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Otaku |
Note:
Raichu ex should have received a 2.75 in 2-on-2 yesterday.
Also, I listed the cost of Mega Thunderbolt correctly at first but
erroneously when I actually addressed it. The argument is the
same… I just mistyped it. Finally, the only two Stage 1 Pokémon
ex we have both have retreats of one, so it’s not that
rare, at least not yet. >_<
Name:
Gardevoir ex
Group:
Psychic
Type:
Stage 2 ex (evolves from Kirlia)
HP:
150
Weakness:
Grass, Psychic
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
CC
Attack#1:
(PC) Feedback
Count the number of cards in your
opponent’s hand. Put that many damage counters on the Defending
Pokémon.
Atack#2:
(PCCC) Psystorm [10x]
Does 10 damage times the total amount
of Energy attached to all Pokémon in play.
Name:
No other Gardevoir ex, so no problem
there. No special “name bonuses”, like being a “Dark ________” or
a “Sabrina’s ________”. I’ll cover the ex rule in the Type
category.
Group:
Yeah, trying different names for this- "type" is better used else
where and "color" sounds too pre-school for most of us to use.
:-P This is a Psychic Pokémon. That means that, depending on the
format, it’s very strong or very weak. Unlimited is where it will
be weakest, due to many strong Dark and Colorless Pokémon that are
Resistant to Psychics. In Neon, it still must deal with Murkrow,
whom, properly played might be a severe nuisance, and many
Colorless Pokémon, though not necessarily strong were Resistant.
Once we get past that, it’s actually a very strong type with many
Weak to it and few Resistant. There is no real support based on
its type alone (Sabrina's Alakazam makes use of other Psychics,
but in that case the other Pokémon, support it) there are some
strong Psychic Pokémon who would compliment it well.
Type:
It’s a Stage 2 ex Psychic. This is the only card of that
exact specification. There several formidable Stage 2 Psychics,
which again can be both a help and a hindrance. Such cards make
fearsome foes for Gardevoir ex, and rarely will you want to
run multiple Stage 2 Psychics in the same deck. There is one nice
difference between Gardevoir ex and those others: Gardevoir
ex formidability is not based on a Pokémon Power, but on
its HP and attacks. So while it does compete with those Stage 2
Psychics for deck space, its actual use is somewhat different, in
that most such decks revolve around maximizing a Pokémon Power.
Since Gardevoir ex does not have to, this frees up deck
space.
Gardevoir ex evolves from the
same Pokémon a normal Gardevoir does: Kirlia. Despite only
existing in the two Nintendo sets, there are three Kirlia
available: two in R/S and one in SS. All three are Stage 1
Psychic Pokémon with 70HP, two attacks, Psychic Weakness, no
Resistance, and a Retreat of one. There are a nice variety of
attacks to choose from as well. For reliable raw power, # 34/109
of Ruby/Sapphire is your monster: its Superpsy attack does 50
damage for (PCC). It can also do 10 and have a 50% chance (i.e.
heads on a coin flip) of removing an energy card attached to the
Defending Pokémon for just (P). For some risky power, #35/109
(also from R/S) is the answer. Its first attack, Dazzle Dance, is
a 50% shot at Confusion for both Defending Pokémon, which
is nice because it only costs (C). What makes Confusion so nasty
is that you almost always will retreat to shake it. Poison and
Burn are tempting to tough out, but that risk of placing three
damage counters on your Pokémon and having their attacks do
nothing just isn’t worth it. Its second attack is the infamous
Life Drain, first seen on Sabrina’s Kadabra. For just (P), you
have a 50% chance of placing damage counters on the Defending
Pokémon until it only has 10HP left. Overall, it’s flippy but
fearsome. Last of the Kirlia is the Sandstorm version. Its
Psyshock does 20 for (PC), with a flip for Paralysis, which is a
tad high (I’ll explain when we get to the Ralts). Link Blast does
60 for (PCC) if you and the Defending Pokémon have the same amount
of energy attached, but 30 if they don’t. Considering the attack
is priced for “35”, that’s still pretty good. Small Pokémon have
to worry enough about the 30, where as big Pokémon will almost
certainly need to have 3 energy on them at some point before they
can do their “big” attacks. This one might be better for a deck
based on manipulating the energy placement of your opponent.
I know I have covered a lot already
here, but we have to address one more thing: Kirlia is a Stage 1,
so it has a Basic Pokémon we need to choose too. There are
already four Ralts! All are 50 HP Basic Psychic Pokémon with
Psychic Weakness, no Resistance and a retreat of one. From R/S,
we have #66/109, which for (P) does 10 with a 50% shot at
Confusion… while fairly priced, it’s the only thing it can do, and
thus is found lacking. #65/109 from R/S can do 10 for (C) or 40
for (PC) if it has the same amount of energy attached as the
Defending Pokémon does: otherwise it only does 10. The last R/S
Ralts, #67/109 does 10 for (C), and 20 with auto-sleep for (PC).
SS Ralts can do auto-sleep for (C) or Psychic Boom for (P) which
does 10 times the amount of energy attached to the Defending
Pokémon. I would use the two latter for most decks: 20 and
auto-sleep is a nice stall while Psychic Boom can actually finish
off some big hitters.
HP:
Not bad, though tied for lowest with a Stage 2 Pokémon ex.
While I prefer that a Pokémon ex has about 60% more HP than
its non-ex counterparts… that doesn’t happen much sadly.
Still, this is a 50% boost, and means that even the “big guns”
will likely need at least two hits to take you out (barring
Weakness). This also comes in handy with a trick I’ll mention
later. ;)
Weakness:
The only “good” Weakness is no Weakness, but that really throws
game balance out the window. Psychics are often Weak to each
other, so that is no big deal: you’ll probably crush them before
they can crush you. Grass Pokémon are a bit different: roughly
half are weak to you, so again, you can probably nuke them first.
The others can be big problems, but I have a trick to handle them
that I’ll cover later.
Resistance:
Again, I wish there was one, but I can understand the fear of the
raw dominance such a deck could possess… especially given that
Psychics in the GB game are Resistant to Fighting and other
Psychics. The latter has been reversed for the TCG, and the
former would more or less ruin Fighting.
Retreat:
Two is “average” really, in that its high enough to make you
seriously need to consider it, but low enough that it’s not
impossible. Since this is a Stage 2 Pokémon ex, this is
really… oh, common actually. Three out of 5 have it. Also, once
we get to the attack, we will see why it is much better to Switch
or still better, attach a Warp Energy.
Attack#1:
First up, an attack that can make your opponent quite upset. This
attack does places damage counters, this time based on the number
of cards in your opponent’s hand. In Unlimited, this and a GoW
makes Eeeeeeeking with Cleffa a huge risk. Elming and
Copycatting, common in other formats also becomes a risk, given
that they tend to be used when they will max out your hand size.
Even with out those, the average hand size in those formats is 3-5
cards, a respectable amount of damage counter placement for (PC).
In Nintendo, hands tend to be huge or non-existent, and neither is
good.
Attack#2:
=P~ Whoa. If you have the energy to use this attack (not through
Metronome or the like), then the absolute worst it does is 40
damage. For (PCCC), this is only “5” damage short of what you
paid. If there is at least one other energy, you get a bonus.
Against a smart player adapting to the attack, you should still be
clearing an easy 60 a pop. Against those who only have expensive
attacks, it’s incredible.
Uses/Combinations:
Here’s where all those things I hinted at come into play. First,
due to similarities, Gardevoir goes best with its non-ex
counterpart (see it’s CotD for what it does and how to use it in
other ways). Gardevoir lets you add more energy, albeit with a
cost of also placing 2 damage counters. Still, this can give you
both speed and extra power for Psystorm. There is also a way to
“surprise” an opponent: when Gardevoir has 80 or less damage, use
a Retro Energy to heal 20 damage, then devolve it to a Kirlia (now
at 60). Then wait a turn (or hopefully use a Rare Candy that
turn-I am not certain on that ruling yet) and evolve to Gardevoir
ex. Assuming that your opponent didn’t have a poor set up
and has been building (and you were abusing the normal Gardevoir’s
Poké-POWER, you went from an at least half dead Gardevoir to an
only one-third dead Gardevoir ex… okay, it sounds lame, but
it really depends on that Rare Candy ruling (if you can do it in
one turn, it’s really sweet). You can even attempt this with a
Ralts you Rare Candied into a Gardevoir, just make sure you have
60 or less damage when you use the Retro Energy. Why Retro? Heal
damage, place a counter, and be able to “switch” to Gardevoir
ex, and Pokémon are easy to recover from the discard. Another
thought is Boost Energy since that means you can Psystorm turn 2,
and acts not unlike two Plus Powers. DCE works to, but not enough
to go off turn 2… though it will give you a lasting +10.
Evolving/de-evolving is also good for handling your own Weakness
of Grass: you can “de-evolve” to the normal Gardevoir, use a
Pokémon Nurse to heal (if need be), and also use its Poké-POWER to
attach one energy to use Energy Burst, it’s inexpensive but likely
efficient attack. If you haven’t figured it out from clues
earlier, use energies with like effects instead of Trainers, as
they will then act as a semi-permanent Plus Power. Finally,
Elekid and Pokémon capable of damaging status effects (via Pokémon
Powers) could prove annoying.
Ratings
Unlimited:
3.5/5-it has some strong attacks, and if you can
protect your own energy (probably with Slowking) and use ERs
sparingly yourself, you can probably get some nice damage. With
some proper Trainers, this could be a new semi-rogue deck. The
first attack can get around Resistance and Metal Energy. The main
problem is that you’ll probably only place about 4 counters a turn
with that and do 60 with Psystorm.
Modified (Neon):
4/5-Hail the new archetype! It punishes Cleffa
use, punishes Elming (unless you can play a lot of Pokémon), and
cards that use a lot of energy. So… with Rare Candy, Boost
Energy, and the Normal Gardevoir, you can have it Psystorming turn
2 fairly reliably, and out-speeding Encargo if you start the game
(they Howl, they can’t attack for a turn and just loaded
themselves with Energy @_@). Scizor/????, like most decks,
maintains a large hand, and counter placement circumvents Metal
Energy. ‘Gatr might be safe if it can set up first and keep a low
hand size, and the “Fluff” version of Jumpluff might also be
good. Most decks on the other hand fall prey to the Cleffa/Elm
thing.
Modified (LC-on):
4.25/5-It’s a battle for dominance between this,
and Mewtwo ex. Combine both with Damage Swap Alakazam and
you have two nearly immortal fiends trying to OHKO each other
first… or get somehow get each other’s Alakazam active to KO it.
Mewtwo ex is easier to set up or maintain on its own, but
Gardevoir ex is more potent once it has set up in this
scenario. Gardevoir ex also can do more against Metal if
it sets up and against Resistance.
Modified (Eon):
4/5-Here we have slightly slower draw power without
Cleffa, and less spiffy support for it, tipping the scales in
Mewtwo ex’s favor. Still one of the top deck candidates.
Nintendo Only:
4/5-Larger hands due to slower play, or else non-existent hands
because you got everything used up. Even less trainer support and
most large evolutions having an inexpensive attack hinder it
slightly, as does the likely inclusion of Wobbuffet and Wynaut
and/or Mewtwo ex. Still, likely to be a force.
2-on-2:
4.25/5-It’s harder to have two Wobbuffets blocking for you.
Draft:
3.75/5-the Kirlia and Ralts are pretty good in this environment,
so if you get it, it could do really well as a “big finish”… just
don’t let it get KO’d, or else you’re half dead. 8-X
Well, did I miss anything? Oh yeah…
TMP:
5/5- >:D This may very well be the dominant archetype of this
format now. Read Psystorm: it counts all Pokémon in play,
so it should count both players of each team as their
Pokémon are considered in play. So by turn two, if each player
plays one energy each turn (and you Breeder/Rare Candy and use
Boost), you Psystorm for 100! With some lucky Gardevoir, you
don’t even need the Boost Energy. Simply put, this is as powerful
as a Pokémon can be in a format without becoming “broken”, that
is, essentially unbeatable.
-Otaku (nintendotaku@hotmail.com) |
