Gardevoir

Additional reading from from Negi and K.

Overview

This deck uses the Gardevoir line to attack and disrupt the opponent, while also having useful Powers to advance your game plan. Gardevoir δ's Black Magic does a maximum of 110 damage for 3 Energy, and its Energy Jump Poké-Power has a lot of utility. Gardevoir ex δ's Flame Ball does 80 damage for 3 Energy and can move rainbow Energy off itself. It also has a powerful Poké-Power in Imprison, shutting off opposing Poké-Powers/Bodies.

Ideal Gameplan

Holon Mentor for Jirachi, Ralts and Pidgey, retreat your starter to Jirachi, and use Wishing Star repeatedly to set up. Fast attacks are not the order of the day, as Gardevoir (ex) δ's main attacks require 3 Energy. Wishing Star as much as you can, Quick Search too if you are able to evolve into Pidgeot, and prepare Energy on your attackers while you wait for your opponent to KO Jirachi.

If your opponent is filling their Bench fast with lots of useful Pokémon, you might want to go for an early Gardevoir ex δ to disrupt them. Send it out (its Power can only be used when Active) and use it to drop as many Imprison markers as possible, but don't commit any Energy onto it. Depending on how damaged it is, you can 1) let it get KOed, 2) Warp it out and use Giant Stump to discard it, or 3) Energy Jump a Holon's Castform from one of your other Pokémon onto it, attach another Energy from hand, and start Flame Balling.

Do not forget to Imprison — any time you begin your turn with Gardevoir ex δ Active, you should Imprison something before thinking about your other plays. There is very little that can happen during your turn that would make you want to choose a different Imprison target (your opponent can't play cards on your turn), so choose one at the start of your turn before it slips your mind. I'll admit that at times I'll straight up forget that Gardevoir ex δ has a Poké-Power, or I'll go deep in the tank planning out my turn, then Warp Gardevoir ex δ out and realize that I'd forgotten to Imprison first. Don't make my mistake!

If you are not in danger of being cut off from Energy Jump, or having Holon's Castform discarded/Crystal Beach-ed when it's an Energy, try to spread Energy evenly on your attackers. Once your sacrificial Active Pokémon gets KOed, send out the appropriate attacker for the counterattack and use Energy Jump to move Energy onto it to pay for attack costs.

Energy Jump and Flame Ball can be used to save Energy cards attached to dying Pokémon. If your attacking Gardevoir ex δ is about to be KOed, you can fire off one last Flame Ball and move an Energy to another Pokémon with its effect. If your opponent fails to capitalize on the opportunity to KO Gardevoir ex δ, you can Energy Jump to undo the move and do it again!

This deck's only comeback card is Rocket's Admin; it doesn't have Pow or Scramble Energy. In the late game you'll want to seal things up by Admin-ing your opponent to a low hand size while a Gardevoir (ex) δ brings the beatdown. If they have Pidgeot (or other draw/search support Pokémon like Delcatty, Porygon2, Milotic δ), Imprison it first to cut off their outs.

Unique Points

About the Imprison marker: It continues to stop Powers/Bodies even if Gardevoir ex δ leaves play. It can be removed by evolving or devolving, but not switching.

Psychic Boom Ralts can 1HKO Exeggutor and Rayquaza δ. Note that you need Psychic Energy or Holon's Castform for this, and the Psychic-type Ralts does not count towards Holon's Castform's Delta Draw, so it's perfectly reasonable to feel that this is more trouble than it's worth and to go with 4 of the Fire-type Ralts instead.

There are a ton of combos/synergies in this deck, which I'll go through below.

• Jirachi + Warp Energy/Warp Point: This deck has a fairly high count of switch cards, which can be used to switch to Jirachi early-game. Attaching Warp Energy to an Active Ralts and bringing in Jirachi keeps the Energy around for use later, as opposed to attaching any other Energy and using it to pay for the Retreat Cost. These Warp cards can also get Jirachi out of the Active Spot when you want to start attacking, but not before you Wishing Star one last time for value.

• Gardevoir ex δ + Warp Energy/Warp Point: Since Gardevoir ex δ needs to be Active in order to use Imprison, you can do just that, then use a switch card to get it out of the Active Spot.

• Pidgeot/Latios ex δ + Warp Energy/Warp Point: You can play a switch card, send out a free retreater, then retreat back to the original Active Pokémon. This lets you clear Special Conditions.

• Gardevoir δ + Warp Energy: You can attach Warp Energy to your Active Pokémon to switch it out, then Energy Jump that Energy (or any others attached to that Pokémon) to another Pokémon that needs it more. This lets you switch without wasting Energy on Retreat Costs, or on a Pokémon that has no use for it.

• Holon's Castform + Warp Energy: Playing Holon's Castform as an Energy card and returning Warp Energy to hand lets you reuse the latter.

• Gardevoir (ex) δ + Holon's Castform: Energy Jump/Flame Ball lets you move 2 Energy around at a time if that Energy is Holon's Castform.

Suffice to say, Warp Energy is a crucial component of this deck for all the shenanigans it enables. It's not a Trainer, so Stantler's Push Away can't discard it. Most lists play at least 3 Warp Energy.

Be aware of the consequences of using Holon's Castform to return a Warp Energy to hand and replaying it next turn. If you don't want to trigger when-attached effects, attach Holon's Castform to something else and use Energy Jump to move it onto the proper recipient.

Giant Stump caps Black Magic's damage output at 70, but it can be used to deny KOs if your attacker is damaged and you have 4-5 Benched Pokémon. Get the attacker to the Bench, Energy Jump any useful Energy off it, then play Giant Stump to bin it. It also constrains opponents who are trying to maintain a Lunatone + Solrock lock on Pidgeot, since it takes up 2 Bench slots.

Note that the Sol Shade Lunatone does not shut down Imprison, as Sol Shade does not work against ex's. Neither does Medicham ex's Wise Aura, but that is less common.

Pidgey δ loses its δ designation if it evolves into Pidgeot. This will reduce the number of cards you draw with Holon's Castform's Delta Draw, if you're using that to set up. (Though if you've already gotten Pidgeot out, you should be preparing to move away from Delta Draw anyway.)

Metal Energy mainly makes Gardevoir δ harder to KO. With Metal Energy attached to Gardevoir, Rayquaza ex δ needs 3 Special Circuits to snipe it, making it an unappealing target. Gardevoir can also survive Jirachi ex's Super Psy Bolt (if it came in after a KO, looking for a revenge kill) and hit back with Psychic Rage for the KO. Metal Energy can be used to pay for Jirachi's or Holon's Magnemite's attacks if you need to use them as last-ditch attackers.

Roselia provides some disruption by forcing vulnerable Pokémon into the Active Spot (or Pokémon that need to be Active away from it), and chipping high-HP Pokémon into KO range of Flame Ball or Black Magic.

Tweaks

Fearow δ (over Pidgeot): Alternative search engine. It's quite fragile and can only get δs, but improves your resilience against Item locks (since you'll be evolving the hard way, instead of using Rare Candy). Play more copies of Kirlia δ if you're using this.

Blastoise δ: Removes Weakness from your Pokémon, and adds one more attacking type to exploit the opponent's Weakness. Both Gardevoirs as well as Latios ex δ are weak to Psychic, so removing Weakness can be a huge help.

Jirachi ex: Early-game disruption before Gardevoir ex δ comes online. It can stop a Voltorb that's about to evolve into Electrode ex, which Gardevoir ex δ can't, as evolving removes the Imprison marker.

Celebi ex (over Latios ex δ): Alternative ex-immune Pokémon. It has a useful Poké-Power, but that can turn out to be a liability against Cursed Stone. It also doesn't have free retreat, unlike Latios. It does use Psychic Energy, so you can build towards using more copies of those.

Jolteon ☆: Tech against Banette ex, bringing it into Flame Ball 1HKO range.

Lanette's Net Search (over Holon Engine): Alternative Basic searcher.

Rainbow Energy: Fixes colors, like a 5th δ Rainbow Energy. The damage counter can increase the damage output of Gardevoir δ's Psychic Rage (or Blastoise δ's Enraged Linear Attack), or be rendered irrelevant if you Energy Jump it off, then use Giant Stump to get rid of the Pokémon it was originally attached to. Note that returning Rainbow Energy with Holon's Castform sets you up to take another 10 damage.

Strengths

This deck is very versatile and has lots of answers to many things. The Gardevoir line gives you two attacking types, and Pidgeot and Latios ex δ add two more. Gardevoir ex δ is only resisted by the Salamence line, which does not see much play, and Gardevoir δ is a non-ex, so it doesn't get walled by Latios/Celebi ex (Safeguard Pokémon can be Imprisoned). Latios ex δ is immune to ex's, and the 1-of Psychic Boom Ralts answers Exeggutor and Rayquaza δ. Switching between these attackers is not a problem, as you have Warp Energy/Warp Point to change who's Active and Energy Jump to move Energy onto the new attacker. You play the full 4 Windstorm to remove Cessation Crystal/Stadiums, plus Warp Point and Giant Stump as additional counters.

Of significant note is that this deck is very strong against Pow! Hand Extension. Energy Jump counters the Energy-moving mode, and the high Warp Point/Warp Energy count provides sufficient answers to the forced switch mode.

This deck has a big advantage against other Pidgeot decks, due to Gardevoir ex δ being able to Imprison it. Shutting off the opponent's Pidgeot while retaining the ability to use yours is rare; the other methods of doing so include using Rayquaza ex δ, Steelix ex, or Blaziken ex to snipe it, all of which require more turns or setup than simply evolving to Gardevoir ex δ and Imprisoning.

Weaknesses

This deck is Energy-hungry. Your main attacks cost 3 Energy, and you have no form of Energy acceleration. Energy Removal 2 and Crystal Beach will slow you down. You will take a beating while setting up, unless your opponent uses ex's and you can have Latios ex δ Ice Barrier in their faces all day. Sometimes you'll have to use Pidgeot as a makeshift attacker and Energy Jump its Energy over to a Gardevoir (ex) δ later.

Everything other than the tech Pokémon and the lower Stage forms has Powers, so you will take a lot of damage from Cursed Stone, and Jirachi ex will lock you out of being able to do anything useful. It doesn't help that Jirachi ex hits for Weakness against the Gardevoir line. Jirachi ex also survives Flame Ball from full HP, and Black Magic too if your opponent has less than 4 Benched Pokémon. Use Latios ex δ to counter it.

This deck is pretty complicated to play: since you have so many options, you need to know which of those are worth pursuing. Almost every Pokémon in this deck can serve as an attacker, a wall, or a Bench-sitter just using its Powers. Tech Pokémon may be dead in certain matchups and amount to discard fodder.

Banette ex is a terrible matchup. They're faster than you, hit you for Weakness, have Girafarig and Lunatone + Solrock to keep you off Wishing Star and Quick Search, and Energy Removal 2 to disrupt you futher.