The Deck That Just Won’t Die – Gardevoir/Gallade

Gardevoir Secret Wonders SW 7 Pokemon Card
Gallade Secret Wonders SW 6 Pokemon Card

Gardevoir/Gallade, or “GG” as its often called, was a wildly popular and successful deck during last season. It won the most Pokémon tournaments out of any deck in the Masters division, and ended up winning Worlds 2008. It lost a lot of power during this season, mostly due to the loss of Scramble and Double Rainbow Energy. But with the right support it can still work decently well. Here’s a list I threw together:

Pokémon (27)
4 Ralts PT
2 Kirlia PT
2 Gallade SW
3 Gardevoir SW
1 Gardevoir LV.X
4 Sneasel L21 DP
2 Weavile SW
2 Baltoy GE
2 Claydol GE
2 Unown G GE
1 Nidoran (F) RR
1 Nidoqueen RR
1 Azelf L.55 LA

Trainers (19)
4 Rare Candy
4 Roseanne’s Research
4 Bebe’s Search
4 Cynthia’s Feelings
2 Luxury Ball
1 Night Maintenance

Energy (14)
4 P Energy
4 Call Energy
4 D Energy (sp)
1 D Energy
1 Upper Energy

The aim is to have Weavile active by turn 2 ready to use its Shadow Charge attack, which is the reason for the maximum number of Sneasel allowed. You’ll want to attach the Special D Energies to the Gardevoir and/or Gallades, preparing them for attack. Then you can start the beatdown. Weavile’s Dark Engage Pokémon Power turns out to be very useful with the Special D Energies, because it turns Gardevoir’s Psychic Lock attack into 80 damage and power lock for only 3 energy. It also reduces the number of Prize cards you have to flip with Gallade’s Psychic Cut. With Psychic Lock and Psychic Cut both costing PCC, a P Energy and 2 Special Darkness work just fine.

Nidoqueen can be teched into almost any deck that sports Rare Candy. It works nicely here because if one of your Pokémon is damaged, you can safely Teleport it away with Gardevoir LV.X’s Pokémon Power, then attack with a different Pokémon. Teleport for the same Pokémon again next turn and it has now gotten rid of 40 damage over 2 turns.

If the opponent begins power locking before you have a chance to set up, well that’s where Cynthia’s Feelings comes in handy.

The lone Upper Energy is there in case your opponent has a faster start than you, so you’ll need to do a comeback attack with either Gardevoir or Gallade to stay in the game.

Have any thoughts on the list? Post a comment!

Reader Interactions

21 replies

  1. Mike Qua

    I love GG…

    But why run 4 sneasel? Is it to get it out quicker? I ran a 2-2 line but Weavile died too quickly for me to do much with its low hp…I never thought of teching in Nidoqueen, how much better does that fare? I’d LOVE to have GG as my main deck but I keep losing with it D:

    • BiskitFoo  → Mike

      That’s the gist of running 4 Sneasels. Nidoqueen in GG makes the decks attackers tanks, and can help against Skuntank G. I could see the Sneasels slowing him down in the long run, and he has no way to discard them.

  2. jermy101

    Yep, the reason for the 4 sneasel is to increase the chances of starting with it. BiskitFoo’s got the reason for teching in Nidoqueen. True drawing into Sneasels over and over again could slow it down, but I think it’s worth the risk. You can always put em at the bottom with Cosmic Power. Thanks for the comments Qua and BiskitFoo!

    • Mike Qua  → jermy101

      Sounds good :) I might try out a variation of this list, (Gardevoir is my favorite Pokemon, wish I was part of the game in ’08 :P) I want to use this deck more often but I lose a lot with it D: I often have to switch to Kingdra, Beedrill, or Gengar…

  3. jermy101

    Yep, the reason for the 4 sneasel is to increase the chances of starting with it. BiskitFoo’s got the reason for teching in Nidoqueen. True drawing into Sneasels over and over again could slow it down, but I think it’s worth the risk. You can always put em at the bottom with Cosmic Power. Thanks for the comments Qua and BiskitFoo!

    • Mike Qua  → jermy101

      Sounds good :) I might try out a variation of this list, (Gardevoir is my favorite Pokemon, wish I was part of the game in ’08 :P) I want to use this deck more often but I lose a lot with it D: I often have to switch to Kingdra, Beedrill, or Gengar…

  4. alex d

    Sigh… I love this deck so much… but it is pretty hard to keep consistent. 3 Energy cost is really hard to deal with.

    Anybody thought of throwing 1 Sableye in here?

    Against Gengar, it is just a Roseanne and Unown Q away from donking.

  5. alex d

    Sigh… I love this deck so much… but it is pretty hard to keep consistent. 3 Energy cost is really hard to deal with.

    Anybody thought of throwing 1 Sableye in here?

    Against Gengar, it is just a Roseanne and Unown Q away from donking.

  6. jesus69

    If my list is inconsistent then this list is just as bad.
    but this is what my deck looked like when i first built it.
    so idk.

  7. jesus69

    If my list is inconsistent then this list is just as bad.
    but this is what my deck looked like when i first built it.
    so idk.

  8. Rogue Archetype

    Maybe I’m just crazy, but why doesn’t anyone ever think to run 2 Gallade and 3 Gardy (2 sw & 1 psychic connect) ? If you can moonlight retreat and “Lucians” your energy with the connect Gardy, you’re locking FOREVER …

  9. Rogue Archetype

    Maybe I’m just crazy, but why doesn’t anyone ever think to run 2 Gallade and 3 Gardy (2 sw & 1 psychic connect) ? If you can moonlight retreat and “Lucians” your energy with the connect Gardy, you’re locking FOREVER …

  10. Byron

    Hey, I’m getting the following error: Warning: Failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/profpros/public_html/wp-settings.php on line 473

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