas. Your opponent can never KO it as you can continuously heal Xerneas.
5. Conclusion
Overall, I think Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX is going to be a major player in the upcoming metagame. It has very good matchups across the board but good Reshiram & Charizard-GX lists might become an issue.
I should mention that it can have trouble with some rogue decks. For example, Beast Box can beat it easily by using [card name=”Naganadel-GX” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”56″ c=”name”][/card]’s Stinger GX followed by [card name=”Stakataka-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card]’s Gigaton Stomp with a Choice Band for a KO. Stall decks look to be an issue as [card name=”Lucario and Melmetal-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”120″ c=”name”][/card] can tank Kaleidostorm for days and remove Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX’s precious few Energy.
I wonder if it makes sense to add [card name=”Lusamine” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”96″ c=”name”][/card] to the deck. Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX is not a Stall deck but with all the healing and the use of Lt. Surge’s Strategy, it can act as one. Adding Lusamine and some cards ([card name=”Girafarig” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”94″ c=”name”][/card]?) might let it beat slow decks that would try to out-control it. Plus you can do some interesting stuff with Lt. Surge and Lusamine. I haven’t tested this idea but I thought I’d mention it in case some of you want to give it a try.
There’s another build of Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX using [card name=”Ribombee” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”146″ c=”name”][/card] to protect your Bench. I don’t think it’s as good because it prevents you from using Green’s Exploration and, as I’ve hopefully made clear by now, Green’s Exploration is crucial to the deck. Sure, it’s good to protect your Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX from Guzma but most of the time you won’t care about Guzma. The Ribombee build does make it easier to accumulate Energy for a Magical Miracle GX turn but I don’t think that you should focus on this GX attack that much. It’s strong, but over the course of a game the consistency and techability afforded by Green’s Exploration, especially the healing cards, will have more effect.
Thanks for reading! I should have another article out next week before Unbroken Bonds is officially tournament legal but if you’re preparing for a major event (or a League Cup) don’t hesitate to try out this deck as it will be a major contender in the new format. In any case, best of luck until next time!
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