La Vie en Rose — Updates to Gardeon in Standard and Expanded

[cardimg name=”Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”204″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

The title of this article is from the French expression “voir la vie en rose” that translates to “looking at the bright side of life” but literally translates to “seeing life in pink”. Look, I’m running with this theme of using “pink” in the names of articles about [card name=”Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card]. Plus, people have told me they were trying to learn French using my YouTube channel, so I’m trying to be educational!

You might be thinking, “So you already wrote about this deck twice and you have another take on it?”. Well, yes. Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX is my pet deck right now. I’ve been liking it since it came out, but despite my initial impressions, it never did very well pre-rotation. In the UPR-on format, though, we’ve seen the deck find a lot more success, including winning the first Regionals of the season, in Sheffield. Although I wrote about this deck not too long ago, I want to explain what has changed since then, and why I’m considering running the deck for Cologne Regionals.

That’s not all, though. Although we still have a bit of time before Expanded Regionals, many of you are already preparing for the format. Many local events are also being ran in the Expanded format, and I’ve even heard of some in areas that traditionally don’t play Expanded, such as Latin America. It turns out that Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX is also a competitive deck in Expanded, although the list is very different from Standard. I’ll use this article to talk about this version of the deck and how it works. Since Gardeon wasn’t in the format at the last major Expanded event, players will not be testing it as much as they’ll be testing the usual suspects of Expanded (such as [card name=”Archie’s Ace in the Hole” set=”Primal Clash” no=”124″ c=”custom”]Archie[/card] ‘s [card name=”Blastoise” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”31″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card]) or the more hyped contenders ([card name=”Mewtwo and Mew-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”71″ c=”name”][/card] in its thousand incarnations). That’s why I believe that Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX could take them by surprise.

With that established, let’s get started!

Standard

Here is my go-to list. I won a League Cup with it (featuring many of France’s best players) and I think it’s one of the strongest decks in the format right now.

[decklist name=”Gardeon Standard” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”130″][pokemon amt=”5″]4x [card name=”Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”130″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Xerneas-GX” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”90″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”46″]4x [card name=”Green’s Exploration” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”175″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Coach Trainer” set=”Unified Minds” no=”192″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Bill’s Analysis” set=”Team Up” no=”133″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/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]4x [card name=”Custom Catcher” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Cherish Ball” set=”Unified Minds” no=”191″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Switch” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”102″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Tag Switch” set=”Unified Minds” no=”209″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Reset Stamp” set=”Unified Minds” no=”206″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Great Potion” set=”Unified Minds” no=”198″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Energy Spinner” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”170″ 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 UB” set=”Team Up” no=”142″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Fairy Charm P” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”175″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Wait and See Hammer” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”192″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Power Plant” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”183″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/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] 

I won’t reiterate what I already wrote about, but I do want to insist on a few points, most of them new compared to my last article.

It’s true that Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX has a bad matchup against both Ability [card name=”Reshiram and Charizard-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Green’s Exploration” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”175″ c=”name”][/card] / Reshiram & Charizard-GX. However, the deck has favorable matchups against most of the rest of the meta, including a great [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] matchup, which is important since Malamar is rapidly growing in popularity. I only play two [card name=”Great Potion” set=”Unified Minds” no=”198″ c=”name”][/card] (and no other healing card apart from the wonderful [card name=”Xerneas-GX” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”90″ c=”name”][/card]) but that’s enough in this matchup (and useless in many others). The key is that you should use Sanctuary GX to take your second Prize. You can take the first one with Kaleidostorm, but [card name=”Giratina” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card] will then deal damage and you can’t trade very well with it, especially with [card name=”Spell Tag” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”190″ c=”name”][/card]. Even if you heal once with Great Potion, the Malamar player can use [card name=”Mimikyu” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM99″ c=”name”][/card] to copy Kaleidostorm which is enough to get the KO if you had to take Spell Tag damage. Therefore, if you keep using Kaleidostorm, you’ll probably lose a Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX. If you retreat to another one, [card name=”Espurr” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”79″ c=”name”][/card] can come and take a KO. However, Sanctuary GX heals you completely (and bypasses Spell Tag), so there’s no risk of any Espurr play. This means that the Malamar player will have to hit into Xerneas. You can then use Aurora Horns for a KO. Even if they keep their Giratina healthy, you can use Custom Catcher to bring up a Malamar or Jirachi and Knock it Out. They will have to 2HKO Xerneas, at which point they still need to take four Prizes (aka two Gardeon) and you only have three left. You can use Kaleidostorm to finish that off. If possible, keep your last two [card name=”Custom Catcher” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] so they can’t stall a turn with [card name=”Espeon and Deoxys-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”72″ c=”name”][/card], but since you can always attach a [card name=”Fairy Charm P” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”175″ c=”name”][/card], it shouldn’t be an issue either. If you follow this game plan, you should win a huge majority of the time. [card name=”Latios-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”78″ c=”name”][/card] can complicate this plan but not enough, usually. You can keep Sanctuary GX to KO it, and if Latios-GX tries to use Clear Vision GX, then you have a window to deal 150 damage with Kaleidostorm. (The last 20 damage can be dealt with Xerneas, even with Overrun if necessary!)

Although I can see the merit in playing two copies of each Fairy Charm as David Ferreira did in his Regionals-winning list, I don’t like it too much. These Fairy Charms are completely dead cards outside of their specific relevant matchups, and playing too many dead cards makes the deck even weaker against [card name=”Judge” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”108″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Reset Stamp” set=”Unified Minds” no=”206″ c=”name”][/card]. One Fairy Charm of each is enough to give you an edge in each matchup anyway. To me, the real stars of the deck are [card name=”Power Plant” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card] and Reset Stamp. Against [card name=”Blacephalon-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card], for example, two [card name=”Fairy Charm UB” set=”Team Up” no=”142″ c=”name”][/card] are obviously strong. However, if you stick a Power Plant every time they play down a Stadium (and a Reset Stamp when they take Prizes), they will eventually miss their Stadium and draw dead. The Fairy Charm UB can help you survive, but you win pretty quickly by 2HKOing the first Blacephalon-GX, then dealing 200 to the second one and taking your last two Prizes with a Kaleidostorm on [card name=”Naganadel-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”160″ c=”name”][/card].

[premium]

[cardimg name=”Wait and See Hammer” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”192″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

[card name=”Wait and See Hammer” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”192″ c=”name”][/card] was used by Steven Mao in his Top 16 list for the purpose of slowing down Reshiram & Charizard-GX. By using Wait and See Hammer, we guarantee they can’t get an OHKO with Double Blaze GX or [card name=”Turtonator” set=”Dragon Majesty” no=”50″ c=”name”][/card] on turn 2. ([card name=”Blacephalon” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”32″ c=”name”][/card] is still a possible threat, but it very rarely has enough Energy in hand for an OHKO at this stage of the game.) This saves us a turn. We want to attack the main threat (usually Reshiram & Charizard-GX) as soon as possible. The opponent will take three Prizes at some point, but we can then Power Plant + Reset Stamp. From there, the goal is to take Prizes however we can in order to survive. [card name=”Wondrous Labyrinth Prism Star” set=”Team Up” no=”158″ c=”name”][/card] can be helpful, especially once there’s no [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] left for your opponent to Bench.

Compared to my list from Worlds, I’ve tweaked the Supporter line-up. Four copies of Green’s Exploration and [card name=”Coach Trainer” set=”Unified Minds” no=”192″ c=”name”][/card] are a given, but I replaced one [card name=”Bill’s Analysis” set=”Team Up” no=”133″ c=”name”][/card] and one [card name=”Mina” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card] for a [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card] and an [card name=”Erika’s Hospitality” set=”Team Up” no=”140″ c=”name”][/card]. I feel like the three 1-of Supporters in my list all have their uses, but I wouldn’t want two copies of any of them. Bill’s Analysis is often underwhelming when you have to play it in a bad spot, because it only gives two cards, and if you don’t have any other Supporter, one of these cards should be a Supporter or [card name=”Pokégear 3.0″ set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”182″ c=”name”][/card] for the next turn. Cynthia reshuffles your hand, which this deck usually doesn’t want to do since you’d rather accumulate many cards in hand. However, there are times where your opening hand is disappointing and, instead of getting Green’s Exploration with Green’s Exploration, it’s better to just take a shuffle and draw Supporter for the next turn. Finally, Erika’s Hospitality is a dead card when you have a big hand. However, you usually have a big hand when you’ve been able to stockpile resources, which means you’re in a good spot. As far as drawbacks go, “useless when you’re already winning” is a fine one to have. Erika’s Hospitality can also be weak against some decks that don’t play a big board. However, when you manage use it to draw six cards, it’s amazing — and you can always grab it with Green’s Exploration or Pokégear if it’s the case, which justifies its use in the deck.

Recently, players have been removing Reshiram & Charizard-GX from their Ability Reshiram & Charizard-GX decks! Some are cutting down to one, while others are removing it entirely, focusing instead on non-GX attackers. That variant is usually called [card name=”Welder” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”189″ c=”name”][/card] & Friends. All that is good news for Gardeon: Reshiram & Charizard-GX is the main threat of the matchup. Sure, Turtonator or [card name=”Heatran-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”25″ c=”name”][/card] can also OHKO Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX with six Energy, but they can be OHKO’d back, in combination with a Reset Stamp. That leaves the Fire player with no Energy in play and a low hand, which can be hard to recover from.

If I was going to Atlantic City, I would almost surely be playing Gardeon. I believe that this trend of lowering counts of ReshiZard started in the US, and so I think the American metagame is better suited to Gardeon. However, I don’t know if it’s as good a play for Cologne. Malamar hasn’t been as popular in Europe as in America, and although it depends on the country, I think Ability Reshiram & Charizard-GX is still the most popular deck, and will be in Cologne. This makes playing Gardeon a risky prospect. In addition, since Gardeon won the last Regionals, people will be expecting it more and might tech cards such as Lysandre Labs. As for the SPE in Brazil, from what I heard, Fire decks are extremely popular over there. Although Gardeon can beat ReshiZard, it seems to me that it’s far too risky to play it in that environment. If you’re attending that event, I would recommend you play something else!

Expanded

In Expanded, Gardeon plays differently. The Tag Team gets a fantastic partner in [card name=”Aromatisse” set=”XY” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card], which can move Energy around. Forget about [card name=”Tag Switch” set=”Unified Minds” no=”209″ c=”name”][/card]: with Aromatisse, you can move Energy freely between your Pokemon, which means you can abuse healing cards such as [card name=”Max Potion” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card]. It also means that as soon as you reach six Energy in play, you can threaten to use Magical Miracle GX. Combined with Power Plant or [card name=”Silent Lab” set=”Primal Clash” no=”140″ c=”name”][/card], this can shut down many decks very effectively. Silent Lab means that your opponent has no Pokemon outs to draw cards, whether it’s [card name=”Shaymin-EX” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card], Dedenne-GX, [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Marshadow” set=”Shining Legends” no=”45″ c=”name”][/card], or [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″ c=”name”][/card]. (There’s still [card name=”Zebstrika” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”82″ c=”name”][/card], but it’s not usually ran in Expanded.) Power Plant is similar, but better against Zoroark-GX specifically since it shuts down Trade. Both cards also work very well against Mewtwo & Mew-GX, one of the new threats to the metagame.

Obviously, running Aromatisse means Green’s Exploration is not an option anymore. Instead of searching for the cards it needs, the deck now runs a more classic draw Supporter package.

As many of you know, I like to look at results from Japan to get inspiration for the decks I play. Even when our formats don’t match perfectly, some ideas can get adapted. It turns out that Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX is one of the most, if not the most, successful Expanded decks over there. Now, this observation comes with a couple of caveats. The Japanese Expanded format has a different banlist than ours, with Hex Maniac in particular being allowed, which shifts the balance of power a little towards decks that can work without an Ability. They haven’t played this format at many major events, so I’m basing my conclusions off the results of local events, which may not be extremely relevant. The best-of-1, 25-minute format discourages slower decks like Shock Lock and [card name=”Sableye” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”62″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Garbodor” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] which might see more play at our Regionals. Still, it does show that Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX can stand up to other popular decks such as Archie’s Blastoise and Zoroark-GX / Garbodor, and that makes it worth looking at. After adapting some Japanese lists and trying them out on the ladder, I’ve come to the following:

[decklist name=”Gardeon Expanded” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Marshadow” set=”Shining Legends” no=”45″][pokemon amt=”10″]4x [card name=”Gardevoir and Sylveon-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”130″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Aromatisse” set=”XY” no=”93″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Spritzee” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”141″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”113″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Marshadow” set=”Shining Legends” no=”45″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”38″]4x [card name=”Professor Juniper” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”98″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”N” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”96″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Acerola” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”112″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Diantha” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”105″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”109″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Shining Legends” no=”68″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Max Potion” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”103″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Fighting Fury Belt” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”99″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Float Stone” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”99″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Fairy Charm Ability” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”171″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Super Rod” set=”Noble Victories” no=”95″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Computer Search” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”137″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Power Plant” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”183″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Silent Lab” set=”Primal Clash” no=”140″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Wondrous Labyrinth Prism Star” set=”Team Up” no=”158″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”12″]9x [card name=”Fairy Energy” set=”XY” no=”140″ c=”deck2″ amt=”9″][/card]3x [card name=”Wonder Energy” set=”Primal Clash” no=”144″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

Here are my observations about this deck.

[cardimg name=”Aromatisse” set=”XY” no=”93″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

The most important thing to do is get out two Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX as soon as possible. It might be tempting to use your first [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”135″ c=”name”][/card] on [card name=”Spritzee” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”141″ c=”name”][/card], but Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX is more important. This lets you start using Fairy Song to get Energy into play. Even if your opponent starts damaging your Active Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX, you can always use Acerola to get your Active back, bring the Benched Gardeon, and use Fairy Song again. This justifies the heavy Acerola count as well as running it over [card name=”AZ” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”91″ c=”name”][/card]. Aromatisse can come up later in the game.

This deck can be slow compared to other decks in the format. It’s not as flashy as Archie’s Blastoise or debilitating as Sableye / Garbodor. Instead, you pretty much just want to use Fairy Song early on to set up, while relying on your healing to not get KO’d and your Stadiums to disrupt your opponent. In a format where it seems like decks either want to draw twenty cards in a turn, or just use a disruption Supporter and pass, having a deck that is content playing one [card name=”Professor Juniper” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”98″ c=”name”][/card] per turn seems a bit outdated, like it’s a Standard deck from four or five years ago. However, I think this middle ground works well for Gardeon. I could see adding some [card name=”Trainers’ Mail” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”92″ c=”name”][/card] to help a little find your most relevant cards, but I haven’t tried this out yet.

[card name=”Wonder Energy” set=”Primal Clash” no=”144″ c=”name”][/card] is a great addition to the deck because of how safe it is. You don’t know if your opponent might run [card name=”Palkia-GX” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] in their Archie’s Blastoise list but, if they are, Wonder Energy will protect your Energy from being shuffled back into your deck. It also shuts down plenty of rogue concepts. For example, since the release of [card name=”Triple Acceleration Energy” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”190″ c=”name”][/card], people are trying to make [card name=”Raticate” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”105″ c=”name”][/card] work in Expanded, and although it should in theory trade very well with Tag Teams, Wonder Energy shuts it down unless they play Energy removal.

[card name=”Fairy Charm Ability” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] is probably the best Fairy Charm in Expanded. Zoroark-GX and Mewtwo & Mew-GX are the main reasons to play it, but there are plenty of other attackers that get shut down by it ([card name=”Zeraora-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card], Tapu Lele-GX, [card name=”Rayquaza-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Tapu Koko-GX” set=”Sun and Moon Black Star Promos” no=”SM33″ c=”name”][/card], etc.). It does conflict with the Stadiums, but it also provides a safety net in case your opponent gets a counter Stadium.

I don’t have enough experience with the deck to give you a detailed roadmap to every matchup, especially since many decks will change compared to the last time Expanded was featured in a major event, in ways that aren’t obvious yet. However, your goal should pretty much always be to use Magical Miracle GX, unless you’re playing against a non-GX deck like [card name=”Hitmonchan” set=”Team Up” no=”74″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Wobbuffet” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”36″ c=”name”][/card] that you should be able to beat just by healing enough. In Standard, the extra effect of Magical Miracle GX can be hard to achieve, and you don’t want your opponent to simply send out a [card name=”Jirachi” set=”Team Up” no=”99″ c=”name”][/card] and use Stellar Wish to find Cynthia, which makes the attack useless or at least undesirable in some matchups (like Malamar). In Expanded, however, your opponent’s outs to drawing cards will often be Pokemon who are shut down by Silent Lab or Power Plant. And when they draw dead but can attack, you have all the healing you need to simply negate their attacks.

Magical Miracle GX works against aggressive and slow decks alike. In Standard, the main control deck, [card name=”Pidgeotto” set=”Team Up” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] Control, doesn’t care about Magical Miracle GX (much) because it can draw out of it with Pidgeotto. In Expanded, the equivalent deck, Sableye / Garbodor, runs an Ability lock Pokemon instead of a draw engine. If you can Magical Miracle GX in this matchup, you will get at least one precious turn (before they use Junk Hunt for [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card], most likely), which can make all the difference.

Similarly, against Shock Lock, you can easily disrupt their whole setup if you remove their hand for one turn, ideally removing their [card name=”Tropical Beach” set=”Black and White Black Star Promos” no=”BW50″ c=”name”][/card] at the same time. Of course, you need to not be Paralyzed, so you should include either [card name=”Stealthy Hood” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”186″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Switch” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”147″ c=”name”][/card], or [card name=”Scoop Up Cyclone” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card]. Then you can proceed to get rid of paralysis, Magical Miracle GX to KO [card name=”Stoutland” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”122″ c=”name”][/card] and hopefully avoid further paralysis because they need to draw into [card name=”Raichu” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”41″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Devolution Spray” set=”Fates Collide” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card] again, then KO the rest of their board. As always, Shock Lock is easy to beat if you tech for it, but many people don’t tech for it because they (reasonably) don’t expect to face much.

Among the three techs I mentioned, Stealthy Hood has many applications in other matchups. For example, you can play it on Aromatisse so you can still move Energy even if your opponent has Garbodor in play. Switch is not great but it’s also not that big of a downgrade compared to [card name=”Float Stone” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card]. Scoop Up Cyclone works very well in this deck since it’s one more healing card. However, playing it means removing [card name=”Computer Search” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”137″ c=”name”][/card], and if you make this sacrifice, you should add some more consistency cards elsewhere, such as [card name=”Nest Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card].

Obviously, there are plenty of other ways to tweak the list. The most obvious would be playing Fairy Charms, especially [card name=”Fairy Charm L” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”172″ c=”name”][/card]. Although [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] is common in Expanded, it’s rarely played in more than one copy, so if your [card name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card] opponent has to use Field Blower to remove Power Plant early on so they can draw cards with Dedenne-GX, they won’t have it available to remove Fairy Charm later on. Keep in mind, though, that it’s much easier to attack Benched Pokemon in Expanded thanks to [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card], so your opponent can still take Prizes relatively easily even if they can’t touch your Active Pokemon.

Conclusion

Overall, I think Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX is surprisingly good. It reminds me, of all things, of the [card name=”Yveltal-EX” set=”XY” no=”79″ c=”name”][/card] decks that reigned over Expanded for a while. Yveltal-EX wasn’t as fast and flashy as Night March or Archie’s Blastoise, but it wasn’t as slow and control-ly as [card name=”Primal Groudon-EX” set=”Primal Clash” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Trevenant” set=”XY” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card] either. Instead, it found its sweet spot in the middle ground, having consistent, strong attacks with a touch of disruption and utility (AZ, Silent Lab, [card name=”Parallel City” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”145″ c=”name”][/card]). Gardeon has a similar positioning compared to the rest of the metagame, and I’m excited to see how players will make it work!

In any case, best of luck to everyone this weekend! I’ll be competing in Cologne so feel free to say hi if you see this before the event.

Stéphane

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