Gallantry (Gardevior & Gallade)-

Today I am going to look at the Gallade/Gardevoir deck that seems to be very popular. This deck, which uses a combination of speed, disruption, and power, may just take cities by storm. Its strength against Blissey and Mario is great, and overall it is a very fun deck to play. Here are some tips on how to play a great Gallade deck:

Pokemon:



Gallade is the core to the deck. The first attack, Sonic Blade, spanks away any Blissey or other high hp Pokemon. Even Flygon ex d, which Gallade has weakness to, can lose 100 hp and be sent back to the bench with this attack. However, when playing against fast T2 decks that have Pokemon with low hp, it is better to stick with the second attack. Psychic Cut is the epitome of a powerful attack. All it needs to work is it to be early in the game, so that you have most of your prizes left. You can either chose to flip over multiple prize cards at once, taking out a big attacker (although it may just be wiser to use sonic blade in this situation), or you can just smack their smaller Pokemon with a volley of 80 damage per turn. Although the consistency is lacking, Psychic Cut is a great attack with its ability to do massive damage early in the game. The psychic weakness of Gallade leaves him vulnerable to Flygon ex d or mirror matches that use Lake Boundary. The retreat cost of 2 means that you will have to discard a DRE or two energy cards, or use a warp point to switch Gallade out of play. Overall, this is a very versatile card, but it does not work alone.



Gardevoir SW is a great support of Gallade. With 20 less hp than its counterpart, Gardevoir is much weaker to direct hits. However, what it lacks in defense and power, it makes up in versatility. The poke-power, telepass, makes Gardevoir a great card to have on the bench in order to aid the setup. The added bonus of a second supporter card on that turn will increase your deck speed dramatically. Besides, the supporter card doesn’t even have to be yours, as it comes from your opponent’s discard pile. Gardevoir’s attack, called psychic lock, is also very good in certain situations. When you are playing against decks that use many poke-powers per turn, such as Hurricane and Inferncatty, this will destroy their deck strategy. Overall, Gardevoir is a great card to have with its setup potential and poke-power locking. Wait until you see what its level up form is.



Gardevoir Lv.X is the perfect level up card for Gardevoir and it works quite well in the deck. It only has 130 hp, which is very low for a stage 3, so be wary using if to often, but it is still a wonderful card. The teleportation poke-power allows it to retreat after volleying with bring down. It also allows you to easily switch between Gallade and Gardevoir lv.x for a repeating strategy. Gardevoir’s attack, bring down, is very amazing. It instantly knocks out the Pokemon in play with the lowest remaining hp. This works great after you use sonic blade to reduce your opponent’s Pokemon hp to 50, then bring up Gardevoir and knock out the Pokemon with bring down. The cons of this card are the x2 psychic weakness and the fact that this is a level x card. It is best to switch Gallade out with a warp point, bring in a Gardevoir, and then level it up.



Dugtrio from Crystal Guardians and from Secret Wonders make great techs in this deck. Dugtrio CG can sit on the bench, while his body prevents your benched Pokemon from being damaged by attacks. This is very useful right now due to the continuing popularity of Lucario and Empoleon decks. These snipers might put Gardevoir lv.x’s bring down in jeopardy if your Pokemon have less hp than your opponent’s, so Dugtrio helps prevent that. While you have a Dugtrio in the deck, you might as well add Dugtrio SW, which, if you flip a coin heads, can do 60 damage to one of your opponent’s benched Pokemon, finishing them off after a sonic blade. However, Dugtrio must still be active, and with the popularity of warp point, this might be a problem. Use the Dugtrios if you feel they are necessary in the match you are playing.



Stantler from SW makes a great starter for Gallade/Gardevoir decks. With 70 hp, Stantler is much more bulky than it’s Chingling alternative. This allows it to withstand the starts of many decks. It’s no energy cost lead attack searches your deck for a supporter card. This is very vital to the deck’s strategy, because it allows you to get the cards you need before you have your attacker out. Extra supporters also mean that you can use 2 supporters per turn if you have a Gardevoir in play. The other attack, frighten horn, works well if your opponent has a bad start and cannot evolve his/her active Pokemon. This allows you to get quick confusion so you have a few more turns to use lead. The weakness to Fighting makes Stantler weak to Mario decks, but you still should be able to get a few leads in before Stantler is defeated.


Pokemon List:

Total: 20

4 Ralts DF
2 Kirlia DF
3 Gallade SW
2 Gardevoir SW
1 Gardevoir lv.x SW
2 Diglett SW
1 Dugtrio CG
1 Dugtrio SW
4 Stantler SW


Note: I prefer to use Kirlia DF over Kirlia SW, because the DF version does real damage to the active Pokemon and it can paralyze them as well. This choice is up to the player. Also for Pokemon, some people like to use 1 Sableye CG to use against Banette and Blissey decks. Mew SW can be a tech with its ability to copy attacks of other snipers.


Trainers:



Roseanne’s research allows you to search for the basic Pokemon that you need early in the game such as Stantler and Ralts. It also allows you to search for energies, which gives it more versatility in a game than Holon mentor.



-Celio’s network is the card that does it all. It can search for any Pokemon in the deck, including Gardevoir lv.x. Definitely a must have.





Professor Oak’s visit is a very good drawing card. 3 new cards in your hand can make all the difference. Players can use other drawing cards that they like instead.



-Professor Rowan, in my opinion, is a great card to have in any deck, because it allows you to keep an important card, such as a DRE or a rare candy, and then replenish your hand. It is less risky than team galactic’s wager.





Team Galactic’s Mars = disruption to the opponent. The draw of only 2 cards is less than Prof. oak, but the ability of remove 1 card from your opponent’s hand has the potential to be very useful.



Rare candy is one of the most important trainers in the deck, because it allows you to get Gallade and Gardevoir out FAST, which is the key to winning the game.



-Warp point allows you to switch from Gallade to one of your other Pokemon. It also makes your opponent switch, which can disrupt their strategy.



-Night maintenance lets you retrieve Pokemon and energies from the discard pile. It should be used after Gardevoir lv.x is knocked out, for instance.



-Pluspower adds 10 damage to an attack, allowing Gallade’s psychic cut to KO Pokemon with odd numbered hp.



Trainer List:

Total: 25

3 Roseanne’s Research
3 Celio’s Network
3 Professor Oak’s Visit
2 Professor Rowan
3 Team Galactic’s Mars
4 Rare Candy
2 Warp Point
2 Night Maintenance
3 Pluspower


Note: The drawing cards that you use are your choice, but the other cards form the backbone of the Gallade/Gardevoir deck. You can also use a Scott engine with the new Moonlight stadium, which is coming out in DP4 to reduce Gardevoir’s retreat cost, but this is not necessary.


Energies:



Double rainbow energy is so good in this deck because it covers the cost of Sonic blade and Bring down, and it doesn’t reduce their damage, because those attacks do not deal direct damage. It is good to have 4 in the deck. Alternatively, Holon's castform can be used.



-Fighting and Psychic energies work with all of the attacks of Gallade, Gardevoir, and Dugtrio.



Energies List:

Total: 15

4 Double Rainbow Energy
3 Fighting Energy
8 Psychic Energy

Note: Scramble energy can be used in this deck to recover from decks such as T2K, Banette, and Mario.


Overview:


Final Deck List:

Pokemon: 20

4 Ralts DF
2 Kirlia DF
3 Gallade SW
2 Gardevoir SW
1 Gardevoir lv.x SW
2 Diglett SW
1 Dugtrio CG
1 Dugtrio SW
4 Stantler SW

Trainers: 25

3 Roseanne’s Research
3 Celio’s Network
3 Professor Oak’s Visit
2 Professor Rowan
3 Team Galactic’s Mars
4 Rare Candy
2 Warp Point
2 Night Maintenance
3 Pluspower

Energies: 15

4 Double Rainbow Energy
3 Fighting Energy
8 Psychic Energy


The Gallade/Gardevoir deck is a very powerful combination that works very nicely. I hope that this article has educated you how to use every card correctly and win with this deck. Try and make changes to this list and adapt it to your style. There are many other techs that work well here. Even though Gallade/Gardevoir is weak to psychic and is somewhat slow, in the hands of a good player it can work wonders. Thank you for reading this article!