Embracing your Third Eye: How to Build Gardevoir ex
Written by Sky DelSol
Hello Everyone!
If you’ve ever played or discussed anything about the Prismatic Evolutions format, it’s likely that you’re no stranger to Gardevoir ex. With the best energy acceleration, draw power and variety in the format, it’s no surprise that Gardevoir is once again one of the biggest decks in any room. However, because of this variety, building Gardevoir can be a little messy. 3 Munkidori? No Drifloon? Box, Cape, Aroma, Stamp? Where do you even start? This guide is designed to show you everything this Psychic powerhouse is capable of right now and lead you toward a deeper understand of what goes into a good Gardevoir deck.
The Essentials:
To begin, I’d like to provide a quick skeleton of every card I believe a Gardevoir list cannot go without in the current metagame:
This is a 50 card build. Each of these pieces is something I believe is fully necessary in Gardevoir at the moment. Let’s run through each of these choices and discuss why these cards are at the core of every list.
Pokemon:
4 Ralts (ASR)
4 Kirlia (SIT)
2 Gardevoir ex (SVI)
These 10 cards are the bread and butter of your deck. You can’t have Gardevoir without its namesake and a way to consistently evolve into it, right? 4 Ralts and 4 Kirlia ensure that you are maximizing your draw power and consistency in combination with Technical Machine: Evolution. If you get out 3 Kirlia in a game, you’re usually sailing quite smoothly into Psychic Embracing on every turn you need to. In this format, Gardevoir also takes nicely to its role as your primary attacker. With 310 HP and an attack that will 2 hit KO everything in the format without fail, You can safely sit behind your Gardevoir for a couple of turns while you prepare for the late game.
2 Munkidori (TWM)
You may remember that in previous formats, some Gardevoir lists would run 1 Munkidori because of their more aggressive gameplans, utilizing rare candy and Drifloon to get an early and powerful lead, with Munkidori mostly being around to support your offensive pressure. Nowadays, Munkidori really does it all. Adrena-Brain is without a doubt the best ability in the game, after Flip the Script of course, providing both defense and offense for a single attachment, which is no problem when your energy comes in the form of infinite acceleration from the discard. Munkidori has a place on the bench in every matchup, and in specific situations, especially in a pinch, it can even find its way into the active. I would argue that 2 Munkidori is just as important as running the Gardevoir line in your list.
-Scream Tail (PAR) and Cresselia (LOR)
If Gardevoir ex is around to attack your opponent’s active Pokemon, Scream Tail and Cresselia are there to prey on the bench. They both serve different purposes, however. Scream Tail is an easy to use, high power menace to any benched Pokemon, being able to easily take out Lumineon V, Rotom V, Mew ex or Fezandipiti ex with the help of a couple of Munkidori, and everything below those HP numbers without a second thought. All of those are possible before boosting its HP with a tool, granting it an incredibly powerful presence against any board. Cresselia, on the other hand, is much better designed to deal with the smaller threats that may appear on a board. In exchange for its higher commitment requirement and lower damage, it has the strength of clearing your board of all damage below 30, making it excellent for fighting Phantom Dive counters and opposing Adrena-Brain damage, while taking down Kirlia, Drakloak, and Duskull, just to name a few key targets. With both of these cards around, you can pick exactly how you want to snipe the bench, giving Gardevoir some essential versatility.
Supporters:
Arven
Iono
These supporters are the essential consistency for any Gardevoir list. Realistically, I’d actually be playing 4 of at least one of these, if not both, but certain lists have the potential to get away with running a 4-3 split either direction, so the skeleton only has 3 of each. Iono is the absolute apex of this deck’s strength, providing early game draw and mid-late game disruption. Iono has always been best when the deck playing it isn’t particularly hindered by a low hand size, and Refinement is the perfect answer to that particular obstacle. Arven is the best early game supporter at your disposal, searching for Poffin, Evolution, and Earthen Vessel, to ensure you always have 2 Kirlia in play on Turn 2. Without Arven, this deck sits in a purgatory of not setting up, and your opponent will easily wipe you off the board.
Professor Turo’s Scenario
Boss’s Orders
The favorite utility supporters of Gardevoir since Paradox Rift, Turo and Boss provide exactly what you need at specific points in the game. Turo provides healing, maneuverability, and access to plays with multiple Munkidori that wouldn’t be possible without it. Some lists opt for 2 Turo or a Pal Pad just to be able to reuse the sheer utility afforded to you by this card. Boss is just a flat staple at this point, providing aggression, stall tactics to snipe with Scream Tail, and the ability to prevent your opponent from running away from you for the entire game. That particular fact is a key aspect of everything about Gardevoir, in fact. No Pokemon is ever safe from damage in its Gardevoir matchup.
Items, Tools, Stadiums:
Buddy-Buddy Poffin
Nest Ball
Artazon
Ultra Ball
Hisuian Heavy Ball
Earthen Vessel
No good Pokemon deck exists without its consistency cards. With a staggering amount of ball search, Gardevoir is almost always able to find what it needs in a given moment. Because of the prevalence of Budew, counts of Artazon have gone up from 0-1 to 1-2, just because you don’t want to get forced into a situation where you are completely shut down by the bothersome nature of Itchy Pollen. Heavy Ball is a must-have as well, as there are far too many important basics to have to adapt to prizing a piece. Earthen Vessel is your way into finding energy, whether that be Psychic to discard or Dark to attach. It’s a card so good that some lists have even found their way into playing 3 of them.
Super Rod
Night Stretcher
Of course, recovery cards are the backend for your consistency, and much like Hisuian Heavy Ball, they allow you to access your resources from places you otherwise would not be able to. In truth, much like Arven and Iono, it’s necessary to play a combination of 3 of these, though there is frequent debate between 2 Stretcher or 2 Super Rod. It tends to be very dependent on your list and the level of aggression you need to output at a given time. If you need more resources, you play more Super Rod. If you need them more frequently, you play more Night Stretcher.
Counter Catcher
Counter Catcher is the best item in this list by a long shot. I have never played a single game of Gardevoir where I have not used at least one copy of Counter Catcher. Gardevoir really prefers to play from behind, meaning this card is almost always live, able to be searched off Arven or played in combination with Iono for a thorough shutdown of any strategy.
Technical Machine: Evolution
T.M. Evolution is the best way to get any Kirlia into play. Gone are the days of Rare Candy in the Prismatic format, with this deck always opting to go second and find the easy access to turn 2 double Kirlia + Gardevoir ex. Sometimes you may even find yourself using a second copy of Evolution just to safely get a turn 3 Gardevoir into play. The one energy cost is incredibly easy to fulfill and puts a large amount of pressure on your opponent to start playing at your pace. Never go anywhere without 2 copies in your list at minimum, unless you play Hyper Aroma.
Energy:
7 Psychic
3 Dark
This is a pretty solid staple in Gardevoir at this point. 7 Psychic Energy allows you to have enough energy to place damage and attack, while 3 Dark Energy ensures that you will always be able to have a Munkidori in action, as well as enabling Turo triple-Munki plays.
Other Card Inclusions:
Now that you have a general understanding of the average Gardevoir core, there’s a lot that goes into building the right Gardevoir list. I’ll start with the biggest question that appears: To Drifloon, or not to Drifloon?
Drifloon (SVI) may appear on paper to be one of the strongest tools Gardevoir ex has at its disposal when paired with Bravery Charm. 300 damage, typically 330 with Munkidori, is certainly nothing to scoff at. However, a lot of the time in this format, using Drifloon at any time other than the last turn of the game can lead to more losses than wins. There’s no Charizard ex or Regidrago VSTAR to punch through anymore, and against Dragapult ex, doing 320 with Drifloon hands your opponent 3 prize cards with very little effort. An Adrena-Brain on Dragapult means a Duskull will be allowed to stay in play and evolve up to punish your boardstate. With the increased inclusion of Lost Vacuum in Pult lists, you really are only getting away with one Drifloon per game. This means cutting Drifloon is an option, and playing 2 Bravery Charm no longer feels like a requirement.
Additionally, there are some other Pokemon to contemplate putting in for consistency, utility, or offense:
Budew (PRE)
Ah, the wonder child of Prismatic Evolutions. Budew is unquestionably an absolute menace of a Pokemon, a tiny creature with the ability to completely rip apart certain archetypes. Despite this, in no way is Budew a requirement in Gardevoir. Budew is fantastic for decks that don’t have a great attack to use on turn one, but, as mentioned earlier, Gardevoir has Evolution to use on turn 1 going second. It’s such a high value play that you just don’t frequently need to play Budew and use Itchy Pollen. It’s an obstacle against Mirror or Dragapult due to its miniscule HP, and the space is frequently committed to better techs. That said, when it works, it really works, and Budew is certainly worth considering for that reason alone.
Radiant Greninja (ASR)
Tatsugiri (TWM)
Though Kirlia provides all the consistency Gardevoir needs in an average game, sometimes the deck just needs a little boost to maintain itself. This is where either Greninja or Tatsugiri can bring itself in: a powerful boost when your resources start falling short. Radiant Greninja is, simply put, one of the best cards in the history of the game, and its strength as a support Pokemon is highlighted incredibly by Gardevoir. Discarding an energy and drawing 2 cards is a frequent Refinement action anyway, so it becomes something of a 5th Kirlia in a lot of situations. Greninja sits on the bench and is almost always active. It’s hard to say no to playing it in your list. However, for those not as fond of Ninja’s randomness and gentle strength boost on a board of many Kirlia, Tastugiri is another option. Attract Customers is a strong ability all things considered, being able to find Arven early and Iono late. However, it comes with a pretty severe drawback: retreating. Tastugiri must be in the active to work, meaning moving it forces a Turo or an attachment. This can prove to be somewhat problematic when working with Munkidori. Your attachments are very frequently already spoken for, and Munkidori is absolutely essential to win any game. That means Tatsugiri has peaks that are far higher than Greninja, but the average use of Tatsugiri is going to be of limited value.
Fezandipiti ex (SFA)
Fezandipiti is an interesting card to consider in the current existence of Gardevoir, as it provides incredible strength for a critical drawback. Drawing 3 after your opponent takes a KO is just absurd. You can almost entirely nullify Ionos and aggressively draw down into the back end of your deck surprisingly early on. However, it suffers from being a 210 HP 2-prize liability, something that most decks are more than happy to see from the immovable boards that Gardevoir often creates. If you’re going to use Fez in slower Gardevoir builds, it has to be very worthwhile and carefully considered.
Flutter Mane (TEF)
Flutter Mane is a classic Gardevoir attacker that happens to have been missing from a lot of lists recently. It has strengths into Lost Zone Box and evolution decks when paired with Technical Machine: Devolution, being able to output 90 active and up to 80 benched when paired with Munkidori. It has however fallen off somewhat due to a decrease in Charizard ex and Lost Zone, a weakness to opposing Munkidori and Phantom Dive, and a reduction in the need to attack with things that are not Gardevoir itself. It is by no means a bad card, though. A Flutter Mane with 2 Munkidori backing it up is hard for any deck to manage, as it can rip a board apart in two or three turns in any matchup.
Spiritomb (PAL)
Klefki (SVI)
Mawile (LOR)
Mimikyu (PAL)
These four cards are where Gardevoir ex starts to fall into direct matchup tech territory. Each has a key role in inhibiting or punishing the plays one deck or another makes, coming with their own strengths and weaknesses. Spiritomb is the essential Lugia countercard, stifling their Lumineon V consistency throughout the whole game. Your Ionos become more effective and you have more chances to pounce on the deck’s inherent inconsistencies. However, it does very little in any other matchup. Charizard isn’t as popular as it used to be, and its HP is just too low to justify using against Dragapult.
Klefki plays a similar role to Spiritomb early against Lugia, with the added benefit of hurting decks like Poison Box, Miraidon ex, Lost Box and Gouging Fire ex by making their early setup much more difficult, allowing you to get a board established before they start pressuring big turns. However, its capabilities start to plummet just after the early game, as it becomes a bench sitting liability without a good attack to justify it staying active. When Klefki works, it really works, but it often feels too specific to justify.
For those trying to tackle the Miraidon matchup without being forced into Klefki, a card like Mawile has a threatening presence. Mawile’s Tempting Trap punishes deck when they choose to burn resources like Turo and Switch, completely locking down matchups in tandem with Munkidori and your own Turos. This is, however, somewhat reliant on your opponent burning those essential resources. Gardevoir is quite good at encourages the usage of these tools, but in a game where those aren’t relevant, Mawile is completely useless. A used Turo means Mawile has nothing to trap, and with 1 Switch Cart in Miraidon, they may be able to run you over with Iron Hands before Mawile has a chance to win the game on the spot. It does, however, have the capability to win completely unwinnable games, so you can’t easily ignore the potential of Mawile.
Mimikyu is a returning icon from way back in Twilight Masquerade Gardevoir, known for its ability to force your opponent into uncomfortable positions, reducing their ability to apply pressure and exert power. Decks like Miraidon, Archaludon, and Dragapult/Charizard often strongly prefer having a Pokemon ex in their active spot, and Mimikyu forces them to play awkwardly, attacking with Drakloak, Zapdos, or Duraludon. It is, however, a temporary solution to a permanent problem. Ghost Eye is just too weak of an attack to be viable in the long term. That said, in the moments where Mimikyu is good, it can feel unstoppable.
Manaphy (BRS)
Probably one of the most hotly contested cards in the recent history of Gardevoir, Manaphy has always been a format dependent card. In Surging Sparks, you couldn’t go anywhere without Manaphy while playing no-Candy Gardevoir. Trifrost was too powerful to ignore, especially when it was in the strongest and most popular deck in format by far. Moonlight Shuriken also presented itself as a massive problem. Now, fewer matchups attack with Greninja, and Regidrago is a shadow of its former self. Sure, Ceruledge and Lost Box are still providing pressure, but is Manaphy still worth it? Honestly, I just don’t think so. Klefki or Flutter Mane often just let a Gardevoir ex come into play by limiting LZB’s output, and Ceruledge puts so many liabilities in play that it isn’t hard to set up after their one Shuriken. Some might argue that Manaphy assists in the mirror, but the card is realistically just better as another copy of Kirlia to mitigate the effects of Scream Tail. It won’t protect you from Cresselia or Flutter Mane, anyway. The thing that would be most convincing for Manaphy is an incredibly sharp rise in Regidrago or LZB, something I just don’t foresee.
ACE Specs:
Having said all of that, I firmly believe the card that defines any Gardevoir ex build is the choice of Ace Spec. There are 4 primary ace specs that make the archetype behave completely different when presented with the same situations. Let’s take a dive into which Ace Specs are the best and what a list would look like with each one.
Secret Box:
Probably the most notable version of Gardevoir right now, the Secret Box list prioritizes consistency that lasts throughout the game. Secret Box is just an utterly absurd card - for the cost of three discards, you can search for four cards that will allow you to tackle any situation you find yourself in. This seems like a steep cost, but Secret Box Gardevoir almost always gets going right out of the gate and then has the perfect closer.
For this list, I’ve chosen to include a thick consistency line, Drifloon+Charm, and a Klefki tech. Because of how aggressive Secret Box is, two Stretcher one Rod suits this list better than the opposite. You’re going to be discarding frequently, and that puts an emphasis on quick retrieval, rather than longevity like super rod. I’ve also included Manaphy here due to the addition of Irida, which is in essence just another way to search out Secret Box. Radiant Greninja being the only Water Pokemon in this list would be just a little bit awkward, so at worst Manaphy just exists to be thinned off of Irida and discarded, and at best it will be an effective tech card.
Unfair Stamp:
An old but ever prevailing concept, the Unfair Stamp variant of Gardevoir capitalizes on early disruption to try and ensure that it gets into the game even when it falls behind. I’ve cut down on the Iono count here in exchange for the utility of Pal Pad, as Arven for Unfair Stamp is often going to replace the first Iono in every game.
Flutter Mane and Mawile are the perfect Pokemon for an Unfair Stamp build, as the disruption combined with a board wipe or a Mawile trap can be crushing. Stamp + Flutter to take out 2 Drakloaks or 2 Kirlia tends to put your opponent incredibly far behind, and the turns afforded by Mawile allow for Adrena-Brain usage that can force endgame sweeps. This is a rare situation in which the +90 damage from Tempting Trap can also be helpful. Stamp + Tempting Trap on a stronger pokemon will give up a prize in exchange for giving you the option of putting your Munkidori damage somewhere else, as your Gardevoir will be able to attack for 280 on the next turn. Drifloon+Charm also fits nicely into this, as Stamp is one of the only ways that an early Drifloon can be extremely powerful. Pushing your opponent to 2 cards and knocking out their biggest attacker can ensure that Drifloon does not become a free prize card.
I’ve again chosen to include two Stretcher over two Rod, as Unfair Stamp shuffles the cards in your hand back into your deck, unlike Iono, which puts cards to the bottom. This means the cards you put back with Super Rod are less likely to be drawn, making the directness of Night Stretcher stronger.
Hyper Aroma:
The Hyper Aroma build of Gardevoir has received quite a bit of scrutiny since its inception, and while it often proves to be strictly weaker than other builds of Gardevoir ex in some circumstances, that does not mean it isn’t a viable option. Hyper Aroma Gardevoir provides room for weird card choices and technology because of its ridiculously consistent early game. Being able to search out three Kirlia is exactly what you want to be doing if you’re forced to go first, and even if you use Evolution going second, Aroma gets the third Kirlia into play and thins the fourth out of your deck. The power of Aroma also gives Budew the opportunity to shine without the risk of not finding Kirlia, seeing as one Arven is the equivalent of a full set of them. You can safely sit behind turns of Itchy Pollen with a map of turn one Budew, turn two Budew + Aroma, turn three Gardevoir.
I’ve decided to give this list the space to have the most unique choices, with Tatsugiri, Spiritomb, Mawile, and Flutter Mane all together. Drawing into Kirlia is in theory less important, so Greninja doesn’t need to come out to play, and Tatsugiri can find Arven for Aroma with ease. Notably, the lack of punish-game due to a lack of true offense or defense means Flutter Mane and Devolution feel far more important for matchups like Dragapult and the mirror. This list is also where Drifloon begins to feel less powerful, and is forced to take a back seat in favor of more strength throughout the match.
Here we finally also see the second Rod over Stretcher, as the slower nature of this list makes getting more resources more important than the urgency with which they are retrieved.
Hero’s Cape:
Finally, the new kid on the block in this format, Hero’s Cape, makes its grand entrance. Hero’s Cape allows your deck to have incredible defensive prowess, creating 180 HP Kirlia, 410 HP Gardevoir and much more. This allows for ensured longevity, better setups, and access to a late game sweeper in Cape Scream Tail, which can do damage rivaling that of Drifloon. This does, however, come at the sacrifice of the consistency from Box, Aroma or Stamp, so a third copy of both Evolution and Munkidori find their way into the build. The third Munki isn’t just for consistency though, as the longevity afforded by Cape actually makes room for there to be a whole three on the bench. This creates almost fully unbreakable boards when established, as you can clear most damage from your own board in an instant.
The 4th Arven has been turned into a Fezandipiti ex, as three Evolution makes early Arven less necessary, and Cape gives the bird HP that matches Gardevoir’s. It becomes so much less of a liability when your board can become so thoroughly hard to take down.
Mawile and Mimikyu also thrive in an environment with Cape, as they become able to withstand more hits. It’s like playing two copies for the price of one, especially with a situation like Mimikyu against Drakloak, where Munkidori allows Mimikyu to shrug off anywhere between two and three Dragon Headbutts while knocking out its enemy every time. Cape Mimikyu is truly a force to be reckoned with.
In this list, I would argue that there is little difference between second Stretcher and second Rod, as you can mitigate the reduced immediacy of Rod with Fezandipiti and bulkier Kirlia. Currently, this list is on two Stretcher, but the change is of minimal impact.
Closing Thoughts:
It is tough to choose a variant of Gardevoir because all of these lists share about 50-52 cards with each other, but make no mistake: it is in no way about “preference”. Comfort in a deck and a list is an important factor in event preparations, but it would be remiss to refer to these vastly different variants as a matter of taste. Maybe the meta emphasizes the early consistency and mirror prowess of Hyper Aroma, the bulk Hero’s Cape provides against Dragapult decks, the way that Unfair Stamp can punish decks with low draw power like Poison Box or Gouging Fire, or the broad range of situations that Secret Box can handle by being good at a little bit of everything. The art of selecting a Gardevoir decklist requires a deep knowledge of what you as a player need to accomplish for an event.
For EUIC, all eyes seem to be on Hero’s Cape and Secret Box as the prime variants, and I am inclined to agree. The top 3 threats that aren’t Gardevoir itself are probably Dragapult, Miraidon, and Archaludon. Gardevoir has a naturally good Archaludon matchup, so there is little need to worry about that, though it is worth being careful around Jamming Tower. Cape has a far easier time into Dragapult, even with the increase in Lost Vacuum, and Box has more outs to early Klefki in addition to a Jack-Of-All-Trades factor, which is always important in Day 1 of an International. Both of these lists perfectly balance power and longevity without relying on one or the other to succeed, which is really what Gardevoir needs if it wants to take the last IC title it can before becoming seriously handicapped without Refinement.
I sincerely hope this guide has improved your understanding of Gardevoir ex, but ultimately the only way to truly grow is to keep on practicing. Play the deck to a Challenge, Cup, Locals, with your friends, wherever you feel you learn the most. If you choose to play it at EUIC or Vancouver, best of luck!
Until next time,
Sky Delsol
