Rethinking Gardevoir GX

I have been testing Gardevoir GX since a few weeks before the card came out and I love the deck. I haven't taken any other deck to a tournament and it's the only deck in the standard format that is really clicking with me right now. I put at least three hours of testing into the deck everyday and because of that have even had some success with it. However, the new build of Gardevoir GX that had an impressive performance at London still managed to surprise me.

The Lists

This is the deck list that Christopher Schemanske took to a Top 4 finish at the European International Championships. I like this list a lot. He plays a split of Kirlia and Ralts for typing and he plays 2 Gallade to cover Gardevoir's weakness and to take out new attackers that are rising in popularity, Zoroark GX and Silvally GX. Finally the Vulpix replaces Sylveon GX to either get yourself a hand refresh from your opponent's N or set you up to start evolving on the next turn.

The only thing I don't like about the list is the seven fairy energy. I realize that Chris needed to cut one fairy energy for a second super rod because of the max potion forcing him to discard more energy; I just don't like only having seven fairy in the deck, it reduces your chances of drawing fairy energy when you really need them.

These are the changes I would make to Schemanske's list going forward into the standard format.

The Changes

I only made three changes to Schemanske's list although they're fairly impactful changes to the way the deck runs.

-2 Max Potion -1 Super Rod +1 Fairy Energy

These are the changes I started off with in the list, I couldn't warrant not playing an eighth fairy energy but I also knew that I needed the second super rod if I was going all out on max potions. So, I cut two max potions that way I didn't need the second super rod then I added an eighth fairy energy to improve my consistency. I felt that I had to keep the two max potion in the deck, at first I was seeing if it worked with Acerola but without Sylveon GX in the deck the Acerola just didn't seem to be as useful. Max potion on the other hand could be used to freshen up a Gardevoir, take Gallade out of range of a KO against some otherwise difficult matchups, and heal snipe damage from things like Buzzwole GX.

+1 Parallel City

Parallel City was the last card I added to the deck to fill the slot of max potion but I am really glad I did, A second parallel city is heartbreaking for opponents, it lowers the damage output of Greninja and Golisopod decks as well as preventing your opponents from setting up optimally in the early game.

+1 Oranguru

In testing I had one big problem with Octillery, it got knocked out so easily, and once it went down my draw was terrible for the rest of the game. So I had two options, switch to Zoroark GX and not be able to play it down against fighting decks as well as taking less draw power; or, add an Oranguru. Oranguru's draw power is undoubtedly worse than Zoroark's or Octillery's but it's very easy to put down because it's a basic, and just like Zoroark and Octillery it keeps me from dead drawing too harshly in the late game. By simply adding one Oranguru I get to have the draw power of Octillery but if one of my Octillery pieces are prized or my Octillery is knocked out, I have a backup plan.

Matchups

Golisopod GX/Zoroark GX

As long as your opponent isn't playing any surprising tech cards and you are able to set up okay then this should be a favorable matchup. Your opponent has no way to knock you out in one hit and you have Gallade to make Zoroark a very dangerous approach for your opponent. Furthermore, if you set up a Gardevoir with a lot of energy then you should be able to take knockout after knockout and win the game in a very straightforward manner,

Volcanion EX

The Volcanion matchup should be very familiar to any Gardevoir player, both decks have been recognized as strong choices since September. In the Volcanion matchup your goal is to set up first and set up strong, if you can do that you should be able to overrun your opponent with heavy infinite forces. The biggest thing you have to worry about is Volcanion drawing what it needs, the worst case scenario is if your active Gardevoir GX is knocked out and you don't have an attacker to respond with.

Silvally GX/Metals

This last matchup is really tough, and in my opinion slightly unfavorable. You have to play the game very carefully, you want to be taking four of your prizes with your two Gallade, they are your main attackers here, then you use Gardevoir to take a huge knockout with Guzma on something like a Celesteela GX. However, you don't want to evolve into a Gardevoir in the early game, you want to have Kirlia powered up and sitting on your bench waiting for the your opponent to exhaust their Guzma to just one at most, then evolve into Gardevoir GX,.