Skip straight to the scores and summary for a
concise overview.
Name:
Gardevoir δ
Set:
EX Delta Species
Card#:
6/113
Type:
Psychic, Metal
Stage:
2 (Evolves from Kirlia)
HP:
100
Weakness:
Psychic
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
CC
Poké-Power:
Energy Jump
Once during your turn (before your attack), you may
move an Energy card attached to 1 of your Pokémon to
another of your Pokémon. This power can’t be used
if Gardevoir is affected by a Special Condition.
Attack#1:
(MC) Psychic Rage
Choose 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon. This attack
does 10 damage for each damage counter on Gardevoir
to that Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and
Resistance for Benched Pokémon).
Attack#2:
(PCC) Black Magic [10+]
Does 10 damage plus 20 more damage times the
number of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon.
Name:
Kirlia
Set:
EX Delta Species
Card#:
47/113
Type:
Psychic
Stage:
1 (Evolves from Ralts)
HP:
70
Weakness:
Psychic
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Calm Mind
Remove 3 damage counters from Kirlia
Attack#2:
(PC) Psychic Boom [20+]
Does 20 damage plus 10 more damage for each
Energy attached to the Defending Pokémon.
Name:
Ralts
Set:
EX Delta Species
Card#:
81/113
Type:
Psychic
Stage:
Basic
HP:
50
Weakness:
Psychic
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Collect
Draw a card.
Attack#2:
(CC) Quick Blow [10+]
Flip a coin. If heads, this attack does 10
damage plus 20 more damage.
Attributes:
Gardevoir δ (see Monday’s CotD for an
explanation about “δ Delta Pokémon”) is today’s
CotD. First, let me address its lower Stages, since
you’ll have to use at least one and probably both in
order to get this into play. We get a new Kirlia
and Ralts in this set, and I’ll just evaluate
them quickly since they are new and might be better
than the old ones (of which only the EX Emerald
versions are still legal for Modified). Ralts
is actually pretty good for the Basic of a Stage 2
line. Since its stats are the same, solid ones as
its EX Emerald sibling, I’ll instead focus on its
attacks: Collect and Quick Blow. Collect is
surprisingly useful when you are forced to
start with a Pokémon like this, who exists solely to
Evolve. Quick Blow is less useful, but if your
opponent is in the same boat as you with something
like this Active, especially if it’s Psychic Weak,
it’s can be pretty handy. Kirlia also has
the same Attributes as its EX Emerald counterpart,
so I’ll again move onto the attacks: Clam Mind isn’t
bad if you can’t afford the second attack or if your
opponent is unlikely to be able to hurt you again
during your next turn. Three damage counters is far
from great, but it is almost half this cards HP.
Psychic Boom should give at least a fair return if
the opposing Active Pokémon has even one Energy card
attached, and if they have none then you can hit
them for 20 or just heal with the first attack.
Both attacks are fair for their Stages, and great
for Limited play.
Gardevoir δ
is a Psychic/Metal hybrid, special because the Metal
portion is off-type. We actually have some real
Metal/Psychic Pokémon in the TCG though, so it’s
nothing new. It is fairly useful though: Psychic
Weakness and Resistance aren’t as common as some
others, and Psychic Pokémon even have a Stadium (Magnetic
Storm) that lets them bypass the Resistance.
The Metal type is especially nice: Metal Weakness
and Resistance are both rarer than it is for Psychic
Weakness/Resistance, but it also allows Gardevoir
δ to use real Metal Energy cards to block
damage.
Gardevoir δ
has 100 HP. This isn’t the lowest for the Stage 2
Pokémon, but many Stage 2 Pokémon that are legal for
Modified are higher than this, and only a few
lower. It also exaggerates the Weakness this card
has. Gardevoir δ, like most Psychic Pokémon
in the TCG, is Weak to Psychic attacks. With just
100 HP, any hit of 50 or better is a OHKO. Sadly,
there is no Resistance on this card, so I’ll move
onto the Retreat Cost of (CC). This is fairly
standard for Stage 2 Pokémon, being high enough to
discourage retreating a lot, but low enough that you
can if you must without crippling your Energy
supply.
Coming to the end of this section, I’d say
Gardevoir δ are just a hair weak here.
Abilities:
Energy Jump first appeared on Skyridge Alakazam,
and was pretty useful there. Unfortunately, it was
overshadowed by many broken decks in Neon Modified
(Neo Genesis through Skyridge) as well as in RS-on
(also known as EXon) Modified. Here it might get a
boost, seeing as this card is part Metal. As a
whole, it is a very good Poké-Power, especially
since it stacks.
Psychic Rage may not seem like much at first: you
pay for a good 40 points of damage, even before
factoring in this is a Stage 2. What must be
remembered is that this is Pokémon is part Metal so
damage will likely build gradually, and that healing
cards that seem poor on their own are much better in
such situations.
Black Magic is yet another returning Ability, having
first appeared (at least in English) on Dark
Hypno from EX Team Rocket Returns. This version
does a base damage of 10, then an additional 20 for
each Pokémon on the opponent’s Bench. Players are a
bit more conservative with their benches due to
cards like Steven’s Advice and attacks like
this, but you can still expect to average 50 points
of damage from this attack. For the Energy
required, and Pokémon’s Stage, this is solid.
What is nice is that these Abilities appear to
interact fairly well. Energy Jump allows you to
save Energy from being unnecessarily discarded.
This is especially important when you realize
Psychic Rage is best used right before you are KO’d,
when that 70-90 damage will really hurt something.
So jump an Energy card off that was being used for
Black Magic. Black Magic itself combos well with
Psychic Rage in that keeping a bench small to lessen
the effect of Black Magic just strengthens the
impact of Psychic Rage.
Uses and
Combinations:
Sorry to sound like a broken record, but we once
again have a card that is featured in a deck which
is largely inspired by something from the past.
This time though, it’s of a deck that just had its
glory days in the last format and is still playable
now: Dark Dragonite/Dark Electrode.
The version using Gardevoir δ also uses
Starmie δ with Metal Navigation, which makes it
easy to get Metal Energy (and sadly only
actual Metal Energy cards) out of your deck.
Then a third Pokémon is used as the main attacker.
The name I like for this version is Mercury.
Because I’ve seen many players make a fool of
him/herself thinking the name makes no sense, I’ll
explain: the substance mercury is a metallic silver
color and a liquid at room temperature. This earned
it the name “quicksilver”. And this deck moves
around shiny (especially if they are the originals
or are foiled) silver Metal Energy. Another name is
“GardMie”, and while I don’t like it as well, at
least it’s a real name: sure it uses two parts of
the characters names, but it’s pronounced “Guard
me”. Fitting for a Metal deck, don’t you think?
Now, the deck is far from perfect. There is some
debate as to what to use in it: Magcargo with
Smooth Over, Pidgeot with its Quick Search,
and even some with Porygon 2 with Back-Up.
I’ve even seen some without any of them, but I am
uncertain of how well those perform. The deck is
very crowded, but at the same time search or at
least major draw power seems like it would be
needed. The attacker(s) I see most often are
Registeel ex and… Registeel ex. Many
player use two copies of the EX Hidden Legends
version, but a few use a split between it and the
much less useful but easier to find EX Emerald
version. There is some synergy between the two: the
former can hit the Defending Pokémon for 50 but
doesn’t hit anything else unless it’s the same Type
as the Defending Pokémon, while the latter just hits
everything for 20. Other Pokémon have been tossed
around for the deck, including EX Unseen Forces
Forretress and Scizor ex (who has a deck
that looks to fit it better, anyway).
Bringing attention back to Gardevoir δ, it
helps the deck by being able to move any and all
Energy types (not just Metal like EX Hidden Legends
Metagross) and since it stacks, you tend to
be able to stand not moving an unlimited amount (the
two you average if often enough). Also, this allows
a “TecH” EX Emerald Gardevoir. That
Gardevoir really helps since it has Heal Dance:
20 points of damage healed every turn on top of
Metal Energy blocking some really extends the
life of a Pokémon, allowing all that bench damage to
add up.
Ratings
Unlimited:
2.5/5-The deck’s (described above) vulnerability to
Energy Removal is just too much. However,
the classic backing of a bench with Quick Search
Pidgeot and four Neo Genesis (Mind Games)
Slowking could make it a nasty bench hunter.
Plus, many for ever Pokémon that is popular who
doesn’t need a big bench; there’s something that
needs a full bench, aiding use of the second attack.
Modified:
3.75/5-This is really more a rating for the entire
deck, since this card is meant to be the focus of a
deck. It just doesn’t seem as tough as Monday’s
card, and I was leery scoring that card so high.
This is clearly better than many of its
contemporaries, but doesn’t, at least as of yet,
strike me as being as good as Dragonite δ,
which means it certainly doesn’t feel like it’s at,
say, Medicham ex or Scizor ex level
(though it has some good match-ups against those
decks, so I’ve heard…)
Limited:
4.5/5-Fantastic in this format. Black Magic doesn’t
need Metal Energy and Energy Jump is phenomenal in a
format where you often have to juggle many different
Energy types in the same deck and controlling your
Energy is even more important than normal. If you
can get one of the ways of providing Metal Energy,
then you also get to snipe!
Summary
Gardevoir δ
is a great card with two good attacks and a good
Poké-Power. Its only problem is that it came out
when we have so many other great Metal Pokémon who’s
Abilities rival and even surpass it. Much like
Dragonite δ, there is at least one deck that can
make good use of it, and possibly more. Its just
scores a hair lower in Modified since the known deck
(Mercury) hasn’t proven as good as the one for
Dragonite δ (Metanite).
-Otaku
