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Gardevoir ex - Sandstorm


Date Reviewed: 09/29/03

Ratings & Reviews below

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating.

Otaku

Note:  Raichu ex should have received a 2.75 in 2-on-2 yesterday.  Also, I listed the cost of Mega Thunderbolt correctly at first but erroneously when I actually addressed it.  The argument is the same… I just mistyped it.  Finally, the only two Stage 1 Pokémon ex we have both have retreats of one, so it’s not that rare, at least not yet. >_<

 

 

Name: Gardevoir ex

Group: Psychic

Type: Stage 2 ex (evolves from Kirlia)

HP: 150

Weakness: Grass, Psychic

Resistance: None

Retreat: CC

Attack#1: (PC) Feedback

Count the number of cards in your opponent’s hand.  Put that many damage counters on the Defending Pokémon.

Atack#2: (PCCC) Psystorm [10x]

Does 10 damage times the total amount of Energy attached to all Pokémon in play.

 

Name:  No other Gardevoir ex, so no problem there.  No special “name bonuses”, like being a “Dark ________” or a “Sabrina’s ________”.  I’ll cover the ex rule in the Type category.

 

Group: Yeah, trying different names for this- "type" is better used else where and "color" sounds too pre-school for most of us to use. :-P  This is a Psychic Pokémon.  That means that, depending on the format, it’s very strong or very weak.  Unlimited is where it will be weakest, due to many strong Dark and Colorless Pokémon that are Resistant to Psychics.  In Neon, it still must deal with Murkrow, whom, properly played might be a severe nuisance, and many Colorless Pokémon, though not necessarily strong were Resistant.  Once we get past that, it’s actually a very strong type with many Weak to it and few Resistant.  There is no real support based on its type alone (Sabrina's Alakazam makes use of other Psychics, but in that case the other Pokémon, support it) there are some strong Psychic Pokémon who would compliment it well.

 

Type: It’s a Stage 2 ex Psychic.  This is the only card of that exact specification.  There several formidable Stage 2 Psychics, which again can be both a help and a hindrance.  Such cards make fearsome foes for Gardevoir ex, and rarely will you want to run multiple Stage 2 Psychics in the same deck.  There is one nice difference between Gardevoir ex and those others: Gardevoir ex formidability is not based on a Pokémon Power, but on its HP and attacks.  So while it does compete with those Stage 2 Psychics for deck space, its actual use is somewhat different, in that most such decks revolve around maximizing a Pokémon Power.  Since Gardevoir ex does not have to, this frees up deck space. 

 

Gardevoir ex evolves from the same Pokémon a normal Gardevoir does: Kirlia.  Despite only existing in the two Nintendo sets, there are three Kirlia available: two in R/S and one in SS.  All three are Stage 1 Psychic Pokémon with 70HP, two attacks, Psychic Weakness, no Resistance, and a Retreat of one.  There are a nice variety of attacks to choose from as well.  For reliable raw power, # 34/109 of Ruby/Sapphire is your monster: its Superpsy attack does 50 damage for (PCC).  It can also do 10 and have a 50% chance (i.e. heads on a coin flip) of removing an energy card attached to the Defending Pokémon for just (P).  For some risky power, #35/109 (also from R/S) is the answer.  Its first attack, Dazzle Dance, is a 50% shot at Confusion for both Defending Pokémon, which is nice because it only costs (C).  What makes Confusion so nasty is that you almost always will retreat to shake it.  Poison and Burn are tempting to tough out, but that risk of placing three damage counters on your Pokémon and having their attacks do nothing just isn’t worth it.  Its second attack is the infamous Life Drain, first seen on Sabrina’s Kadabra.  For just (P), you have a 50% chance of placing damage counters on the Defending Pokémon until it only has 10HP left.  Overall, it’s flippy but fearsome.  Last of the Kirlia is the Sandstorm version.  Its Psyshock does 20 for (PC), with a flip for Paralysis, which is a tad high (I’ll explain when we get to the Ralts).  Link Blast does 60 for (PCC) if you and the Defending Pokémon have the same amount of energy attached, but 30 if they don’t.  Considering the attack is priced for “35”, that’s still pretty good.  Small Pokémon have to worry enough about the 30, where as big Pokémon will almost certainly need to have 3 energy on them at some point before they can do their “big” attacks. This one might be better for a deck based on manipulating the energy placement of your opponent.

 

I know I have covered a lot already here, but we have to address one more thing: Kirlia is a Stage 1, so it has a Basic Pokémon we need to choose too.  There are already four Ralts!  All are 50 HP Basic Psychic Pokémon with Psychic Weakness, no Resistance and a retreat of one.  From R/S, we have #66/109, which for (P) does 10 with a 50% shot at Confusion… while fairly priced, it’s the only thing it can do, and thus is found lacking.  #65/109 from R/S can do 10 for (C) or 40 for (PC) if it has the same amount of energy attached as the Defending Pokémon does: otherwise it only does 10.  The last R/S Ralts, #67/109 does 10 for (C), and 20 with auto-sleep for (PC).  SS Ralts can do auto-sleep for (C) or Psychic Boom for (P) which does 10 times the amount of energy attached to the Defending Pokémon.  I would use the two latter for most decks: 20 and auto-sleep is a nice stall while Psychic Boom can actually finish off some big hitters.

 

HP:  Not bad, though tied for lowest with a Stage 2 Pokémon ex.  While I prefer that a Pokémon ex has about 60% more HP than its non-ex counterparts… that doesn’t happen much sadly.  Still, this is a 50% boost, and means that even the “big guns” will likely need at least two hits to take you out (barring Weakness).  This also comes in handy with a trick I’ll mention later. ;)

 

Weakness: The only “good” Weakness is no Weakness, but that really throws game balance out the window.  Psychics are often Weak to each other, so that is no big deal: you’ll probably crush them before they can crush you.  Grass Pokémon are a bit different: roughly half are weak to you, so again, you can probably nuke them first.  The others can be big problems, but I have a trick to handle them that I’ll cover later.

 

Resistance: Again, I wish there was one, but I can understand the fear of the raw dominance such a deck could possess… especially given that Psychics in the GB game are Resistant to Fighting and other Psychics.  The latter has been reversed for the TCG, and the former would more or less ruin Fighting.

 

Retreat: Two is “average” really, in that its high enough to make you seriously need to consider it, but low enough that it’s not impossible.  Since this is a Stage 2 Pokémon ex, this is really… oh, common actually.  Three out of 5 have it.  Also, once we get to the attack, we will see why it is much better to Switch or still better, attach a Warp Energy.

 

Attack#1: First up, an attack that can make your opponent quite upset.  This attack does places damage counters, this time based on the number of cards in your opponent’s hand.  In Unlimited, this and a GoW makes Eeeeeeeking with Cleffa a huge risk.  Elming and Copycatting, common in other formats also becomes a risk, given that they tend to be used when they will max out your hand size.  Even with out those, the average hand size in those formats is 3-5 cards, a respectable amount of damage counter placement for (PC).  In Nintendo, hands tend to be huge or non-existent, and neither is good.

 

Attack#2: =P~ Whoa.  If you have the energy to use this attack (not through Metronome or the like), then the absolute worst it does is 40 damage.  For (PCCC), this is only “5” damage short of what you paid.  If there is at least one other energy, you get a bonus.  Against a smart player adapting to the attack, you should still be clearing an easy 60 a pop.  Against those who only have expensive attacks, it’s incredible.

 

Uses/Combinations: Here’s where all those things I hinted at come into play.  First, due to similarities, Gardevoir goes best with its non-ex counterpart (see it’s CotD for what it does and how to use it in other ways).  Gardevoir lets you add more energy, albeit with a cost of also placing 2 damage counters.  Still, this can give you both speed and extra power for Psystorm.  There is also a way to “surprise” an opponent: when Gardevoir has 80 or less damage, use a Retro Energy to heal 20 damage, then devolve it to a Kirlia (now at 60).  Then wait a turn (or hopefully use a Rare Candy that turn-I am not certain on that ruling yet) and evolve to Gardevoir ex.  Assuming that your opponent didn’t have a poor set up and has been building (and you were abusing the normal Gardevoir’s Poké-POWER, you went from an at least half dead Gardevoir to an only one-third dead Gardevoir ex… okay, it sounds lame, but it really depends on that Rare Candy ruling (if you can do it in one turn, it’s really sweet).  You can even attempt this with a Ralts you Rare Candied into a Gardevoir, just make sure you have 60 or less damage when you use the Retro Energy.  Why Retro?  Heal damage, place a counter, and be able to “switch” to Gardevoir ex, and Pokémon are easy to recover from the discard.  Another thought is Boost Energy since that means you can Psystorm turn 2, and acts not unlike two Plus Powers.  DCE works to, but not enough to go off turn 2… though it will give you a lasting +10.  Evolving/de-evolving is also good for handling your own Weakness of Grass: you can “de-evolve” to the normal Gardevoir, use a Pokémon Nurse to heal (if need be), and also use its Poké-POWER to attach one energy to use Energy Burst, it’s inexpensive but likely efficient attack.  If you haven’t figured it out from clues earlier, use energies with like effects instead of Trainers, as they will then act as a semi-permanent Plus Power.  Finally, Elekid and Pokémon capable of damaging status effects (via Pokémon Powers) could prove annoying.

 

 

 

Ratings

 

Unlimited: 3.5/5-it has some strong attacks, and if you can protect your own energy (probably with Slowking) and use ERs sparingly yourself, you can probably get some nice damage.  With some proper Trainers, this could be a new semi-rogue deck.  The first attack can get around Resistance and Metal Energy.  The main problem is that you’ll probably only place about 4 counters a turn with that and do 60 with Psystorm.

 

Modified (Neon): 4/5-Hail the new archetype!  It punishes Cleffa use, punishes Elming (unless you can play a lot of Pokémon), and cards that use a lot of energy.  So… with Rare Candy, Boost Energy, and the Normal Gardevoir, you can have it Psystorming turn 2 fairly reliably, and out-speeding Encargo if you start the game (they Howl, they can’t attack for a turn and just loaded themselves with Energy @_@).  Scizor/????, like most decks, maintains a large hand, and counter placement circumvents Metal Energy.  ‘Gatr might be safe if it can set up first and keep a low hand size, and the “Fluff” version of Jumpluff might also be good.  Most decks on the other hand fall prey to the Cleffa/Elm thing.

 

Modified (LC-on): 4.25/5-It’s a battle for dominance between this, and Mewtwo ex.  Combine both with Damage Swap Alakazam and you have two nearly immortal fiends trying to OHKO each other first… or get somehow get each other’s Alakazam active to KO it.  Mewtwo ex is easier to set up or maintain on its own, but Gardevoir ex is more potent once it has set up in this scenario.  Gardevoir ex also can do more against Metal if it sets up and against Resistance.

 

Modified (Eon): 4/5-Here we have slightly slower draw power without Cleffa, and less spiffy support for it, tipping the scales in Mewtwo ex’s favor.  Still one of the top deck candidates.

 

Nintendo Only: 4/5-Larger hands due to slower play, or else non-existent hands because you got everything used up.  Even less trainer support and most large evolutions having an inexpensive attack hinder it slightly, as does the likely inclusion of Wobbuffet and Wynaut and/or Mewtwo ex.  Still, likely to be a force.

 

2-on-2: 4.25/5-It’s harder to have two Wobbuffets blocking for you.

 

Draft: 3.75/5-the Kirlia and Ralts are pretty good in this environment, so if you get it, it could do really well as a “big finish”… just don’t let it get KO’d, or else you’re half dead. 8-X

 

Well, did I miss anything? Oh yeah…

 

TMP: 5/5- >:D This may very well be the dominant archetype of this format now.  Read Psystorm: it counts all Pokémon in play, so it should count both players of each team as their Pokémon are considered in play.  So by turn two, if each player plays one energy each turn (and you Breeder/Rare Candy and use Boost), you Psystorm for 100!  With some lucky Gardevoir, you don’t even need the Boost Energy.  Simply put, this is as powerful as a Pokémon can be in a format without becoming “broken”, that is, essentially unbeatable.

 

-Otaku (nintendotaku@hotmail.com)

Thundachu Gardevoir ex

Overview: Pretty nice card in general. HP of 150 is great for a stage 2(150HP is great for ANYONE). For 1 Psychic energy and 1 colorless energy, Feedback does 10 damage times the number of cards in your opponent's hand. Most of the time your opponent will want a big hand, so this is your guy. Then the second attack is cool as well. For 3 colorless energy and 1 psychic energy, Psystorm does 10 damage times the number of energy IN PLAY. That is yours and your opponent's. OHHH Because it is an ex pokemon, it has 2 weaknesses. Grass and Psychic. Big downfall on this pokemon =\.

Unlimited: Not 1/2 bad. 2/5

Modified: I would stick with Gardevoir from RS. 2.5/5

Draft: If you do manage to get this card, it is one of the few EX cards I suggest playing in draft. The high HP is nice plus the 2nd attack. Since most of your deck will probably be energy, it is nice to have this card. The hard part will be drafting it being a Stage 2 Rare ex pokemon. 3.5/5
Ralphy
I liked the first Gardevoir a lot. This one seems nice too, but is it worth the two prizes for the KO? <Read on for answer.>
 
Unlimited- Nothing special here. This card has to overcome all of the following negative aspects to be playable in Unlimited, being a Stage 2, duel weaknesses (Psychic and Grass), and the two prize Ex rule. That's a lot, even for Superdude. The first attack isn't anything great, my hands at least are usually rather small in Unlimited with the likes or CPU Search and what not. The second attack isn't great either. The Pokemon that rule this format are big basics that take 2 energy to power up. DCE can be used on your part to power up though. Don't really expect to be do heavy damage with either attack in Unlimited. 2.5/5 here.
 
Modified- Better here. Hands still may not be too large, but the second attack is why I like this card in Modified. 10x all the energy on all Pokes in play. That is nice in Modified. Energy hogs are running every which way in this format so there is some potential for definite damage. This guy could easily be doing 100+ damage per turn. If it wasn't for that darn Ex rule... 4/5
 
Limited- Now it's time for the first attack to shine. Hands can commonly get large in a draft game of Pokemon. Using up your hand to keep from getting KO'ed could also be tough as your stuff may not always match up. The previous evos are decent in their own right as they cause special conditions. 3.75/5 here
 
pERfeCt0ne Gardevoir EX

This card is so hyped it isn't funny.  Let me go into a simple analysis of this titan ;)

Unlimited-  Here he will never be able to do enough damage with ER and SER all over, especially with Sneasel, Wigglytuff, Clefable and other archetypes resisting him.
rating--- 1.5

Modified-  Combined with 2 Gardevoir (Ru/Sa) to add energy to the bench, he can truly Psystrom up a great deal of damage constantly.  With Wobuffet as his main enemy, the original Gardevoir can OHKO it for one energy!!! (wobuffets 3 + Gardevoirs one= 4 + weakness= 80 = KO).  Gardevoir ex's pure 150 HP, amazing PSYSTORM attack, and a potentially dangerous FEEDBACK attack, make him a large enough powerhouse to easily be ranked as archetype material.
rating--- 4.25

Draft-  I doubt you can draft him AND a couple ralts/kirlias, but if he ever hits the field, he will easily pull the whole match in your favor.  There isnt very much at all that can stop him in a draft match!
rating--- 4.875 (if u get him out, lol)

2 vs. 2-  Send him up with either Wobuffet or Gardevoir (Ru/Sa) and you not only have the Titan out, but his back-up for enemy Wobuffets!  I think he does work better here than in Modified.  most Gardevoir ex decks start with wynaut anyway, so it you can save wasting the energy for retreating wobuffet a little longer, it may be more effective (as simple as it seems), there are many light advantages that add up in such a deck in this format.
rating--- 4.5 (from experience)

Multiplayer-  Play him as if it is modified, and if you opponent can back up Gardevoir ex's grass and psychic weakness to help you out, you truly have an enormously powerful team!
rating--- 4.25


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