The Best Pokemon TCG Deck: Gardevoir...

It’s a Gardy World

What’s poppin’ PTCGO Store readers? Have you been testing Gardevoir ex [Scarlet and Violet]? I personally think it’s the best deck in the format, and it has been dominating many events both in real life and online. Gardevoir ex is all about accelerating Energy with its Psychic Embrace Ability, drawing cards with Kirlia [Silver Tempest], and doing massive amounts of damage with powerful Pokemon like Zacian V [Celebrations]. It has a great matchup spread, is super fun to play, and is going to continue to do well once we get Paldea Evolved! In this article, I’ll share some tournament successful lists, the strategy, and more! And if you need any of the cards to build these decks on Pokemon TCG Live, use code zlesage5 to save 5% here at the PTCGO Store. That being said, let’s jump into the strategy.

Deck Strategy

Most of your Pokemon TCG matches are going to play out differently, but most of your ideal setup is going to remain the game. Gardevoir ex decks ramp up to being able to do massive amounts of damage later on in the game, but the first half of the game revolves around getting set up to get to that point. Let’s jump into it:

You’ll want to start off the game by getting out a few copies of Ralts [Astral Radiance] with Nest Ball [Scarlet and Violet], Battle VIP Pass [Fusion Strike], Fog Crystal [Chilling Reign], Ultra Ball [Scarlet and Violet] and Level Ball [Battle Styles]
An ideal board state turn one for this deck would have 3 Ralts, 1 Radiant Greninja [Astral Radiance], 1 Zacian V, and an empty spot. That empty spot should go to either Manaphy [Astral Radiance] if they have anything that snipes your Bench or Mew [Celebrations] if they don’t
Each turn, you’ll want to try to discard Psychic Energy with Radiant Greninja, and Kirlia, and build up a Zacian V in the process so that you can swing big in the mid-to-late game
When it comes to attacking, you’ll want to attack with Gardevoir [Chilling Reign] and Zacian V, but you’ll need to see how much damage they can each take from Psychic Embrace. Zacian V can handle more but is worth 2 Prize Cards
Towards the end of the game, you’ll want to plan bigger attacks against their Pokemon that are worth 2 Prize Cards, and maybe you’ll even be able to draw an extra Prize Card with Sky Seal Stone [Crown Zenith]
The biggest thing to be mindful of are the resources you have in your deck, the resources you’ll need, and having a plan to draw your Prize Cards as efficiently as possible

The deck has a lot of things going on, but it works well enough. Most of the time, Stage 2 decks can be inconsistent, but Kirlia, Gardevoir, and Radiant Greninja allow you to draw so many cards. Your early game might be a bit slow, but your mid-to-late game is unparalleled by any other deck in the format. No other deck has the power to attach all of your Energy from your discard pile to your Pokemon and swing for 300+ damage with a Zacian V on a whim. You can get back any of your Pokemon with Miriam [Scarlet and Violet] to reuse, and you can even use Pal Pad [Scarlet and Violet] to get back Miriam or any other Supporters you need to finish off a game. Let’s go over some of the more important cards in the deck on an individual basis.

Ralts

While Ralts [Astral Radiance] is usually only a means to Evolve into Kirlia or into Gardevoir / Gardevoir ex with Rare Candy [Scarlet and Violet], the Ralts [Silver Tempest] with Memory Skip can slow some decks down if you time it right. Looking at the EUIC Champion list, you can stop Alolan Vulpix VSTAR [Silver Tempest] from using Snow Mirage, which might just win you the game. That’s why I recommend saving the Ralts with Memory Skip as your last Ralts (potentially not Evolving it / playing it down) to save that attack as a last resort.

Kirlia and Radiant Greninja

Both of these Pokemon are going to help you discard Psychic Energy with their respective Abilities, and that helps you scale the amount of Energy you can accelerate with Gardevoir ex’s Psychic Embrace Ability. While it is usually advisable to discard Psychic Energy (and you can only discard Energy with Radiant Greninja), you also need to factor in if you should attach Energy from your hand to your Pokemon. Everytime you use Psychic Embrace, your Pokemon are closer to getting KOd, so I’m recommending that you are aware of that. If you can’t discard any Energy with Kirlia, Battle VIP Pass is another card that you can easily clear from your hand.

Gardevoir and Zacian V

These are our big attackers, and you’ll want to use them at different points in the game. When in doubt, attacking with Gardevoir is usually a better option because it offers up less Prize Cards than Zacian V, but it also has less HP. Less HP usually wouldn’t matter, but when you are accelerating Energy with Psychic Embrace and racking up the damage counters on that Pokemon, it can really add up. Similarly, Zacian V is worth 2 Prize Cards, but it has more HP, and can draw an extra Prize Card with Sky Seal Stone. This deck doesn’t have too many other attackers, so make sure to come up with gameplans with these ones most of the time.

Gardevoir ex

Gardveoir ex is our means to accelerate Energy to our Pokemon, and that’s about it. There are a few times that I’ve attacked with Gardevoir ex because of its massive amount of HP, but those have been rare occurrences. Always make sure you have a Kirlia on your Bench to Evolve or a Ralts that can use Rare Candy, because you need to be able to use Psychic Embrace.

Cresselia

This is an interesting card because you can use it to pseudo-heal your Pokemon, but it doesn’t come up too often. The key thing to look at when it comes to Cresselia [Lost Origin] is that it can snipe damage to one of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon, too, not just their Active. So maybe you missed a crucial OHKO, or maybe they’ve built up a bunch of damage on a Zacian V on their Bench, Cresselia might be an answer. This card might get cut in the future, but I think it’s interesting enough to keep around for now.

Mew and Manaphy

It’s weird to put these cards in the same category, but they are often fighting for the same Benched Spot. You have to basically choose 1 or the other, and that depends if your opponent plays anything that can snipe your Benched Pokemon. Commonly that would be against a Lost Zone deck playing Radiant Greninja that is actually able to attack. If not, Mew adds a fair amount of consistency, allowing you to fetch Item Cards as early as turn 1, like Battle VIP Pass.

Psychic Energy

While it’s been said above a few times, I want to make sure that I do share the importance of Psychic Energy one last time. Of course, all Energy are important in every deck, but you want to make sure you have the right balance of Energy in your discard pile to use with Psychic Embrace. Since Psychic Embrace can’t be used on Radiant Greninja or Lumineon V [Brilliant Stars], you’ll often need a couple Psychic Energy in your hand just in case. You can also use Penny [Scarlet and Violet], but that will take away your Supporter use for the turn

With all of these notes, let’s look at it all put together as a deck! The following deck is Tord’s Finalist deck from EUIC!

Tord’s EUIC Gardevoir ex Deck

Almost everyone who has ever played Pokemon has heard of Tord Reklev, arguably the best player of all time, but if you haven’t, he is likely the best player of all time! This is his most recent Gardevoir ex deck that he took all the way to a 2nd place finish at the 2023 European International Championships in London, United Kingdom. Nothing too crazy, but the deck is purely consistent! Let’s check it out!

Pokémon (18)

3 Ralts ASR 60

1 Ralts SIT 67

4 Kirlia SIT 68

2 Gardevoir ex SVI 86

1 Gardevoir CRE 61

2 Zacian V CEL 16

1 Cresselia LOR 74

1 Mew CEL 11

1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46

1 Manaphy BRS 41

1 Lumineon V BRS 40

Trainer (30)

4 Professor’s Research SVI 189

1 Judge SVI 176

1 Roxanne ASR 150

1 Worker SIT 167

1 Miriam SVI 179

1 Boss’s Orders BRS 132

1 Penny SVI 183

4 Battle VIP Pass FST 225

4 Level Ball BST 129

3 Fog Crystal CRE 140

3 Ultra Ball SVI 196

2 Rare Candy SVI 191

1 Pal Pad SVI 182

1 Sky Seal Stone CRZ 143

1 Temple of Sinnoh ASR 155

1 Collapsed Stadium BRS 137

Energy (12)

12 Psychic Energy 5

Tord's gardevoir deck

Now I know that Tord is a fantastic player, but I have made a change to his deck, and I think it’s a little better. I know, I know! It’s a bold claim, but let’s look into this list!

Zach’s Updated Gardevoir ex Deck

I think I changed like maybe 2 cards from Tord’s list, but changes are still changes. I’ve added in a 2nd copy of Gardevoir to have more opportunities to attack with a single Prize Card attacker and to have the extra consistency of Shining Arcana. I’ve also cut Collapsed Stadium for a copy of Path to the Peak [Chilling Reign] to have an option to attack though Alolan Vulpix VSTAR. I’m sure shutting off Abilities will find ways to be strong, and I can even see it improving the mirror match. Let’s check out my list!

Pokémon (19)

3 Ralts ASR 60

1 Ralts SIT 67

4 Kirlia SIT 68

2 Gardevoir ex SVI 86

2 Gardevoir CRE 61

2 Zacian V CEL 16

1 Cresselia LOR 74

1 Mew CEL 11

1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46

1 Manaphy BRS 41

1 Lumineon V BRS 40

Trainer (29)

3 Professor’s Research SVI 189

1 Judge SVI 176

1 Roxanne ASR 150

1 Worker SIT 167

1 Miriam SVI 179

1 Boss’s Orders BRS 132

1 Penny SVI 183

4 Battle VIP Pass FST 225

4 Level Ball BST 129

3 Fog Crystal CRE 140

3 Ultra Ball SVI 196

2 Rare Candy SVI 191

1 Pal Pad SVI 182

1 Sky Seal Stone CRZ 143

1 Temple of Sinnoh ASR 155

1 Path to the Peak CRE 148

Energy (12)

12 Psychic Energy 5

Zach's Gradevoir deck

Happy Testing

I hope you’ve learned a thing or two about Gardevoir ex, and maybe you’ll even want to build this deck on Pokemon TCG Live. Out of all of the decks, this one has options to draw cards, accelerate Energy, and attack for high amounts of damage! While it does struggle with Lost Zone decks sometimes, it has great matchups across the board, and I think it is currently the best Pokemon TCG deck in the format. As we continue to explore our new Post Rotation E block-on format, featuring Scarlet and Violet cards, I’ll share all of the best Pokemon TCG info I find with the community! If you wanna support PTCGO Store as a site and myself as a writer, be sure to use code zlesage5to save 5% off your next order of Pokemon TCG Live codes at PTCGO Store! And until next time, happy testing, and I’ll catch up with you next time!

About the Writer

Zach Lesage is a contributing writer for PTCGOStore.com. As a Toronto local, he has been playing the Pokemon Trading Card Game since 2005 and creates Pokemon content as his full time career. With multiple prestigious accomplishments in the game, such as 2020 Players Cup 2 Champion and 2020 Oceania International Championships Finalist, he has proven his success in the game. Outside of the game, he travels the world, enjoys the culture of designer streetwear, and is a professionally trained chef. You can catch him at most Pokemon events and follow him on Twitter @ZachLesagePTCG.