Portland Regionals has just concluded, and the metagame has shaken up once again. It seems every Regional gives us more questions than answers, and it becomes ever more important to continue to evolve along with the metagame. Adaptability is everything in this game – moving towards the popular trends, and being able to play multiple different iterations of decks is not talked about enough. I always implore players to try out new decks, expand their horizons, and work to become the most well-rounded player they can be. I think a lot of players get attached to one deck, which can hinder their overall growth as a player, so it’s important to keep an open mind.
Arceus Giratina has just won the biggest west coast event of all time, and I just returned from Portland myself. I decided to play Gardevoir ex, which is a deck that I have worked on for quite some time. I felt comfortable in most of the matchups, and thought it had the potential to go far. Let’s take a dive into a deck that I have been working on for the past few weeks, which took me to a Day 2 finish at the event. I started the event 6-0-1, and was able to get some really important data when it comes to Gardevoir. Let’s take a look at the list I played.
Gardevoir ex
| Pokémon – 18 | Trainers – 31 | Energy – 11 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Ralts ASR | 3 | Professor’s Research | 4 | Battle VIP Pass | 11 | Psychic | ||
| 1 | Ralts SIT | 1 | Boss’s Orders | 4 | Level Ball | ||||
| 4 | Kirlia SIT | 1 | Roxanne | 3 | Rare Candy | ||||
| 2 | Gardevoir ex | 1 | Miriam | 3 | Ultra Ball | ||||
| 1 | Gardevoir CRE | 1 | Worker | 3 | Fog Crystal | ||||
| 1 | Lumineon V | 1 | Judge | 1 | Pal Pad | ||||
| 1 | Cresselia LOR | 1 | Serena | ||||||
| 1 | Mimikyu ex PR-SV 4 | 1 | Sky Seal Stone | ||||||
| 1 | Zacian V CEL | ||||||||
| 1 | Mew CEL | 2 | Temple of Sinnoh | ||||||
| 1 | Manaphy BRS | 1 | Collapsed Stadium | ||||||
| 1 | Radiant Greninja | ||||||||
This list placed Top 128 at the most recent Portland Regional Championships. This is a deck that I have been working on for quite some time, and I have made some pretty interesting changes that have made the deck better than my initial testing showed me. Gardevoir ex is a deck that some people think is great, and some think is an inconsistent mess of a deck. I was able to come up with a list that set up in most games, and took decent matchups against most decks. My Day 2 run did not go as planned, as I hit some really difficult matchups, was donked a few times, and drew relatively poorly, but I think the deck does have potential to go far in future tournaments. In my eyes, the list is much better than my performance may have shown. Let’s take a look at some of the key cards.
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