Hi there. In this Pokemon TCG post I provide an overview of the upcoming Gardevoir ex Battle Deck. This is a level 3 deck sealed product. Level 3 is the highest rating in terms of deck competitiveness and is the most expensive out of the sealed deck products. I think this deck would be priced at 32 CAD upon release.
This deck will release on April 19, 2024. This release date will be after the rotation where E regulation cards would not be tournament legal.
The recent news is from Pokebeach. Images are from there too. I write this in early February 2024 in the E regulation block and where the recent set outside of Japan is Paldean Fates.
Gardevoir ex image is from here.
Decklist
Pokemon (18)
- x3 Gardevoir ex
- x4 Kirlia
- x4 Ralts
- x3 Drifloon
- x1 Cresselia
- x1 Lumineon V
- x1 Mew ex
- x1 Radiant Greninja
Trainers (29)
- x4 Iono
- x3 Professor's Research (Professor Sada)
- x2 Arven
- x2 Boss's Orders (Ghetsis)
- x1 Jacq
- x2 Artazon
- x4 Nest Ball
- x4 Ultra Ball
- x3 Rare Candy
- x1 Super Rod
- x3 Bravery Charm
Energy (13)
Useful Cards
This deck has a ton of useful cards. There are not many bad cards. The bad cards could be Jacq, the third copy of Drifloon and the third copy of Bravery Charm.
The useful cards include:
- Ralts
- Kirlia (evolves from Ralts)
- Gardevoir ex (Kirlia into Gardevoir ex)
- Radiant Greninja, Useful card in many decks and for drawing power
- Mew ex (Psychic Pokemon and for additional drawing cards)
- Lumineon V (Search For Supporter)
- Iono (Hand Disruption & Good Comeback Card)
- Boss's Orders (Ghetsis) (Staple card)
- Nest Ball (Staple card)
- Ultra Ball (Staple card)
How The Deck Works
The Gardevoir ex deck is heavily based on evolving Ralts and Kirlia into Gardevoir ex. Once there is a Gardevoir ex in play along with at least 5 Psychic energy in the discard you can use the ability Psychic Embrace from Gardevoir ex to attach energy to attackers like Drifloon and Cresselia to attack the opponent. Mew ex and Gardevoir ex can attack too but they give the opponent two prizes each if they are knocked out.
It does take time to get the setup so you are likely to be behind in the prize race. Having four Ionos is nice as it provides hand disruption to your opponent as you mount a comeback win.
Modifying The Deck & Cards To Consider
The deck is pretty good out of the box but there are a couple cards that can be changed.
Modifications
One Drifloon out of three can be swapped for a Scream Tail from the Paradox Rift expansion. You could also play around with 1 Drifloon and 2 Scream Tails if you would like to.
One Bravery Charm can be swapped for a Luxurious Cape. A Drifloon with Luxurious Cape would have 170 HP and a max damage of 480 damage if there are 16 damage counters on it. A Scream Tail with Luxurious Cape wold have 190 HP with a max damage output of 360 damage. If a non-rule based Pokemon is knocked out with the Luxurious Cape the opponent takes one more prize card.
Jacq is kind of okay in the deck. In general it is not that good of a supporter. The single copy of Jacq can be swapped for a Counter Catcher.
Iono is a good card but four could be too much. Maybe swap one for a Roxanne.
Manaphy is a good Pokemon to have on the bench to protect yourself from bench sniping Pokemon like Radiant Greninja. A strong consideration for this deck.
Other Cards To Consider
- Gallade - Search For Any Supporter In Deck
- Tulip (Supporter)
- Pal Pad (Maybe cut one Psychic energy for it)
- Buddy Poffin From Temporal Forces in late March when it releases.
- Collapsed Stadium
- Mimikyu
- Jirachi with Stellar Veil ability.
- Moonlit Hill
Closing Notes
This sealed product deck is really nice. There are more useful cards like Iono, Mew ex, Radiant Greninja from this battle deck compared to the Miraidon Battle ex deck. The Miraidon Battle ex does have the pricey Forest Seal Stone though.
In terms of value this deck provides great value. Radiant Greninja is around 8 to 10 CAD I think. Mew ex is typically 8 to 10 CAD in the Toronto area. Iono is usually 4 CAD per copy but it could be down to 75 cents, 1 CAD or 2CAD each due to the recent Paldean Fates release. Lumineon V is around 4 CAD and it can be somewhat hard to find. These mentioned cards adds up to around 23 CAD to 30 CAD.
Even though there are good cards in the deck, this deck would be somewhat difficult for a new player to use. There are a lot of Pokemon abilities in the deck and a fair bit of math needed to get certain damage outputs from the attackers with Gardevoir ex's ability.
